Interesting Facts INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY • The earliest known inhabitants of the valley and what would become Madison County were Copena Indians, so-called for their habit of leaving copper and galena (lead ore) artifacts at campsites and burial grounds. They were here as early as AD 300 and were followed, or displaced by, Cherokee and Chickasaw Indians around AD 1000. The first white settlers came around 1790 or 1800. • In 1805 John Hunt, a man about whom little is known, arrived from Tennessee, may have been a Virginia native, and reportedly was a captain in the Revolutionary War. The city of Huntsville was named after him. • In early 1800’s Huntsville was a great cotton community, first in Alabama in production, particularly in the time when over one-half of the population of the entire Mississippi Territory lived in Madison County, and at the time when Madison County had more slaves then any other county in Alabama. • The “Spite House” also known as the Whitten House on Lincoln Street supposedly was built out of the vengeance of William Robinson against LeRoy Pope. Pope sold his longtime friend some land in front of his own home, but the two later fell into a bitter argument. As the legend goes, Robinson designed his house to block Pope’s view of Huntsville. The first-floor ceiling is twelve feet tall, and the second is sixteen feet. Mrs. S.L. Whitten bought it in 1910. • Huntsville was the first city in Alabama and one of the firsts in the nation with central water supply piped into the houses. It consisted of hollowed cedar logs with male-female fittings jammed together and held in place by steel bands. Water caused the logs to swell and make tight the seal. • Big Spring Park was one of the reasons for Huntsville’s birth and has long been the focus of many activities. The city’s waterworks was located here, and the spring was essentially unchanged until 1898. • Transportation was the honey that drew Union troops to Huntsville. On any given day during the war, one could see locomotives marked “USMRR” – United States Military Railroad. • Huntsville Academy started as the Calhoun House, at the corner of Green and Eustis Streets. In 1884 it was the courthouse for the trial of Frank James in the 1881 robbery of the Corps of Engineers payroll near Florence, and was Federal troop headquarters in 1870. • In 1871 the Courthouse Square was not only the seat of county government, it was the throne where King Cotton sat while farmers and merchants dickered over quality and value of the crop. • The first public school in Huntsville was built in 1882 or 1883 at the present site of East Clinton School. • Monte Sano’s well-advertised advantages led the United States Surgeon General to declare it one of the two healthiest places in the nation. Veterans of the Spanish-American War were sent here to recuperate from the ravages of yellow fever and other tropical diseases. • Caves: Huntsville sits atop a maze of caves carved out over the centuries. In the 1890’s a Mr. Fuller purchased Shelta Cave, and fitted it with electric lights, trails, an underground lake, and a dancing pavilion, all for an admission fee. • The “Bucket Shop” was apparently a place to trade tips about the stock market. It was located at the turn of the century on Randolph Street in back of what was Monroe Business Equipment. • Adams Street: In the early 1900’s when the city decided to widen Adams Street, one resident decided that progress had gone far enough and armed himself with a shotgun to prevent city crews from removing a century old oak tree. For many years Adams was a divided highway; the tree was eventually removed. • Inspiration Point on Monte Sano stands some 1,800 feet above sea level and 600 feet above Huntsville proper. In legend, this is where on Indian maid and her Paleface lover leaped to their deaths when her father forbade marriage. • Russell Erskine Hotel was the best hotel in Huntsville and much of Alabama. It thrived with the rise of military and later space work at the arsenal, but fell on hard times in the 1960s and ‘70s as newer hotels opened closer to the arsenal gates. It is now a retirement home for the elderly. • Beginning of Redstone Arsenal: October 1941 ground was broken for construction of the Huntsville Arsenal chemical munitions plant. Later needs led to the formation of Redstone Ordnance Plant for manufacture of artillery shells and other explosives. The name of the latter came from the Alabama soil. Huntsville Arsenal manufactured poison gases such as phosgene and mustard, most of which was stored and never used. Redstone Ordinance Plant produced conventional artillery shells, up to 155mm caliber, as well as rifle grenades. • Krystal Hamburgers was a popular but less expensive nightspot on the north side of the square. The chain was co-founded in 1932 in Chattanooga, TN, by J. Glenn Sherrill, a former resident of nearby Gurley. • Tallulah Bankhead, an actress, was among Huntsville’s more famous offsprings. Her father was U. S. Representative William Bankhead. She was born just off the Courthouse Square. Bankhead Parkway going up Monte Sano Mountain was named after the Bankheads. • Watercress Capital of the World: Before the German rocket team and army missile projects arrived in Huntsville, Huntsville/Madison County was established as the Watercress Capital of the World. In the 1920s and ‘30s growers seeking moderate climates and adequate water supplies came here but in the 1950s transportation and water problems forced them to move to Florida. • Dr. Wernher von Braun: In 1950 Dr. von Braun along with other German scientists came to Huntsville. They envisioned using the same technology of war missiles to send men to the moon and other plants. • The Marshall Space Flight Center was formed in 1960 and in 1961 President John F. Kennedy visited Marshall to talk with Dr. Werner von Braun and the men who would build the rockets to make true his commitment to put men on the moon “before this decade is out”. • Saturn 5: Major part manufactured in Huntsville was the instrument unit built by IBM. This was the consolidated brain for all three stages of the Saturn 5 and the two stages of the Saturn 1B. • Lunar rover: Was Huntsville project that let the last three Apollo crews drive across the Moon. • Twickenham: LeRoy Pope from Virginia bought a large tract of land for $23 per acre (the going rate per acre was $2) and named it Twickenham, after the estate of his relative, the author Alexander Pope. • Andrew Jackson Way: This Huntsville street was named for our nation’s seventh president, who often came to this area of the Mississippi Territory as it was being surveyed for statehood. Jackson was a regular visitor here, and he established a ranch near the present-day site of Alabama A&M University, where he raised horses. • Clinton Avenue: Named in honor of DeWitt Clinton, a Revolutionary War figure. • Governors Drive: Not to honor any one specific Alabama governor, Governors Drive is a tribute to the four governors buried in Huntsville cemeteries. • Lily Flagg Drive: Lily Flagg Drive is located on the old Samuel Moore property. Lily was the Jersey cow belonging to the wealthy Moore. Lily Flagg established an international record at the Jersey Derby in 1892 by producing 1,047 pounds of butter and 11,339 pounds of milk in one year. To mark this momentous occasion, Moore threw a great ball in her honor on July 21, 1892. • Hazel Green: There was no woman named Hazel Green. The community was named for the abundance of hazelnut trees found there in the early 1800s. • Madison County: The county was surveyed and declared official six days after James Madison was elected fourth president of the United States. Madison County was named in his honor. • Memorial Parkway: The Von Braun German arsenal crew built the Parkway in 1954 to solve major traffic problems in Huntsville. It was designed after Germany’s Autobahn and extended from Meridianville to the west end of the city. The Parkway, as it was called at the time, was one of the first American examples of city planning to deal with traffic concerns. It's name was later changed to Memorial Parkway to commemorate soldiers who died in World War I, II and the Korean Conflict. • New Hope: Originally called Vienna, this community was burned to the ground during the Civil War. When the community was rebuilt, it was done with great optimism and took the name New Hope. • New Market: The small Madison County community was intended to serve as a new market for farmers and merchants in the region, circa 1809. • Owens Cross Roads: The first postmaster of this community was Thomas P. Owens, appointed in 1869. The town is named in his honor.