Graysville

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City of Graysville
Graysville seal.jpg
Incorporated 1946
Population 2,114
Mayor Julio Davis
School district Jefferson County Schools
Government

Graysville City Council
Graysville Fire Department
Graysville Police Department

Web site graysvillecity.com
Graysville locator map.png
Locate with Google Maps

Graysville (incorporated in 1946) is a city of 2,114 on 16.92 square miles adjoining U.S. Highway 78 (Bankhead Highway) and I-22 in northwest Jefferson County, east of Adamsville. The Mayor of Graysville is Julio Davis and the Graysville City Hall is located at 246 South Main Street. The Graysville City Council has six elected members.

The city operates its own Graysville Fire Department, a park and recreation department, and a streets department. The city dissolved its police department in 2007 and currently contracts with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement and prevention services.

Graysville also operates its own Graysville Gas & Water utility, and celebrates the fact by including a natural gas flame and a water tap on its official seal. The gas utility supplies adjoining communities and several Jefferson County Board of Education properties, and reaped $4 million in profits in 2010.

The city, which calls itself "Alabama's Most Progressive Town", hosts an annual "Mayberry Comes to Graysville" festival to celebrate the legacy of television's "Andy Griffith Show".

History

The community was originally known as Gintown after a cotton gin that operated there. It was later renamed for a local family. The post office (35073) was established in 1942.

Until the 1960s, travelers headed northwest from Birmingham on Highway 78 experienced the "Graysville bottleneck" as the four-lane road narrowed to two lanes. In the late 1970s, Maurice West served as Mayor, with Keith Kilgore, Mack Tate, J. W. Thomas, Jack Brasfield, and Chester Cowan on the City Council.

In 2011, Graysville asked the state legislature to allow it to annex more than 2,000 acres in northwest Jefferson County, including land not contiguous with its borders in the unincorporated Rebublic community, which does border Birmingham, Brookside and Adamsville. The proposed area is along Forestdale Bend Road and Cherry Avenue, and would give Graysville a major swath of land alongside I-22. The proposal, opposed by many in the Republic and Watson communities, did not come up for a vote in the 2011 Alabama legislative session.

In 2012, two-term Mayor Doug Brewer was dismissed from his position as supervisor of Graysville's gas and water utility, and soon later agreed to resign from office in the face of accusations of incompetence and abuse of power. He was succeeded by Mayor Pro Tem Mary Sue Morgan. Morgan lost a close race in the 2016 election to challenger Julio Davis.

The city experienced a major blow to its revenues with the closure of a Lowe's home improvement store in 2018. On February 7, 2019 the City Council passed a new ordinance to license and regulate bingo parlors in the city, hoping to boost revenues. With Graysville and newly-installed Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway disinclined to pursue criminal investigations against the parlors, Attorney General of Alabama Steve Marshall sent state officials to close one of the bingo parlors and confiscate electronic bingo machines on April 9.

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,344 people residing in the city's 1,066 housing units, for an average household of 2.2 persons. The population density was 127.9/mi², with housing units at an average density of 63.0/mi². The racial makeup of the city was 73.9% White and 23.6% African American. 1.71% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.

In 2000, there were 976 households out of which 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.3% were married couples living together, 16.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.6% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.85.

In the city the population was spread out with 20.9% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 20.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 86.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,994, and the median income for a family was $35,938. Males had a median income of $30,692 versus $25,446 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,328. About 8.2% of families and 11.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.5% of those under age 18 and 13.2% of those age 65 or over.

The Jefferson County Board of Equalization evaluated 906 homes in Graysville and determined that their average market value for 2007 was $69,651, a 3.9% increase since 2006.

References

  • "Graysville, Alabama" (April 29, 2007) Wikipedia - accessed April 30, 2007
  • Foscue, Virginia O. (1989) Place Names in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 081730410X
  • Norris, Toraine (March 12, 2011) "Graysville seeks to expand its borders." The Birmingham News
  • Tomberlin, Michael (August 21, 2011) "A little city with big hopes: Graysville plans for I-22." The Birmingham News

External links

Jefferson County Seal.png Jefferson County
Topics

Communities | County Commission | Courts | Schools | Sheriff

Cities

Adamsville | Bessemer (seat) | Birmingham (seat) | Brighton | Brookside | Cardiff | Center Point | Clay | Fairfield | Fultondale | Gardendale | Graysville | Homewood | Hoover | Hueytown | Irondale | Kimberly | Leeds | Lipscomb | Maytown | Midfield | Morris | Mountain Brook | Mulga | North Johns | Pinson | Pleasant Grove | Sylvan Springs | Tarrant | Trafford | Trussville | Vestavia Hills | Warrior | West Jefferson