December 14 is the anniversary of Alabama becoming the 22nd state. The transition from territory to statehood started in July 1819 with a constitutional convention held in Huntsville. The Alabama territory was granted statehood on December 14, 1819, and the territorial governor, William Wyatt Bibb, became Alabama's first governor. The first capital of the new state was established in the town of Cahawba in Dallas County, where the Cahaba River flows into the Alabama River.