Irvington, Alabama

Episode 73 / 20 June 2018 / 152 min / full

I Think I'll Read It Again

"We're going to Irvington, Alabama... It's in southwestern Alabama... right where Alabama makes a little panhandle... It is on the coast." about 0:05:46

The case: Murders of Linda Barber, Freddie Barber and Brian Barber (February 15, 1992). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2018

Population

11,111

Median age

about 38 and a half

Median household income

$37,000 a year

Median home value

$103,200

Two-bedroom rent

about $700 a month

Cost of living

83

Religious

about 62%

Property crime

▼ a little lower than normal

Violent crime

▲ a little higher than normal

History, in brief

• Early in the 20th century Irvington was a farm community and the centre of the tung oil business. about 0:13:29
• The tung tree, Vernicia fordii, is native to China, Burma and northern Vietnam; its oily seeds ripen in autumn and are valued for tung oil, once used in lamps and now in varnish, paint and wood finishing. about 0:13:57
• The area was occupied by indigenous people, with the Choctaw tribe around it for the most part. about 0:15:47
• The first Europeans the Choctaw encountered there were French traders and colonists. about 0:15:53
• The British took over the territory in 1763 after defeating the French in the Seven Years War. about 0:17:14
• During the American Revolutionary War the area came under Spanish rule because Florida was owned by Spain. about 0:17:31
• Spain ceded the territory to the United States in the War of 1812. about 0:17:41
• In the 1830s Andrew Jackson forced the removal of most Native Americans to Indian territory west of the Mississippi. about 0:18:16
• The Choctaw reorganised and gained state recognition in 1979, which allowed them to open casinos. about 0:19:12
• Mississippi was admitted as a state in 1817; the area had been part of the Mississippi territory, and when Mississippi became a state part of it was given to the Alabama territory. about 0:20:11
• Alabama was granted statehood in 1819. about 0:20:11
• After the War of 1812 new settlers came for the land and cotton, and the cotton gin made cotton growing profitable. about 0:20:45
• Nine documented lynchings took place in Mobile County between 1891 and 1981; the last was in 1981, before that 1919, and there were three in 1906, one in 1907, one in 1909 and one in 1910. about 0:20:59
• The courthouse burned down several times, in 1823, 1840 and 1872. about 0:21:40
• Irvington is an unincorporated community, a settlement not governed by its own municipal corporation. about 0:22:50
• Nearby Bayou La Batre calls itself the seafood capital of Alabama; Forrest Gump was filmed there, Disney launched the Black Pearl there in April 2005 and the History Channel show Big Shrimp is set there. about 0:22:10

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