The history of our town starts in the 1840's when settlers first began moving into this area in large numbers. As was common for the era, one of the first items on the agenda was to establish a church. Sardis Methodist Church was located roughly 1½ miles west of what is now the center of Eclectic and it grew into an active and prosperous church. In 1850 the church split, supposedly over differing views about alcoholic beverages. What had once been one congregation was now four, the largest of which relocated two miles east near what is now Pleasant Grove Cemetery. A log cabin church was quickly erected and named Pleasant Grove Methodist Church.

One of Pleasant Grove Methodist Church's first pastors, maybe even the very first, was the Reverend R.R. Dickinson. Reverend Dickinson wasn't just a pastor, he was also a teacher and he established a school in the church building with classes held during the week and worship on the weekends. Possibly because of the school's presence, Pleasant Grove soon became the area's dominant church and the community became known as Pleasant Grove. By the 1870's, the church had outgrown the cabin and a new building had been constructed but the cabin continued to be used as a school.

In 1877, a seemingly routine event occurred that would have a profound impact on the future of the Pleasant Grove community. A young physician named M.L. Fielder paid $400 for the "Seaborn Kidd Plantation", which consisted of a large house and 122 acres of land. Tradition holds that Dr. Fielder always had a desire to see Pleasant Grove grow into a town. One thing is certain, as the area's only physician Dr. Fielder would travel great distances via horse and buggy to visit his patients. During the course of his visits, Dr. Fielder offered many of his patients an acre of land if they would relocate to the Pleasant Grove area and many accepted. Whether motivated by a desire to see the area grow or by a desire to shorten his buggy trips, the result was the same - Pleasant Grove continued to grow into a thriving community.

Dr. Fielder's generosity didn't stop with his patients. He offered land and financial assistance to the Antioch II Baptist Church and a similar offer to the Masonic Lodge located at Central Institute. Both organizations accepted the offers and relocated to the Pleasant Grove community. He also petitioned the United States Postal Service for permission to establish a post office office in the community. On March 20, 1879, permission was granted and Dr. Fielder was named Postmaster. The name of the new post office would seem to be obvious, the area had been known as Pleasant Grove for twenty years, but the doctor had other plans. He christened the post office, which consisted of a small enclosure on his front porch, the "Eclectic Post Office" in honor of his favorite class in medical school.

Simply giving the post office an odd name didn't serve to end years of tradition, but it began to take its toll. In September of 1879, the Masonic Fraternity built a new two story building that held a lodge on the second floor and a school on the first. Records from 1879, 1880, and 1881 list the Penick Lodge as being located in Pleasant Grove. In 1882, the records list the lodge as being located in Eclectic. By 1883, area newspapers were referring to the area as Eclectic.

In 1907, fifty-one voters went to the polls and by a vote of 29 to 22, decided to become an incorporated Town. The transformation was complete and official, The Philadelphia Medical College's Eclectic course had named an Alabama town!