Huntsville is one of the most recognized cities in the Southeast, consistently named as one of the best places to live and work by a variety of national publications. The city is regularly named as a premier location for both business and quality of life. The rich heritage of Southern hospitality with innovative high-tech ventures and cultural diversity are successfully combined.





Huntsville is a city in Limestone and Madison Counties, and the county seat of Madison County. Huntsville is the largest city in northern Alabama in a region of a half-million people, with the city proper having 168,132 residents. Started with a single cabin in 1805, the city was incorporated six years later as Twickenham. However, it was renamed Huntsville after first settler John Hunt during the War of 1812, and has grown across nearby hills and along the Tennessee River, adding textile mills, then munitions factories, to become a major city.





Huntsville's quick growth was from wealth generated by the cotton and railroad industries. Many wealthy planters moved into the area from Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas. In 1855, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad was constructed through Huntsville, becoming the first railway to link the Atlantic seacoast with the Mississippi River. After the Civil War, Huntsville became a center for cotton textile mills, such as Lincoln, Dallas and Merrimack. Each mill had its own housing community that included everything the mill workers needed, such as schools, churches, grocery stores, theatres, and hardware stores, all within walking distance of the mill.





During the 1930s, industry declined in Huntsville due to the Great Depression. Huntsville became known as the Watercress Capital of the World because of its abundant harvest in the area. Madison County led Alabama in cotton production during this time. By 1940, Huntsville was still a small quiet town with a population of only 13,150 inhabitants. This quickly changed at the onset of World War II, when Huntsville was chosen as the location of Redstone Arsenal, with its numerous munitions manufacturing plants.





The Arsenal was almost closed in 1949 when it was no longer needed, but it saw new life when General H. N. Toftoy with support from Senator John Sparkman convinced the U.S. Army to choose Huntsville as the location for its missile research program. In 1950, General Toftoy brought German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun and his colleagues to Redstone Arsenal to develop what would eventually become the United States' space program.





On September 8, 1960, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicated the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. NASA had already activated this facility, which is located on Redstone Arsenal, on July 1 of that year. Huntsville is thus home to both Redstone Arsenal and the Marshall Space Flight Center, and is nicknamed "The Rocket City" for its close history with U.S. space missions.


Huntsville is the largest core city of the four-county large Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. It�s located in the Tennessee River Valley. Several mesas and large hills partially surround the city. These mesas are associated with the Cumberland Plateau, and are locally called mountains. Monte Sano, Italian for Mountain of Health, is the most notable, and is east of the city along with Round Top, Huntsville, and Green Mountains. Others are Wade Mountain to the north, Rainbow Mountain to the west, and Weeden and Madkin Mountains on Redstone Arsenal in the south. Brindlee Mountain is visible in the south across the Tennessee River.


As with other areas along the Cumberland Plateau, the land around Huntsville is karst in nature. Huntsville was founded around the Big Spring, which is a typical karst spring, and many caves perforate the limestone bedrock underneath the city, as is common in karst areas. The headquarters of the National Speleological Society are located in Huntsville.


Huntsville has a humid subtropical climate. It experiences hot, humid summers and generally mild winters, with average high temperatures ranging from 89.0 �F (31.6 C) in the summer to 49.0 �F (9.4 C) during winter.





The Huntsville Recreation Services Department provides leisure time activities through a zone-based services concept. The City is divided geographically into four zones, each providing activities through recreation centers, parks and youth athletic leagues located within the zones. In addition, Huntsville�s Youth Services Program is housed in two of the City's recreation centers. The City of Huntsville also provides quality recreation facilities designed to encourage tourism and increase revenue through tennis, golf and aquatic programs, as well as through the operation of the Hayes Nature Preserve, Metro Kiwanis SportsPlex, Merrimack Soccer Complex, Lydia Gold Skatepark and the City of Huntsville Dog Spot.





Also home to several Fortune 500 companies, Huntsville offers a broad base of manufacturing, retail and service industries. The quality of life is second to none, with a variety of educational, recreational, and cultural opportunities.





There are many strip malls and "power centers" throughout the city. Huntsville has two malls- Madison Square Mall, built in 1984, and Parkway Place, built in 2002 on the site of the former Parkway City Mall. The city also has a lifestyle center called Bridge Street Town Centre, built in 2007, in Cummings Research Park. Another "live, work, and play" center is being constructed on the former site of the Heart of Huntsville Mall. It is to be called Constellation with ground breaking in Fall 2007 and scheduled completion by 2010.





Huntsville, a 200 year old city, can send you to the moon and stars at the Space and Rocket Center or back to the city�s beginnings at Constitution Hall Village. Science or history, we have it here.