Carbon Hill

Carbon Hill is located in western Walker County in the northwest corner of the state. It has a mayor/city council form of government.

History

Carbon Hill Swimming Pool The area now known as Carbon Hill was first settled in the early 1820s and remained primarily a farming community for many years. In 1886, the Kansas City, Memphis, and Birmingham (later the Frisco) Railroad built a line through the area, bringing with it a new and convenient mode of transportation for both people and local products, goods, and soon more people settled there. Mines soon began to open in the area, bringing new employment opportunities. The first post office opened in 1887, and the town incorporated in February 1891. By 1900, the population was more than 1,600.

Works Progress Administration Road Building The Great Depression hit Carbon Hill particularly hard as the coal mines on which it depended for three-quarters of its employment and income shut down completely. With the monetary aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA), which was supplemented by local sponsors, many Carbon Hill residents found work on projects that improved the town’s infrastructure. In addition to street improvements, townspeople helped put in a new sanitary sewer system, built a new high school that included a vocational education building, constructed a swimming pool and recreation area, and built a new jail, among other projects. William C. Pryor, chief of the WPA’s photographic section, documented many of the projects.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Carbon Hill had a population of 1,354. Of that number, 89.4 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 8.3 percent as African American, 2.4 percent as two or more races. The town’s median household income was $26,333, and the per capita income was $17,857.

Employment

According to 2020 Census estimates, the work force in Carbon Hill was divided among the following industrial categories:

  • Arts, entertainment, and recreation and accommodation and food services (15.0 percent)
  • Manufacturing (14.5 percent)
  • Educational services, and health care and social assistance (13.2 percent)
  • Retail trade (13.2 percent)
  • Construction (10.4 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (7.3 percent)
  • Public administration (7.0 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (6.3 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (5.8 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, and administrative and waste management services (5.2 percent)
  • Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (1.3 percent)
  • Information (0.7 percent)

Education

Carbon Hill is part of the Walker County School System. The town has one public high school.

Transportation

Carbon Hill is served by State Highway 118, which runs east-northwest, County Road 11, which runs northeast from the center of town, and County Highway 63, which runs north-southwest. Interstate 22/U.S. Highway 78 runs southeast-northwest through the northeastern corner of the town.

Events and Places of Interest

The town maintains a municipal park, a football-themed splashpad, and a public swimming pool.

Further Reading

  • Dombhart, John Martin. History of Walker County: Its Towns and Its People. Thornton, Ark.: Cayce Publishing Company, 1937.
  • Walker County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Walker County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1999.

External Links

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