Montgomery, << mohnt GUHM uh ree or muhn GUHM rih >> (pop. 200,603; met. area pop. 386,047), is Alabama’s state capital and second largest city. Only Birmingham has more people. Montgomery is an agricultural center of the South. It is known as the Cradle of the Confederacy. Southerners established the Confederate States of America there in 1861, and the city was the first Confederate capital. It lies on three hills along the Alabama River in south-central Alabama.
Two towns—East Alabama and New Philadelphia—united in 1819 and formed a single city. The people named it Montgomery in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, a hero of the American Revolution (1775-1783).
Description.
Montgomery, the seat of Montgomery County, covers 162 square miles (420 square kilometers). Alabama State University, Faulkner University, Huntingdon College, and a campus of Auburn University are in Montgomery.
Tourist attractions include the State Capitol; the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts; and Old Alabama Town, a history village with restored buildings from the 1800’s and early 1900’s. The First White House of the Confederacy is in Montgomery. It was the home of Jefferson Davis, who was president of the Confederacy. Visitors may also explore sites associated with the civil rights movement of the mid-1900’s, including the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and the Rosa Parks Museum. The Legacy Museum traces African American life from slavery to segregation to the present day. An accompanying memorial, called The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, depicts the story of the more than 4,000 African Americans killed by racial terror from the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s. 
Government operations—on the federal, state, and local levels—and retail and wholesale trade have an important part in the city’s economy. Maxwell Air Force Base is Montgomery’s largest employer. The base includes Air University, the Air Force’s center for professional military education. The city’s factories produce aircraft parts, automobiles and auto parts, poultry and other food products, water heaters, and a variety of other goods.
Government and history.
Montgomery has a mayor-council government. The mayor and the nine city council members are elected to four-year terms.
Alibamu and Creek Indians lived in what is now the Montgomery area before white settlers arrived. In 1817, a group led by Andrew Dexter of Massachusetts founded the town of New Philadelphia at the site of present-day Montgomery. That same year, a group headed by General John Scott of Georgia established Alabama Town nearby. In 1818, Scott’s group moved its town nearer to New Philadelphia and renamed its settlement East Alabama. After the two towns united and formed Montgomery in 1819, commerce and population increased.
The city became the state capital in 1846. Its population grew slowly but steadily during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It leveled off in the 1960’s. Montgomery became a major steamboat landing and an important exporter of Alabama products, including cotton.
The civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., lived in Montgomery and began his crusade there in 1955. In 1956, Montgomery became one of the first Southern cities to stop racial segregation on buses.
In 1973, the United States Army Corps of Engineers completed a project that included construction of three dams on the Alabama River. The dams enabled barges to travel on the river for the first time. This development helped to increase trade in Montgomery. In 1985, workers completed a theater complex to house the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. The complex, situated in 200 acres (90 hectares) of meadowland, includes two theaters; costume, scenery, and properties workshops; administrative offices; a cafe; and a gift shop. In 1989, a memorial to people who were killed in the civil rights movement in the United States was dedicated in Montgomery.
