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Chapter 16
The Calling of
Huntsville Alabama
This brief history of my beloved city will outline the Past, the Present
and then the Future of a region that I have been a part of since I
graduated college in 1991. It was first written in 1998 and then
updated in 2004 when I wrote the previous chapter on The Spiritual
Map of Huntsville. So there is some overlap.
The Past
“The Sky is not the limit” is the slogan of Huntsville, because from the
very beginning Huntsville has had a pioneering spirit. In 1805, John
Hunt and his family started the very first English settlement within the
territory that is now Alabama. Huntsville had the region’s first cotton
mill and cotton gin. Also, Alabama’s first capital was in Huntsville
where the first Alabama governor and legislature convened. They
were also the first in the area to lay the foundation for a newspaper, a
school, a bank and a library. Huntsville soon became the largest city in
the Tennessee Valley.
During the 1940’s and World War II, the US Army established the
Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville to store and build conventional
munitions and artillery shells, which brought the high technology and
scientific endeavors which now characterize Huntsville. In 1950, Dr.
Wernher von Braun and 100 other German scientists pioneered the
United States space program right here in Huntsville Alabama.
During the civil rights movements of the 1960’s, Huntsville led the way
in Alabama by allowing African-American students to enroll in our
schools defying Alabama Governor George Wallace’s attempts at
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