Etowah County

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Etowah County Courthouse
Etowah County Courthouse
administration
US state : Alabama
Administrative headquarters : Gadsden
Address of the
administrative headquarters: 		County Courthouse
800 Forrest Avenue
Gadsden, AL 35901-3663
Foundation : December 7, 1866
Area code : 001 256
Demographics
Residents : 104,430  (2010)
Population density : 75.4 inhabitants / km 2
geography
Total area : 1421 km²
Water surface : 36 km²
map
Map of Etowah County within Alabama
Website : www.etowahcounty.org

Etowah County is a county in the US - State of Alabama . It was founded in 1868 and is located in northeastern Alabama near the state line with Georgia . Etowah County is part of the northern, economically underdeveloped part of the state. The county seat is Gadsden . Together with the small towns and villages on the periphery of Gadsden, the agglomeration of Gadsden Metro Area in the southern part of the county is the dominant settlement center.

Location, geography and settlement

Location of the Cumberland Plateau (beige)
Coosa Bridge in the county seat of Gadsden
Attalla town center
Interstate 59 between Birmingham and Gadsden

Located in the northeastern part of Alabama, the administrative unit has an area of ​​1421 square kilometers, of which 36 square kilometers are water. 60 kilometers from the state border with Georgia, Etowah County is bordered clockwise by the following counties: DeKalb , Cherokee , Calhoun , St. Clair , Blount, and Marshall . The airline distance to Birmingham is 78 kilometers, that to the state capital Montgomery 175 kilometers, that to the port city of Mobile on the Gulf Coast 406 kilometers and to Georgia's capital Atlanta 146 kilometers. In terms of area, Etowah is - if only just - the smallest county in Alabama.

The geographical surface of the administrative unit is determined in the northwest and in the center by the Cumberland Plateau . To the south of this is the Piedmont Plateau , which lies in front of the Appalachians and is somewhat more uniform in terms of terrain . The dividing line is the valley of the Coosa River , which runs through the county from the northeast to the southwest and is the dominant waterway - also due to its characteristic as a major tributary of the Alabama River . The tributary and second largest river in the county is Big Wills Creek, which runs parallel to the north and flows into the Coosa River. The average altitude varies between 150 and 350 meters above sea level. The landscape is hilly and wooded. With regard to agricultural use, the soils are considered to be less productive; instead, the county is home to numerous minerals and rocks . Like all of northern Alabama, Etowah County is in the subtropical climate zone . The average temperatures fluctuate - averaged from maximum and minimum values ​​- between around 5 ° C in winter and over 25 ° C in summer . The amount of precipitation is evenly around 120 mm per month; only in the summer months does it drop to below 100 mm (see also the climate table for Gadsden at the end of this section).

The settlement center of the county is the southern bulge on both sides of the Coosa River with Gadsden as the center. Otherwise, scattered settlements characterize the terrain with a correspondingly high proportion of unincorporated areas - settlements that are grouped together for administrative purposes and are co-managed by the next higher administrative level. Larger cities are Attalla (population in 2010: 6,048), Boaz (only protruding with southern foothills into Etowah County: 9,551 inhabitants), the county seat of Gadsden (36,856 inhabitants), Glencoe (5,160), Hokes Bluff (4,286), Rainbow City (9,602) and Southside (8,412). Smaller towns are Altoona (933), Reece City (653), Ridgeville (112), Sardis City (1,704) and Walnut Grove (698). There are also 15 non-incorporated administrative units . The area of ​​the largest - Ivalee - has a population of 12,349 according to the US census 2010. The population of the remaining 14 (including, for example, Anderson immediately southwest of Gadsden) fluctuates between statistically not recorded and 2,137 (Carlisle-Rockledge). The lowest-lying municipality is the county capital Gadsen at 165 meters above sea level, the highest at 339 meters is a district of the city of Boaz in Etowah County called Mountainboro.

The most important inter-regional connection road is Interstate 59 , which runs from north to south through the county. Other major roads are the highways US 11 and US 411; both run parallel to Interstate 59 . US-278 runs in an east-west direction and US-431 runs from northwest to southeast .

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Gadsden, Alabama
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 11.0 13.6 18.7 23.4 27.4 30.9 32.7 32.4 29.2 23.8 18.1 12.5 O 22.8
Min. Temperature (° C) -0.7 1.3 5.1 9.4 14.6 19.2 21.4 20.9 17.2 10.6 4.7 0.91 O 10.4
Precipitation ( mm ) 134 127 131 118 118 111 120 99 101 93 126 111 Σ 1,389
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
11.0
-0.7
13.6
1.3
18.7
5.1
23.4
9.4
27.4
14.6
30.9
19.2
32.7
21.4
32.4
20.9
29.2
17.2
23.8
10.6
18.1
4.7
12.5
0.91
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		134
127
131
118
118
111
120
99
101
93
126
111
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: US climate data

history

Until the end of the 19th century

Circa 1830: Cherokee and Creek Territory of Eastern Alabama
Perspective city map of Gadsden (1887)

The areas of present-day Alabama further away from the Gulf Coast were tribal areas of the Creek and Cherokee and the Chickasaw and Choctaw, who settled further to the west , until the end of the 18th century . Politically, the territory between the Gulf Coast, Mississippi, and Appalachians was vaguely defined as part of Georgia. The first structuring measures took place only after the end of the war of independence . In 1798, the United States founded the Mississippi Territory . Initially just a narrow strip in the south of what is now the states of Mississippi and Alabama, it was expanded north in 1804 to the border with Tennessee . The last section was the southwest corner of Florida with the port city of Mobile in 1812 . Alabama remained an Indian country until the end of the British-American War . The northeastern third - including the territory of the later Etowah County - belonged to the tribal area of ​​the Cherokee, the areas south of it to the territory of the Upper and Lower Creek.

Major changes resulted from Andrew Jackson's war against the Creek from 1813 to 1814, which opened up large areas of Alabama to white settlers. In 1819 the Alabama Territory (previously separated from the Mississippi Territory) became a regular US state. In the area of ​​what would later become Etowah County, first settlement activities had developed after the war against the Creek. Initially limited to the west and south-west corners of what would later become the county area, the area released for settlement expanded to include the entire county area in the course of the 1830s. This release of the territory was linked to the forced relocation of the Cherokee and Creek, which remained in eastern Alabama, to Indian territory .

In the 1840s, the previously undeveloped areas in the northeast and east of what would later become the county were increasingly populated. The closest centers in this early phase were Montgomery and Selma, as well as Wetumpka on the lower Coosa River. In 1836 the Double Springs post office was founded . After overcoming logistical obstacles - especially the numerous waterfalls - the upper part of the Coosa River was opened up for shipping in the 1840s . Impact: an improved connection to the Georgia regional centers Augusta and Rome .

US Post Office in Gadsden (ca.1910)

Double Springs had meanwhile advanced to the dominant settlement in the area. In 1846 the city of Gadsden was founded in the area. Local historical sources show that the city was founded by the three expropriators Gabriel Hughes, Joseph Hughes and John S. Moragne. The city was named after James Gadsden - a former officer and Indian War veteran who was heavily involved in a southern transcontinental railroad route and after whom the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 was named.

In the course of the American Civil War , some major skirmishes took place in the region in 1863 between Union troops under Abel Streight and Confederate units under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest , who put up resistance to the Union advances to the south. On December 7, 1866, Etowah County was officially established. Composed of areas of surrounding counties (mainly Cherokee and DeKalb), it initially operated under the name Baine County. Since the choice of name - after Confederate General David W. Baine - was perceived as a provocation immediately after the end of the Civil War, the Republican- dominated state parliament of Alabama canceled the county designation and re-established the administrative unit as Etowah County on December 3, 1868. The origin of the name is derived from the Cherokee , although the meaning of the word Etowah is not certain. Possibly the translation of the term is "pines".

There were first attempts at industrialization in the hilly, forested region, which is only partially suitable for agriculture, before the beginning of the civil war. In 1845 the first ironworks was built in Gadsden - the Coosa Furnace (later: Gadsden Furnace; closed in 1911). The county capital itself had grown to 5,000 residents by 1888. In the 1970s, the County was railway network of the Alabama Great Southern Railroad connected. At the end of the 19th century, large-scale industrial development began - above all the mining of coal and other minerals and building materials such as iron , manganese , marble , slate and limestone . One of the most important coal mining companies was the Underwood Coal Company, which had eleven mines in the eastern part of the county around the small town of Altoona . The Dwight Mill cotton mill in Alabama City, a suburb of Gadsden, was an important foundation for the county's economy . In addition, in 1903 a hydroelectric power station was built on Big Wills Creek, which supplied the city of Attalla with electricity. William Patrick Lay, the builder, was a co-founder of Alabama's premier electricity company - the Alabama Power Company.

20th and 21st centuries

Gadsden Swimming Pool (postcard, circa 1930)

In the first decades of the 20th century, further industrial settlements were added to the already existing ones. In 1903, Gulf States Steel opened a new steel mill in the county. The tire manufacturer Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company advanced to become the largest and most stable employer in the region . An outstanding event in local history was a zeppelin flight organized by Goodyear in 1930. When the zeppelin made an emergency landing in Gadsen due to the weather, a member of the rope-up team was pulled high in the air and then fell fatally. During the Second World War , Etowah County was an important defense industry - and training base - on the one hand because of the Gadsden Ordnance Plant grenade factory and on the other because of Camp Sibell, a training camp of the Chemical Warface Center (CWC). The camp was named after a soldier in the First World War . In 1945 - after the end of the war - it was deactivated.

In the wake of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Etowah County also came into the public eye for a time: in 1963 the civil rights activist William Moore was murdered near Attalla. The political development of Etowah County was largely in line with the general political trend in Solid South : In the 1930s a stronghold of the Democrats and a beneficiary of the New Deal policy initiated under President Roosevelt , voters in the county increasingly favored conservative from the 1960s onwards. right-wing Dixiecrat Democrats or Republican candidates.

This political reorientation went parallel to the decline of the industries that dominated the region. The coal mines in the east around the small town of Altoona had already closed their doors in 1932; the city's population then fell from over 2000 to less than half. The Dwight Mill cotton mill - with 2,600 employees the largest employer in the region at the beginning of the decade - was shut down in 1959. The Gulf States Steel mill closed its doors in 2000 following the company's bankruptcy . The economic decline was partially intercepted by modernizing the tire plant of Goodyear in Gadsen and a new automobile production plant of Honda in more southern Talladega County . According to an article in the Gadsden Times , around a fifth of its 4,400 employees are made up of commuters from Etowah County.

The county's infrastructure problems made headlines as early as the mid-1980s. The occasion was a ranking by travel guide editor Rand McNally , which listed the county capital Gadsden as one of the seven worst cities in the United States. Due to the loss of industry, the occupancy density in the city center of the county capital Gadsden fell to a value of 60 percent; in the fields of art and culture, the city achieved a value of zero. From the 1990s onwards, the city administration initiated various upgrading projects - among other things by means of a cultural foundation and other measures aimed at making life in the city more attractive. In 2012, Kay Moore, director of Downtown Gadsden Inc., told the business news portal Business Alabama that the building load factor had meanwhile risen to a factor of 92 percent.

The district capital Gadsden finally attracted attention in 2017 - on the occasion of the Senate by-election candidacy of the far -right Republican Roy Moore . The Washington Post revealed that while serving as assistant district attorney in Gadsden, the county-born Moore had harassed women and teenagers on a regular basis - incidents that sparked political turmoil ahead of the Senate by-election and resulted in parts of the local evangelicals as well Milieus to Moore at a distance.

Demographic data

growth of population
Census Residents ± in%
1870 10,109 -
1880 15,398 52.3%
1890 21,926 42.4%
1900 27,361 24.8%
1910 39.109 42.9%
1920 47,275 20.9%
1930 63,399 34.1%
1940 72,580 14.5%
1950 93,892 29.4%
1960 96,980 3.3%
1970 94.144 -2.9%
1980 103.057 9.5%
1990 99,840 -3.1%
2000 103,459 3.6%
2010 104,430 0.9%
Before 1900

1900–1990 2000 2010

Age pyramid of Etowah County (as of 2000)

The county's population development reflects the industrial development at the end of the 19th century . While around 10,000 people lived in the area around 1870, the number of residents increased to over 25,000 by 1900 and to over 63,000 by 1930. Population growth reached its zenith in the second half of the 20th century . Since 1980 it has stagnated at over 100,000 with slight differences. According to the 2000 census , Etowah County had 103,459 people. Of these, 2,043 people lived in collective accommodation, the other residents lived in 41,615 households and 29,463 families . The population density was 75 inhabitants per square kilometer. The racial the population was composed of 82.87 percent white , 14.68 percent African American , 0.33 percent Native American , 0.42 percent Asian , 0.03 percent of residents from the Pacific island area and 0.73 percent from other ethnic groups Groups; 0.93 percent were descended from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race was 1.70 percent of the population .

Of the 41,615 households, 29.9 percent had children and young people under the age of 18 living with them. There were married couples living together in 54.2 percent , 13.1 percent were single mothers, 29.2 percent were not families, 26.3 percent of all households were single households and 12.4 percent had people aged 65 and over or above. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.93. 23.8 percent of the population were under 18 years old, 8.7 percent between 18 and 24, 27.4 percent between 25 and 44, 24.1 percent between 45 and 64 and 16.0 percent were 65 years or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.8 males and for females aged 18 and over there were 87.9 males. The annual average income of a household was 31,170 USD , and the median income for a family 38,697 USD. Males had a median income of $ 31,610 versus $ 21,346 for females . The per capita income was $ 16,783. 12.3 percent of families and 15.7 percent of the population lived below the poverty line .

Politics and Social

Jeff Sessions (2017)
2017 Senate by-election results. Blue: Jones (Democrats), Red: Moore (Republicans)

On the occasion of a story about the controversial Republican by-election candidate Roy Moore, the New Yorker magazine characterized the region with the attributes "woody, blue and religious" . In the county, which, like most of the southeastern states, belongs to the so-called Bible Belt , an above-average number of evangelical Christians lives even in northern Alabama. Also in terms of favoring Republican presidential candidates, Etowah County has outperformed state benchmarks since 2004. When rounded to whole percentage points, George W. Bush won in Etowah County in 2004 with 63 percent (Alabama: 60 percent). Republicans McCain and Romney won 68 percent each against Democratic candidate Barack Obama in 2008 and 1012 (Alabama: 60 and 61 percent, respectively).

Finally, Donald Trump was elected by 73 percent of the voters in Etowah County (Alabama: 62 percent). There were only significant deviations from the federal trend in 1992 and 1996, when Bill Clinton ran for the Democrats: While Clinton lost the state to his Republican rivals George HW Bush and Dole , a clear majority in Etowah County voted for him. There were also deviations from the state result in the candidacies of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and George Wallace in 1968. While the right-wing Republican Goldwater in Etowah County performed ten percentage points worse than the national average, the result of Dixiecat, who also had a right-wing conservative agenda, was Democrat Wallace four years later, three percentage points above the national average.

The preference of the majority of voters for right-wing Republicans also confirmed the incidents surrounding the Senate post-election candidacy of the Republican hardliner and Trump favorite Roy Moore. Even the previous Senate representative, Jeff Sessions , whom Donald Trump appointed as Justice Minister in his cabinet, was considered an arch-conservative hardliner within the Republican Party. In the by-election on December 12, 2017, a slim majority of Alabama voters voted for Moore's Democratic opponent Doug Jones . In Etowah County, however, Moore was able to defend his majority with 58% against 39%.

Although part of the evangelical milieu had distanced themselves from Moore in the face of the abuse allegations, the picture regarding the candidate Moore in the county was mixed. A report by the Gadsden Times identified three levels of support or non-support for Moore in this milieu: a) fundamental criticism of the behavior or its incompatibility with Christian values, b) criticism of the behavior, but relativized due to the timing of the publications, c ) Unconditional solidarity for favoring conservative Republicans at (almost) any price. An on-site report by the British Guardian also documented a mood that alternated between rejection, uncertainty and indifference .

Deficits in terms of quality of life have been raised as an issue several times by various media. The best known of these publications is the above-mentioned article by Rand McNally, which classified Gadsden as one of the seven worst US cities . The breaking news website al.com and the site 24/7 Wall St recorded similarly bad conditions in September 2017 . Based on a study that was broken down into individual problem areas, the latter had created a ranking with regard to the aspect of quality of life for women. In this ranking, too, Gadsden ranked far behind due to poor conditions in terms of equal pay , bachelor's degree opportunities and life expectancy . Structural problems are also openly admitted by county officials. However, it is emphasized here that - especially in the area of ​​infrastructure modernization - a lot has happened in the new millennium.

Economy and Education

Economy and employment

One of the largest manufacturing facilities in the region is still the Goodyear tire plant in Alabama City. Honda was added as a large company, but its plant is not in Etowah County itself, but 30 minutes by car south of it. The unemployment reached in October 2000 with 11.4%, its highest level. Based on information from the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations and the Center for Business and Economic Research of the University of Alabama , classified the Gadsden Etowah County Industrial Development Authority in 2008 12,000 Etowah County's residents as underemployed and 2,179 residents as unemployed.

According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama web portal, the current employment sectors can be broken down as follows:

education

The school system in Etowah County is supported by three main sponsors:

  • The Etowah County: The Etowah County School System currently employs 540 teachers who serve more than 8,400 students in 22 schools.
  • The City of Gadsden: The Gadsden City School System currently employs 362 teachers who serve more than 5,400 students in 17 schools.
  • The City of Attalla: The Attalla City School System currently employs 115 teachers who look after more than 1,800 students in four schools.

There are also four private schools in the county with a combined total of approximately 1,200 students. The educational offer of the administrative unit is completed by the Gadsden State Community College , a two-year co - educational institution.

Sights and culture

Noccalula Falls in Gadsden
Broad Street in the Gadsden Downtown Historic District.
River landscape on the Coosa River

The recreational and cultural offers in Etowah County mainly cover three areas: a) Outdoor and recreational destinations with the Noccalula waterfall near Gadsden as a nationally known highlight, b) the Historic Districts in Gadsden and Altoona as urban planning - architectural sights (13 buildings and sites in the county are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as of April 2, 2020) and c) larger, regularly hosted events. The following are considered special attractions:

  • the Noccalula Falls in Gadsden - a 100 foot waterfall. In the center of the park, two kilometers from downtown Gadsden, lies the Noccalula waterfall, one of the most spectacular waterfalls on the upper reaches of the Coosa River. The waterfall itself is part of the Black Greek, which flows into the Coosa River at Gadsden.
  • of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail belonging Golf Course Silver Lakes near Glencoe with 36 tee holes. The golf course stretch, built in the 1990s and running north-south across Alabama, was financed through investments from public employees' pension funds and is one of the internationally recognized professional golf tournament courses.
  • The Neely Henry Lake near Gadsden is a reservoir . The associated dam was built in 1966 by the Alabama Power Company. Serving as a recreational area, the lake offers some of the best fishing in the area.
  • The Historic District Gadsden Downtown Historic Mall with buildings from the Wilhelminian era and the early 20th century is located in the city center and represents its industrial heyday from the late 1870s to the 1940s. The US Post Office Attalla in the city of the same name is also designated as a Historic Place .
  • The World's Longest Yard Sale: a state-wide street flea market that takes place once a year (usually in August) and lasts for three days.
  • Altoona Day: a city ​​festival with music, art and handicrafts sellers, food sellers, a classic car show and celebrity guests. There is also an annual Christmas parade in Altoona.

Etowah County celebrities

Beth Grant (2013)

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Climate Gadsden - Alabama . US climate data, accessed December 30, 2017 (Engl.)
  2. ^ Incorporated Cities, Towns & Census Designated Places in Etowah County . Info page from alabama.hometownlocator.com, accessed on December 30, 2017 (Engl.)
  3. ↑ Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2016 . Alabama City-Breaking Population Information, American Fact Finder. accessed on December 30, 2017
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Etowah County . Patricia Hoskins Morton, Encyclopedia of Alabama, Aug 29, 2007
  5. ↑ a b Maps of Alabama . interactive map for country formation in Alabama, accessed December 30, 2017 (Engl.)
  6. ^ Etowah County has a long history . Gadsden Messenger, April 10, 2014
  7. ↑ a b c A Brief History of Etowah County . Danny Crownover, Gadsden Messenger, Feb 9, 2012
  8. ↑ Charles Curry Aiken, Joseph Nathan Kane: The American Counties: Origins of County Names, Dates of Creation, Area, and Population Data, 1950-2010 . 6th edition. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2013, ISBN 978-0-8108-8762-6 , p. 97.
  9. ↑ a b 2016 Presidential General Election Results . Interactive US Election Atlas, accessed December 30, 2017
  10. ↑ Honda Having Big Impact In Gadsden . Andy Powell, Gadsden-Etowah County Alabama / Industrial Development Attributes, Aug. 1, 2005
  11. ↑ Pittsburgh Rated Most Livable City . (upi), Los Angeles Times, February 28, 1985 (Engl.)
  12. ↑ Main Street Revisited ( Memento of May 4, 2018 in the Internet Archive ). Lori Chandler PruiTt, Business Alabama, April 2012 (Engl.)
  13. ^ A b Allegations against Roy Moore roil US evangelical ranks . David Quary (ap), Gadsden Times, November 13, 2017 (Engl.)
  14. ↑ US Census Bureau - Census of Population and Housing . Retrieved March 15, 2011
  15. ↑ Extract from Census.gov . Retrieved February 28, 2011
  16. ↑ Population of Etowah County - Alabama
  17. ↑ Extract from census.gov
  18. ↑ Population of Etowah County - Alabama
  19. ↑ Locals Were Troubled by Roy Moore's Interactions with Teen Girls at the Gadsden Mall . Charles Bethea, New Yorker, Nov. 13, 2017
  20. ^ Bible Belt . Overview map of evangelical protestants, broken down by state and county, meador.org, accessed December 30, 2017.
  21. ^ Unofficial Election Night Results . alabamavotes.gov, accessed December 30, 2017
  22. ^ Opinions clash in Roy Moore's home town: "There's a lot of rumors in small-town Alabama" . David Smith, Guardian, Nov. 17, 2017.
  23. ^ Alabama city named worst place in America for women . al.com, September 5, 2017 (Engl.)
  24. ↑ a b Area economy sees changes after close of Gulf States Steel plant . Gadsden Times, September 13, 2010
  25. ^ Labor Availability ( Memento of October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). Gadsden-Etowah County Alabama / Industrial Development Attributes, March 2008
  26. ↑ Search mask database in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed April 2, 2020.
    Weekly List on the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed April 2, 2020.
  27. ↑ Noccalula Falls Park . Grace London, Encyclopedia of Alabama, August 14, 2017
  28. ^ Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail . James R. Hansen, Encyclopedia of Alabama, Aug. 4, 2008
  29. ↑ World's Longest Yard Sale . Encyclopedia of Alabama, accessed December 30, 2017.
  30. ↑ Altoona . James P. Kaetz, Encyclopedia of Alabama, Sept. 9, 2015.

literature

  • Thomas McAdory Owen: History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. SJ Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago IL 1921.
  • Virginia O. Foscue: Place Names in Alabama. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa et al. 1989, ISBN 0-8173-0410-X .

Web links

Commons : Etowah County  - Collection of Pictures, Videos, and Audio Files

Coordinates: 34 ° 3 ′  N , 86 ° 2 ′  W

This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 15, 2018 in this version .