Editing Decatur, Alabama (section)

==History==
[[File:Old State Bank Decatur July 2010 02.jpg|thumb|Old State Bank]]{{See also|Albany, Alabama}}
Initially, the area was known as "Rhodes Ferry Landing", named for Dr. Henry W. Rhodes, an early landowner who operated a ferry that crossed the [[Tennessee River]] in the 1810s at the present-day location of Rhodes Ferry Park. The city was incorporated as Decatur in 1821. It was named in honor of [[Stephen Decatur]]; after he was killed in a duel in 1820, [[James Monroe|President Monroe]] directed that the Alabama town be named for him.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg73/Pages/namesake.aspx |access-date=February 13, 2019 |title=USS Decatur |publisher=US Navy |archive-date=February 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214061507/https://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg73/Pages/namesake.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the early 1830s, Decatur was the eastern terminus of the [[Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur Railroad]], the first railway built west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. In 1850, the Tuscumbia, Courtland and Decatur was incorporated into the [[Memphis & Charleston Railroad]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sherrod |first1=Phillip |title=The Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur Railway |url=http://www.wheelerplantation.org/tc%26d.htm |website=Wheeler Plantation: Preserving our Past |publisher=Friends of the Joe Wheeler Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323221625/http://www.wheelerplantation.org/tc%26d.htm |archive-date=March 23, 2010}}</ref>

Because of its location on the Tennessee River at the strategically important crossing of two major railroads, Decatur was the site of several encounters during the [[American Civil War]]. When the [[Union Army]] occupied the city early in the war, the commanding general ordered all but four buildings in the town to be destroyed. Bricks from some of the churches in town were used to build stoves and chimneys for the buildings that housed soldiers.  Three of the buildings that remained are still standing - the [[Old State Bank (Decatur, Alabama)|Old State Bank]], the [[Dancy-Polk House]], and the [[Burleson-Hinds-McEntire House]]. After the Union victory in the [[Battle of Atlanta]], a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] army under the command of General [[John Bell Hood]] briefly sparred with a vastly outmanned garrison during the 1864 [[Battle of Decatur]], when the city was referred to as "A Tough Nut to Crack."{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

While the city was under Confederate control, plans for the [[Battle of Shiloh]] were mapped out within the Burleson-Hinds-McEntire House. These activities make the house one of the most historic buildings in Decatur.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=11008 |access-date=February 14, 2019 |title=Rhea-McIntire House |newspaper=The Clio}}</ref>

[[Albany, Alabama|New Decatur]] was a city that rose out of the ashes of former Decatur west of the railroad tracks. New Decatur was founded in 1887 and incorporated in 1889. However, residents of the older Decatur resented the new town, founded and occupied by people who moved down from northern states. Animosity was built until New Decatur renamed their town "Albany" after [[Albany, New York]], in September 1916. The impetus to meld the two towns came from the need for a bridge, instead of a ferry, across the Tennessee River. The Decatur Kiwanis Club was formed with an equal number of members from each town to organize efforts to get the state to build the bridge. In 1925, the two cities merged to form one City of Decatur. There is a noticeable difference between the two sides of town. The cities developed differently at different times and still to this day have somewhat different cultures. Eastern portions of Decatur tend to act more suburban and traditional, while western portions tend to look more metropolitan and contemporary.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

The [[Old State Bank (Decatur, Alabama)|Old State Bank]], on the edge of downtown, is the oldest bank building in the State of Alabama, being 190 years old. The first [[wave pool]] in the United States was built in Decatur and is still in operation at the [[Point Mallard Aquatic Center]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pointmallardpark.com/water-park/|title=Water Park|website=Point Mallard Park}}</ref> The city has the largest [[Victorian era|Victorian-era]] home district in the state of Alabama.

In the past, its industries included repair shops of the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]], car works, engine works, bottling plants, and manufacturers of lumber, sashes and blinds, tannic acid, fertilizers, cigars, flour, cottonseed oil, and various other products.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Depot & Railroad Museum |url=https://www.cityofdecatural.com/play/railroad-museum/ |access-date=10 August 2023 |website=The City of Decatur, Alabama}}</ref>