Monroeville, Alabama

Last updated

Monroeville
Historic buildings in Monroeville, Alabama LCCN2010639931.jpg
Historic buildings in Downtown Monroeville
Flag of Monroeville, Alabama.png
Seal of Monroeville, Alabama.png
Nickname: 
The Literary Capital of Alabama
Motto: 
"Moving the Past Forward"
Monroe County Alabama Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Monroeville Highlighted 0150192.svg
Location of Monroeville in Monroe County, Alabama.
Coordinates: 31°31′5″N87°19′39″W / 31.51806°N 87.32750°W / 31.51806; -87.32750
Country United States
State Alabama
County Monroe
Area
[1]
  Total
13.36 sq mi (34.61 km2)
  Land13.35 sq mi (34.59 km2)
  Water0.01 sq mi (0.02 km2)
Elevation
413 ft (126 m)
Population
 (2020)
  Total
5,951
  Density445.63/sq mi (172.06/km2)
Time zone UTC-6 (Central (CST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes
36460–36462
Area codes 251
FIPS code 01-50192
GNIS feature ID0152359
Website www.monroevilleal.gov

Monroeville is the county seat of Monroe County, Alabama, United States. [2] At the 2020 census its population was 5,951. [3]

Contents

Several notable writers were born in Monroeville.

History

Occupied for thousands of years by indigenous peoples, this area was ceded by the historic tribe to the U.S. government in the 1830s and the era of Indian Removal.

The town was first known as Walker's Mill and Store, named for Major Walker, the area's first European-American settler. In 1832, the legislature relocated the county seat to Monroeville from Claiborne on the Alabama River. The settlement was briefly renamed "Centerville" due to its location in the center of the county, and then was formally changed to Monroeville. The town was not formally incorporated until April 15, 1899. [4]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.4 square miles (34.7 km2), of which 13.4 square miles (34.6 km2) is land and 0.0077 square miles (0.02 km2), or 0.05%, is water. [3]

Almost all of the urban area lies on Bama fine sandy loam. Less developed areas around town are mostly on Saffell gravelly sandy loam or Flomaton gravelly loamy sand. [5]

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note
1880 122
1900 422
1910 61646.0%
1920 1,01765.1%
1930 1,35533.2%
1940 1,72427.2%
1950 2,77260.8%
1960 3,63231.0%
1970 4,84633.4%
1980 5,67417.1%
1990 6,99323.2%
2000 6,862−1.9%
2010 6,519−5.0%
2020 5,951−8.7%
U.S. Decennial Census [6]
2013 Estimate [7]

At the 2000 census there were 6,862 people, 2,687 households, and 1,870 families living in the city. The population density was 525.8 inhabitants per square mile (203.0/km2). There were 3,016 housing units at an average density of 231.1 per square mile (89.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 53.09% White, 44.84% Black or African American, 0.38% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.15% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. 0.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. [8] Of the 2,687 households 34.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.0% were married couples living together, 18.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.4% were non-families. 28.0% of households were one person and 11.7% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.04.

The age distribution was 27.7% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.4 males.

The median household income was $28,229 and the median family income was $36,476. Males had a median income of $35,600 versus $20,184 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,070. About 20.4% of families and 23.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.0% of those under age 18 and 19.2% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

At the 2010 census there were 6,519 people, 2,656 households, and 1,723 families living in the city. The population density was 488 inhabitants per square mile (188/km2). There were 3,056 housing units at an average density of 228.1 per square mile (88.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 55.7% White, 42.1% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. 0.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. [9] Of the 2,656 households 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 21.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. 30.5% of households were one person and 12.9% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.95.

The age distribution was 24.6% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 21.8% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% 65 or older. The median age was 40.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.5 males.

The median household income was $31,593 and the median family income was $49,548. Males had a median income of $41,324 versus $31,033 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,553. About 23.3% of families and 27.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.3% of those under age 18 and 19.0% of those age 65 or over today.

2020 census

Monroeville Racial Composition [10]
RaceNum.Perc.
White 2,14636.06%
Black or African American 3,53059.32%
Native American 250.42%
Asian 460.77%
Other/Mixed 1422.39%
Hispanic or Latino 621.04%

As of the 2020 census, there were 5,951 people, 2,106 households, and 1,259 families residing in the city.

Education

Monroeville was formerly home of Alabama Southern Community College, which has been consolidated with the former Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton and Faulkner Community College headquartered in Bay Minette, Alabama. It no longer the administrative center, but now has a branch campus of Coastal Alabama Community College, a state-supported, fully accredited, comprehensive two-year college serving southwest Alabama. Its main campus and administrative offices are in Bay Minette.

There is one school district in the county: Monroe County School District. [11]

Arts and culture

Literary fame

Old Monroe County Courthouse, the model for the courthouse used in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird Old Monroe County Courthouse, Alabama.jpg
Old Monroe County Courthouse, the model for the courthouse used in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird

Author Harper Lee was born and raised in Monroeville. Her 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird , which received the 1961 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, [12] explored the fictional town of Maycomb, inspired by her hometown. [13] Her other novel, Go Set a Watchman , is also set in Maycomb. Truman Capote, best known for his novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood , spent part of his childhood in Monroeville. Lee and Capote were neighbors and remained close friends into adulthood. Capote's early novels, including Other Voices, Other Rooms and The Grass Harp , draw heavily on his childhood in Monroeville. Capote has acknowledged being the inspiration for the character of Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird, while Lee in turn was the inspiration for the character of Idabel in Other Voices, Other Rooms. [14]

Novelist Mark Childress and Cynthia Tucker, syndicated columnist and winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, were also born in Monroeville.

Annual cultural events

As of 2006, an estimated 30,000 tourists visited Monroeville annually due to its association with the novel and adaptations of To Kill a Mockingbird. Each May, the Monroe County Heritage Museum stages an amateur play based on the book on the grounds of the courthouse. The interior of the courthouse was used as a reference for the film version of the book. It is the venue for the later amateur productions. The all-volunteer cast has been invited to perform in Washington, D.C., Kingston upon Hull and Jerusalem. [15] In 1997, the Alabama Legislature designated Monroeville and Monroe County the "Literary Capital of Alabama". [16]

Television

In the television show Private Practice , created and produced by Shonda Rhimes, the fictional character Charlotte King was born in Monroeville.

Notable people

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butler County, Alabama</span> County in Alabama, United States

Butler County is a county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,051. Its county seat is Greenville. Its name is in honor of Captain William Butler, who was born in Virginia and fought in the Creek War, and who was killed in May 1818.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chambers County, Alabama</span> County in Alabama, United States

Chambers County is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census the population was 34,772. Its county seat is LaFayette. Its largest city is Valley. Its name is in honor of Henry H. Chambers, who served as a United States Senator from Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamar County, Alabama</span> County in Alabama, United States

Lamar County is a county in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,972. Its county seat is Vernon and it is a dry county. It is named in honor of Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, a former Confederate officer and former member of both houses of the United States Congress from Mississippi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee County, Alabama</span> County in Alabama, United States

Lee County is a county located in east central Alabama. As of the 2020 census the population was 174,241. The county seat is Opelika, and the largest city is Auburn. The county was established in 1866 and is named for General Robert E. Lee (1807–1870), who served as General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States in 1865. Lee County comprises the Auburn-Opelika, AL Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Columbus-Auburn-Opelika, GA-AL Combined Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe County, Alabama</span> County in Alabama, United States

Monroe County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,772. Its county seat is Monroeville. Its name is in honor of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States. It is a dry county, in which the sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or prohibited, but Frisco City and Monroeville are wet cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe County, Mississippi</span> County in Mississippi, United States

Monroe County is a county on the northeast border of the U.S. state of Mississippi next to Alabama. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,180. Its county seat is Aberdeen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee County, Arkansas</span> County in Arkansas, United States

Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. With its eastern border formed by the Mississippi River, it is considered to be part of the Arkansas Delta. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,600. The county seat is Marianna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fayette, Alabama</span> City in and county seat of Fayette County, Alabama

Fayette is a city and the county seat of Fayette County, Alabama, United States. The population was 4,619 at the 2010 census, down from 4,922 at the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satsuma, Alabama</span> City in Alabama, United States

Satsuma is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 6,749, up from 6,168 at the 2010 census. Known prior to 1915 as "Fig Tree Island", the city was named after the satsuma orange, which was successfully cultivated and grown in Alabama starting in 1878, a gift from Emperor Meiji of Japan. Satsuma is a part of the Mobile metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beatrice, Alabama</span> Town in Alabama, United States

Beatrice is a town in Monroe County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1901. At the 2020 census the population was 204, down from 301 in 2010 and 412 in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frisco City, Alabama</span> Town in Alabama, United States

Frisco City is a town in Monroe County, Alabama, United States. The population was 1,170 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroeville, Indiana</span> Town in Indiana, United States

Monroeville is a town in Monroe Township, Allen County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,294 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holcomb, Kansas</span> City in Finney County, Kansas

Holcomb is a city in Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,245. It is located south of Highway 50.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truman, Minnesota</span> City in Minnesota, United States

Truman is a city in Martin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,092 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gattman, Mississippi</span> Village in Mississippi, United States

Gattman is a village in Monroe County, Mississippi. The population was 77 at the 2020 census, down from 90 in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroeville, Ohio</span> Village in Ohio, United States

Monroeville is a village in Huron County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,300 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroeville, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

Monroeville is a home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a suburb with mixed residential and commercial developments located about 10 miles (16 km) east of Pittsburgh. As of the 2020 census, Monroeville was home to 28,640 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madisonville, Tennessee</span> City in Tennessee, United States

Madisonville is the county seat of Monroe County, Tennessee, United States. It is located in East Tennessee on the eastern border of the state. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 5,132.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nettleton, Mississippi</span> City in Mississippi, United States

Nettleton is a city in Lee and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The population was 1,935 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1888, the town was named after George Henry Nettleton, president of the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad (KCM&B).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Monroe is a city in east central Butler and west central Warren counties in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 15,412 at the 2020 census. Monroe is a part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area.

References

  1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  2. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. 1 2 "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Monroeville city, Alabama". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
  4. "Monroeville - Encyclopedia of Alabama". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  5. "SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Browser - California Soil Resource Lab". casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  6. "U.S. Decennial Census". Census.gov. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  7. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013" . Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  8. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  9. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  10. "Explore Census Data". data.census.gov. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  11. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Monroe County, AL" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau . Retrieved October 9, 2024. - Text list
  12. Shields, pp. 199–200.
  13. 1 2 3 Theroux, Paul. "What's Changed, and What Hasn't, in the Town That Inspired To Kill a Mockingbird", Smithsonian (magazine) , July 2015. Accessed May 7, 2017. "Lee's Maycomb, indelibly evoked in the novel that sells a million copies annually, endures in the small-town reality of Monroeville.... The town boasts that it has produced two celebrated writers, who grew up as neighbors and friends, Truman Capote and Harper Lee. Their homes no longer stand, but other landmarks persist, those of Maycomb, the fictional setting of To Kill A Mockingbird."
  14. "Truman Capote". Encyclopedia of World Biography. Advameg, Inc. 2003. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  15. Cathy Newman "To Catch a Mockingbird", National Geographic, January 2006
  16. "discover literary heritage". Discover Monroeville. Retrieved May 7, 2017.

Bibliography