Hoover
Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in middle central Alabama. A suburb of Birmingham, the population of the city was 62,742 as of the 2000 census and was estimated to be 67,469 in 2005. Hoover is now one of the three primary cities in the Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman Combined Statistical Area, consisting of the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Cullman micropolitan area. Hoover’s neighborhoods and planned communities are located along the once rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hoover has a total area of 43.7 mi². 43.1 mi² of which is land and 0.5 mi² (1.17%) is water.
Hoover is home to the Riverchase Galleria, which is one of the largest shopping centers in the Southeast and Alabama's most visited tourist destination. Also, it is one of the largest mixed-used centers in the country (around 2 million in square footage). The anchors of this shopping center are JCPenney, Parisian, Belk, Macy's, and Sears. AmSouth Bank, BE&K, BellSouth, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama all have large operations in Hoover.
The Birmingham Barons minor league baseball team, which traces its history to 1885, plays its home games at the 10,800 seat Regions Park (formerly Hoover Metropolitan Stadium).
History
Settlement by Europeans descendents of the area that would become Hoover began in the 19th century in the areas of Bluff Park, Patton Chapel, and Rocky Ridge. Hoover's more direct beginnings however, were with William H. Hoover, founder of Employers Insurance of Alabama, when he purchased 160 acres of land along Tyler Road in 1944 and built a home there for his family. In 1953, when the Alabama Highway Department began widening U.S. Highway 31 between Shades Mountain and the Cahaba River, Hoover began purchasing land along the highway south of Vestavia Hills. He founed the South Jefferson Company as a holding company of Employers Mutual Insurance to handle the real estate transactions. Hoover subsequenty moved his company, now known as Employers Insurance of Alabama, to the area and began purchasing additional land to build homes for his employees. The community he built became known as Hoover.
1962 saw the formation of the Hoover Volunteer Fire Department, which purchased its first fire truck from Birmingham. In 1964, an attempt was made to incorporate the Hoover and Green Valley developments as the town of Hoover, but residents rejected the proposal. In 1967, another attempt was made, this time only including an area four blocks long and one block wide containing 406 people, and passed, creating Hoover as a municipality. Don Watts was elected to a one-year term as Hoover's first mayor later that year.
In 1968, Green Valley elected to incorporate. Hoover's attorney discovered a flaw in voter registration and the city sued. The lawsuit went to the U.S. Supreme Court and resulted in the State of Alabama nullifying Green Valley's incorporation. Furthermore, a state law was introduced and passed stating that a Jefferson County community within three miles of an incorporated city could not incorporate itself, preventing Green Valley from incorporating again.
Hoover began to annex adjacent areas in 1969, although negotiations to annex Riverchase fell through at that time. Hoover's first city hall, which included a jail, was constructed in 1971 along Highway 31 on land William H. Hoover donated for that purpose. Hoover continued to grow and, in 1980, the Riverchase community was annexed into the city. By 1989, Hoover had extended to include Bluff Park, the Trace Crossings industrial complex, Altadena Woods, Southlake, and other residential areas. By 1992, Hoover annexed Inverness and Greystone.
Government
The municipal government has operated under the Mayor-Council form of government since incorporation. The mayor and city council are elected on a non-partisan basis to concurrent four-year terms of office which begin on October 1st of election year. Policy-making and legislative authority is vested in the City Council, which consists of seven "at-large" elected members (prior to 2004, the council consisted of five at-large members.) The city council is responsible for, among other things, considering local resolutions and ordinances, adopting an annual budget, and appointing members to local boards and committees. The Mayor is responsible for carrying out and enforcing the city's policies and ordinances.
Public safety
In 2006, the police force of the city of Hoover began using 104 Chevrolet police Tahoes. With this change, the Hoover police department became the largest law enforcement fleet in the nation that runs on E85, a fuel that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The change caught the attention of President George W. Bush, who visited the city in September 2006 to see the fleet and fueling facility.
Hoover operates its own 911 call center which has eight operator positions and is staffed 24/7.
Additionally, Hoover offers updates within the city on AM radio (1610 kHz) of traffic, severe weather, disaster information, and details on special events. It is a very low power station, however.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 62,742 people, 25,191 households, and 17,406 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,454.6/mi². There were 27,150 housing units at an average density of 629.4/mi². The racial makeup of the city was 87.66% White, 6.77% Black or African American, 0.16% Native American, 2.89% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.40% from other races, and 1.09% from two or more races. 3.79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 25,191 households out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% were non-families. 25.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $61,982, and the median income for a family was $79,912. Males had a median income of $55,660 versus $34,836 for females. The per capita income for the city was $33,361. About 2.1% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Hoover's city school system consists of ten elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools, Spain Park High School and Hoover High School. The 2005-2006 school year saw 11,433 students in the Hoover City School system. Hoover High School is the largest high school in Alabama by area. The Hoover High Bucs Football Team was the number one ranked football team in the United States for a time in 2006 and is the focus of the reality television program Two-A-Days, of which the first season aired on MTV in the fall of 2006. The second season of Two-A-Days began airing on Janaury 30, 2007.
Berry Middle School, which served as the city's first high school before the present Hoover High was constructed, was closed after the 2005-2006 academic year, with students moved to a new Berry Middle School constructed near the site of Spain Park High School. Simmons Middle School and R. F. Bumpus Middle School are the city's other middle schools, whose students move on to Hoover High.
Media
Hoover has one television station, ABC 33/40 with studios within its city limits, though the station is actually a combination of stations licensed to Anniston, Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. No radio stations operate from Hoover proper, though numerous stations from the Birmingham market serve the city. (WENN-FM is licensed to Hoover, but its studio is located in Birmingham.)
Two newspapers serve Hoover: The Birmingham News, the state's primary daily newspaper, and The Hoover Gazette, a weekly newspaper which began publishing in June 2006. The portion of Hoover which lies in Shelby County is also served by the Shelby County Reporter, a weekly newspaper based in Columbiana, the county seat. During the 1990s another newspaper served the city of Hoover, the Hoover Outlook. This publication lasted only about 18 months.
Points of interest
References
- Hoover, Alabama. [1] (January 24, 2007). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed January 30, 2007.
- Honea, Vadie. (n.d.) "Then & Now: A History of Hoover." City of Hoover. Accessed February 6, 2007.
External links
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