Cullman is the largest city and

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Cullman County, Alabama Cullman 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 87,866. Its county seat and largest city is Cullman. Its name is in honor of Colonel John G. Cullmann. C ...

, United States. It is located along Interstate 65, about north of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and about south of Huntsville. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 14,775, with an estimated population of 18,213 in 2020.

History

Before European colonization, the area that today includes Cullman was originally in the territory of the Cherokee Nation. The region was traversed by a trail known as the Black Warrior's Path, which led from the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other name ...

near the present location of Florence, Alabama, to a point on 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 ...

south of Cullman. This trail figured significantly in Cherokee history, and it featured prominently in the

American Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

prior to the establishment of the state of Alabama and the relocation of several American Indian tribes, including the

Creek people The Muscogee, also known as the Mvskoke, Muscogee Creek, and the Muscogee Creek Confederacy ( in the Muscogee language), are a group of related indigenous (Native American) peoples of the Southeastern WoodlandsTrail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...

. During the Creek War in 1813, General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

of the U.S. Army dispatched a contingent of troops down the trail, one of which included the frontiersman Davy Crockett. In the 1820s and the 1830s, two toll roads were built linking the Tennessee Valley to present-day

. In 1822, Abraham Stout was given a charter by the Alabama Legislature to open and turnpike a road beginning from Gandy's Cove in Morgan County to the ghost town of Baltimore on the Mulberry Fork near

Colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

. The road passed near present-day Vinemont through Cullman, Good Hope, and down the current Interstate 65 corridor to the Mulberry Fork. The road was later extended to Elyton (Birmingham) in 1827. It then became known as Stout's Road. Mace Thomas Payne Brindley was given a charter in 1833 to turnpike two roads, one running between Blount Springs to Somerville by way of his homestead in present-day Simcoe, and the second road passing west of Hanceville and east of Downtown Cullman to join Stout's Road north of the city. What later became the Brindley Turnpike became an extension of Stout's Road to Decatur. Cullman later became located between the juncture of the two roads, and they predated the corridor of U.S. Route 31. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, the future location of Cullman was the site of the minor Battle of Day's Gap. On April 30, 1863,

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

forces under the command of Colonel Abel Streight won a victory over forces under Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. This battle was part of a campaign and chase known collectively as Streight's Raid. Although Streight got the upper hand in this battle, Forrest would have the last laugh. In one of the more humorous moments of the war, Streight sought a truce and negotiations with Forrest in present-day Cherokee County near present-day Gaylesville. Although Streight's force was larger than Forrest's, while the two were negotiating, Forrest had his troops march repeatedly in a circuitous route past the site of the talks. Thinking himself to be badly outnumbered, Streight surrendered to Forrest. Col

Cullman itself was founded in 1873 by Colonel John G. Cullmann, a German immigrant. Cullmann had been an advocate of democratic reforms in his native

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, having fought and acquired his honorific title "Colonel" during the Revolutions of 1848–49. After the failure of the revolution, Cullmann found himself in financial ruin. In the years to follow, he would try to re-establish himself in business, but after several setbacks, including a great financial loss in the

First Schleswig War The First Schleswig War (german: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg) was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question, contesting the issue of who should control the Duchies of Schleswi ...

, he would remain unsuccessful. As time went on and

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

, under King Wilhelm I and his Minister President Otto von Bismarck, began to exert more influence in the German region (eventually unifying Germany under Prussian rule in 1871), Cullmann began to believe that his political ideals were fundamentally incompatible with those of the German Government. As a result, he decided to emigrate from his homeland. Settling first in London due to fears that he would be forced to join in the ongoing

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, Cullman eventually came to America in 1865. He moved to Alabama in 1871 and, in 1873, negotiated an agreement to act as agent for a tract of land in size, owned by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, on which he established a colony for German immigrants. Five German families moved to the area in March 1873; in 1874, the town was incorporated and named after Colonel Cullmann (with the town name being Americanized to 'Cullman' with one 'n'). Over the next 20 years, Cullmann encouraged around 100,000 Germans to immigrate to the United States, with many settling in the Cullman area. Cullmann drew on his military engineering training in laying out and planning the town. During this period, Cullman underwent considerable growth. German continued to be widely spoken, and Cullmann himself was the publisher of a German-language newspaper. When Cullmann died in 1895, at the age of 72, his funeral was marked by the attendance of Governor William C. Oates. The site Cullmann selected for his headquarters is now his gravesite. German immigrants also founded St. Bernard's Monastery, on the grounds of which is the Ave Maria Grotto, containing 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous religious structures of the world. It is Cullman's principal tourist attraction. From the 1890s up until the 1970s, Cullman was reported to be a

sundown town Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminator ...

, where African Americans were not allowed to live. The Ku Klux Klan would maintain a presence in the county throughout the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

, erecting signs that deterred African Americans from being within the county at night. This subsequently led to a rise in population of Colony, Alabama which was a safe haven for the discriminated. For many years Cullman was a college town, with Saint Bernard College serving as the home of several hundred students. In the mid-1970s, St. Bernard briefly merged with Sacred Heart College (a two-year Benedictine women's college), to become Southern Benedictine College. That college closed in 1979, and it now operates as St. Bernard Preparatory School, serving grades 9-12. The former site of Sacred Heart College is now the Sacred Heart Monastery, which serves as a retreat center operated by the Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery. During the 20th century, Cullman developed a more diverse economy, including several manufacturing and distribution facilities. The City of Cullman regularly ranks as a top 'micropolitan' city in the nation. Cullman gained national attention in early 2008, when a special election was held to fill a vacancy in the Alabama House of Representatives. The district that included Cullman elected James C. Fields, an African-American, in that special election. Cullman's German heritage was repressed during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, while the United States was fighting Germany. This was reversed in the 1970s, with renewed interest in the city's history and heritage. Today, Cullman holds an annual

Oktoberfest The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...

. An honorary "

Bürgermeister Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief ...

" is elected for each Oktoberfest. For many years the Oktoberfest did not include alcohol because Cullman was dry, but starting in 2011 the Oktoberfest was able to offer beer. Cullman Alabama First Methodist Church Damage

Cullman Alabama First Methodist Church Damage

Downtown was significantly damaged by an EF4 tornado during the

2011 Super Outbreak The 2011 Super Outbreak was the largest, costliest, and one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks ever recorded, taking place in the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States from April 25–28, 2011, leaving catastrophic destruction ...

. Hitting on April 27, it destroyed many buildings in downtown and in an east-side residential area, but causing no fatalities. The twister moved northeast towards

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

and Guntersville, killing two Cullman County residents and at least four others. Cullman has since rebuilt and revitalized the downtown area. New zoning laws and alcohol ordinances have allowed for greater expansion and growth in the downtown Cullman area.

Geography

Cullman is located on top of the

Brindley Mountain Brindlee Mountain (or "Brindley Mountain") is an isolated portion of the Appalachian Plateau in northern Alabama. It occupies significant portions of Cullman, Morgan, and Marshall Counties and extends into Winston and Lawrence counties. The ...

plateau at (34.177508, −86.844996). This is a close offshoot of the long geographic ridge called Sand Mountain, a southmost extension of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. The elevation is , close to the watershed between the

and the

. Cullman provides its own town water supply from a city-owned lake within the city limits, Lake Catoma. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 5.81%, is water.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Cullman has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Education

The Cullman City School System operates five schools: *Cullman Primary School (Pre-K – First Grade) *East Elementary (Second Grade – Sixth Grade) *West Elementary (Second Grade – Sixth Grade) *John G. Cullman Middle School (Seventh and Eighth Grades) * Cullman High School (Ninth Grade – Twelfth Grade) Other schools in Cullman include: * Saint Bernard Preparatory School,

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

boarding and day school (Ninth grade – Twelfth grade) *Saint Bernard Middle School (Seventh and Eighth Grade) *Sacred Heart Elementary School (Pre-K – Sixth Grade) *Saint Paul's Lutheran School (Pre-K – Sixth Grade) *Cullman Christian School (Pre-K – Twelfth Grade) Cullman is also the home of

Wallace State Community College Wallace State Community College (formally George C Wallace State Community College) is a Public college, public community college in Hanceville, Alabama. Founded in 1966 as the George C. Wallace State Trade School of Cullman County, the colleg ...

in Hanceville. It was named for the former Governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace. The public, non-profit college opened its doors in 1966 and has grown to become the third largest community college in the state of Alabama, with an enrollment of around 6,000 students. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award degrees. Many programs have additional accreditation from organizations appropriate to the particular disciplines. Wallace State offers hundreds of degree and certificate options in dozens of programs in its Academic, Health and Technical Divisions. The college offers more Health programs than any other community college in the state. The college offers early enrollment through its Dual Enrollment, Fast Track Academy and Fast Track for Industry programs, the latter of which is funded through grants that allow free tuition for qualified students entering the technical, academic and health programs included in the program. The college's current president is Dr. Vicki P. Karolewics, who is the institution's third president in 50 years. She was preceded by Dr. James C. Bailey from 1971 to 2003 and Dr. Ben Johnson from 1965 to 1971. The college is located in the southern portion of Cullman County on a campus.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the

2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, there were 18,213 people, 6,096 households, and 4,015 families residing in the city.

2010 census

The population density was . There were 6,957 housing units at an average density of . The

racial A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

makeup of the city was 95% White, 0.8% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, and 1.6% from two or more races. 6.8% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 14,775 people and 6,957 households, out of which 22.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.3% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.9% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.85. In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.8% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 25.3% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $29,164, and the median income for a family was $41,313. Males had a median income of $32,863 versus $21,647 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,484. About 9.4% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.3% of those under age 18 and 18.5% of those age 65 or over. Cullman was ranked among ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'''s 50 Best Places to Raise Your Kids in 2012 based on the city's educational and economic factors, crime level, air quality, amenities, and ethnic diversity.

Media

Radio stations

* WFMH 1340 AM ( Sports/Talk) * WKUL 92.1 FM (

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

/ Talk) * WRJM-LP 95.5 FM (CHR/AAA/Variety) * WMCJ 1460 AM ( Southern Gospel) * WXJC-FM 101.1 FM (Gospel/Talk)

Newspapers

*'' The Cullman Times'' (daily) *
The Cullman Tribune
' (daily)

Television

Cullman is in the TV broadcasting areas of

and

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in ...

. There are two low-power broadcasting stations in Cullman: WCQT-LD TV-27 an
CATV-2
Cullman also has a PEG station, CCTV55, which is run by students at Cullman High School. CCTV55 was known as CATS-55 at one time.

Health care

* Cullman Regional Medical Center – a 115-bed hospital

Transportation

* Interstate 65 * U.S. Highway 31 * U.S. Highway 278 * State Route 69 * State Route 157 * CSX Transportation (railroad) *

Folsom Field Folsom Field is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Colorado in Boulder. It is the home field of the Colorado Buffaloes of the Pac-12 Conference. Opened in 1924, th ...

municipal airport

Notable people

* JoJo Billingsley, singer/songwriter * Wesley Britt, NFL Offensive Tackle for the New England Patriots * Paul Burnum, former basketball and baseball coach at the

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

* Paul Bussman, member of the Alabama Senate *Christina Chambers, WBRC-TV Sports Reporter, former Cullman High School and UAB track athlete. * Caleb Clay, former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

Melinda Dillon Melinda Dillon (born October 13, 1939) is a retired American actress. She received a 1963 Tony Award nomination for her Broadway debut in the original production of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', and she was nominated for the Academy Award ...

, actress, A Christmas Story Wahls, Robert (October 28, 1962)
"90-Day Wonder: An Unknown Only Three Months Ago, 23-year-old Actress Melinda Dillon Shot to Stardom in Broadway Debut"
''New York Daily News''. Sec. 2, pg. 16. Retrieved March 18, 2022. *

Jamelle Folsom Jamelle Moore Folsom (November 11, 1927 – November 30, 2012) was an American First Lady of the U.S. state of Alabama, serving from 1948 to 1951 and again from 1955 to 1959. She was the wife and widow of Governor of Alabama James E. "Big Jim" ...

, First Lady of Alabama 1948 – 1951 and 1955 – 1959 * James E. "Big Jim" Folsom, Governor of Alabama 1947 – 1951 and 1955 – 1959 * James E. "Little Jim" Folsom Jr., Governor of Alabama 1993 – 1995, Lieutenant Governor of Alabama 1987-1993 and 2007-2011 * Morgan Smith Goodwin, actress, 2012 - 2013

Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was t ...

spokesperson * Roger Hallmark,

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

ian * Kurt Heinecke, composer and voice actor; known for his work on the children's program Veggie Tales * Charles Kleibacker, fashion designer * Jordan Lee, bass fisherman, 2x winner of the

Bassmaster Classic The Bassmaster Classic (known as the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic for sponsorship) is a tournament in the sport of professional bass fishing. It was first held in 1971 on Lake Mead, Nevada. Originally it was a fall event, (1971-1983 ...

* Zeb Little, member of the

Alabama Senate The Alabama State Senate is the upper house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alabama. The body is composed of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the state, with each district conta ...

from 1998 to 2010 *

Harold E. Martin Harold Eugene Martin (October 4, 1923 – July 4, 2007) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper editor and publisher who was also a director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. During his career, Martin lived in the U.S. states of Alabama ...

, journalist and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Pulitzer Prize winner * William C. Martin, physicist * Julian L. McPhillips, candidate for Attorney General of Alabama in 1978 * David Miller,

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

* Kassie Miller, singer/songwriter * Talmadge Prince, stock car racing driver who was killed in a crash in a qualifying race for the 1970 Daytona 500 * Josh Rutledge,

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player * Shallow Side,

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

band formed in 2011 * Frank Stitt, James Beard Award-winning chef *

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film '' Step Up''. He gained wider attention for his leading rol ...

, actor/model * Keegan Thompson is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of

* Wayne Trimble, American football player *

Zac Tubbs Zac Tubbs (born May 14, 1984) is a former Division I athlete who earned athletic honors on the high school, collegiate, and professional level. He was named to the ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's'' All-Arkansas SEC Third Team on August 6, 2017. H ...

offensive lineman * Holly Williams,

singer, daughter of

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

* Larry Willingham, professional football player

References

External links

City of Cullman official website
{{Authority control Cities in Alabama Cities in Cullman County, Alabama County seats in Alabama Populated places established in 1873 Sundown towns in Alabama 1873 establishments in Alabama