Data & Stats – Selma, Dallas County, and Alabama

Dallas County
Selma is the County Seat
Formed:  1819
Zip Code of Selma:  36701
Time Zone:  Central
Current Total Population: 46,365
Total Population of all counties that touch:  191,202

Dallas County was created by the Alabama Territorial legislature on Feb. 9, 1818. It was named for Alexander J. Dallas of Pennsylvania, U.S. Treasury Secretary. Dallas County is located in the Black Belt region of the west-central portion of the state, and is traversed by the Alabama River. Dallas is bordered by Perry, Chilton, Autauga, Lowndes, Wilcox, and Marengo counties. Originally, the county seat was at Cahaba, which also served as the state capital for a brief period. In 1865, the county seat was transferred to Selma.

Selma, means “high seat or throne.” Based from word Anselm, which is derived from the Germanic elements ans "god" and helm "helmet, protection". Saint Anselm was a 12th-century archbishop of Canterbury and a Doctor of the Church.  Selma was supposedly the name chosen for our community by our principal founder, Rufus King, he was a US Senator, Minister to France, and US Vice-President to President Pierce in 1853.  He remains the highest elected official from Alabama in US History. 

Interesting Additional Facts about Selma:

• William Rufus King was the only Vice-President (no President) to take the oath of office outside the United States – he was in Cuba, where he was recovering from tuberculosis.  King is the only Alabamian elected to executive office in US history.
• Alabama's first permanent state capitol was "Old Cahawba," just outside Selma.
• Richard Scrushy, founder of HealthSouth corporation was born in Selma, and in his youth, worked as a soda jerk here.
• Kathryn Tucker Windham, a well-known storyteller and National Public Radio legend, lives here and is featured in our presentation!
• Mia Hamm, one of the most famous women athletes and professional soccer player, was born in Selma at what is now Vaughan RMC.
• In its heyday Selma was the cotton capital of Alabama and a cultural center for
  the state.
• Selma was also called the "Queen City of the Blackbelt."  Our region is called the Black Belt because of its rich, dark soil.
• Selma is the 2^nd oldest city in the state, after Mobile
• Selma boasts the state's largest historic district, over 1,250 structures.

Tourism & Conventions Bureau Video
Used by permission (4:50 minutes)
Click Here to Play

Weather

Alabama enjoys year-round mild conditions with average temperatures near 80º in summer, and above 45º in winter. Highs do reach the mid 90s.  Northern parts of the state receive occasional short-lived snowfalls, and rainfall is spread somewhat evenly throughout the year.  March is the rainiest month, while October is the driest.

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Drive From Selma to:

Montgomery: 35 miles
Tuscaloosa (University of Alabama): 83 miles
Birmingham:  89 miles
Auburn (Auburn University):  103 miles
Mobile: 163 miles
Pensacola, FL:185 miles
Atlanta: 199 miles

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Cost of Living Comparison
Salary.com
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(Closest cities in this service area is Montgomery.  The cost of living, housing and taxes, are considered much less in Dallas County than Montgomery or any of the cities listed here.)

State of Alabama Flag

The present Alabama State Flag was authorized by the Alabama Legislature on February 16, 1895. The act says the flag must be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The act does not designate a square or a rectangular flag.

Alabama:  22nd state in 1819
Name:  From the Choctaw Indian word Alibamu, meaning "I clear the thicket."
Nickname:  “The Yellowhammer State” and “The Heart of Dixie”
State Flower:  Camellia
State Tree:  The longleaf pine
State Bird:   Yellowhammer

Seal was designed in 1817 by William Wyatt Bibb, the governor of the Alabama Territory and the subsequent first governor of the state. When Alabama became a state in 1819, the state legislature adopted the design as the official state seal. The seal prominently features a map showing one of the state's most valuable resources—its major rivers.

Capital City:  Montgomery
Area: Alabama is the 30^th largest state in size the United States with 52,423 square miles (135,775 km²) of total area. 3.19% of that is water.  Shoreline of 607 miles.  
Rivers:  Alabama contains over 1,350 miles of navigable rivers, more than any other
U.S. State. 
Highest Elevation:  Mount Cheaha; 2,408 ft on the Cumberland Plateau (The Appalachian Mountains begin here, and include the Lookout, Racoon, Sand and Talladega ranges.)
Lowest Elevation:   Gulf coasts; Sea level
2000 Population: 4,447,100, ranked 23rd in US

The Alabama River flows into Montgomery from Selma

No superfund EPA sites in Dallas or any surrounding counties.

(Washington, D.C. - April 18, 2006) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is adding six new hazardous waste sites that pose risks to human health and the environment to the National Priorities List of Superfund sites. That brings the total of final sites on the list to 1,244.

Contaminants found at these final and proposed sites include benzene, carbon tetrachloride, chromium, creosote, mercury, N-nitrosodimethylamine (NMDA), carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds, toluene, trichloroethene (TCE), tetrachloroethene (PCE), vinyl chloride, and other volatile organic compounds.

Resources and Credit:
www.selmaalabama.com
EcoSpring LLC, www.alabamamilebymile.com/index.html
www.alabamatv.org/alex/history.htm
www.epa.gov/superfund/

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