28 Facts About Alabama – Why Was the Sales Tax Introduced?

by Petr Novák, ? The accuracy of the information provided in this article was last verified on this date. If you spot any errors, please let us know in the comments. Thank you. :-) Updated 01/08/2024 Alabama, Trivia About the US states

There is a town in Alabama that is sure to confuse you with its name. This state is also home to a unique world monument and a museum that displays the typewriter of one of the most notorious tyrants in human history.

28 Interesting Facts About the State of Alabama

1. Alabama became the 22nd State of the United States on December 14, 1819.
2. Cheaha Mountain, at 2,405 ft, is the highest point in Alabama.
3. The tradition of Mardi Gras carnival celebrations, always held on Shrove Tuesday, originated in Alabama.
4. In 1861, the Confederate Flag was first flown in Alabama.
5. The first electric streetcar ran in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1886.
6. Alabama instituted a sales tax in 1937, with the goal of raising funds for education.
7. Workers in Alabama built the first rocket to reach the moon.
8. Alabama is the only state in the USA that has all the raw materials needed to produce iron and steel. It is also the largest supplier of cast iron and steel pipe products.
9. In the town of Enterprise, there is a unique monument featuring a giant cottonwood tree. The Boll Weevil Monument commemorates the beetle’s destructive influence, which led local farmers to grow crops other than cotton.
10. A prehistoric man’s skeleton was discovered in Russell Cave in the northeastern part of the state.
11. Montgomery was the capital and birthplace of the Confederate States of America, a coalition of several southern states between 1861 and 1865.
12. The city of Huntsville in northern Alabama is known as the Rocket Center of the World.
13. In 1902, Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill performed the first open-heart surgery in the western hemisphere in Montgomery by suturing a stab wound in a young boy’s heart.
14. Old Saint Stephens was the first capital of Alabama from 1817 to 1819.
15. In 1995, Heather Whitestone, who is deaf, won Miss America, becoming the first winner with a disability.
16. Winston County is often referred to as the Free State of Winston, a status it gained during the Civil War.
17. The geographical center of Alabama is located in the town of Chilton, 12 mi southwest of Clanton.
18. The name Alabama means “tribal town” in the Creek language.
19. The state mineral of Alabama is hematite, an iron oxide.
20. The Hall of History Museum in Bessemer exhibits Hitler’s typewriter.
21. Blount County was established on February 7, 1818, making it older than the state itself.
22. The city of Mobile is not named after the word “mobile,” but after the Mauville Indian Tribe.
23. Peter Bryce, born in 1834 and died in 1892, was the first psychiatrist in Alabama.
24. The flag of Alabama was adopted on February 16, 1895.
25. The pecan is the official nut of Alabama.
26. On January 11, 1861, Alabama became the fourth state to secede from the Union.
27. Montgomery was elected the capital of Alabama on January 28, 1846.
28. Alabama citizen Sequoyah created a written version of the Cherokee language.