Town file
Decatur, Alabama
Decatur, Alabama (Limestone and Morgan counties, Alabama) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 171, "Til Dismemberment Do Us Part" (14 May 2020).
- Town
- Decatur
- County
- Limestone and Morgan counties
- State
- Alabama
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 171
- Approximate location
- 34.573, -86.990
Episode 171 / 14 May 2020 / 151 min / full
Til Dismemberment Do Us Part
"We're going to Decatur, Alabama; it's in north central Alabama near Huntsville and the town crosses the border of Limestone and Morgan counties." about 0:06:07
The case: Murder of Deborah 'Debbie' Stewart (July 1984). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2020
- Population
- 54,844
- Median age
- 39.6
- Median household income
- about $43,000
- Median home value
- $106,500
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $700 a month
- Cost of living
- 77
- Religious
- about 55%
- Property crime
- ▲ almost twice the national average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about 25% under the national average
History, in brief
- Initially known as Rhodes Ferry Landing, named after Dr. Henry W. Rhodes, who owned land in the area and operated the ferry across the river. about 0:08:10
- Rhodes Ferry Park, where he had the ferry, is still there. about 0:08:31
- Incorporated as Decatur in 1821, named in honour of Stephen Decatur after he was killed in a duel in 1820. about 0:08:34
- Stephen Decatur was friends with President Monroe, who directed that the Alabama town be named after him. about 0:08:45
- On the Tennessee River and at the crossing of two major railroads, Decatur was strategically important and the site of fighting during the Civil War. about 0:12:35
- The Union Army occupied the city early in the Civil War and the commanding general ordered all but four buildings in town destroyed. about 0:13:03
- Bricks from some of the town's churches were used to build stoves and chimneys for buildings housing soldiers. about 0:13:55
- The four surviving buildings, still standing, are the old state bank, the Dancy Polk house, the Todd house and the Berlson Heines McIntyre house. about 0:14:09
- After the Union victory at the Battle of Atlanta, a Confederate army under John Bell Hood fought a much larger Union garrison here in 1864, the Battle of Decatur, and the city was under Confederate control for a while. about 0:14:42
- The plans for the Battle of Shiloh were mapped out at the Berlson Heines McIntyre House. about 0:15:01
- New Decatur was founded in 1887 west of the railroad tracks, occupied largely by people who had moved down from northern states. about 0:16:27
- New Decatur renamed itself Albany, after Albany, New York, in 1916. about 0:17:51
- The Decatur Kalanis Club, with equal members from each town, organised a bridge between the towns and formed one city of Decatur. about 0:18:04
- The first wave pool in the United States was built here and is still in operation at Point Mallard Aquatic Center. about 0:19:12
The reviews read out
1 star
"Good old boy city leadership, backward vision, minimum wage opportunities, terrible roads, an antiquated sewage system, mediocre schools, parks and recreation top-heavy with management, churches abound, fast food restaurants abound, industries have polluted the soil and the Tennessee River, cliquey populist politics, medical care that disregards Medicaid and the homeless, and a marketing pitch that still boasts the country's first wave pool; law enforcement and traffic flow are okay, but it is a backward community."about 0:19:28
2 stars
"If there is a new restaurant in town they hire a lot of people, but otherwise it is hard to find places hiring above minimum wage."about 0:20:20
2 stars
"The town is better suited to older people, families and retirees, with not much for young people; the schools are not great, Brook Haven Middle School is particularly bad and the schools failed to meet state academic standards."about 0:20:30
"It is literally a big square and small, which the reviewer likes; there is not a huge variety of health and fitness places, but there are two gyms and a couple of parks to exercise in."about 0:20:50
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Arab, Alabama32 miles
- Pulaski, Tennessee43 miles
- Lawrenceburg, Tennessee51 miles
- Jasper, Alabama52 miles
- Section, Alabama57 miles
- Morris, Alabama58 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.