Editing Huntsville, Alabama (section)

===After the Civil War===
[[File:Child workers in Huntsville, Alabama.jpg|thumb|[[child labour|Child workers]] at Merrimac Mills in Huntsville, November 1910, photograph by [[Lewis Hine]] ]]

During the [[Reconstruction era]], three delegates from Huntsville attended the 1867 Constitutional Convention including [[Andrew J. Applegate]], originally from Ohio, who went on to serve as Alabama's first Lieutenant Governor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Attendance Records of the state Constitutional Convention, 1867–1868 |url=https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/dbva/items/show/258 |access-date=December 18, 2022 |website=Document Bank of Virginia}}</ref> Councill Training School, which eventually became [[William Hooper Councill High School]], was established as the first public school for African American students. It was named for educator and school founder [[William Hooper Councill]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Hooper Councill High School Site |url=https://www.huntsvilleal.gov/historicmarkers/william-hooper-councill-high-school-site/ |access-date=December 18, 2022 |website=City of Huntsville |language=en-US}}</ref>

Huntsville became a center for cotton [[textile mill]]s, such as Lincoln, [[Dallas Mill|Dallas]], and Merrimack. Each mill company constructed worker housing outside the city, creating communities that eventually included schools, churches, grocery stores, theaters, and hardware stores, all within walking distance of the mill. In many such company towns, workers were required to buy goods at the company stores, which sometimes overcharged them. The mill owners also established rules for behavior and could throw out workers from housing if they violated these policies. As was common for the time, work was highly segregated with only whites being allowed to work inside the mills and Blacks relegated to working outside as laborers and groundskeepers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Snow |first=Whitney Adrienne |date=2010 |title=Cotton Mill City: The Huntsville Textile Industry, 1880–1989 |url=https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&id=GALE{{!}}A241619803&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=b6a8a1e4 |journal=Alabama Review |language=en |volume=63 |issue=4 |pages=243–281 |doi=10.1353/ala.2010.0006 |s2cid=154931802 |issn=2166-9961}}</ref>

During the 1930s, industry declined in Huntsville due to the [[Great Depression]]. Huntsville became known as the [[Watercress]] Capital of the World because of its abundant harvest in the area. Madison County led Alabama in cotton production during this time.<ref name="MSFC">{{cite web |title=NASA MSFC Notes on the History of Huntsville |url=http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/huntsville/hsv_history.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527092424/http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/huntsville/hsv_history.html |archive-date=May 27, 2010 |access-date=November 8, 2011 |publisher=History.msfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>