River Falls is a town in Covington County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 479. The town contains the neighborhood of Montezuma, which was once an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and the first county seat of Covington County, before the seat moved to

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

Geography

River Falls is located northwest of

, the county seat, at (31.3519, -86.5367). The town lies along the

Conecuh River The Conecuh River (upper portion) and Escambia River (lower portion) are a single river in the southern United States, which flows from Alabama through Florida into the Gulf of Mexico. The Conecuh River rises near Union Springs, Alabama and flow ...

. A hydroelectric dam creating Point A Lake on the river is located at the northeast corner of the town. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 3.67%, is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 616 people, 272 households, and 174 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 307 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 62.50%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 36.04%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.65% Native American, and 0.81% from two or more races. 0.81% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 272 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.89. In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $21,838, and the median income for a family was $30,556. Males had a median income of $22,266 versus $20,469 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $14,016. About 14.3% of families and 20.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 27.0% of those under age 18 and 20.7% of those age 65 or over.

2012 mayoral scandal

The mayor of River Falls, Mary Ella Hixon, age 91, was accused in theft of $201,600 of public funds, during her mayorship. The scandal came August 2012, when a majority of the then-sitting River Falls Town Council members told the Andalusia Star-News they never voted in 2008 to sell the town's former city hall property to Richard Moss, Hixon's housemate for more than a decade. She served as mayor for more than 30 years. The court sentenced her to 10 years imprisonment, considering her advanced age, suspended for five years of implementation. Moss pleaded guilty to his part of the crime in May 2015. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each count, to be served concurrently. He was required to pay back $105,609.82 to the town of River Falls.

References

{{authority control Towns in Covington County, Alabama Towns in Alabama