Travel Guide Montgomery

Located on the banks of the Alabama River, Montgomery is the capital of the state and the headquarters of Montgomery County. It is the second most populated city in Alabama with more than 205,000 intramural inhabitants and 398,000 for the whole town.HistoryIt was the meeting of two cities, New Philadelphia, founded in 1817 by Andrew Dexter (1779-1837) and East Alabama founded in 1818 by John Scott, who formed Montgomery on December 3, 1819, a few days before Alabama enters l 'Union (14 December) as 23 rd State. His name was given to him in memory of Major-General Richard Montgomery, hero of the American colonial army, killed in Quebec City in 1775 (while the name of the county honors Major Lemuel Purnell Montgomery (1786-1814), the first American soldier killed in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, on March 27, 1814.Due to the high production of cotton in the state, Montgomery grew rapidly. In October 1821, the Harriet steamer began his relentless journey between the capital and Mobile. The city became the headquarters of Montgomery County in 1822. On January 20, 1832, Montgomery Railroad opened the Montgomery Railroad, connecting Montgomery to Colombus, Georgia and then extending to the east coast.In February 1861, Montgomery was chosen as the capital of Confederation. This is where Jefferson Davis telegram was sent authorizing the bombing of Fort Sumter in South Carolina on April 12, 1861; this event was the official starting point of the Civil War. On May 29 of that year, the seat of the Confederate States was transferred to Richmond, Virginia, closer to the battlefields. Montgomery was spared the fighting, but was taken by Union forces led by Major General James H. Wilson on April 12, 1865, after the Battle of Selma (April 2, 1865). Subsequently, Montgomery became the first city of the United States on April 15, 1886 to set up an electric tramway system known as Lightning Road.It was also in Montgomery, on December 1, 1955, that an event marked the beginning of the civil rights movement: Rosa Parks' refusal to leave his place blank on a city bus, followed by the boycott of these buses by the black community for more than a year. Martin Luther King, one of the leaders of the movement, organized 10 years later, the Selma-Montgomery march for civil rights, which ended at the foot of the capitol on March 23, 1965. The route is now marked as Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. In 1910, the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright (1871-1948 and 1967-1912), famous aircraft pioneers, created an aviation school in the north of the city for a few months. The ground was soon taken over by the air force, which developed a great base for training and training.The city todayToday, although it is the capital, Montgomery has the tranquil atmosphere of a small city in the province that the singer of Country Hank Williams particularly affectionate (see his museum, statue and memorial).It's the Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base (military terrain since 1910 - 12,500 personnel, military and civilian) and the car manufacturer Hyundai (implanted since 2005 - 3,000 people - 1,000 vehicles a day) close to the administrative jobs of government and sectors of education and health provide most of the jobs of the city and its economic life. The unemployment rate in Montgomery is 5.4%, slightly above the national average.We come to Montgomery essentially to remember the great moments and characters that marked the beginning of Confederation and the struggle for civil rights. Dark blue markers are located at different places in a historic site or an important personality. The city's last major developments concern The Alley, a lanes developed in the midst of warehouses completely renovated in 2009 in the city center, with numerous bars and restaurants, and the development of Riverfront Park on the banks of the Alabama River. There is the Montgomery Riverfront Park, its amphitheater, where concerts and festivities are organized all year round, and the Harriot II, docked and offering short cruises on the river. Nearby, the Riverwalk Stadium is the baseball stadium that hosts the local team, The Biscuits.In 2018, Montgommery incorporated two major new sites in the history of slavery and civil rights, The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Two sites as recent as ever.Among the best known characters, in addition to Jefferson Davis, Martin Luther King and all those who worked in Montgomery for civil rights, are great musical artists like Hank Williams (1929-1959), Big Mama Thornton (1926-1984), and Nat King Cole (1919-1965). These two were born in the city.