Triana is located in Madison County in the south-central part of the state. It has a mayor/council form of government.

History

Warden’s Residence, Triana

What is now Triana is located in the former territory of the Chickasaw Nation. In 1816, the Chickasaws were forced to cede the land that now includes most of Madison County, and in 1818, the U.S. government laid out plots for towns, including the site of Triana. The town incorporated on November 13, 1819, even before Alabama itself became a state. The town was reportedly named for Rodrigo de Triana, a member of Christopher Columbus’s crew. Triana became an important shipping center after the completion of a canal connecting it to Hunt’s Spring (now the city of Huntsville). Today, the town is part of the larger Huntsville-Madison metropolitan area.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Triana recorded a population of 2,323. Of that number, 49.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as African American, 42.1 percent as white, 5.6 percent as Asian, 3.3 percent as Hispanic, 1.7 percent as two or more races, and 0.5 percent as American Indian. The town’s median household income was $62,375, and the per capita income was $29,716.

Employment

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

• Educational services and health care and social assistance (21.1 percent)
• Manufacturing (18.0 percent)
• Public administration (16.6 percent)
• Retail trade (9.9 percent)
• Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (12.0 percent)
• Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (7.3 percent)
• Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (5.9 percent)
• Information (4.2 percent)
• Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (2.3 percent)
• Other services, except public administration (1.7 percent)
• Construction (0.7 percent)
• Wholesale trade (0.4 percent)

Education

There are no public schools in Triana. Students attend Madison County schools.

Transportation

Triana connects via local roads to nearby I-65 and I-565. The town is located just southwest of Huntsville International Airport.

Events and Places of Interest

The nearby Tennessee River offers boating and fishing opportunities. And there are numerous nature preserves in the area. The nearby cities of Madison and Huntsville offer a wide variety of activities and sites of interest. The stone Warden’s Residence in the town’s park was built in 1941 by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a home for the warden of Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. In 1950, it became a clinic serving Black residents in the area. After the 1960s, it operated as a desegregated clinic until 1990. The building was listed along with two other outbuildings on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.