Timeline of Huntsville, Alabama
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
Prior to 20th century[edit]
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- 1809 - Town of Twickenham incorporated in U.S. Mississippi Territory.[1]
- 1811 - Twickenham renamed "Huntsville".[1]
- 1812 - Green Academy established.[1]
- 1817
- Town becomes part of U.S. Alabama Territory.
- Huntsville Republican newspaper in publication.[2]
- 1818 - Huntsville social library active.[3]
- 1819
- Alabama Territory constitutional convention held in Huntsville.[4]
- Town becomes part of new U.S. state of Alabama.
- Newly formed Alabama Legislature convenes in Huntsville.[1]
- 1820 - Alabama state capital relocated from Huntsville to Cahaba.[1]
- 1822 - Maple Hill Cemetery in use (approximate date).
- 1825 - Southern Advocate and Huntsville Advertiser newspaper in publication.[2]
- 1835 - A large fire near the Courthouse Square destroys about a dozen buildings.[5]
- 1840 - Population: 2,496.
- 1844 - Huntsville was chartered as a city.[6]
- 1855 - Memphis and Charleston Railroad begins operating.
- 1860 - Huntsville Depot built.
- 1862 - Huntsville occupied by Union forces during the American Civil War.[7][6]
- 1870 - Population: 4,907.
- 1888 - Old Federal Square U.S. Post Office and Courts built on corner of Randolph St and Green St
- 1888 - Monte Sano Railroad Workers' House built.
- 1896 - Oakwood College founded.[8]
- 1898 - B’nai Israel Synagogue built.[9]
- 1900 - Population: 8,068.[6]
20th century[edit]
- 1904 - An angry mob sets fire to the city jail during the lead up to the Lynching of Horace Maples.[10]
- 1910 - Huntsville Daily Times newspaper begins publication.[2]
- 1912 - Lyric Theatre in business.[11]
- 1916 - Carnegie Public Library building opens.[12]
- 1932 - United States Courthouse and Post Office built.
- 1935 - Monte Sano State Park established near city.[8]
- 1937 - WBHP radio begins broadcasting.[13]
- 1938 - Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge established in vicinity of Huntsville.[8]
- 1941 - U.S. military Redstone Arsenal begins operating.[8]
- 1943 - (August) Community Chest, later to become United Way of Madison County, founded by community leaders
- 1947 - Keller (automobile) production begins.
- 1950
- Area of city: 4 square miles.[14]
- Population: 16,437.
- 1951 - Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society formed.[15]
- 1955
- Huntsville Symphony Orchestra formed.
- Memorial Parkway is constructed as a bypass around downtown.
- 1957 - Lee High School built.
- 1959 - WAFG-TV (television) begins broadcasting.[16]
- 1960
- U.S. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center established.[8]
- Area of city: 51 square miles.[14]
- Population: 72,365.
- 1962 - Arts Council formed.
- 1964 - Huntsville News begins publication.[17]
- 1968 - Joe W. Davis becomes mayor.
- 1969 - Virgil I. Grissom High School established.
- 1970 - Population: 139,282.
- 1974 - Oakwood Adventist Academy established.
- 1975
- Von Braun Civic Center (convention centre) opens.
- Madison County Nature Trail established.
- 1976 - Huntsville Depot museum established.[18]
- 1982
- Panoply Arts Festival begins.
- Alabama Constitution Village museum established.[18]
- 1984 - Madison Square Mall in business.[14]
- 1986 - Interstate 565 highway construction starts.[14]
- 1988 - Steve Hettinger becomes mayor.
- 1989 - November 1989 tornado outbreak.[8]
- 1990 - Population: 159,880.[14]
- 1993 - Big Spring Jam (music festival) begins.
- 1995 - May 18: Anderson Hills tornado.
- 1996
- Loretta Spencer becomes mayor.
- Huntsville News ceases publication.[17]
- 1997 - United States Army Aviation and Missile Command headquartered in Huntsville.[14]
21st century[edit]
- 2006 - November 20: 2006 Huntsville bus crash.
- 2008 - Tommy Battle becomes mayor.
- 2010
- February 12: 2010 University of Alabama in Huntsville shooting.
- Population: 180,105.[19]
- 2014
- 2018 - A Huntsville police officer, William Darby, shoots and kills a suicidal man seconds after arriving at the scene.[22][23] The city council votes to pay the officer's legal defense. Cleared of wrong-doing by the police review board,[24] Darby is convicted of murder.[25] The mayor and police chief continued to support the officer after the guilt verdict.[26][27]
- 2020
- Construction begins on the next segment of the Northern Bypass, connecting Interstate 565 to US 231/431.
- A George Floyd protest on June 3, 2020, was ended by Huntsville Police along with SWAT and Incident Response Team[28] using tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets.[29][30][31]
See also[edit]
- Huntsville, Alabama history
- List of mayors of Huntsville, Alabama
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Huntsville, Alabama
- Timelines of other cities in Alabama: Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Greg Schmidt. "Huntsville". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Alabama Humanities Foundation. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ a b c "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ Davies Project. "American Libraries before 1876". Princeton University. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ Federal Writers' Project 1941.
- ^ "Fire on Square - copy, 1835". UAH Archives and Special Collections. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
- ^ a b c Britannica 1910.
- ^ Brown 1998.
- ^ a b c d e f Hellmann 2006.
- ^ "Huntsville, Alabama". Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities. Jackson, Mississippi: Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ "Alabama Mob Hangs Nergo" (PDF). The New York Times. No. Page 1. 8 September 1904. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
- ^ "Movie Theaters in Huntsville, AL". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ "Alabama". American Library Annual, 1917-1918. New York: R.R. Bowker Co. 1918. pp. 7 v. hdl:2027/mdp.39015013751220.
- ^ Jack Alicoate, ed. (1939), "Alabama", Radio Annual, New York: Radio Daily, OCLC 2459636
- ^ a b c d e f g City of Huntsville 2016City and Context
- ^ "Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society". Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ Charles A. Alicoate, ed. (1960), "Television Stations: Alabama", Radio Annual and Television Year Book, New York: Radio Daily Corp., OCLC 10512206
- ^ a b "Goodbye to the Huntsville News", Congressional Record, Washington DC, March 6, 1996
- ^ a b American Association for State and Local History (2002). "Alabama: Huntsville". Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada (15th ed.). Rowman Altamira. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0759100020.
- ^ "Huntsville city, Alabama". QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- ^ Discover Huntsville, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, 2015
- ^ "Restore Our Roads". City of Huntsville. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
- ^ Beachum, Lateshia (8 May 2021). "Alabama police officer convicted of murder for shooting suicidal man in 2018". The Washington Post. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "Huntsville Police Officer William Darby found guilty of murder". Nexstar Media Inc. WHNT News 19. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "Jury convicts Alabama officer of murder in 2018 shooting". FOX News. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "Officer convicted of murder still gets paid in Alabama". The Associated Press. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "Police Chief, Mayor release statements on Murder conviction of Officer Darby". WHNT News 19. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ Remkus, Ashley (7 May 2021). "Huntsville police officer William Ben Darby convicted of murder for shooting Jeffery Parker". AL.com. The Huntsville Times. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ Lightfoot, Franklin & White, LLC (22 April 2021). "Report by Independent Counsel to The Huntsville Police Citizens Advisory Council" (PDF): 50 of 248. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Klapp, Caroline (23 April 2021). "Breakdown of 248 page report on Huntsville Police response to June 2020 protests". WAFF 48 News. Gray Media Group, Inc. Station. NBC. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
- ^ Remkus, Ashley (23 April 2021). "Protest review finds 'unprofessional' behavior, policy violations by Huntsville police". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ "UPDATED: Downtown Huntsville protest ends with riot gas, arrests". WAFF 48 News. Gray Media Group, Inc. NBC. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
Bibliography[edit]
- John P. Campbell, ed. (1854). "Alabama: Huntsville". Southern Business Directory. Charleston, SC: Press of Walker & James.
- R.H. Long (1863), "Huntsville", Hunt's Gazetteer of the Border and Southern States, Pittsburgh, Pa.: John P. Hunt
- Saffold Berney (1878), "Huntsville", Handbook of Alabama, Mobile: Mobile Register print.
- "Huntsville", Northern Alabama, Birmingham, Ala: Smith & De Land, 1888, OCLC 4215188 – via Internet Archive
- . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). 1910. p. 955.
- Edward Chambers Betts (1916). Early History of Huntsville, Alabama, 1804-1870. Brown Printing Company.
- Thomas McAdory Owen (1921). "Huntsville". History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Vol. 1. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company. hdl:2027/mdp.39015078279430.
- Federal Writers' Project (1941), "Huntsville", Alabama; a Guide to the Deep South, American Guide Series, New York: Hastings House, hdl:2027/uc1.b4469723 – via HathiTrust
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Huntsville Historical Review, Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society, ISSN 1048-3152 1971-
- Sarah Huff Fisk (1997). Civilization Comes to Big Spring: Huntsville, Alabama 1823. Pinhook.
- Lynda Brown; et al. (1998). "Chronology". Alabama History: an Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-28223-2.
- Trimble (2004). "Early Aviation in Rocket City, U.S.A.". Alabama Review. 57. ISSN 0002-4341.
- Christine Dee (2005). "Trying James Hickman: The Politics of Loyalty in a Civil War Community". Alabama Review. 58.
- Ranee G. Pruitt, ed. (2005), Eden of the South: A Chronology of Huntsville, Alabama 1805-2005, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library
- Paul T. Hellmann (2006). "Alabama: Huntsville". Historical Gazetteer of the United States. Taylor & Francis. p. 13. ISBN 1-135-94859-3.
- Whitney Adrienne Snow (2010). "Cotton Mill City: The Huntsville Textile Industry, 1880-1989". Alabama Review. 63.
- Deane K. Dayton (ed.). "Huntsville History Collection". 2011- (Local wiki)
- Huntsville. Images of America. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia. 2013. ISBN 978-0-73859-891-8.
- The Big Picture, City of Huntsville, 2016. (City plan)
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Huntsville, Alabama.
- "Genealogy, History and Archives". Research Guides. Huntsville-Madison County Public Library.
- Items related to Huntsville, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
- "Selected Resources for Alabama Counties: Madison County". Birmingham Public Library.
- Kelly Hamlin (ed.). "Education Resources". Huntsville History Collection. (Annotated list of links)
- "Digital Collections". Montgomery: Alabama Department of Archives and History. (Materials related to Huntsville, Ala.)
- "(Huntsville)". Alabama Mosaic. Alabama Commission on Higher Education, Network of Alabama Academic Libraries.
- "(City: Huntsville)". Alabama Repositories Directory. Alabama Department of Archives & History.
A listing of public entities and private organizations holding historical records, artifacts, and other cultural heritage materials