The Big Spring - Huntsville, AL
N 34° 43.772 W 086° 35.197
16S E 537845 N 3843127
The Big Spring helped put Huntsville on the map.
Waymark Code: WM1PEN
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 06/16/2007
Views: 88
A Two-Sided marker in downtown Huntsville, AL. From the Sign:
The Big Spring
This inexhaustible source of pure water was a marvel to Indian and frontiersman alike prior to the 19th century. John Hunt, an early settler, built a cabin near this site by 1805. The spring became a major attraction at the land sales of 1809, when LeRoy Pope outbid all others. By 1823, spring water was being pumped 96 feet through hollowed cedar logs to a reservoir on the town square. This was one of the earliest waterworks in the country.
Side 2
The Big Spring
(continued from other side)
In 1843, LeRoy Pope’s son, William H. Pope, deeded the site to Huntsville for one dollar. Until 1957, the spring was the main source of fresh water for Huntsville’s citizens, and for thirty years prior to 1950, revenue from the sale of water was the largest single source of income for the city’s General Fund. A park/picnic ground was developed around the spring in 1898. Before that and for many years afterward, great crowds attended religious baptisms held below the small dam at the spring.