Huntsville is a city
centrally located in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of Alabama
.
It is
located in Madison county
and extends west into neighboring Limestone
county. Huntsville is the
county seat of Madison county, and the fourth
largest city in Alabama. The
2000 census estimated Huntsville's
population at 158,216, while in 2008, the estimated population grew
to 176,645. The Huntsville Metropolitan Area's population was
estimated at 395,645.
Huntsville is the largest city in the
four-county Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical
Area
, which in 2008 had a total population of
545,770.
Originally settled by John Hunt in 1805, the city was incorporated
six years later as Twickenham.
However, it was renamed "Huntsville" during
the War of 1812 and it has grown across
nearby hills and along the Tennessee
River, adding textile mills, then
munitions factories, to become a major
city, including NASA
's Marshall Space
Flight Center
and the United States
Army Aviation and Missile Command nearby at the Redstone
Arsenal
.
History
First settlers
Huntsville
is named after Revolutionary War veteran John Hunt, the first
settler of the land around the Big
Spring
. However, Hunt did not properly register his
claim, and the area was purchased by
Leroy
Pope, who imposed the name Twickenham on the area to honor the
home village of his distant kinsman
Alexander Pope.
Twickenham was carefully planned, with streets laid out on the
northeast to southwest direction based on the Big Spring (
see
images below). However, due to anti-English sentiment during
the War of 1812, the name was changed to Huntsville to honor John
Hunt, who had been forced to move to other land south of the new
city.
Both John Hunt and Leroy Pope were
Freemasons and charter members of
Helion Lodge #1.
Incorporation 1811
In 1811, Huntsville became the first incorporated town in Alabama.
However, the recognized "birth" year of the city is 1805, the year
of John Hunt's arrival. The city's
sesquicentennial anniversary was held in
1955 and the
bicentennial was
celebrated in 2005.
Emerging industries
Huntsville's quick growth was from wealth generated by the
cotton and
railroad
industries. Many wealthy planters moved into the area from
Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In 1819, Huntsville hosted a
constitutional convention in Walker Allen's large cabinetmaking
shop.
The
forty-four delegates meeting there wrote a constitution for the new
state of Alabama
.
In
accordance with the new state constitution, Huntsville became
Alabama's first capital when the state was admitted to the Union
. This was a temporary designation for one
legislative session only, and the capital was then moved to another
temporary location, Cahawba
, until the
legislature selected a permanent capital. (Today, the capital is
Montgomery
.)
In 1855, the
Memphis and
Charleston Railroad was constructed through Huntsville,
becoming the first railway to link the Atlantic seacoast with the
lower Mississippi River.
Civil War

Bird's Eye View of 1871 Huntsville,
Alabama
Huntsville initially opposed secession from the Union in 1861, but
provided many men for the state's defense. The 4th Alabama Infantry
Regiment, led by Col. Egbert J.
Jones of Huntsville, distinguished itself at
the Battle of
Manassas/Bull Run
, the first major encounter of the American Civil War. The Fourth
Alabama Infantry, which contained two Huntsville companies, were
the first Alabama troops to fight in the war and were present when
Lee surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox in
April 1865. Eight generals of the war were born in or near
Huntsville, evenly split with four on each side.
On the morning of April 11, 1862, Union troops led by General
Ormsby M. Mitchel seized Huntsville to sever the
Confederacy's rail communications. The Union troops were forced to
retreat some months later, but returned to Huntsville in the fall
of 1863 and thereafter used the city as a base of operations for
the remainder of the war. While many homes and villages in the
surrounding countryside were burned in retaliation for the active
guerrilla warfare in the area, Huntsville itself was spared because
it housed elements of the Union Army.
After the Civil War
After the Civil War, Huntsville became a center for cotton textile
mills, such as Lincoln, Dallas and Merrimack. Each mill had its own
housing community that included everything the mill workers needed
(schools, churches, grocery stores, theatres, and hardware stores,
all within walking distance of the mill).
Great Depression 1930s
During the 1930s, industry declined in Huntsville due to the
Great Depression. Huntsville became
known as the
Watercress Capital of the
World because of its abundant harvest in the area. Madison County
led Alabama in
cotton production during this
time.
World War II
By 1940, Huntsville was still a small quiet town with a population
of only 13,150 inhabitants. This quickly changed at the onset of
World War II, when Huntsville was
chosen as the location of Huntsville Arsenal, with chemical and
munitions manufacturing plants. The Arsenal was almost closed in
1949 when it was no longer needed, but it saw new life when Major
General
Holger Toftoy with support
from Senator
John Sparkman convinced
the U.S. Army to choose Huntsville as the location for its missile
research program.
In 1950, General Toftoy brought German
rocket scientist Wernher von Braun
and his colleagues to Redstone Arsenal
to develop what would eventually become the United
States' space
program
.
Space flight
On September 8, 1960, U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicated the
Marshall Space
Flight Center
in Huntsville. (NASA
had already
activated this facility, which is located on Redstone Arsenal, on
July 1 of that year.)
The city is nicknamed "
The Rocket City" for its close
history with U.S. space missions.
Huntsville has been important in
developing space technology since the 1950s, when the German
scientists headed by Dr. Wernher von
Braun, brought to the United States
at the end of World War
II through Operation
Paperclip, arrived to develop rocketry for the U.S.
Army. Their work included designing the
Redstone ballistic missile, a variant of
which, the
Juno I, carried the first U.S.
satellite and astronauts into space.
The
Saturn V, used by the
Apollo program manned Moon missions, was
developed at Redstone Arsenal. Huntsville continues to play an
important role in the United States'
Space
Shuttle and
International Space Station
programs. It is estimated that 1 in 13 of Huntsville's population
are employed in some engineering field of work.
Huntsville's economy was nearly crippled and growth came to a near
standstill in the 1970s following the closure of the
Apollo program, but the emergence of the
Space Shuttle and the ever-expanding field of
missile defense in the 1980s helped give
Huntsville a resurgence that continues to this day. The city
remains to the center of rocket-propulsion research in the United
States, and is home to large branches of many
defense contractors. Huntsville is also
the location of the
U.S. Army Aviation and Missile
Command (AMCOM).
Geography

Big Spring Park
Huntsville is located at (34.7, -86.6) . As of April 2008, the city
now has a total area of .
Recent annexations have pushed the city
limits to a total of 9 miles inside Limestone
County
, bordering Athens and Decatur.

The Big Spring, basis of street plan
in Twickenham (renamed in 1812 to "Huntsville").
Huntsville is located in the
Tennessee
River valley. Several
plateaus and large
hills partially surround the city. These plateaus are associated
with the
Cumberland Plateau, and
are locally called "mountains".
Monte Sano Mountain
(Italian for "Healthy Mount") is the most notable,
and is east of the city along with Round Top (Burritt), Chapman,
Huntsville, and Green Mountains. Others are Wade
Mountain to the north, Rainbow Mountain to the west, and Weeden and
Madkin Mountains on Redstone Arsenal
in the south. Brindlee
Mountain
is visible in the south across the Tennessee
River.
As with other areas along the Cumberland Plateau, the land around
Huntsville is
karst in nature. The city was
founded around the Big Spring, which is a typical karst spring, and
many
caves perforate the limestone bedrock
underneath the surface, as is common in karst areas. The
headquarters of the
National Speleological
Society are located in Huntsville.
Climate
Huntsville has a
humid
subtropical climate (
Köppen climate
classification Cfa). It experiences hot, humid summers
and generally mild winters, with average high temperatures ranging
from in the summer to during winter. Some years, Huntsville
experiences
tornadoes during the spring and
fall. Significant tornado events include the
Super Outbreak in 1974, the
November 1989 Tornado
Outbreak that killed 21 and injured almost 500, and the
Anderson Hills Tornado that
killed one and caused extensive damage in 1995. Since Huntsville is
nearly inland,
hurricanes are rarely
experienced with their full force; however, many weakened tropical
storms cross the area after a
U.S.
Gulf Coast landfall. While most
winters have some measurable snow, significant snow is rare in
Huntsville; but there have been some anomalies, like the 1963 New
Years Day snowstorm, when fell within 24 hours. Likewise, the
Blizzard of 1993 and a
Groundhog Day snowstorm in 1996 were
substantial winter events for Huntsville. However, as of the winter
of 2008-09, Huntsville has gone 13 years without any significant
snowfall (>4 inches).
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 158,216
people, 66,742 households, and 41,713 families residing in the
city. The
population density was
909.0 people per square mile (351.0/km²). There were 73,670 housing
units at an average density of 423.3/sq mi (163.4/km²). The
racial makeup of the city was 64.47%
White, 30.21%
Black or
African American, 0.54%
Native American, 2.22%
Asian, 0.06%
Pacific Islander, 0.66% from
other races, and 1.84% from two or more
races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 2.04% of the
population.
There were 66,742 households out of which 27.6% had children under
the age of 18 living with them, 45.5% were married couples living
together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present,
and 37.5% were non-families. 32.3% of all households were made up
of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years
of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the
average family size was 2.91. Same-sex couple households comprised
0.5 % of all househoulds.
Demographic distribution
Age |
<18></18> |
18-24 |
25-44 |
45-64 |
65+ |
Distribution % |
23.1 |
10.7 |
29.3 |
23.4 |
13.4 |
Sex ratio & income distribution
Median Age |
37 |
Sex Ratio F:M |
100:92.8 |
Sex Ratio age 18+ F:M |
100:89.7 |
Median Income |
US$41,074 |
Family Median Income |
$52,202 |
Male Median Income |
$40,003 |
Female Median Income |
$26,085 |
Per capita Income |
$24,015 |
Percent Below poverty |
12.8 |
Age 18 Below Poverty |
18.7 |
Age 65+ Below Poverty |
9.0 |
Politics and government

Huntsville's Administration Building,
also known as City Hall
The current mayor of Huntsville is
Tommy
Battle, who was elected in 2008. The Deputy Mayor/City
Administrator is Rex Reynolds, who also serves as the city's Public
Safety Director. The city has a five-member/district City Council.
The current members are:
- District 1 (Northwest): Richard Showers,
Sr.
- District 2 (East): Mark Russell
(President)
- District 3 (Southeast): Sandra Moon
- District 4 (Southwest): Bill Kling
- District 5 (West): Will Culver.
Council elections are "staggered", meaning that Districts 2, 3, and
4 will have elections in August 2010, while Districts 1 and 5 will
have elections simultaneously with mayoral elections in 2012.
There are also many boards and commissions run by the city,
controlling everything from schools and planning to museums and
downtown development.
In July 2007 then Senator Barack Obama held the first fund raiser
in Alabama for his Presidential campaign in Huntsville. Obama ended
up winning the Alabama Democratic Primary and Madison County by
large margins in 2008.
See also: List of mayors of
Huntsville, Alabama
Public Safety
In 2007, Mayor
Loretta Spencer
combined the police, fire, and animal services departments to
create the
Department of Public Safety. The former chief
of police,
Rex Reynolds, was appointed as its director.
The new department has nearly 900 employees and an annual budget of
$63 million.
Fire
The
Huntsville Fire Department has 19 engine companies, 4
ladder/rescue companies, and 2 hazardous materials companies
located in 17 stations throughout the city of Huntsville. Many
Huntsville firefighters are also members of the regional Hazardous
Materials and
Heavy Rescue response teams. The day-to-day operations
of the department are currently carried out by the department's two
Deputy Chiefs, while the city looks for a new Fire Chief to replace
the recently retired Danny Loggins.
Police
The
Huntsville Police Department has 3 precincts and 1
downtown HQ, 360 sworn officers, 150 civilian personnel, and
patrols an area of 194.7+ square miles (this number has grown due
to recent annexations). The current chief is
Henry
Reyes.
Police Academy
The
Huntsville Police Academy is one of the oldest
police academies in the United States. To date the Academy has
completed 49 basic academies, and 47 Lateral classes. On May 8,
2006 the Huntsville Police Academy began the 47th Basic Session.
Until the 47th Lateral Session, academies were held at the Old
Huntsville Airport on Airport Rd. After the graduation of the 46th
Session, the academy moved to the Public Safety Training Complex on
Sparkman Drive, which is also home to the Huntsville Fire
Academy.
Economy
Huntsville's main economic influence is derived from aerospace and
military technology.
Redstone Arsenal
, Cummings
Research Park (CRP), and NASA
's Marshall Space
Flight Center
comprise the main hubs for the area's
technology-driven economy. CRP is the second largest
research park in the United States and the fourth largest in the
world, and is over 38 years old. Huntsville is also home for
commercial technology companies such as the network access company
ADTRAN, computer graphics company
Intergraph and design and manufacturer of IT
infrastructure
Avocent. Telecommunications
provider
Deltacom, Inc. and copper
tube manufacturer and distributor
Wolverine Tube are also based in Huntsville.
Cinram manufactures and distributes
20th Century Fox DVDs and
Blu-ray Discs out of their Huntsville plant.
Sanmina-SCI also has a large presence in
the area. Forty-two
Fortune 500
companies have operations in Huntsville.
In 2005,
Forbes Magazine named the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical
Area
as 6th best place in the nation for doing business,
and number one in terms of the number of engineers per total
employment. In 2006, Huntsville dropped to 14th; the
prevalence of engineers was not considered in the 2006
ranking.
Retail
Huntsville is fast becoming a regional retail center. There are
many strip malls and "power centers" throughout the city.
Huntsville has two malls—Madison
Square Mall
, built in 1984, and Parkway Place
, built in 2002 on the site of the former Parkway
City Mall. The city also has a lifestyle center called
Bridge
Street Town Centre
, built in 2007, in Cummings Research Park.
Another
"live, work, and play" center is being constructed on the former
site of the Heart of Huntsville Mall
. It is to be called Constellation with
ground breaking in Fall 2007 and scheduled completion by
2010.
Utilities
Electricity, water, and natural gas are all provided in Huntsville
by
Huntsville
Utilities (HU). HU purchases and resells power from the
Tennessee Valley
Authority.
TVA has two plants that provide electricity
to the Huntsville area- Browns Ferry
Nuclear Power
Plant in Limestone
County
and Guntersville Dam
in Marshall County
. A third, Bellefonte
Nuclear Power Plant
in Jackson County
, was built in the 1980s but was never
activated. Due to the rapid growth of the region, TVA has
plans to eventually activate the plant.
Telephone service in Huntsville is provided by
AT&T,
Knology and
Comcast . Huntsville has 2 cable providers
in the city limits:
Comcast and
Knology (
Mediacom in rural
outlying areas). Parts of Madison and Huntsville are long distance
to themselves (in Limestone county areas) as AT&T has not kept
pace with growth in the region. The US Postal service also has not
kept up with growth as parts of Huntsville city limits has
customers with Owens Cross Roads, Madison on Athens, AL
addresses.
Transportation
Huntsville is served by several U.S.
Highways, including
72, 231, 431
and an Interstate highway spur,
I-565, that links the two cities of
Huntsville and Decatur
to I-65.
Alabama Highway 53 also connects the
city with I-65 in Ardmore
, Tennessee
.
Public transit
Public transit in Huntsville is run by the city's
Department of Parking and Public Transit. The
Huntsville Shuttle runs 11 fixed
routes throughout the city, mainly around downtown and major
shopping areas like
Memorial Parkway and
University Drive and has recently expanded some of the buses to
include bike racks on the front for a trial program. There is also
a Tourist Trolley that makes stops at tourist attractions and
shopping centers. The city also runs HandiRide, a demand-response
transit system for the handicapped, and RideShare, a county-wide
carpooling program.
Railroads
Huntsville has two active commercial rail lines.
The mainline is run
by Norfolk Southern, which runs
from Memphis,
TN
to Chattanooga
. The original depot for this rail line, the
Huntsville
Depot
still exists, though it no longer offers passenger
service.
Another rail line, formerly part of the Louisville and Nashville
Railroad, successor to the Nashville, Chattanooga and Saint Louis
Railroad, is being operated by HMCRA (Huntsville-Madison County
Railroad Authority). The line connects to the Norfolk Southern line
downtown and runs South, passing near
Ditto Landing on the
Tennessee River, and terminating at Norton
Switch, near Hobbs Island. This service, in continuous operation
since 1894, presently hauls freight and provides
transloading facilities at its downtown depot
location. Until the mid-fifties, L & N provided freight and
passenger service to Guntersville and points South. The rail cars
were loaded onto barges at Hobbs Island. The barge tows were taken
through the Guntersville Dam & Locks and discharged at Port
Guntersville. Remnants of the track supporting piers still remain
in the river just upstream from Hobbs Island. The service ran twice
daily. L & N abandoned the line in 1984 at which time it was
acquired by the newly-created HMCRA, a State Agency.
The
North Alabama Railroad
Museum in Chase maintains a line once owned by the
Louisville and Nashville
Railroad (L&N). The museum runs weekend tourist rides along
a short track in Northeast Madison County. The origin of these
rides was once the smallest Union Station in the United States when
it served the predecessor to L&N and the predecessor to the
Norfolk and Western
Railroad.
Ports
The
inland Port of Huntsville
combines the Huntsville International
Airport
, International Intermodal Center, and Jetplex
Industrial Park. The intermodal terminal transfers truck and
train cargo. The port has on-site
U.S.
Customs and USDA
inspectors and is Foreign Trade Zone No. 83.
Huntsville
International Airport
is served by several regional and national carriers
(including Delta, Northwest, US Airways, Continental, United, and
American) and offers non-stop flights to many airports across the
Eastern U.S. However, Huntsville International gets its name
because of its reputation as a cargo transport hub. Many delivery
companies have hubs in Huntsville, making delivery flights to
Europe, Asia, and Mexico.
[15392]
Media and communications
Newspapers
The Huntsville Times
has been Huntsville's only daily newspaper since 1996, when the
Huntsville News closed. Before then, the
News was
the morning paper, and the
Times was the afternoon paper
until 2004. The Huntsville Times has a weekday circulation of
60,000, which rises to 80,000 on Sundays.
A few alternative newspapers are available in Huntsville. The
Valley
Planet covers arts and entertainment in the Tennessee
Valley area. The
Redstone Rocket is a newspaper distributed
throughout Redstone Arsenal's housing area covering activities on
Redstone.
Speakin' Out News is a weekly newspaper focused
on African Americans.
El Reportero is a Spanish-language
newspaper for North Alabama.
Radio
Huntsville is the 113th largest radio market in the United States.
Huntsville's National Weather Service forecast and warning station
broadcasts as
KIH20.
Huntsville also
receives several radio stations from Birmingham
and Nashville
.
Television
The
Huntsville DMA serves 15 counties in North Alabama and 6 counties
in Southern Middle Tennessee
.
TV Stations:
Movie theaters
There are 6 movie theaters located in Huntsville. They are:
Feature films shot in Huntsville
A few feature films have been shot in Huntsville, including
20
years After (2008 originally named
Like Moles, Like
Rats in 2006),
Air Band (2005), and
Constellation (2005).
Portions of the film
SpaceCamp (1986) were filmed at
Huntsville's U.S.
Space and Rocket Center
at the eponymous facility. The U.S. Space
and Rocket Center stood in for NASA in the 1989 movie
Beyond the Stars starring
Martin Sheen,
Christian Slater, and
Sharon Stone.
Parts of Tom
and Huck (1995) were filmed in Cathedral
Caverns
, located on the outskirts of Huntsville.
Following in the motif of the "Rocket City," Columbia Pictures
filmed
Ravagers (1979) in The Land Trust's Historic Three
Caves Quarry, at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and on location
at an antebellum home located next door to Lee High School. This
cult classic starred
Richard Harris,
Ernest Borgnine,
Ann Turkel,
Art Carney
and Cecily Hovanes.
Huntsville's legacy in the space program continues to draw film
producers looking for background material for space-themed films.
During
the pre-production of the film Apollo 13 (1995), the cast and crew
spent time at Space Camp
and Marshall
Space Flight Center
preparing for their roles. Space Camp also
garnered a mention in the film
Stranger than Fiction and
was featured in a 2008 episode of
Penn
& Teller: Bullshit! on NASA.
Education
K-12 education
The majority of K-12 students in Huntsville attend Huntsville City
Schools. In the 2007-2008 school year 22,839 students attended
Huntsville City Schools, 77% of all students scored at or above
state and national ACT averages, and of the 1279 members of the
graduating class, "approximately 92% of the students indicated that
they planned to enter a post-secondary institution for further
study, 43% obtained scholarship & monetary awards," and
"received 2,988 scholarships totaling $33,619,040, had forty-one
National Merit Scholars, three National Achievement Scholars, and
two perfect ACT scores."
/ Huntsville City Schools Annual Report
Of the 53 schools in the Huntsville City Schools system in 2007-08,
there were:
- 25 Elementary, and
- 2 K-8 which serve 10,836 students.
For grades 6-12, there are 11,696 students enrolled in the
following schools:
- 10 middle schools (grades 6-8)
- 7 high schools
- 3 Special Centers - 2 Schools of Choice, 1 Program of Choice
(1B)
- 4 Magnet - 2, Grades K-8 & 2, Grades 9-12
Of every dollar spent, 54¢ goes for Instructional Services, 15¢ for
Instructional Support Services, 11¢ for Operation &
Maintenance, 8¢ Capital Outlay, 7¢ Auxiliary Services, 3¢ General
Administrative Services, 2¢ Debt/Other Expenditures.
And 60% of HCS teachers have at least a Master's Degree or
better.
The 2 magnet elementary schools are The Academy for Academics and
Arts and the Academy for Science and Foreign Language. The 3 magnet
middle schools are Williams Technology, The Academy for Academics
and Arts, and the Academy for Science and Foreign Language, and the
2 magnet high schools are New Century Technology High School and
Lee High School.
There are aproximately 21 private, parochial, and religious schools
also serving students in grades pre-K-12. Several accredited
private Christian schools serve Huntsville, AL and Madison County,
AL. Among them are Catholic High School
[15393], Faith
Christian Academy
[15394], Westminster Christian Academy, Madison
Academy, and numerous others.
Higher education
Huntsville's higher education institutions include:
The University of Alabama in Huntsville is the largest university
serving the greater Huntsville area. The research-intensive
university has more than 7,700 students. Approximately half of the
university’s graduates earn a degree in engineering or science,
making the university one of the largest producers of engineers and
physical scientists in Alabama.
Oakwood University, founded in 1896, is a Seventh-day Adventist
university and a member institution of the United Negro College
Fund. It is one of the nation's leading producers of successful
Black applicants to medical schools. Also, the school is home to
the USCAA National Basketball Champions (2008) and the winning team
of the 19th Annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge National
Championship Tournament (2008).
Numerous colleges and universities have satellite locations or
extensions in Huntsville:
Huntsville
Hospital
and Crestwood Medical Center also has an accredited
school of radiologic technology[15403].
Attractions
Historic districts
- Twickenham Historic District
was chosen as the name of the first of three of the
city's historic districts. It features homes in the Federal
and Greek Revival architectural styles introduced to the city by
Virginia-born architect George Steele
about 1818, and contains the most dense concentration of antebellum
homes in Alabama. The 1819 Weeden House Museum, home of female
artist and poet Howard Weeden, is open to the public, as are
several others in the district.
- Old
Town Historic District [15404] contains a variety of styles (Federal,
Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and even California cottages), with
homes dating from the late 1820s through the early 1900s.
- Five Points Historic
District [15405], the newest historic district, consists
predominantly of bungalows built around the turn of the 20th
century, by which time Huntsville was becoming a mill town.
Museums

- US Space
& Rocket Center
is home to the US Space Camp and Aviation
Challenge programs as well as the only Saturn
V rocket designated a National Historic
Landmark.
- Alabama Constitution Village
features eight reconstructed Federal style
buildings, with living-museums displays downtown.[15406]
- Burritt Museum and Park located on Monte Sano
Mountain
, is a regional history museum featuring a 1930s
mansion, nature trails, scenic overlooks and more.[15407]
- Clay House Museum is an
antebellum home built ca. 1853 and showcases decorative styles up
to 1950 and an outstanding collection of Noritake Porcelain.[15408]
- Early Works Museum is a child friendly interactive museum in
downtown Huntsville.[15409]
- Harrison Brothers Hardware Store established in 1879, is the
oldest operating hardware store in Alabama. Though now owned and
operated by the Historic Huntsville Foundation, it is still a
working store, and part museum featuring skilled craftsmen who
volunteer to run the store and answer questions.[15410][15411]
- The
Historic Huntsville
Depot
completed in 1860 is the oldest surviving railroad
depot in Alabama and one of the oldest surviving depots in the
United States.[15412]
- Huntsville Museum of Art
in Big Spring International Park offers
permanent displays, traveling exhibitions, and educational programs
for children and adults.[15413]
- Sci-Quest is an interactive premiere hands-on museum for early
childhood education, aged four through sixth grade.[15414]
- North Alabama Railroad
Museum is a railroad museum with over 30 pieces of rolling
stock.[15415]
Parks
- Big Spring International Park
is a park in downtown Huntsville centered around a
natural water body (Big Spring). The park contains the
Huntsville Museum of Art and is home to festivals such as the
Panoply Arts Festival and the Big Spring Jam. There are many fish
that live in the spring's niche. There is also a waterfall and a
constantly-lit gas torch. Many Huntsvillians enjoy walking around
and spending time at the park.
- Land
Trust of Huntsville & North Alabama is a member supported,
non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the
natural heritage of the area, and has preserved more than of open
space, wildflower areas, wetlands, working farms and scenic vistas
in North Alabama, including 1,000+ acres (4.0 km²) of the
Monte Sano Preserve (Monte Sano Mountain), 1,000+ acres
(4.0 km²) of the Blevins Gap Preserve (Huntsville & Green
Mountains), and of the Wade Mountain Preserve. Volunteers have
created and maintain 33+ miles (53+ km) of public trails - all
of which are within the Huntsville city limits.[15419]
- The Lydia Gold
Skatepark [15420], located at 200 Cleveland Avenue, NW (behind
the Historic Huntsville Depot, between Church and Meridian Streets)
is a free venue open to the public from sunup until sundown. In
2003, it was dedicated to the late Lydia Leigh Gold (1953-1993), an
area skateboarding activist in the 1980s and the former owner of
“Tattooed Lady Comics and Skateboards.” Helmets are the only pad
requirement. No bikes, scooters, or other wheeled vehicles are
allowed – only skateboards and rollerblades are permitted.[15421]
Festivals
- Big Spring Jam is an annual
three-day music festival held on the last full weekend of September
in and around Big Spring International Park in downtown Huntsville.
It features a diversity of music including rock, country,
Christian, kid-friendly, and oldies.
- The Panoply
Arts Festival, an annual Huntsville tradition since 1981, is
presented by Boeing on behalf of The Arts
Council and held the last full weekend of each April in
downtown’s Big Spring International Park, Von Braun Center Concert
Hall, and Huntsville Museum of Art. This three-day festival
features presentations, demonstrations, performances, and workshops
while promoting and enhancing the arts. Over the years, Panoply has
evolved into "the South's Most All-Embracing ARTStravaganza,"
featuring activities and events like the “Global Village” – a
gateway to the area’s diverse cultures – to FREE hands-on
children’s activities to the “Official Alabama State Fiddling
Championship.” Panoply has had three record attendances in a row,
averaging 125,000 for 2007, 2008, and 2009. The Southeast Tourism
Society consistently ranks the festival among their “Top Twenty
Events” and Gov. Bob Riley announced it as one of Alabama’s Top Ten
Tourism Events.
- The June Black Arts Festival is the largest two-day ethnic
festival in the Huntsville area. From the performing to the visual
arts, it provides a glimpse of the wealth of talent among local,
regional & national entertainers & artists within the black
community. Begun in 1990 by veteran Huntsville broadcaster Hundley
Batts, Sr., the first 17 events were held at the grounds
surrounding the WEUP studio complex. Because of parking
and traffic considerations, the festival (beginning with 2007) is
now held on the grounds of Alabama A&M University
, near the Louis Crews Stadium. Note that the
2009 festival has been cancelled.
- Con†Stellation is an
annual general-interest science fiction convention. Con†Stellation
(also written as Con*Stellation) is generally held over a
Friday-Sunday weekend in September each year (as of 2009) but exact
dates vary.
Public golf courses
- Becky Pierce Municipal Golf Course, known locally as
the "Muni", off Airport Road (named for the old airport, not near
the current airport).
- Sunset Landing Golf Club (located next to the airport)
- Colonial Golf Course
- Fox Run Golf Course
- Redstone Arsenal Golf Course (Open to military ID holders)
- Hampton Cove is one of the Robert Trent Jones Golf
Trails, named after Hampton Cove
, and features two championship 18-hole courses and
one par three. (Owens Cross Roads, AL)
- Harvest Hills Golf Course (Harvest, AL)
- Chriswood Golf Course (Athens, AL)
- Southern Gayles (Athens, AL)
- Canebrake Club (Athens, AL)
Private golf courses
- Established in 1925, the historic Huntsville
Country Club boasts a challenging 18-hole course with dining
and banquet facilities located just North of downtown at 2601
Oakwood Avenue.
- The Ledges is Huntsville's newest golf community with 18 holes,
dining and banquet facilities overlooking Jones Valley.
- Valley Hill Country Club features 27 holes in South
Huntsville's Jones Valley.
Libraries
- The Huntsville Madison County Public
Library
founded in 1818, is Alabama's oldest continually
operating library system with 12 branches throughout the county
including one bookmobile. The Main
Library Archives contains a wealth of historical resources,
including displays of photographic collections and artifacts, has
Alabama's highest materials circulation rate, and features daily
public programs.
Performing arts
- Huntsville Symphony
Orchestra is Alabama's oldest continuously operating
professional symphony orchestra, featuring high quality
performances of classical, pops and family concerts, and extensive
music education programs serving public schools.
- Fantasy Playhouse is Huntsville's oldest children's
theater, with nearly 50 years of performing for the young and young
at heart (2010-2011 will be the Golden Anniversary Season). An
all-volunteer organization, Fantasy Playhouse engages the children
of North Alabama both on stage and off. Fantasy Academy, the
organization's dance, music and art school, teaches hundreds of
children and adults each year. Fantasy Playhouse regularly produces
three plays a year with an additional annual play, A Christmas
Carol produced early each December.
- Theatre
Huntsville, the result of a merger between the Twickenham
Repertory Company (1979-1997) and Huntsville Little Theatre
(1950-1997), is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, all-volunteer arts
organization that presents six plays each season in the Von Braun
Center Playhouse, and also produces the annual "Shakespeare on the
Mountain" in an outdoor venue, such as Burritt on the Mountain.
Presentations range from such popular favorites as "The Foreigner"
and "Noises Off" to original plays ("The Trial of Frank James in
Huntsville, Alabama") to cutting-edge productions, including "Mrs.
Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge," "The Laramie Project" and
"Angels in America," to the occasional musical ("Little Shop of
Horrors," "Nunsense"). TH presents drama-related workshops (stage
management, stage makeup, etc.), as announced.
- Independent Musical Productions, was founded in 1993
and presents at least one annual main production such as "Ragtime,"
"Civil War," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,"
"Into The Woods," and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street." In addition, musicals for children and outreach programs
compliment the season. Productions are held at the local Lee High
School "Lee Lyric Theatre" for purposes of cost, parking, outreach,
seating capacity, and technical venue attributes afforded by the
school.
- Plays are also performed at Renaissance
Theatre, with two stages, the MainStage (upstairs) and the
Alpha Stage (downstairs), each with the intimate setting of about
85 seats. Formerly the commissary building for the historic Lincoln
Mill Village, the theatre is located on Meridian Street, in front
of Lincoln Elementary School (just north of downtown). Performances
range from original works to standards, and have included the
regional première of "The Maltese Falcon" (April 2008); "Doubt, A
Parable," "Urinetown," "The Rocky Horror Show," "The Lion in
Winter," and "The Eight: Reindeer Monologues."
- Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit organziation that opened its doors in 2007, after nearly
$3 million in renovations to the historic building. Once the social
center of the Merrimack Mill Village in the early 1900s, rhe
building was home to the Company Store, gymnasium, bowling alley,
and provided a place for socialization and recreation to all of the
village's residents. Merrimack Hall now includes a 302-seat,
state-of-the-art performance hall, a 3,000-square foot dance
studio, and rehearsal and instructional spaces for musicians. Past
productions and performers include "Menopause The Musical,"
"Dixie's Tupperware Party," Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters,
Dionne Warwick, Lisa Loeb, Wade Robson, Claire Lynch, and the
Second City Comedy Troupe.
- Huntsville hosts a season of broadway productions hosted by the
Broadway Theatre League Such shows as "Rent,"
"Chicago," "Sweeney Todd," "Spamalot," and "Chitty Chitty Bang
Bang," along with season extras such as "Happy Days" and "The Rat
Pack," have been performed with featured performers in the Von
Braun Center's Concert Hall. BTL marks its 50th Anniversary Season
in 2009-2010.
- Ars Nova School of the Arts
is a local conservatory for music and
performing arts. Ars Nova also produces musical theatre,
opera, and operetta for the local stage, ranging from Verdi's
"Macbeth" to "The Mikado" and "My Fair Lady."
- Huntsville
Community Chorus Association is Huntsville's oldest performing
arts organization, producing both choral concerts and musical
theater productions. In addition, HCCA features its Madrigal
Singers; "Glitz!" (a show choir); a Chamber Chorale; an annual
summer melodrama; and two children's groups, the Huntsville
Community Children’s Chorus (HC3) and HC3Jr, for the younger
set.
Convention centers and arenas
- The
Von Braun
Center
, which opened in 1975, has an arena capable of
seating 10,000, a 2,000-seat concert hall, a 500-seat playhouse
(~330 seats with proscenium staging), and of convention
space. Both the arena and concert hall are scheduled for
major renovations; upon completion, they will be rechristened the
Propst Arena and the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall, respectively.
Other
Sports
Past sports franchises
Stadiums
Notable natives and residents
- Tallulah Bankhead, famous
actress
- William B. Bankhead, Speaker of
the United States House of Representatives from 1936-1940;
father of Tallulah Bankhead; the local Bankhead Parkway is named in
his honor
- Fred "Rerun" Berry, best known as "Rerun"
in the "What's Happening" television sitcom; also a member of the
Locker Dancers who would appear on Soul Train during the
1970s
- Bo Bice, American Idol runner-up
- David B. Birney, Union Army general and son of
James G. Birney
- James G. Birney, Southern abolitionist leader and
presidential candidate of the Liberty Party (anti-slavery) in 1840
and 1845
- William Birney, Union Army
general and son of James G. Birney
- Michael E. Brown, noted astronomer
- J.Reu, Rapper, Singer, Producer,
Songwriter
- José Canseco, Major League
slugger, played for the Huntsville Stars, where he was nicknamed
"Parkway Jose" for his many home runs
- Stewart Cink, PGA tour golfer and
winner of the 2009 British Open
- Robert E. Cramer, former Congressman representing Alabama's
5th Congressional District
- Thomas Turpin
Crittenden, Union Army general
- Howard Cross,
All-American tight end for the University Of Alabama
and New York
Giants
- Kenneth Darby, former star running
back for the University of Alabama
- Dr. Julian Davidson, best known as the "Father" of Missile
Defense; chairman of the board, Davidson
Technologies Incorporated
- Clifton Davis, Grammy Award-winner
for the Jackson Five song "Never Can Say Goodbye", actor, singer
and television show host
- Dr. Jan Davis, former astronaut; among crew on three Space Shuttle missions in 1992, 1994, and
1997
- Felicia Day, actress
- Michael Durant, CW4 (Ret) Black
Hawk Pilot, 160th Special Operations Group, New York Times
bestselling author
- Bobby Eaton, professional
wrestler
- Albert Russel Erskine,
famed chairman of the Studebaker Corp.
- Andrew
Jackson Hamilton, appointed Union military governor of Texas
(with rank
of general) by Abraham Lincoln
(1862) and appointed Reconstruction governor of Texas
by
Andrew Johnson (1865-66)
- Cully Hamner, noted comic book
artist
- Heartland, country music band
- John S. Hendricks, founder and chairman of the
Discovery Channel
- Homer Hickam, author
- Hallerin Hilton Hill, award
winning songwriter, talk radio host, former station manager of WOCG
radio, author of "Seven Pillars of Wisdom".
- Margaret Hoelzer, 2004 and 2008
Olympic swimmer
- Bill Holbrook, nationally
published artist of the newspaper comic strip "On the
Fastrack"
- Condredge
Holloway, football quarterback at the University
of Tennessee
and in the Canadian Football
League
- Dave
James, 1987 graduate of Virgil I.
Grissom High School
and QVC host since May 2005 -
the only QVC host in program history to be voted
into position by viewers during the "America's Host Search" held in
2004, beating over 4,000 contestants in the nationwide
contest.
- Buck Johnson, former University of
Alabama and Houston Rockets basketball star
- Jimmy Key, former MLB All-Star pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.
- Clarke Lewis,
was a United States
Representative from Mississippi
.
- Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery,
respectfully dubbed the "dean of the Civil Rights Movement" by the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a
Huntsville native, and co-founded the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC) with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Dr. William R. Lucas, rocket scientist and former Director
of the Marshall Space Flight Center
- Mark McGwire, Major League slugger,
got his start with the Huntsville Stars
- Brian McKnight, Grammy
Award-winning singer and writer
- Jimmy Means, NASCAR driver
- Don Mincher, born in Huntsville,
major league baseball player
and president of the Southern
League
- John Hunt Morgan, general in
the Army of the Confederate States of
America
- Amobi Okoye, defensive lineman for
the Houston Texans
- Edward A. O'Neal, governor of Alabama
1882-86; he
was a major and lieutenant colonel in the Army of the Confederate States of
America
- Chris O'Neil, 1986
Goodwill Games gold medalist in
Swimming (100 meter butterfly)
- John Piersma, 1996 Olympic
swimmer
- Brian Reynolds, game developer
best known for designing Sid Meier's
Civilization II
- Jared Ross, professional hockey
player for the Philadelphia
Flyers, first native from Alabama to play in the NHL.
- Ramzee Robinson, former star
cornerback for the University of Alabama
- Debby Ryan, actress best known for
her role as Bailey Pickett in Disney
Channel original series The
Suite Life on Deck
- Dred Scott, slave who fought for his
freedom lived on what is now known as Oakwood University
- Bryan Shelton, professional tennis
player
- Mark Spencer, creator of the open
source Gaim instant messenger, and the Asterisk open source PBX
- John
Stallworth, former Pittsburgh
Steelers player and 2002 inductee into the Pro Football
Hall of Fame

- Gabby Street, born in Huntsville,
major league baseball player
- Take 6, Grammy Award-winning gospel group
formed in Huntsville
- Harry Townes, 1914-2001, actor who
appeared on Broadway, in movies, and on television
- Dr.
Wernher von Braun, German rocket
scientist, "father of American space program
"
- Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder
- Leroy Pope Walker, first
Secretary of War of the Confederate States of America
and briefly a brigadier general in the Confederate Army
- Mervyn Warren, five-time
Grammy-award-winning recording artist, film composer, record
producer, songwriter/arranger, and an original member of Take 6
- Harry Watters, professional
trombonist and songwriter
- Ken Watters, professional trumpet
player and songwriter
- Russell Wikle, professional
motorcycle racer
- Jones M. Withers, major general in the army of the
Confederate States of
America
Hospitals
Suburbs
Sister cities
Huntsville's
sister cities include:
References
External links