This application displays historic buildings, structures and businesses from specific years throughout Huntsville's history.
Data Sources
These datasets were created from a variety of sources which include:
- Maps obtained from the Library of Congress
- Maps created or commissioned by the City of Huntsville
- Planning documents created by the City of Huntsville
- Sanborne fire insurance maps
- USGS quad sheets
- Madison County phone books
- Old photographs and drawings
- The memories of Huntsville's citizens
The datasets for each year are incomplete. For example, the map used to create the 1928 dataset focused on the Five Points area northeast of downtown Huntsville. All other businsses and buildings in the city at that time are thus excluded from the 1928 dataset. The USGS quad sheets almost exclusively focus on government buildings, infrastructure and places of worship. Also buildings and businsses may appear in multiple datasets.
The City of Huntsville has access to additional datasources which have not yet been digitized. Our goal is to continually update these datasets as time permits.
To facilitate querying all buildings and businesses have been categorized to the best of our ability.
Intended Use
The primary goal of this project is to allow citizens to see snapshots of the cityscape of Huntsville throughout it's long history. The second goal is to serve as a memorial to the places of worship, businesses and public spaces that have come and gone. As the years progress and the older generations pass away the memory of the places they lived, worked and loved pass away with them. Our hope is this application helps our citizens understand the Huntsville that used to be and the people who lived there.
How You Can Help
Do you have old photographs of businesses in Huntsville? Do you have an old Madison County phonebook? Have you spotted inaccuracies in our data? Let us know!
Just send an email to
Nick Haney, he loves learning about the history of Huntsville