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 ...

of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. 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 Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

, south of the Black Warrior River 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 Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

into Tuscaloosa on September 21, 1948.

2011 tornado

On April 27, 2011, Alberta City suffered the heaviest damage from a tornado 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's main campus. By 2021, reconstruction remained gradual as some commercial and residential sections of Alberta City remained in visible urban decay due to minimal private investment and negligent property development on the many vacant lots. Continued public investment and the presence of

anchor store In retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are typically located at the ends of malls. Wit ...

s 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 The Tuscaloosa Transit Authority, or TTA, is a local, government-owned bus system based in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that commenced operation in 1971. The Tuscaloosa Transit Authority serves the city of Tuscaloosa and also operates the trolleys between t ...

's ''Holt Route''.

References