Valley Grande is a city in Dallas 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, just north of Selma. Incorporated in early 2003, Valley Grande has a mayor-council form of government. The city's population was 4,020 at the time of the 2010 census.

History

Valley Grande encompasses the historic community of Summerfield. Established in 1819 as "Valley Creek", the town was renamed "Summerfield" in 1845 to honor the noted

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

preacher John Summerfield. In 1829, the first academy in Dallas County was chartered in Valley Creek. In 1842, the Alabama Conference of the Methodist Church opened the Methodist Centenary Institute, a coeducational institution chartered by the Alabama Legislature on January 2, 1841. At its peak when cotton production was profitable, Summerfield was a very prosperous community of

planters Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gent ...

, doctors, merchants, ministers, and educators. The historical core of Summerfield has survived intact and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as a historic district encompassing .. On January 9, 2003, the people of Valley Grande voted 9 to 1 for incorporation as the Town of Valley Grande. After the election of a mayor and five-member town council the vast majority of the Summerfield area was voluntarily annexed as part of Valley Grande.

Geography

Valley Grande is located in northeastern Dallas County at 32.486872, -87.032773. It is bordered to the south by the city of Selma, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

. According to the

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

, Valley Grande has a total area of , of which is land and 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 2010, there were 4,020 people, 1,559 households, and 1,173 families residing in the city. The population density was . The racial makeup of the city was 75.2%

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 ...

, 23%

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 ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races.2010 Census There were 1,559 households, out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them; 34.2% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.8% were non-families. 21.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.00. The median income for a household in the city was $57,432, and the median income for a family was $64,461. Males had a median income of $42,456 versus $37,722 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 city was $25,767. About 8.7% of families and 8.8% 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 15.1% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4190 people, 1292 households, and 971 families residing in the city.

Government

The city government is composed of a mayor and five

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

council members. The current mayor is Wayne Labbe. The city council members are Tim White, Ronald Sawyer, Lamar Morgan, Tammy Troha and Jimmy Johnson.

Education

Residents are zoned to schools in Dallas County Schools. Valley Grande Elementary School and Martin Middle School, within the city, serve the county.Schools
" ''City of Valley Grande''. Retrieved on April 4, 2009.Valley Grande Map
" ''City of Valley Grande''. Retrieved on April 4, 2009. Most high school-aged students attend the public Dallas County High School, located in Plantersville, a nearby

unincorporated area 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 ...

References

External links

City of Valley Grande official website
{{authority control Cities in Alabama Cities in Dallas County, Alabama Populated places established in 2003 2003 establishments in Alabama