Gurley, AL

Gurley is a Madison County town along U.S. Route 72, about sixteen miles east of Huntsville and twenty-six miles west of Scottsboro. The place grew around a Memphis & Charleston Railroad water and coaling stop; early references called it Gurley's Tank after the family that settled here in 1817. The railroad made the settlement a service point, while Route 72 now carries the larger regional traffic. Gurley sits where the Tennessee Valley opens toward the mountains and the Huntsville area.

ATTRChris Pruitt / CC BY-SA 3.0

Most of the town lies within the Gurley Historic District, which preserves the older street pattern and buildings around the rail-era center. Madison County School System operates the K–8 school inside town in the former Madison County High School building, with older students traveling elsewhere. Local government, churches, businesses, and the U.S. 72 corridor fill in the present-day map. Gurley is an Alabama town where a family name, a railroad water tank, a historic district, and the road between Huntsville and Scottsboro still meet.