Alberta City, sometimes shortened as "the ABC" by locals, is the name of a

suburban area A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Alberta City is located in the northeastern portion of Tuscaloosa and is generally defined as encompassing the portions of the city east of

U.S. Route 82 U.S. Route 82 (US 82) is an east–west United States highway in the Southern United States. Created on July 1, 1931 across central Mississippi and southern Arkansas, US 82 eventually became a 1,625-mile (2,615 km) route extending from ...

(McFarland Boulevard), west of Holt, south of the

Black Warrior River The Black Warrior River is a waterway in west-central Alabama in the southeastern United States. The river rises in the extreme southern edges of the Appalachian Highlands and flows 178 miles (286 km) to the Tombigbee River, of which the Bl ...

and north of Veterans Memorial Parkway.

History

With its founding in 1912 and much of its early development tracing to the early 20th Century, what is present-day Alberta City was annexed into Tuscaloosa on September 21, 1948.

2011 tornado

On April 27, 2011, Alberta City suffered the heaviest damage from a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

that destroyed 12% of greater Tuscaloosa, including residences, churches, and stores. The suburb's landscape was changed significantly as numerous properties, homes, and businesses were completely destroyed and left as flat vacant lots after demolitions. Two police stations, a

postal office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

, and elementary, middle, and primary day care schools were all damaged beyond repair or destroyed. Alberta City has undergone slow, gradual reconstruction ever since, largely due to revitalization efforts from the Tuscaloosa city government and from private investors and businesses seeing potential in the area due to its close proximity to the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

's main campus. By 2021, reconstruction remained gradual as some commercial and residential sections of Alberta City remained in visible

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

due to minimal private investment and negligent property development on the many vacant lots. Continued public investment and the presence of anchor stores have facilitated recovery efforts.

Demographics

Alberta City never reported a population separately as an unincorporated community on the U.S. Census according to the census returns from 1850 until its annexation into Tuscaloosa in 1948.

Infrastructure

Transportation

The neighborhood is serviced by both

Alabama State Route 215 State Route 215 (SR 215) is a numbered state highway in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. SR 215 partially follows the former routes of U.S. Route 82 (US 82) and US 11. The route stays almost completely within the city limits of Tuscaloosa. Route de ...

(University Boulevard) and

(McFarland Boulevard). Public transportation is provided via public

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

serviced by the Tuscaloosa Transit Authority's ''Holt Route''.

References