Timeline of Montgomery, Alabama explained

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Montgomery, Alabama, USA.

19th century

• 1819 - Montgomery incorporated.
• 1821
  • Montgomery Republican newspaper begins publication.^[1]
  • Franklin Society founded.
• 1824 - Presbyterian church and Montgomery Light Infantry established.
• 1828 - Alabama State Library headquartered in Montgomery.
• 1833 - Montgomery Advertiser newspaper in publication.
• 1847 - Sons of Temperance formed.
• 1850 - Lehman Brothers in business.
• 1851 - Alabama State Capitol built.
• 1861
  • February: Montgomery becomes capital of the Confederate States of America; First White House of the Confederacy established; Jefferson Davis sworn in as president.
  • May 21: Confederate capitol relocated from Montgomery to Richmond, Virginia.
• 1864 - Atlanta-Montgomery railroad destroyed by Union forces.
• 1867 - Swayne School built.
• 1870 - Population: 10,588.
• 1873 - Chamber of Commerce established.
• 1877 - Second Colored Baptist Church established.
• 1887 - Normal School for Colored Students opens.
• 1889 - Hale Infirmary founded.^[2]
• 1898 - Confederate monument dedicated.
• 1899 - Montgomery Library Association organized.
• 1900 - Population: 30,346.

20th century

• 1901 - Alabama Department of Archives and History headquartered in Montgomery.^[3]
• 1902 - St. Margaret's Hospital founded.
• 1907 - Bell Building constructed.
• 1910
  • Wright Flying School begins operating.^[4]
  • William Gunter becomes mayor.
• 1913 - Rotary Club of Montgomery organized.
• 1914 - Empire Theater built.
• 1916 - Commission form of government adopted.
• 1926
  • Junior League of Montgomery organized.^[5]
  • Scottish Rite Temple constructed.
• 1927 - Jefferson Davis Hotel built.
• 1929
  • Municipal airport begins operating.
  • State Teachers College active.
• 1930
  • WSFA radio begins broadcasting.
  • Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts established.
• 1938
  • Coca-Cola bottling facility in operation.
  • WCOV radio begins broadcasting.
• 1940
  • Population: 78,084.
  • Veterans hospital begins operating.
• 1941 - Mayor William Gunter dies.
• 1942 - Montgomery Bible College founded.
• 1946 — A devastating and deadly tornado struck the western portion of the city. The tornado killed 26 people, injured 293 others, and caused a city-wide blackout which lasted for hours.^{[6] [7]}
• 1947 - Alabama Historical Association headquartered in city.
• 1948 - U.S. Maxwell Air Force Base established.
• 1949 - City of Montgomery Library established.
• 1950 - Population: 106,525.
• 1953 - WCOV-TV (television) begins broadcasting.
• 1954 - WSFA television begins broadcasting.
• 1955 - December 1: Rosa Parks arrested; Montgomery bus boycott begins.
• 1956 - December 20: Racial segregation lawsuit Browder v. Gayle verdict takes effect; bus boycott ends.^[8]
• 1960 - Population: 134,393.
• 1961 - May 20: Freedom Riders attacked.
• 1964 - WKAB-TV begins broadcasting.
• 1965
  • March 7–25: Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights.
  • March 25: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers "How Long, Not Long" speech.
• 1967
  • February 7: Dale's Penthouse fire.
  • Auburn University at Montgomery established.
  • Alabama Historical Commission headquartered in city.
• 1968 - Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery established.
• 1971 - Southern Poverty Law Center founded.
• 1972 - Montgomery Zoo opens.^[9]
• 1977
  • Wynnsong 10 cinema in business.^[10]
  • Emory Folmar becomes mayor.
• 1978 - Montgomery Genealogical Society established.^[11]
• 1980 - Population: 177,857.
• 1984 - Masjid Qasim Bilal El-Amin established.^{[12] [13]}
• 1985 - Alabama Shakespeare Festival active.
• 1986 - Montgomery Area Food Bank established.^{[14] [15]}
• 1989 - Civil Rights Memorial dedicated.
• 1990 - Population: 187,106.
• 1992 - Montgomery County Historical Society organized.^[16]
• 1995 - Equal Justice Initiative and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum^[17] established.
• 1997 - City website online (approximate date).^[18]
• 1999 - Bobby Bright becomes mayor.
• 2000 - Population: 201,568.

21st century

• 2005 - Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama factory begins operating.
• 2009
  • Todd Strange becomes mayor.
  • Sister city agreement established with Pietrasanta, Italy.
• 2010 - Population: 205,764.^[19]
• 2011 - Martha Roby becomes U.S. representative for Alabama's 2nd congressional district and Terri Sewell becomes U.S. representative for Alabama's 7th congressional district.^[20]
• 2018 - April: National Memorial for Peace and Justice unveiled.
• 2019 - Steven Reed becomes mayor.
• 2020 - Population: 200,603.^[21]
  • Montgomery records highest homicides total.^[22]
• 2021 - Montgomery records highest homicide rate in history. At 77 homicides.
• 2023 - On August 6, 2023, a violent brawl largely along racial lines occurs when three White men attack a Black co-captain of the Harriott II riverboat on a dock in Riverfront Park.^[23]

See also

• History of Montgomery, Alabama
• List of mayors of Montgomery, Alabama
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Montgomery County, Alabama
• Timelines of other cities in Alabama: Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, Tuscaloosa

Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

• Book: Montgomery City Directory . 1859 . Advertiser Book and Job Printing Office .
  • • Book: Directory of the City of Montgomery . Internet Archive . 1866 . Perry & Smith .
• Book: Jesse D. Beale. S. H. Phelan. City Directory and History of Montgomery, Alabama . HathiTrust . 1878. T.C. Bingham. (includes "A Brief History of Montgomery" by M.P. Blue)
  • M. P. Blue, Churches of the City of Montgomery, Montgomery, 1878.
• Book: McCall . Sketch, historical and statistical, of the city of Montgomery . 1885 .

Published in the 20th century

• Book: Code of Ordinances of the City Council of Montgomery . 1902. Montgomery (Ala.
  • • Book: Thomas McAdory Owen . History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography . 1921. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company . 2 . Montgomery . http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015078279422?urlappend=%3Bseq=325 . 1037–1040 . 2027/mdp.39015078279422?urlappend=%3Bseq=325 . .
  • Book: Code of the city of Montgomery, Alabama, 1952 . Hathi Trust .
• Clanton W. Williams. The Early History of Montgomery and Incidentally of the State of Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1976
• Book: Brown, Lynda. Alabama History: An Annotated Bibliography . 1998. Greenwood Press . 978-0-313-28223-2 . Chronology . https://books.google.com/books?id=FkBQbq2Rv4AC&pg=PR15 . etal.

Published in the 21st century

• Book: J. Mills Thornton. Dividing Lines: Municipal Politics and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma . 2002. University of Alabama Press. 978-0-8173-1170-4 . Montgomery . https://books.google.com/books?id=XC7DlNowvSkC&pg=PA20 . 20–140 .
• Book: Paul T. Hellmann. Historical Gazetteer of the United States . 2006. Routledge. 1-135-94859-3. Alabama: Montgomery . https://books.google.com/books?id=REtEXQNWq6MC&pg=PA17 . 16+ . .
• Book: Wesley Phillips Newton. Montgomery in the Good War: Portrait of a Southern City, 1939-1946 . 2010. University of Alabama Press. 978-0-8173-5632-3. .
• Book: Jeffrey C. Benton. Respectable and Disreputable: Leisure Time in Antebellum Montgomery . 2013. NewSouth Books. 978-1-60306-229-9. .

External links

• Encyclopedia: Montgomery . Encyclopedia of Alabama . Mary Ann Oglesby Neeley . Alabama Humanities Foundation .
• Items related to Montgomery, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
• Web site: (City: Montgomery) . Alabama Repositories Directory . Alabama Department of Archives & History . A listing of public entities and private organizations holding historical records, artifacts, and other cultural heritage materials .

Notes and References

1. Web site: US Newspaper Directory . Washington DC . Chronicling America . Library of Congress . August 8, 2014 .
2. Book: State of Alabama Department of Archives and History. Alabama Official and Statistical Register. 1907. Thomas M. Owen .
3. Book: American Library Annual, 1917-1918 . 1918 . New York . R.R. Bowker Co. . 2027/mdp.39015013751220?urlappend=%3Bseq=276 .
4. Book: Julie Hedgepeth Williams. Wings of Opportunity: The Wright Brothers in Montgomery, Alabama, 1910 . 2010. NewSouth Books. 978-1-60306-093-6.
5. Web site: History . Junior League of Montgomery . August 8, 2014 .
6. Book: Grazulis . Thomas P. . Significant tornadoes, 1680–1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events . 1993 . Environmental Films . St. Johnsbury, Vermont . 1-879362-03-1 . 922–925.
7. F. C. Pate (United States Weather Bureau) . The Tornado at Montgomery, Alabama, February 12, 1945 . Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society . October 1946 . 27 . 8 . 462–464 . 27 May 2023 . American Meteorological Society. 26257954 .
8. Book: Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939 . 2013. Columbia University Press. 978-0-231-51087-5 . Chronology . https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2AaAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA211 . Robert L. Harris Jr. . Rosalyn Terborg-Penn. Rosalyn Terborg-Penn .
9. Book: Vernon N. Kisling, Jr. . Zoo and Aquarium History. 2001. . USA . 978-1-4200-3924-5 . Zoological Gardens of the United States (chronological list) . https://books.google.com/books?id=ulbMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA375 .
10. Web site: Movie Theaters in Montgomery, AL . CinemaTreasures.org . Cinema Treasures LLC . Los Angeles . August 8, 2014 .
11. Web site: Montgomery Genealogical Society . August 8, 2014 .
12. Web site: Masjid Qasim Bilal El-Amin . Montgomery, AL . August 8, 2014 .
13. Web site: Birmingham, Alabama . Directory of Religious Centers . Pluralism Project . Harvard University . August 8, 2014 .
14. Web site: Montgomery Area Food Bank . August 8, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140809032525/http://www.montgomeryareafoodbank.org/About_Us.html . August 9, 2014 .
15. Web site: Alabama Food Banks . Food Bank Locator . . Chicago . July 1, 2014 .
16. Web site: Montgomery County Historical Society . August 8, 2014 .
17. Book: Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada . 2002 . 15th . 0759100020 . American Association for State and Local History . Alabama: Montgomery . Rowman Altamira . https://books.google.com/books?id=LY0Q5Rv4O3YC&pg=PA21 . American Association for State and Local History .
18. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/19970422045807/http://montgomery.al.us/ . Welcome To Montgomery, Alabama . 1997-04-22 . .
19. Web site: Montgomery city, Alabama . State & County QuickFacts . U.S. Census Bureau . March 2, 2017 .
20. Book: Official Congressional Directory . Washington DC . Government Printing Office . 2011 . Alabama . https://books.google.com/books?id=fVSkbYQp6qgC&pg=PA3 . Official Congressional Directory . 9780160886539 .
21. Web site: Montgomery city, Alabama : Population. State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. April 3, 2023.
22. Web site: '68 was too high': Montgomery police chief addresses 2020 homicide rate. WSFA 12 News. Ashley Bowerman. April 3, 2023.
23. News: Bella . Timothy . 2023-08-09 . Men charged in Montgomery brawl had been 'trouble' for riverboat, captain says . . 2023-08-09.