Huntsville Alabama

Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County, Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of Huntsville was 164,570. As of 2005 Census Estimates the Huntsville Metropolitan Area had a popoulation of 368,661. Huntsville is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area, which, in 2004, had a total population of 510,088.

History

Huntsville is named after John Hunt, the first settler of the land around the Big Spring. Alabama notebook. 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 city 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. However, due to anti-English sentiment during the War of 1812, the name was soon 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. In 1811, Huntsville became the first incorporated town in Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of Huntsville was 164,570. 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.

Twickenham was chosen as the name of the first of three of the city's historical districts.