Skyline

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

History

Skyline Farms School Skyline began its existence as a project under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program during the Great Depression (similar to the town of White Hall, Lowndes County, and the Prairie Farms Resettlement Community in Macon County). In the early 1930s, the federal government purchased 13,000 acres on Cumberland Mountain in Jackson County and divided it into 40-acre plots. In 1935, federal workers began to build houses and a school on the land, and the government offered the houses and land for purchase through low-cost loans. The project was originally called Cumberland Mountain Farms, then Skyline Farms, and finally just Skyline. Those who bought into the project planted mainly tomatoes and potatoes, as well as some sugarcane, as cash crops.

Few families were ultimately able to pay off the loans, but food provided by the farms helped a number of families survive the Great Depression and resulted in a permanent community. Some of the houses have survived and are referred to as “colony” houses by local residents.

The current town of Skyline is about a mile north of where the bulk of the colony was located. Skyline incorporated in 1985.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Skyline recorded a population of 1,049. Of that number, 92.9 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 8.0 percent as Hispanic, 3.3 percent as two or more races, 3.0 percent as American Indian, and 0.3 as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. The town’s median household income was $36,233, and the per capita income was $16,295.

Employment

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

• Manufacturing (28.7 percent)
• Educational services and health care and social assistance (21.0 percent)
• Construction (12.9 percent)
• Retail trade (8.1 percent)
• Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (7.1 percent)
• Other services, except public administration (6.5 percent)
• Public administration (4.8 percent)
• Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (3.2 percent)
• Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (2.6 percent)
• Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extraction (2.3 percent)
• Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (2.3 percent)
• Wholesale trade (0.6 percent)

Education

Skyline is part of the Jackson County Public Schools. There are no public schools in the town itself.

Transportation

Skyline is served by State Highway 79, which runs north-south through the town, and County Road 17, which runs west from 79 through the southwestern portion of the town.

Events and Places of Interest

Skyline holds an annual “Skyline Day” on the first Saturday in June at Cumberland Mountain Park.

Additional Resources

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