You will be amazed as we delve into a brief highlight of the interesting history of Huntsville, Alabama. From civil war to rocketships, Huntsville has history for everyone. If you are looking for a Huntsville, fence builder we encourage you to reach out to us.
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Huntsville was founded in 1805 and officially became incorporated in 1811. Spanning the hills north of the Tennessee River, the city was named as one of America’s dozen distinctive destinations of 2010 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
huntsville has the non-distinctive distinction as being Alabama’s 4th largest city. However, Huntsville is the largest city in the five county area. These counties are made up of Madison, Blount, Cullman, Morgan and Marshall Counties.
The first settlers were muscogee-speaking indians. However, it is unclear as to whether these were in fact the first settlers as the Chickasaw claim to have settled the area in the 1300’s. By the time of the Reveloutionary war, the area had been largely depopulated. This was due to disease and unrest between the Chickasaw and Cherokee indian tribes.
So, When the Revolutionary War veteran, John Hunt came to the area in 1805, it was easy to settle. Later the area was purchased by Leroy Pope. He renamed the area Twickenham, but it was later renamed due to anti-british sentiment. The name became it’s current namesake. This was done in honor of the original settler, John Hunt. One of the oldest structures in the area is the historic David Wade house. This structure was on the north side of what is now Bob Wade Lane.
The Wade structure was made a part of the Historic American Buildings survey during the Great Depression. This was done mainly to put architects, draftsmen and photographers to work. The house was torn down in 1952.
The city of Huntsville was opposed to the secession from the Union. However, the city ultimately provided a lot of confederate soldiers for the war effort. In fact, the 4th Alabama infantry was among the first soldiers to fight in the war and was led by Col. Egbert J. Jones.
It is said that nine generals of the civil war was born in or around the area. Five on the confederate side and four on the union.
Huntsville was seized by Union troops on April 11, 1862. It was seized in order to sever the confederacy’s railway. This railway was a major coup for the union. This is because the rebels used this to move military supplies and men to the front line.
The union was not able to hold the city and was forced to retreat a few months later.
However, they did manage to take the city one more time in 1863. This time the city was utilized as a base of operations for the war effort.
The only reason that the city survived was because it was used to house troops. Otherwise, it would have been burned like the union was prone to doing to the South’s cities.
There is a lot more to Huntsville’s history than meets the eye. We are proud to be a trusted local company in this interesting town.
