Town Creek

Town Creek is located in northwest Lawrence County in northwest Alabama just south of Wheeler Lake and the Tennessee River. It has a mayor/council form of government. The town’s now shuttered Hazlewood High School won 11 state football championships and produced seven National Football League players. Singer-songwriter Eddie Hinton recorded several of the songs on his acclaimed Letters from Mississippi album at Birdland Recording Studios, at the time located in Town Creek.

History

Saunders-Goode-Hall House Town Creek was originally known as Jonesboro, named after an early inhabitant of the area, William Jones. Although the exact date is uncertain, it was one of the first towns settled in Lawrence County. The first school, consisting of one room, was established in 1840. Then in 1870, the local Masonic Lodge donated space for the expanding population to use as a school. The area west of Town Creek voted in 1871 to separate itself from Lawrence County because county officials would not build a bridge connecting it to Town Creek. This area would become part of Colbert County. Town Creek was incorporated on March 8, 1875.

By 1895 or so, the Southern Railway was operating a line through the area connecting Decatur, Morgan County, and Tuscumbia, Lawrence County. A dedicated school was constructed in 1919, at a cost of about $40,000, financed equally by donations from the local citizenry and a tax increase. The site is now occupied by Hazlewood Elementary School, which was constructed in 1960 and named for the family that donated the land. Hatton High School, which has a Town Creek address, dates one building to 1936 and has since been expanded. Adjacent to the high school is Hatton Elementary, which was constructed in 1961. Hazlewood High School, which closed in 2009 in a consolidation, was known for its successful football program. Four brothers, Chris, Kerry, Pierre, Chris, and Clyde Goode and cousin Antonio Langham all starred at the University of Alabama. Chris, Kerry, and Antonio went on to careers in the National Football League.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Town Creek recorded a population of 943. Of that number, 58.7 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 28.2 percent as African American, 6.9 percent as two or more races, 5.7 percent as American Indian, and 0.8 percent as Hispanic. The town’s median household income was $42,125, and the per capita income was $23,384.

Employment

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

  • Manufacturing (35.4 percent)
  • Educational services and health care and social assistance (11.9 percent)
  • Construction (11.6 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (8.7 percent)
  • Retail trade (7.8 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (7.5 percent)
  • Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (7.0 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (4.6 percent)
  • Public administration (2.3 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (1.7 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extraction (1.4 percent)

Education

Public education in Town Creek is administered by Lawrence County Schools, which oversees two elementary schools and one high school.

Transportation

Town Creek is accessed by U.S. Highway 72 and State Highway 20 which run east-west and State Highway 101 which runs north-south. The Norfolk-Southern Corporation operates a rail line through Town Creek. Courtland Airport, a general aviation facility, lies a few miles to the east of Town Creek.

Events and Places of Interest

Just to the northeast of Town Creek is the Saunders-Goode-Hall House (ca. 1824), a historic mansion house listed on the National Register of Historic Places and documented by the Historical American Building Survey in 1935 and 1937. Joe Wheeler State Park lies a few miles to the north of Town Creek.

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