Madison County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 388,153, and according to a 2023 population estimate the county has become the second-most populous county in Alabama after only Jefferson County, home to Birmingham. Its county seat is Huntsville. Since the mid-20th century it has become an area of defense and space research and industry. The county is named in honor of James Madison, fourth President of the United States and the first President to visit the state of Alabama. Madison County covers parts of the former Decatur County. Madison County is included in the Huntsville, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Mississippi Territory
Madison County was established on December 13, 1808, by the governor of the Mississippi Territory. The county was named for James Madison. There were 2,223 whites and 322 enslaved blacks resident in the county in 1809. The lands were surveyed in 1809 and initially sold out of the land office at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1811 the town of Huntsville was incorporated within the county and the General Land Office was relocated there from Nashville. In the 1810 census alone, Madison County made up nearly half of the population in what would become Alabama, though this did not include Native American tribes and their people. By 1850 however it would lose the title and be the 7th due to its population growth having slowed down. The likely reason was due to Madison County having mainly relied on cotton with little to no other industries.
Cotton remained important after the war. Most labor for cultivation was still provided by African Americans, but they worked as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. By the late 19th century, textile mills had been established around the county; they were restricted to white workers by the Jim Crow practices of racial segregation. During the early 20th century, the economy continued to be largely agricultural, although textile mills expanded their production.
During World War II, the Army established Redstone Arsenal here as a chemical weapon manufacturing site, and the county attracted related industries. After the war, it became a center of new weapon and rocket development. In 1950, a group of exiled German rocket scientists, led by Wernher von Braun, came to Redstone Arsenal from Fort Bliss, Texas in order to conduct research and development of new types of rockets.
By the 1960s, research expanded to rockets for space exploration. The Redstone rocket was modified to launch the first two Americans into space. The US began to emphasize investment in the Space Race, in order to compete with the Soviet Union during the Cold War years and to increase scientific gains. This work in the defense and space industries has generated tens of thousands of jobs in the area, most of them private contractors working in these fields. The population of Madison County has risen from 72,903 in 1950 to an estimated 403,565 in 2022.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.4%) is water.
The topography in the southern and eastern portions of the county is dominated by the dissected remnants of the Cumberland Plateau, such as Keel Mountain, Monte Sano Mountain and Green Mountain. The northern and western portions of the county are flatter.
Rivers
- Tennessee River
- Flint River
- Paint Rock River
Adjacent counties
right|210px|thumb|Farm fields near [[New Market, Alabama|New Market]]
- Lincoln County, Tennessee (north)
- Franklin County, Tennessee (northeast)
- Jackson County (east)
- Marshall County (southeast)
- Morgan County (southwest)
- Limestone County (west)
National protected area
- Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (part)