210816 August 16, 2021

Early Huntsville

As Seen Through Our Eyes

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

    Andrea Roberson, LHS '66, was the only one who responded to last week's question of "What would you like to see covered as a topic in a future issue of Lee's Traveller?." Her request was to see more about the "History of Huntsville/Lee during our high school years." Since she took the time to respond, I shall do the same. That is an easy topic for me, since I previously wrote a book called "The Baby Boomer's Guide to Growing Up in The Rocket City" about the same subject. I will extract some of the informatiaon included in the book to expand on this subject.

    I feel a need to set the stage for our little venture back in time before we start it. First, we need to understand the environment of the place where we called home. Facts alone can be boring, but I think some of these facts are interesting enough to be shared.

    Unlike many of our generation who were born in other places around the country, we were born into a community that was about to evolve in a Darwinian mode, much like a butterfly emerging from the cocoon the caterpillar had woven around itself. Before we were born, when Huntsville was selected by the Army as a place to build ammunition for the war, many wondered the fate of the city when that service was no longer needed. If ever a city was changed by war, Huntsville was one of them. It was not destroyed by bombs and artillery shells, but was affected just as much as those that were. The city that was once known as “The Watercress Capitol of the World” was about to replace that nickname with another one as futuristic as the world into which we were born.  In an odd way, we Baby Boomers and “The Rocket City” were part of the same generation.

    According to the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, with the cessation of World War II hostilities in 1945, production at both Redstone Arsenal and Huntsville Arsenal also ceased. The Ordnance plant was put on standby status in February of 1947, while the Chemical Corps installation was declared excess to the Army's needs in September of that same year. In October of 1948, Redstone Arsenal was designated the center of research and development activities in the field of rockets and related items. Huntsville Arsenal was actually advertised for sale in 1949, but the sale never took place because the Army found that it needed the land for the new rocket and missile mission developing at nearby Redstone Arsenal. The arsenal was officially reactivated as the site of the Ordnance Rocket Center on June 1, 1949. Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team of German scientists and engineers were transferred from Fort Bliss, Texas, and beginning on April 15, 1950, Redstone Arsenal officially entered the missile era. Soon thereafter, the nickname of “The Rocket City” was applied to Huntsville – and it stuck.

    Huntsville was still a cotton market town of 16,437 people in 1950 when U.S. Senator John Sparkman had the band of German rocket scientists moved to Redstone Arsenal to develop rockets for the U.S. Army. By the end of the decade, Wernher von Braun's team had developed the rocket which put America's first satellite into orbit. They eventually developed the crafts that put the first American in space and transported the first astronauts to the moon. They did all that while we Huntsville Baby Boomers (which now included the children of the German scientists and the other Redstone engineers and workers) were caught up in the center of the Space Race. In fact, during the 1960's, Huntsville was the fastest growing city in the U.S. because of President John F. Kennedy's emphasis on the space industry. The influx of Army personnel, NASA civil servants, and contractors, with their families, raised enrollments in the city schools from 3,000 in 1950 to over 33,000 by 1974.

    Here’s a recap of a report published about Huntsville and Madison County during the time when the first Baby Boomers were turning five years old and starting their adventures. The report contained the following facts, some of which might appear to be propaganda to a few of the folks who moved here – especially the climate information. I think they left out the August heat problem in their report.

A Report on Madison County

143rd Anniversary

December 13, 1951

Compiled by James R. Record

County Auditor

    Climate - One of the things that insures healthful and pleasant living in Madison County is the prevailing climate. Temperatures are moderate throughout the year, and the seasons are characterized by long summers, short winters, and beautiful autumns and springs. The average temperature year-round is 61 degrees. Rainfall is ample for the growth of crops and is well distributed during the year.

    Transportation – Two railroads, four bus, and five motor freight companies serve the residents of the county, while broad modern highways radiate in all directions to provide swift and comfortable means of transportation. In addition, Madison County – sometimes known as the Air Center of North Alabama – encompasses a large municipal airport, used regularly by two airlines (Eastern and Capital). A local bus line in the City of Huntsville…serves not only the residents of the city but those of its outlying areas. The bus system replaced the old street car lines (which first began operation in 1899) in 1931. 

    Schools and Churches – The people of Madison County are predominantly young. One-third of the population is under 15 years of age, and over one-half is under 25. To ensure these people the proper development and care, the county has one of the most up-to-date school systems in the State of Alabama. 

    Amusement and Recreation – Within the county are two Y.M.C.A.’s, a dude ranch and riding academy, a country club with one of the nation’s finest golf courses, three radio stations, four athletic fields, a National Guard Armory, Naval Reserve Armory, three modern hotels, and five motels, eight theaters – one of which is a drive-in – and many private fraternal organizations and clubs. Monte Sano (Indian name for mountain of health) State Park, consisting of about 2,000 acres, has become one of the most popular tourist resorts in the South. In Huntsville there are numerous parks and playgrounds, the largest of which is centrally located. These parks offer badminton, swimming, baseball, football, shuffleboard, slides, picnicking areas, fishing rodeos, and other forms of recreation. 

    Being in Alabama – part of the so-called Deep South – much has been said about its magnolias, folkways, dialects, and plantation homes, but today it is a community of young, progressive people whose economic well-being is based on a sound and expanding foundation.

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    That was the official view of the politicians. If we were Baby Boomers, then we were in the right place since, by all figures, Huntsville was a boom town. Huntsville started its meteoric growth, from 16,437 in 1950 to 48,000 enumerated in a special census held in 1956. The 1960 census put the population of the city at 72,000; another special census in 1964 gave the population as 123,000; and by 1970 it was 136,102. In 20 years the population grew by almost 120,000 people – a growth of 800%.

    I find it odd that despite all that growth, most of us still feel like we grew up in a small town – a progressive town we have to admit, but still a small one. We have early memories of the roaring of rocket static-test firings and our houses shaking so badly that the dishes were shaken off of tables and pictures fell off the walls. Occasionally the citizens of Huntsville were allowed to go out to the arsenal and witness one of those and, for those lucky ones, it was a sight never to be forgotten. It is memories of thunderous noise, billows of smoke, and brilliant flames shooting from the bottom of the firmly secured white rocket. On those days, there was no question where the action was.

    Huntsville began to receive national recognition as “The Rocket City” with the publication of a brochure boasting Huntsville as such by the Chamber of Commerce. They distributed 14,000 copies of their publication titled “Huntsville, Alabama; Rocket City U.S.A.”