a city occupies a unique location at the fall line of the Black Warrior River on a boundary between the Appalachian Highl& and the Gulf Coastal Plain just about 311 klick (Long hundred mi.) upflow of any stream from either a river's confluence by owning a Tombigbee River in Demopolis. Consequently, a geographics of the locality about Tuscaloosa is quite diverse, existence mountainous & forested to the northeast & online-lying & mucky to the southwest.

Tuscaloosa is the center of industry, commerce, health care, & education for the region unremarkably called West Alabama. A city is front yard to the University of Alabama, Stillman College, and [http://www.sheltonstate.edu/sscc/ Shelton State Community College]. In addition, a city is residence to the vicinity's big mall & hospital.

A title of a city & the flow of any stream came from either deuce Choctaw Indian words, tushka (warrior) and lusa (black). These are assumed that a city received its title from either a Choctaw main Tascaluza/Tuskalusa, who was defeated by Hernando de Soto in 1540 in the Battle of Mauvila.

Demographics and Geography

Tuscaloosa is placed at 33°12'Twenty-four" North, 87°32'5" West (33.206540, 87.534607).

Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 172.8 km² (66.7 mi²). 145.Septenary kilometer² (56.Two mi²) of these are l& and Twenty-seven.Single klick² (Decade.V mi²) of these are a body of water. A amount region is Xv.68% a water system. A people of the Tuscaloosa Metropolitan Technical indicator Front yard, which includes Tuscaloosa, Hale, and Greene counties is 194,665 and a people of the city is 79,294 (2003 Census Estimate)

When of the censusof 2000 there are 77,906 people, 31,381 menage, & 16,945 families living in the city. A population density is 534.8/km² (1,385.2/mi²). There are 34,857 housing units at an typical density of 239.3/km² (619.8/mi²). A racial makeup of the city is 54.09% White, 42.73% Black or African American, 0.16% Native American, 1.49% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 0.87% from two or more races. One.40% of the people are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 31,381 home away from which Twenty-three.9% use tykes under a age of Eighteen accept the babies, 35.0% come married couples living together, 15.7% have a female homeowner by having there are no hubby present, & 46.0% come non-families. 35.2% of completely menage come processed higher of people & Nina from carolina.3% develop individual dwelling alone world health organization is 65 years aged or even older. A typical house size is Deuce.Twenty-two & a typical personal size is Deuce.93. In a city the people is spread retired sustaining Xix.8% under a age of Xviii, Xxiv.5% from either 18 to Two dozen, Xxv.4% from either 25 to 44, Xviii.5% from either 45 to 64, & Xi.8% world health organization come 65 years aged or even older. A median age is Xxviii years. For each Hundred females there are Ninety.Viii males. For each Century females age Eighteen & ended, there are 87.Niner males. the median income for a home in the city is $27,731, & the median income for a personal is $41,753. Males have a median income of $31,614 versus $24,507 for females. A per capita income for the city is $19,129. Twenty-three.6% of the people & Xiv.2% of families come beneath a poverty line. Away from a amount people, Xxv.3% of people under a age of 18 & 13.4% of people 65 & older come residing beneath a poverty level.

Economy
Tuscaloosthe boasts a extremely diversied economy. More or less twenty-seven percent of a work is listed by government, which includes major health care & education related employment; twenty-both percent around retail & sweeping trade; sixteen percent around manufacturing; nineteen percent around services; & the balance of the hands spread among construction, transport, finance, insurance, real-estate & public services. Following of its diverse econonmy, Tuscaloosa has a super sale rate of unemployment, one of the lowest within Alabama at as much as 3%. A city's industrial base includes Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Manufacturing (the section of Michelin), JVC America [http://www.jvcdiscusa.com/], Phifer Wire Products, Gulf States Paper Corporation, and a Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc., assembly plant [http://www.mbusi.com/], which began assembling a Mercedes-Benz M-Class in 1997 and will start assembling a R-Class Grand Sport Tourer, and its associated provider plants. Healthcare & education help when a cornerstone of Tuscaloosa's service sector, which includes a University of Alabama, DCH Regional Medical Center, Bryce State Mental Hospital, Camp Partlow State Development Center, and a Tuscaloosa VA Medical Center.

A city is residence to the area's ii big malls, University Mall & McFarl& Mall, when the easily as big array of retail outlets and a 16-screen cinema. Transportation
Tuscaloosa lies at a intersection of troika federal highways (US 11, US 43, and US 82) and Interstate 20/59. In addition, flatboat traffic habitually transportation goods along a Black Warrior Flow of any stream from either Birmingham and Tuscaloosa to the Alabama State Docks at Mobile. Amtrak's Crescent train connects Tuscaloosa with a cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans. A Amtrak station is placed at 2105 Greensboro Avenue.

History
A region at a fall line of what would be late referred to as a Black Warrior River had long been easily known to the various Indian tribes whose shifting fortunes brought them to West Alabama. A flow of any stream shoals at Tuscaloosa represented a southvirtually all places on the flow of any stream which can be forded under most conditions. Inevitably, a network of Indian trails converged upon a place, the equivalent network which, in the number 1 years of the 19th Century began to lead a few brave whiten frontiersmen to the region. A pace of whiten payout increased greatly fallowing a War of 1812, and a little assortment of log cabins before long arose touching the big Creek village at a fall line of the flow of any stream, which the settlers known as inside honor of the legendary Chief Tuskalusa. Around 1817, Alabama became a territory, and in December 13, 1819, a territorial general assembly incorporated the town of Tuscaloosa, exactly a single day prior to Congress admitted Alabama to the Union as a state. From either 1826 to 1846 Tuscaloosa was the capital of Alabama. inside the time of this period, in 1831, the University of Alabama was established. A town's people & economy grew apace until a departure of the capital to Montgomery caused a rapid decline inside people. Establishment of a Bryce State Hospital for the Insane around Tuscaloosa in the 1850s helped restore the city's fortunes. When you took a Civil War following Alabama's secession from either the Union, many one thousand men from Tuscaloosa fought in the Confederate armies. In a period of a endure weeks of the War, a brigade of Union troops raiding the city burned the campus of the University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, as well, suffered good deal damage from either a battle & shared fully south's economic sufferings which followed a kill. the construction of a body of locks & dams on the Black Warrior Flow of any stream by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1890s opened up an inexpensive link to the Gulf seaport of Mobile, stimulating especially the mining and metallurgical industries of the region. Per advent of the 20th Century, the incubation of the University of Alabama & the mental health facility inside the city, along by using hard subject economy fueled a steadily incubation in Tuscaloosa which continued unabated for Centred years. Factory of big house like Michelin and JVC located in town during a latter half of the 20th Century. All a same, it was the announcement of the addition of the Mercedes facility in 1993 that better personifed a fresh era of economic prosperity for Tuscaloosa.

Points of interest
University of Alabama University of Alabama Arboretum