Montgomery

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for Richard Montgomery, it is located on the Alabama River, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 Census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764. It is the second-largest city in Alabama, after Birmingham, and the 115th largest in the United States. The Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area had a 2010 estimated population of 374,536. It is the fourth-largest in the state and 136th among United States metropolitan areas.

The city was incorporated in 1819, as a merger of two towns situated along the Alabama River. It became the state capital in 1846, representing the shift of power to the south-central area with the growth of cotton as a commodity crop of the Black Belt and Mobile's rise as a mercantile port. In February 1861, Montgomery was selected as the first capital of the Confederate States of America, until the seat of government moved to Richmond, Virginia, in May of that year. During the mid-20th century, Montgomery was a major site of events in the Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

In addition to housing many Alabama government agencies, Montgomery has a large military presence due to Maxwell Air Force Base; public universities Alabama State University, Troy University (Montgomery campus), and Auburn University at Montgomery; private colleges/universities Faulkner University and Huntingdon College; high-tech manufacturing, including Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama; and cultural attractions such as the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

Two ships of the United States Navy have been named after the city, including USS Montgomery.

Montgomery has won several national awards including being voted Best Historic City by USA Today, being named an All-America City in 2014 by the National Civic League, being named a "Top City For Job Growth" in 2014 by ziprecruiter.com, and being named the happiest city in Alabama. Montgomery has also been recognized nationally for its successful, and ongoing downtown revitalization and new urbanism projects with Montgomery having been one of the first cities in the nation to implement Smart Code Zoning.

History

Prior to European colonization, the left bank of the Alabama River was inhabited by the Alibamu tribe of Native Americans. The Alibamu and the Coushatta, who lived on the opposite side the river, were descended from the Mississippian culture, which had built massive earthwork mounds as part of their society about 950–1250 AD. They spoke mutually intelligible Muskogean languages, which were closely related. Present-day Montgomery is built on the site of two Alibamu towns: Ikanatchati (Ekanchattee or Ecunchatty or Econachatee), meaning "red earth;" and Towassa, built on a bluff called Chunnaanaauga Chatty. The first Europeans to travel through central Alabama were Hernando de Soto and his expedition, who went through Ikanatchati and camped for one week in Towassa in 1540.

The next recorded European encounter occurred more than a century later, when an expedition from Carolina went down the Alabama River in 1697. The first permanent European settler in the Montgomery area was James McQueen, a Scots trader who settled there in 1716. He married a high-status woman in the Coushatta or Alabama tribe. Their mixed-race children were considered Muskogean, as both tribes had a matrilineal system of property and descent. The children gained status in their mother's clan.

In 1785, Abraham Mordecai, a war veteran from a Sephardic Jewish family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, established a trading post. The Coushatta and Alabama had gradually moved south and west after the French defeat by the British in 1763 in the Seven Years' War. They moved to parts of present-day Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, then areas of Spanish rule, which they thought more favorable than British-held areas. By the time Mordecai arrived, Creek had settled in the area, under pressure from Cherokee and Iroquois warfare to the north. Mordecai married a Creek woman. When her people had to cede most of their lands after the 1813-14 Creek War, she joined them in removal. Mordecai brought the first cotton gin to Alabama.

The Upper Creek were able to discourage most European-American immigration until after the conclusion of the Creek War. Following their defeat by General Andrew Jackson in August 1814, the Creek tribes were forced to cede 23 million acres to the United States, including remaining land in today's Georgia and most of today's central and southern Alabama. In 1816, the Mississippi Territory (1798–1817) organized Montgomery County, and its lands were sold off the next year at the federal land office in Milledgeville, Georgia.

The first group of European-American settlers to come to the Montgomery area was headed by General John Scott. The group founded Alabama Town about 2 miles (3 km) downstream on the Alabama River from present-day downtown. In June 1818, county courts were moved from Fort Jackson to Alabama Town. Soon after, Andrew Dexter, Jr., founded New Philadelphia, the present-day eastern part of downtown. He envisioned a prominent future for his town; he set aside a hilltop known as "Goat Hill" as the future site of the state capitol building. New Philadelphia soon prospered, and Scott and his associates built a new town adjacent, calling it East Alabama Town. Originally rivals, the towns merged on December 3, 1819, and were incorporated as the town of Montgomery.

Driven by the revenues of the cotton trade, the newly united Montgomery grew quickly. In 1822, the city became the county seat. A new courthouse was built at the present location of Court Square, at the foot of Market Street (now Dexter Avenue). The state capital was moved from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery, on January 28, 1846.

As state capital, Montgomery began to influence state politics, and it would also play a prominent role on the national stage. Beginning February 4, 1861, representatives from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina met in Montgomery, host of the Southern Convention, to form the Confederate States of America. Montgomery was named the first capital of the nation, and Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as President on the steps of the State Capitol. On April 12, 1865, following the Battle of Selma, Major General James H. Wilson captured Montgomery for the Union.

In 1886 Montgomery became the first city in the United States to install city-wide electric street cars along a system that was nicknamed the Lightning Route. The system made Montgomery one of the first cities to "depopulate" its residential areas at the city center through transit-facilitated suburban development.

According to the historian David Beito of the University of Alabama, African Americans in Montgomery "nurtured the modern civil rights movement." On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Martin Luther King, Jr., then the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and E.D. Nixon, a local civil rights advocate, founded the Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the boycott. In June 1956, the US District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson ruled that Montgomery's bus racial segregation was unconstitutional. After the US Supreme Court upheld the ruling in November, the city desegregated the bus system, and the boycott was ended. Opponents organized mob violence with police collaboration at the Greyhound Bus Station during the Freedom Ride of May 1961. Outraged national reaction resulted in the desegregation of interstate public transportation.

Martin Luther King returned to Montgomery in 1965. Local civil rights leaders in Selma had been protesting Jim Crow laws that prevented blacks from registering to vote. Following the shooting of a man after a civil rights rally, the leaders decided to march to Montgomery to petition Governor George Wallace to allow free voter registration. The violence they encountered contributed to Congressional passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, to enforce the rights of African Americans and other minorities to vote.

On February 7, 1967, a devastating fire broke out at Dale's Penthouse, a restaurant and lounge on the top floor of the Walter Bragg Smith apartment building (now called Capital Towers) at 7 Clayton Street downtown. Twenty-six people lost their lives.

In recent years, Montgomery has grown and diversified its economy. Active in downtown revitalization, the city adopted a master plan in 2007; it includes the revitalization of Court Square and the riverfront. Many other projects under construction include the revitalization of Historic Dexter Avenue, pedestrian and infrastructure improvements along the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the construction of a new environmental park on West Fairview Avenue.

Geography

Revitalization

Montgomery has been recognized nationally for its extremely successful and continuous downtown revitalization. The revitalization started in the early 2000s with the construction of the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball stadium and the construction of Riverfront Park. Following those developments hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by various companies transforming old warehouses and buildings into high end loft apartments, restaurants, retail, hotels, and businesses. Currently there is vast demand for downtown living space and there are currently over 500 apartments under construction downtown including developments such as The Heights on Maxwell Boulevard, The Market District on Dexter Avenue, the Kress Building on Dexter Avenue, The Bell Building on Montgomery Street, and a new complex by the convention center.

Recreation

Montgomery boasts over 1600 acres of parkland that are maintained and operated by the City of Montgomery Parks and Recreation Department. The department also has 24 community centers, a skate park, two golf courses (Lagoon Park and Gateway Park), Cramton Bowl Stadium and Multiplex, two tennis centers (Lagoon Park and O'Conner), 65 playgrounds, 90 baseball/softball fields, 24 soccer fields including the Emory Folmar Soccer Facility, and one riverboat. Currently a new environmental park is under construction along West Fairview Avenue close to Interstate 65.

Culture

Montgomery has one of the biggest arts scenes of any mid-sized city in America. The Wynton M. Blount Cultural Park in east Montgomery is home to the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. The Museum's permanent collections include American art and sculpture, Southern art, master prints from European masters, and collections of porcelain and glass works. The Society of Arts and Crafts operates a co-op gallery for local artists. Montgomery Zoo has over 500 animals, from five different continents, in 40 acres (0.16 km2) of barrier-free habitats. The Hank Williams Museum contains one of the largest collections of Williams memorabilia in the world. Also Montgomery is home to the Museum of Alabama which serves as the official state history museum and is located inside the Alabama Department of Archives and History building downtown. This museum recently over went an over 10 million dollar renovation and expansion, and features many new exhibits and displays.

Blount Park also contains the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's Carolyn Blount Theatre. The Shakespeare Festival presents year-round performances of both classic plays and performances of local interest, in addition to works of William Shakespeare. The 1200-seat Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts, on the Troy University at Montgomery campus, opened in 1930 and was renovated in 1983. It houses the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Dance Theatre and Montgomery Ballet, as well as other theatrical productions. The Symphony has been performing in Montgomery since 1979. The Capri Theatre in Cloverdale was built in 1941, and today shows independent films. The 1800 seat state of the art Montgomery Performing Arts Center opened inside the newly renovated convention center downtown in 2007 and is host to everything from Broadway plays to concerts and has hosted big names such as BB King, Gregg Allman, and Merle Haggard.

There is a rich history of musical performers with roots in Montgomery. Grammy Award winning recording artist Toni Tennille of the famed duo The Captain and Tennille. Jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole, country singer Hank Williams, blues singer Big Mama Thornton, Melvin Franklin of The Temptations, and guitarist Tommy Shaw of Styx are among the many musicians to get their start in Montgomery. Author and artist Zelda Sayre was born in Montgomery. In 1918, she met F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was a soldier stationed at an Army post nearby. The house where they lived is today used as the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum. Poet Sidney Lanier lived in Montgomery and Prattville immediately after the Civil War, while writing his novel Tiger Lilies.

In addition to being the launching point of Hank Williams Sr.'s career, and the birthplace of Nat King Cole, Clarence Carter, and Tommy Shaw, Montgomery has also seen a few of its rock bands achieve national success in recent years. Locals artists Trust Company were signed to Geffen Records in 2002. Hot Rod Circuit formed in Montgomery in 1997 under the name Antidote, but achieved success with Vagrant Records after moving to Connecticut. The Ed Kemper Trio became well known in Montgomery's local rock music scene from 1997 to 2004, and was the focus of People Will Eat Anything, a music documentary shown at the Capri Theatre in 2004.

Civic organizations

Montgomery has many active governmental and nonprofit civic organizations. City funded organizations include the Montgomery Clean City Commission (a Keep America Beautiful Affiliate) which works to promote cleanliness and environmental awareness. BONDS (Building Our Neighborhoods for Development and Success) which works to engage citizens about city/nonprofit programs, coordinates/assists neighborhood associations, and works promote neighborhood and civic pride amongst Montgomery residents.

A number of organizations are focused on diversity relations and the city's rich civil rights history. Leadership Montgomery provides citizenship training. Bridge Builders Alabama works with high school youth to promote diversity and civic ingagement. The group One Montgomery was founded in 1983 and is a forum for networking of a diverse group of citizens active in civic affairs. Montgomery is also home to the Civil Rights Memorial, Freedom Rides Museum, and the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.

Transportation

Two interstate highways run through Montgomery. Interstate 65 is the primary north–south freeway through the city leading between Birmingham and Huntsville to the north and Mobile to the south. Montgomery is the southern terminus of Interstate 85, another north–south freeway (though running east–west in the city), which leads northeast to Atlanta. The major surface street thoroughfare is a loop consisting of State Route 152 in the north, U.S. Highway 231 and U.S. Highway 80 in the east, U.S. Highway 82 in the south, and U.S. Highway 31 along the west of the city. The Alabama Department of Transportation is planning the Outer Montgomery Loop to ease traffic congestion in the city. It is planned to connect Interstate 85 near Mt. Meigs to U.S. Highway 80 southwest of the city. Upon completion of the loop, it will carry the I-85 designation while the original I-85 into the city center will be redesignated I-685. Montgomery Transit (The M) provides public transportation with buses serving the city. The system has 32 buses providing an average of 4500 passenger trips daily. The M's ridership has shown steady growth since the system was revamped in 2000; the system served over 1 million passenger trips in 2007. Greyhound Lines operates a terminal in Montgomery for intercity bus travel; Megabus (North America) also operates in the city out of the downtown Intermodel Transit Facility.

Montgomery Regional Airport, also known as Dannelly Field, is the major airport serving Montgomery. It serves primarily as an Air National Guard base and for general aviation, but commercial airlines fly to regional connections to Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte.

Passenger rail service to Montgomery was enhanced in 1898 with the opening of Union Station. Service continued until 1979, when Amtrak terminated its Floridian route. Amtrak returned from 1989 until 1995 with the Gulf Breeze, an extension of the Crescent line.