Redstone Arsenal

Redstone Arsenal is a U.S. Army post and a census-designated place (CDP) located next to the city of Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The primary tenant organizations are the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

As of the 2000 census, the population of the CDP is 2,365.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Demographics
4 Military facilities
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Geography

Redstone Arsenal is located at 34°41′3″N, 86°39′15″W (34.684166, -86.654031).[1] According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Redstone CDP has a total area of 7.9 square miles (20.4 km²), all of it land.

Redstone Arsenal contains extensive wetland areas associated with the Tennessee River and several local springs, much of which is maintained by the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.

History

The land acquired from Triana-Blackwall landowners by the Army in 1941 to establish Huntsville Arsenal (32,244 acres) and Redstone Ordnance Plant (4,000 acres) was located in a part of the Tennessee Valley that archaeological remains have proven was first inhabited over 2,000 years ago by a prehistoric Indian culture known as Copenas.[2] The Indian culture associated with the 4000 acre Redstone Ordnance Plant tract of land is intellectually documented by the Federally Protected Powhatan-Toney Indian cemetery. In the beginning of the 20th century, the approximately 57-square-mile area of rolling terrain, which contained some of the richest agricultural land in Madison County, comprised such small farming communities as Spring Hill, Pond Beat, Mullins Flat, and Union Hill to name a few. Cotton, corn, hay, peanuts, livestock, and various fruits and vegetables were the primary agricultural products cultivated by the area’s inhabitants. Although there was no electricity, indoor plumbing, or telephones; few roads; and fewer cars or tractors, the people who lived in the area that one former resident recalled as being “nearly out of the world” prospered enough to support their own stores, mills, shops, gins, churches, schools and communities that had 47 known cemeteries, about one cemetery every square mile in an area 57 square miles. The displaced cultures evolved from mixed-race Copenas, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Powhatan, African and European ancestors. Of the 550 families (about 6,000 men, women, and children) living in this part of the county, most descended from Native Americans, 76 percent were African-American. Most families classified as African-American were mixed-race families. The Powhatan-Toney Indians resettled in the town of Triana. Some of the displaced families were tenant farmers, but other, black, white and mixed-Indian families, were landowners who had worked the fertile soil of the region for over a century. White, black, Indian, tenant or landowner, all of them were forced to leave their farms when the Army came to the location Federally called Triana-Blackwall. Understandably, there was much concern at first among the area’s residents about when they had to leave and where they could go to avoid Jim Crow laws.

Demographics

As of the census [3] of 2000, there were 2,353 people, 487 households, and 446 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 300.8 people per square mile (116.2/km²). There were 879 housing units at an average density of 111.8/sq mi (43.2/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 56.53% White, 31.67% Black or African American, 0.42% Native American, 2.03% Asian, 0.80% Pacific Islander, 3.34% from other races, and 4.82% from two or more races. 9.30% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 487 households out of which 79.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 79.7% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 8.4% were non-families. 7.8% of all households were made up of individuals and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.48 and the average family size was 3.67.

In the CDP the population was spread out with 32.9% under the age of 18, 19.2% from 18 to 24, 43.2% from 25 to 44, 4.6% from 45 to 64, and 0.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 150.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 170.1 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $35,435, and the median income for a family was $40,208. Males had a median income of $29,053 versus $24,063 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,860. About 9.0% of families and 10.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.7% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Military facilities

Redstone Arsenal became such in 1943, as a result of plans to create a second chemical weapons plant in addition to the existing plant at Edgewood, Maryland. Workload was heavy during World War II, leading to construction of the Huntsville Arsenal nearby. Activity curtailed quickly after the war and in 1947, Redstone was placed on standby. Huntsville Arsenal was deactivated in 1949 with the remaining staff transferred to Redstone. That same year the Army's Ordnance Rocket Center was transferred to Redstone. Redstone was the home of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency when it was founded in 1956, but lost a number of facilities and personnel, including all space-related programs, to NASA in 1960.

Redstone Arsenal remains the center of testing, development, and doctrine for the U.S. Army's missile programs. Besides the Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone houses the Tactical UAV Project Office, Ordnance Munitions and Electronic Maintenance School [1], Redstone Technical Test Center (RTTC), and other operations. Redstone Arsenal also hosts the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA's center for propulsion analysis and development. The Saturn V moon rocket was developed here by Wernher von Braun's team of rocket engineers.