Hollywood

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

History

Downtown Hollywood Store 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. Residents later changed its name to Hollywood.

In the winter of 1863-64, Hollywood was occupied by the One Hundredth Indiana Regiment of the Fifteenth Army Corps, under the command of U.S. Army 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 went through various owner and licenses. In 2021, the TVA declined to file an extension of the plant’s permits, and it is now abandoned.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Hollywood recorded a population of 981. Of that number, 72.4 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 22.3 percent as African American, 4.8 percent as two or more races, and 0.5 percent as American Indian. The town’s median household income was $43,333 and the per capita income was $20,160.

Employment

According to 2020 Census estimates, the workforce in Hollywood was divided among the following industrial categories:

  • Manufacturing (44.1 percent)
  • Educational services and health care and social assistance (18.9 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (12.5 percent)
  • Retail trade (9.2 percent)
  • Construction (3.1 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (3.1 percent)
  • Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (2.6 percent)
  • Public administration (2.6 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (1.5 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extraction (1.3 percent)
  • Wholesale trade (0.8 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (0.5 percent)

Education

Schools in Hollywood are part of the Jackson County School system; the town has one elementary school and an alternative school and a technology center.

Transportation

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 Townsend Farmhouse

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.

External Links

Share this Article