Auburn is a city in east central Alabama, near the Georgia border. It is the largest city in Lee County with a 2004 population of 48,348.
Auburn is the educational and cultural center of the east Alabama region. It is the home of Auburn University, Alabama's largest university, as well several research centers, including the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Auburn has been marked in recent years by rapid growth, and is currently the fastest growing metropolitan area in Alabama and the nineteenth-fastest growing metro area in the United States since 1990. The city's unofficial nickname is The Loveliest Village On The Plains, taken from a line in the poem The Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith: "Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain . . ."
The city of Auburn lies in western Lee County and is bordered by the city of Opelika to the northeast and by Chambers County to the north. The city stretches south to within a mile of the Macon County line in the southwest.
Auburn sits on the fall line at the juncture of the piedmont plateau and the coastal plain. Portions of Auburn also include the southernmost exposure of rocks indicating the Appalachian orogeny--as such, the last foothill of the Appalachian Mountains lies in Chewacla Park in southern Auburn. As a result of these three varied physical environments, Auburn has an extremely diverse geography.
The southwest and west regions of the city on the plateau are marked by rolling plains and savannahs, with the undeveloped portion primarily being used for cattle grazing and ranching. South of this region sits the coastal plain, with sandy soil and pine forest. Parts of north Auburn have much more rugged topographies, with thick forests in high hills and deep hollows of the type common to parts of eastern Tennessee. The region surrounded by Chewacla Park in the south of the city contains sharp peaks and sudden drops of elevation as the 3.5 billion year-old rock of the Appalachians meets the coastal plain.
Auburn sits near the divide between the Chattahoochee and Tallapoosa River watersheds. Auburn is drained by three main creek systems: in the south, by the Chewacla/Opintlocco Creek system; in the north, by the Saugahatchee Creek system; and in the extreme northern reaches of Auburn by Sandy Creek. The dividing line between the Chewacla and Saugahatchee watersheds roughly follows railroad line east-west through the center of town.
Auburn is located at 32°35'52" North, 85°28'51" West (32.597684, -85.480823)and according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000, the city has a total area of 102.5 km2 (39.6 mi2). 101.3 km2 (39.1 mi2) of it is land and 1.1 km2 (0.4 mi2) of it is water. The total area is 1.11% water. The elevation of Auburn at City Hall is 709 ft (216 m) above sea level; though due to Auburn's diverse topography, elevation ranges from 386 feet (118 m) above sea level where Chewacla Creek crosses Sand Hill Road to 845 feet (258 m) above sea level in northern Auburn near the Chambers County line.
As of the census of 2000, there are 42,987 people, 18,421 households, and 7,239 families residing in the city. The population density is 424.2/km2 (1,098.6/mi2). There are 20,043 housing units at an average density of 197.8/km2 (512.2/mi2). The racial makeup of the city is 78.05% White, 16.79% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 3.31% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.57% from other races, and 1.05% from two or more races. 1.55% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 18,421 households out of which 18.6% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.6% are married couples living together, 7.7% have a female householder with no husband present, and 60.7% are non-families. 36.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 4.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.12 and the average family size is 2.93.
In the city the population is spread out with 15.4% under the age of 18, 44.6% from 18 to 24, 21.9% from 25 to 44, 11.7% from 45 to 64, and 6.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 23 years. For every 100 females there are 99.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 99.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $17,206, and the median income for a family is $55,619. Males have a median income of $41,012 versus $26,209 for females. The per capita income for the city is $16,431. 38.1% of the population and 14.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 16.5% of those under the age of 18 and 8.8% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Auburn's economy is centered around Auburn University and providing university-affiliated services. Auburn University employs 4,300 people, which is roughly one-quarter of the city's total workforce. In addition, 2,400 Auburnites are employed by the federal and state government in positions which are generally connected with the university. Some 8,500 are employed in service sector jobs.
Auburn's industrial base is built around mid-sized, high tech manufacturing and research firms. Auburn has four technology parks where main areas of industrial focus are on the manufacture of small engines, automotive wheels, fuel cells, plastic injection technology, and vehicle armor. The 156 acre (0.6 km2) Auburn University Research Park is currently under construction and will be anchored by a firm which specializes in research in high-resolution, dark field optical microscopy. Overall, the manufacturing sector accounts for some 4,000 jobs in Auburn.
Inhabited in antiquity by the Creek, the land on which Auburn sits was opened to settlement in 1832 with the Treaty of Cusseta. The first settlers arrived in the winter of 1836 from Harris County, Georgia. These settlers, led by Judge John J. Harper, intended to build a town that would be the religious and educational center for the area.
Auburn was incorporated on February 2, 1839, covering an area of 2 square miles (5.6 km2). By that time, Methodist and Baptist churches had been established, and a school had been built and had come into operation. In the mid-1840s, separate academies for boys and girls were established in addition to the primary school. This concentration of educational institutions led to a rapid influx of families from the planter class into Auburn in the 1840s and 1850s. By 1858, of the roughly 1,000 free residents of Auburn, some 500 were students.
In 1856, the state legislature chartered a Methodist college, the East Alabama Male College in Auburn. This college, now Auburn University opened its doors in 1859, offering a classical and liberal education.
With the advent of the Civil War in 1861, Auburn quickly emptied. All of the schools closed, and most businesses shuttered. Auburn was the site of a hospital for Texan Confederate soldiers, but only saw direct combat with the raids of Rousseau in 1864 and Wilson in 1865.
After the Civil War, Auburn's economy entered a prolonged depression that would last the remainder of the century. Public schools did not reopen until the mid-1870s, and most businesses remained closed. A series of fires in the 1860s and 1870s gutted the downtown area. East Alabama Male College was turned over to the state in 1872, and with funds from the federal Morrill Act was renamed Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College with a new mission as a land grant college. Passage of the Hatch Act in 1887 allowed for expansion of agricultural research facilities on campus.
In 1892, the college became the first four-year college in Alabama to admit women. This, combined with increased interest in scientific agriculture and engineering and new funding from business licenses, allowed the city to start expanding again. By 1910, Auburn's population had returned to its antebellum level. SIAA Conference championships won by the Auburn college's football team brought attention and support to Auburn, and helped fill the city's coffers.
Fortunes were quickly reversed with the collapse of cotton prices in the early 1920's and the subsequent Great Depression a decade later. Due to these events, the state government became unable to fund the college, and--as Auburn's economy was completely derived from the college--residents were forced into a barter economy to support themselves.
Money began to flow into Auburn again with America's entry into World War II. Auburn's campus was turned into a training ground for technical specialists in the armed forces. After the war, Auburn was flooded by soldiers returning to school on the G.I. Bill.
Primarily due to this immigration of students, Auburn began a period of growth that lasted through the 1950s and 1960s. A considerable amount of residential and business construction pushed Auburn's growth outside of the original boundaries of the city, leading to a series of large annexations which expanded Auburn to nearly 24 square miles (63 km2). Construction of Interstate 85 beginning in 1957 connected Auburn to the major cities of the state. This allowed for Auburn University (renamed in 1960) to schedule more home football games in Auburn rather than in larger cities, creating a strong tourism component in Auburn's economy.
Growth slowed somewhat in the 1970s, and a series of budget cuts made it clear that Auburn's sole economic reliance on Auburn University put the city in a tenuous position. Backlash against what was seen as an ineffectual city council led to the election of Jan Dempsey as mayor in 1982 and the removal of the previous city government system in favor of a council-manager system. With a new government in place, the city began aggressively pursuing industry, leading to a nearly 1,200% increase in the number of industrial jobs over the next twenty years. As public satisfaction with the city administration reached record levels, Auburn began very rapid residential growth.
A series of reports in the 1980s and 1990s ranking the Auburn public school system among the top in the state and nation convinced thousands of new residents to move to Auburn over the past 25 years. Between 1980 and 2003, Auburn's population grew by 65%, and Auburn's economy expanded by 220%. With growth came issues of urban sprawl, which has become the primary political issue in Auburn at the turn of the 21st century.
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Auburn, AL
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