Munford

Munford is located in northeastern Talladega County in the central part of the state. It has a mayor/city council form of government.

History

Old Munford High School Munford’s first settlers arrived in the area in the early 1830s. It is best known for the Battle of Munford, a Civil War skirmish that took place between Confederate and federal troops on April 23, 1865, two weeks after Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox. About 150 Confederates engaged federal forces under Gen. John T. Croxton numbering around 1,500. The federal troops quickly overran the Confederate position; one soldier was killed on each side (although one source says that two federal soldiers were killed). This conflict was likely the final battle fought east of the Mississippi River at the end of the war.

Munford was incorporated in 2002.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Munford recorded a population of 1,465. Of that number, 62.9 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 28.4 percent as African American, 3.8 percent as two or more races, 2.8 percent as Hispanic, 1.4 as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 0.8 as Asian, and 0.2 as American Indian. The town’s median household income was $29,861, and the per capita income was $21,246.

Employment

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

• Manufacturing (23.8 percent)
• Educational services and health care and social assistance (19.5 percent)
• Retail trade (14.1 percent)
• Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (12.6 percent)
• Construction (5.6 percent)
• Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (4.5 percent)
• Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (4.0 percent)
• Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (4.0 percent)
• Public administration (4.0 percent)
• Other services, except public administration (3.4 percent)
• Wholesale trade (2.3 percent)
• Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extraction (2.2 percent)

Education

Schools in Munford are part of the Talladega County school system; the town has one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school.

Transportation

Interstate Highway 20 runs east-west about a mile north of town, and State Highway 21 runs through the southern part of town, going northeast-southwest.

Events and Places of Interest

Cheaha State Park borders the town to the southeast. Old Munford High School, Ophelia S. Hill School, The Cedars Plantation, and the Valley Head United Methodist Church are listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

Munford maintains a Senior Center and a Community Center, as wells as baseball fields and a football field.

Additional Resources

Jemison. E. Grace. Historic Tales of Talladega. 1959. Reprint Huntsville, Ala.: The Strode Publishers, Inc., 1984.

Talladega County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Talladega County. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2000.