Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is the county seat of Madison County with portions extending into Limestone County and Morgan County.[12] It is located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama.[13][14]
"Huntsville" redirects here. For other uses, see Huntsville (disambiguation).
Huntsville, Alabama
United States
December 23, 1809[4]
February 24, 1860[7]
John Hunt
District 1 – Devyn S. Keith
District 2 – David Little
District 3 – Jennie Robinson
District 4 – Bill Kling
District 5 – John Meredith
225.17 sq mi (583.19 km2)
223.63 sq mi (579.21 km2)
1.54 sq mi (3.98 km2)
577 ft (176 m)
215,006
235,000
1,006/sq mi (388.3/km2)
329,066 (US: 122nd)
1,532.2/sq mi (591.6/km2)
514,465 (US: 109th)
378/sq mi (145.9/km2)
879,315 (US: 68th)
255.3/sq mi (98.57/km2)
Huntsvillian
UTC–5 (CDT)
01-37000
2404746[9]
Huntsville was founded within the Mississippi Territory in 1805 and became an incorporated town in 1811. When Alabama was admitted as a state in 1819, Huntsville was designated for a year as the first capital, before the state capitol was moved to more central settlements. The city developed across nearby hills north of the Tennessee River, adding textile mills in the late nineteenth century.
Major growth in Huntsville took place in the decades following World War II. During the war, the U.S Army established Redstone Arsenal in the vicinity, with a chemical weapons plant and related facilities. After the war, additional research was conducted at Redstone Arsenal on rockets, followed by adaptations for space exploration. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command, and most recently the FBI's operational support headquarters, all came to be located at Redstone Arsenal.[15]
The National Trust for Historic Preservation included Huntsville in its "America's Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2010" list.[16] The population was 215,006 at the 2020 census,[10][17] and was estimated to be 221,933 in 2022.[11] The Huntsville metropolitan area's population was 514,465 in 2022, making it the second most populous metropolitan area in the state after the Birmingham metropolitan area.
Economy[edit]
Huntsville's main economic influence is derived from aerospace and military technology.[87] Redstone Arsenal, Cummings Research Park (CRP), Jetplex Industrial Park, 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. The University of Alabama in Huntsville is a center for technology and engineering research in the area. There are commercial technology companies such as the network access company ADTRAN, computer graphics company Intergraph and designer and manufacturer of IT infrastructure Avocent. Cinram manufactures and distributes 20th Century Fox DVDs and Blu-ray discs out of their Huntsville plant. Sanmina-SCI has a presence in the area. A number of Fortune 500 companies have operations in Huntsville.[88]
There are several strip malls and shopping malls throughout the city. Huntsville has one enclosed mall, Parkway Place, built in 2002 on the site of the former Parkway City Mall.[89] A larger mall built in 1984, Madison Square Mall, was closed in 2017 and the site is being redeveloped into the Mid City lifestyle center.[90][91] An additional lifestyle center, Bridge Street Town Centre, was completed in 2007, in Cummings Research Park.[92]
Huntsville is a key city in rocket-propulsion research for NASA and various organizations run by the Army.[93] The Marshall Space Flight Center has been designated to develop NASA's Space Launch System (SLS),[93] and the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) is responsible for developing a variety of rocket-based tactical weapons.[94]
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama was constructed in 2003 and is located in North Huntsville Industrial Park. The plant has 1,800 employees as of 2022. The plant manufactures engines for Toyota vehicles.[95] Navistar Huntsville Powertrain Manufacturing Plant was opened in 2008 and provides powertrain components to Navistar's vehicle assembly plants in Springfield, Ohio and Escobedo, Mexico. The plant is located north of Huntsville International Airport.[96] The Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA was constructed in 2021 with a plan to hire 4,000 employees.[97] The facility produces Toyota and Mazda SUVs and pickup trucks. The majority of the plant is located in Huntsville; however, the southern third is located in the unincorporated community of Greenbrier.[98]
More than 25 biotechnology firms have developed in Huntsville due to the Huntsville Biotech Initiative.[99] The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is part of the 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) Cummings Research Park. The non-profit HudsonAlpha Institute has contributed genomics and genetics work to the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE).[100] For-profit business ventures within the Biotech Campus focus on subjects such as diagnosing disease, immune responses to cancer, protein crystallization, lab-on-a-chip technologies, and agricultural technologies.[101] The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) created a doctoral program in biotechnology to help develop scientists to support HudsonAlpha in addition to the emerging biotechnology economy in Huntsville.[102]
In 2018, Meta broke ground on a $1.5 billion data center in North Huntsville Industrial Park, and was opened in 2021. In June 2022, they announced they would be expanding the facility to seven buildings across a 3.5 million square foot area, but paused construction in December. The company advertised that the facility runs on 100% renewable energy and provides 300+ jobs to the community.[103][104][105]
Sports[edit]
Huntsville is home to a number of adult sports teams and leagues. The Huntsville Havoc are a professional ice hockey team with the SPHL that play home games at the Von Braun Center.[172] Huntsville City FC, a reserve team for Nashville SC of Major League Soccer, began playing in 2023 in MLS Next Pro, the third level of soccer in the US.[173] The Huntsville Adult Soccer League, based at Merrimack Sports Complex, is an amateur adult soccer league with seven teams, including four men's divisions, a premier team, a women's team, and a master's team. The Rocket City Roller Derby is part of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) and plays at the NSS Conference Center.[174] The Alabama–Huntsville Chargers (University of Alabama in Huntsville) Men's and Women's Basketball teams are part of NCAA D-II and play at Spragins Hall.[175][176] The Alabama A&M Bulldogs (Alabama A&M University) Men's Football team is part of NCAA D-I FCS.[177]
Huntsville has numerous sports venues. The Von Braun Center has a maximum seating capacity of 9,000.[178] Toyota Field is a baseball park with a capacity of about 7,500, in nearby Madison that is home to the AA-minor league Rocket City Trash Pandas team.[179][180] A former baseball park, Joe Davis Stadium, was converted into a 6,000-seat soccer-specific stadium in 2023 for Huntsville City FC. The soccer field was named the Wicks Family Field to honor and recognize the Wicks family's contributions.[181] A number of smaller stadiums are used by universities or public schools, including Louis Crews Stadium with a capacity of 21,000,[182] and Milton Frank Stadium with a capacity of 12,000.[183] The Merrimack Soccer Complex has 14 soccer fields used by youth soccer organizations.[184][185] The Huntsville Speedway is a quarter mile oval race track used for race days and other events.[186][187]
Huntsville has had many professional sports teams in its past, most of which were discontinued due to lack of funding or being transferred to a different city. Huntsville's first sports team was the Huntsville Rockets football team, launched in 1962 and folded in 1967 due to lack of funding.[188] The Alabama Hawks were a football team founded in 1963 and were discontinued in 1969 due to lack of funding.[189] The Huntsville Stars were a Minor League Baseball team founded in 1985, originally as the Nashville Sounds in Nashville, Tennessee, but were transferred to Huntsville soon after. In 2014, they were transferred to Biloxi, Mississippi and renamed the Biloxi Shuckers.[190] The Huntsville Blast were a minor league ice hockey team, originally founded in 1981 as the Roanoke Valley Rampage in Vinton, Virginia, and were relocated to Huntsville in 1993. The following season, the team was relocated to Tallahassee, Florida as the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks.[191] The Huntsville Fire were an indoor soccer team founded in 1997 and dissolved in 1998 due to lack of funding.[192] The Huntsville Channel Cats were an ice hockey team founded in 1995 and renamed the Huntsville Havoc in 2004.[191] The Huntsville Flight were a basketball team founded in 2001 and were moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2005. Today, they are the Cleveland Charge.[193] The Tennessee Valley Raptors were an indoor football team established in 2000 and relocated to Rockford, Illinois in 2005.[194] The Alabama Hammers, which played at the Von Braun Center, were an indoor football team established in 2010 and folded in 2016 due to the collapse of the league.[191]
Media[edit]
Newspapers and magazines[edit]
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 Times has a weekday circulation of 60,000, which rises to 80,000 on Sundays. Both papers were owned by the Newhouse chain.[253]
In May 2012, Advance Publications, owner of the Times, announced that the Times would become part of a new company called the Alabama Media Group, along with the other three newspapers and two websites owned by Advance. As part of the change, the newspapers moved to a three-day publication schedule, with print editions available only on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The Huntsville Times and its sister papers publish news and information seven days a week on AL.com.[254][255][256] As of 2023, print editions have stopped production.
A few alternative newspapers are available in Huntsville. The Redstone Rocket is a newspaper distributed throughout Redstone Arsenal's housing area covering activities on Redstone.[257] Speakin' Out News is a weekly newspaper focused on African Americans.[258] Huntsville Magazine is a quarterly lifestyle magazine, which, "Serves as a guide to the best of the city with insightful reads on culture, people, entertainment, and businesses catalyzing the city's transformation."[259][260]
Huntsville has 2 sister cities: