Sylacauga

City of Sylacauga
Incorporated	1838
Population	12,578
Mayor	Jim Heigl
School district	Sylacauga City Schools
Government	Sylacauga City Council Sylacauga Fire Department Sylacauga Police Department
Web site	cityofsylacauga.net
Locate with Google Maps

Sylacauga ("The Marble City") is a city in Talladega County, incorporated in 1838 over a large deposit of hard, white marble. At the 2020 census the population was 12,578.

Gantts Quarry, near Sylacauga, has served intermittently as a supplier of high quality statuary and architectural marble. Other quarrying operations in the area have produced crushed marble as a raw industrial material.

The first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person happened in Sylacauga. On November 30, 1954, a 4 kg meteorite crashed through the roof of a house, bounced off a radio, and badly bruised Ann Hodges.

It is the birthplace of actor and singer Jim Nabors, writer Van Allen Plexico and actor Jonathan Bearden.

History

The first settlers in the Coosa River Valley were the Creek Indians. Sylacauga was first mentioned in Fernando DeSoto's records in 1540. The name Sylacauga is made up of two Indian words - "Chalaka-ge" meaning "The place of the Chalaka Tribe". The city was first incorporated as Syllacoga in 1838 and again in 1887 as Sylacauga.

In 2024 many residents expressed concern about immigrants from Haiti appearing in town, a topic fanned dishonestly by national political figures. City officials encouraged hospitality, and cautioned against making assumptions about people based on their appearance. In mid-September officials estimated around 60 people had come to the area with work visas obtained through a humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. Pastor Rick Patrick of First Baptist Church of Sylacauga hosted two informational meetings for the community that month.

Government

The former Sylacauga City Hall

Sylacauga is governed via the mayor-council system. The city council consists of five members each elected from one of five districts. The mayor is elected in a citywide vote to a four year term. The current acting mayor is Jim Heigl, who assumed the office in August 2012 at the death of two-term mayor Sam Wright.

As of 2024, members of the Sylacauga City Council include Ashton Fowler, Tiffany Nix, Nate Brewer, Lee Perryman, and Laura Heath.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.6 square miles, 99.41% of which is is land, with just 0.1 square mile of surface water.

Demographics

As of the 2020 U.S. Census, there were 12,578 people living in 5,291 households in the city. The population density was 6765.0/mi². There were 6,051 housing units at an average density of 325.3/mi². The racial makeup of the city was 60% white, 34% Black, and 3.7% of two or more races. 2.2% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race, and 2.4% reported speaking a language other than English at home.

There were 5,215 households out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 16.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.00.

The median income for a household in the city was $46,137. The workforce participation rate was 52.4%. About 22.5% of the population lived below the poverty line.

References

• "Sylacauga, Alabama." (August 2,2007) Wikipedia - accessed August 21, 2007
• Thornton, William (September 6, 2024) "Alabama city council meeting comes to abrupt close after questions about Haitian immigrants." AL.com
• Thornton, William (September 18, 2024) "Rumors fuel anger over Sylacauga’s small Haitian community, officials say: ‘They just want to work’." AL.com

External links

• Sylacauga, Alabama website
• Sylacauga history at the B. B. Comer Memorial Library website
• Sylacauga at data.census.gov