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Montgomery, Alabama

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Montgomery is the capital and second most populous city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Montgomery is notable for its historic involvement during the Civil War, for being the first capital of the Confederacy, and for being a primary site in the Civil Rights Movement, including the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott (see below).

History

The Montgomery area was originally heavily populated by the Alibamu tribe of Native Americans (after which the state is named). By the year 1800 the Native Americans had been mostly driven out, and white settlers began to permanently occupy the area. From 1800 to 1813, settlers continued to move in, but in 1814 two competing businessmen who would lay the foundation of the capital city arrived. Each seeking his fortune on the fertile lands near the river, they constructed separate towns, East Alabama and New Philadelphia, along the Alabama River. Each town was a success, and their proximity to each other quickly caused them to merge. Incorporated in 1819 when Alabama was admitted to the Union, the new city was named for General Richard Montgomery, who died in the American Revolutionary War attempting to capture Quebec, Canada. Montgomery County, Alabama, was named in memory of Major Lemuel P. Montgomery of Virginia, who fell at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27 1814. He was struck in the head by a Redstick musketball, becoming the first man to die in the battle. A statue of Major Montgomery graces the entrance of the Montgomery County Courthouse, located at 251 S. Lawrence Street.

Montgomery was not the first capital of Alabama; it was actually the fifth. The territorial capital of Alabama was St. Stephens, on the Tombigbee River. The state capital was temporarily located in Huntsville after the state's creation in 1819, but was transferred to Cahawba in 1820. Cahawba was considered a less-than-ideal location because of periodic flooding and was abandoned by 1826. The state capital then was moved to Tuscaloosa. In 1846, the capital was permenantly located at Montgomery, the legislature likely finding it an ideal location from which to run the state, due to adequate amenities and travel. It has been said that New Philadelphia's founder, Andrew Dexter--the more prominent of the two businessmen whose cities eventually merged into Montgomery--believed so strongly that his town would one day become capital of a new state that he actually reserved a spot for a capitol building. Once the capital was moved to Montgomery, his spot was purchased for that very purpose. From then, Montgomery continued to increase in prosperity and prominence. When Alabama seceded during the Civil War, Montgomery served as the first capital of the Confederate States of America; Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president on the steps of the Capitol. Montgomery had at the time a well-educated, well-to-do, and financially influential population.

During the Civil War, Montgomery was left virtually physically undamaged, thanks in part to the Confederate capital having been moved to Richmond, Virginia, early in the war in an effort to keep the war in the north. Alabama's infrastructure, however, was damaged with much the rest of the South. Once the railways had been rebuilt, the city moved its focus toward industrial growth in textiles and agriculture. On March 19, 1910, Montgomery became the winter home of the Wright brothers' Wright Flying School. The men frequented Montgomery and founded several airfields, one of which developed into the Maxwell-Gunter AFB after the Wrights began working with the government to produce planes for military use. Montomery flourished in the years leading up to the Great Depression, having experienced steady population growth. WWII revitalized the city after the Depression, but the city continued to weather some economic hardships. During this time, however, there were some noticeable highlights: for example, Montgomery became the first city in the world to install electric street cars. Montgomery, Alabama, was a central location in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Civil rights movement in Montgomery

Rev. Dr. Martin L. King Jr. gained national attention for civil rights issues during his tenure (1954 to 1960) as pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, two blocks from the State Capitol Building. A civil rights memorial has been erected near the still-active church. On December 1 1955 Rosa Parks became a civil rights heroine in the city by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. The reaction to this arrest led to the 382-day Montgomery Bus Boycott, which forced the city to desegregate its transit system on December 21 1956. In 1965, Dr. King's nationally publicized march for justice was conducted from Selma to Montgomery.

Deadly fire

On February 7 1967, a devastating fire broke out at Dale's Penthouse, a restaurant and lounge on the top floor of the Walter Bragg Smith apartment building (now called Capital Towers) at 7 Clayton Street downtown. The fire was reported to have started in the cloakroom, and early efforts to extinguish it by the staff failed. Twenty-five people lost their lives, mainly because the only emergency stair exit, which was next to the cloakroom, was blocked by the fire and because the restaurant was not evacuated promptly. Many prominent local citizens and some visiting teamsters in town for a convention perished. As a result of the national exposure of the tragedy, a nationwide effort to revamp fire code standards was launched.

Recent years

In more recent history, Montgomery has begun to recover from its economic problems of the 20th century. Montgomery is now home to Hyundai Motor Company's first assembly plant in the United States. A revitalization effort has brought a baseball stadium and a riverfront walk to downtown as well as numerous parks and historical attractions. Montgomery public schools were among the first in the nation to receive city-wide Internet access, and the Alabama school system was the first to wire all districts and schools via fiber-optics. In 1994, the 22-floor RSA Tower was constructed, which now houses many prominent tenants, including Raycom Media, The Capital City Club, and Morgan Keegan and Co. Montgomery is also expanding rapidly with plans to build a second bypass system and construction of large residential and commercial developments throughout the city. Montgomery is home to a federal minimum-security prison and to some of the military's most valuable and critical computer systems and is a major supply hub for the military. The city also houses one of the military's key air war colleges. Recently, Montgomery has been focusing on further improving local schools. Also, Montgomery is home to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Fine Arts Museum, the fifth largest museum in the world. Lately, it has also gotten a lot of mainstream television, radio, and internet attention because of entrepreneur/entertainer Sammy Stephens and his world famous Flea Market Montgomery commercial.

Geography and Climate

Montgomery is located at (32.361538, -86.279118).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 156.2 square miles (404.5 km²), of which, 155.4 square miles (402.4 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) of it (0.52%) is water. The climate is subtropical.

Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Rec High °F 83 85 89 91 98 105 105 104 101 100 87 85
Norm High °F 57.6 62.4 70.5 77.5 84.6 90.6 92.7 92.2 87.7 78.7 68.7 60.3
Norm Low °F 35.5 38.6 45.4 51.2 60.1 67.3 70.9 70.1 64.9 52.2 43.5 37.6
Rec Low °F 0 10 17 28 40 49 59 56 39 26 13 5
Precip (in) 5.04 5.45 6.39 4.38 4.14 4.13 5.31 3.63 4.22 2.58 4.53 4.97
Source: USTravelWeather.com

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 201,568 people, 100,784 households, and 100,784 families residing in the city. The 2006 Census Bureau estimate places the population at 201,998.

Population in Montgomery County
Date Population
1790 0
1800 0
1810 0
1820 6,604
1830 12,695
1840 24,574
1850 29,711
1860 35,904
1870 43,704
1880 52,356
1890 56,172
1900 72,047
1910 82,178
1920 80,853
1930 98,671
1940 114,420
1950 138,965
1960 169,210


The population density was 1,297.3 people per square mile (500.9/km²). There were 86,787 housing units at an average density of 558.5/sq mi (215.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 49.63% Black, 47.67% White, 0.25% Native American, 1.06% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.37% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. 1.23% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 78,384 households out of which 32.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 19.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the city the population was spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 12.1% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $35,627, and the median income for a family was $44,297. Males had a median income of $31,877 versus $25,014 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,385. About 13.9% of families and 17.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.7% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those age 65 or over.

Job Highlights of 2006: Montgomery was recently labeled one of the best places to locate technology jobs in America; considering pay and cost of living.

Weather

Montgomery experiences short, warm springs and hot, typically humid summers lasting from mid-May to well into September. Autumns are usually during October and November and are mild - from the mid 60s to 70s (degrees Fahrenheit). Winters last from December until February; their severity/coldness varies from year to year, but they are usually moderate, with temperatures rarely dipping below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Transportation

Montgomery is served by Interstate 65 and Interstate 85. I-65 is the primary north-south freeway through the city leading between Nashville, TN and Mobile, including Birmingham and Huntsville, while I-85, another north-south (running east-west in the city) freeway, leads northeast to Atlanta, and serves as the southern terminus of the route. Montgomery is also served by other major highways which loop around the city: U.S. Highway 31, U.S. Highway 80, U.S. Highway 82, U.S. Highway 231, U.S. Highway 331 and State Route 152. Alabama Department of Transportation is planning the Outer Montgomery Loop to ease traffic congestion in the city. It will connect Interstate 85 to U.S. Highway 80.
The Montgomery Area Transitprovides public transportation with buses serving the city. The major airport serving Montgomery is Dannelly Field, otherwise known as the Montgomery Regional Airport.

City government

The current mayor of Montgomery is Bobby Bright. Bright was elected mayor in the 1999 municipal elections, having unseated longtime Republican Mayor Emory Folmar. Bright was re-elected in a landslide against challenger Scott Simmons in the 2003 and 2007 municipal elections.

The city is served by a nine-member city council, which is composed of nine districts of equal size. The city council is responsible for establishing the city of Montgomery's policies. The current council president is Charles Jinright. The Montgomery City Council meets every first Tuesday of the month at 10:00 am and every third Tuesday of the month at 5:00 pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall downtown.

Current Mayor
Bobby Bright

Current City Council Membership
District Representative Position
I Jim Spear Councilman
II Charles Smith Councilman
III Tracy Larkin Councilman
IV David Burkette Councilman
V Cornelius Calhoun Councilman
VI Willie Cook Councilman
VII Martha Roby Councilwoman
VIII Glen Pruitt, Jr. Councilman
IX Charles Jinright Councilman

Notable points

Media

Newspapers

The morning publication, the Montgomery Advertiser, began publication under that name in 1833. It is the principal newspaper of central Alabama and is affiliated with Gannett. In 1970, then publisher Harold E. Martin (1923-2007) won the Pulitzer Prize for special reporting while at the Advertiser.

There is also the afternoon daily, the Alabama Journal affiliated with The Advertiser.

Local TV

Local radio

Montgomery, AL is ranked #151 by Arbitron.

Events

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Montgomery County is served by the Montgomery Public Schools system. The county is also home to a host of private/parochial schools.

Private schools

Private elementary schools:

Private elementary and middle schools:

  • Bethany Christian Academy, Montgomery

Private high schools:

Private middle and high schools:

Private K-12 schools:

Organized home schools:

Colleges and universities

Montgomery is home to a variety of colleges and universities, including:

Nearby towns

The Montgomery Metro area includes the following nearby towns:

Possible name influences

Incorporated in 1819 when Alabama was admitted to the Union, the new city was named for General Richard Montgomery, who died in the American Revolutionary War attempting to capture Quebec, Canada. Montgomery County, Alabama, was named in memory of Major Lemuel P. Montgomery of Virginia, who fell at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. He was shot in the head by a Redstick musketball, becoming the first man to die in the battle. A statue of Major Montgomery graces the entrance of the Montgomery County Courthouse, located at 251 S. Lawrence St.

Neighborhoods

  • Cloverdale-Idlewild
  • Cottage Hill
  • Cross Creek
  • Forest Hills
  • Forest Park
  • Fox Hollow
  • Garden District, The
  • Gay Meadows
  • Georgetown
  • Glad Lane Estates
  • Glynnwood
  • Green Acres
  • Grove Park
  • Halcyon
  • Halcyon Forest
  • Halcyon Oaks
  • Halcyon South
  • Halcyon Summit
  • Highland Gardens
  • Highland Park
  • Hillwood
  • Lake Forest
  • Lockwood
  • McGehee Estates
  • McGehee Place
  • Melrose

Publications

  • L. P. Powell (editor), in Historic Towns of the Southern States, (New York, 1900)
  • Jeffry C. Benton (editor) A Sense of Place, Montgomery's Architectural History ()

See also

References

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 01:00:08 PDT (GMT -0700)
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