Hollywood

Hollywood is located in central Jackson County in the northeast corner of the state. It has a mayor/council form of government.

The present-day city of Hollywood began in 1858 as a station on the Southern Railroad. At the time, it was known as Sample, after a railroad engineer who worked on the line. The railroad took this route because the citizens of Bellefonte refused to let the line come through their town. The town later changed its name to Hollywood.

In the winter of 1863-1864, Hollywood was occupied by the One Hundredth Indiana Regiment of the Fifteenth Army Corps, under the command of Union general William Tecumseh Sherman. The town suffered in the aftermath of the Civil War but gradually recovered.

In 1898, the Alabama Brick and Tile Company opened, and it remained a major part of the town's economy for a number of years. A smallpox epidemic hit the town in 1904.

In 1974, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began construction of the Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station on the Tennessee River on the eastern side of Hollywood.

The plant's construction was halted in 1988, and it lay dormant until 2011, when construction resumed. In 2012, TVA announced it may bring the unit one reactor online as early as 2018.

According to the 2010 Census, Hollywood had a population of 1,000. Of that number, 75.8 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 14.8 percent as African American, 4.9 percent as Hispanic, 4.3 percent as two or more races, 1.7 percent as Native American and 0.3 percent as Asian. The town's median household income, according to 2010 Census estimates, was $35,000, and the per capita income was $18,558.

According to 2010 Census estimates, the work force in Hollywood was divided among the following industrial categories:

· Manufacturing (25.3 percent)
· Retail trade (16.8 percent)
· Construction (14.0 percent)
· Educational services, and health care and social assistance (12.2   percent)
· Wholesale trade (9.4 percent)
· Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (6.6   percent)
· Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services   (5.4 percent)
· Other services, except public administration (3.6 percent)
· Transportation, warehousing, and utilities (3.0 percent)
· Professional, scientific, and administrative and waste management   services (1.8 percent)
· Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (1.2 percent)
· Public administration (0.8 percent)

Schools in Hollywood are part of the Jackson County School system; the town has approximately 171 students and 11 teachers in one elementary school. The town also has an alternative school and a technology center.

Hollywood is served by County Road 33, which runs northwest-southeast through the town and connects with U.S. Highway 72 to the southeast.

Events and Places of Interest

The Townsend Farmhouse located just north of Hollywood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Hollywood is located just west of the Tennessee River and Lake Guntersville, which offer numerous opportunities for boating, fishing, swimming, and camping.

Additional Resources

Jackson County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Jackson County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998.

Kennamer, John Robert Sr. History of Jackson County, Alabama. 1935. Reprint, Scottsboro, Ala.: Jackson County Historical Association, 1993.

Thomas, Coburn. "An Economic and Social History of Jackson County." Master's Thesis, Auburn University, 1938.