West Point is located in northwest Cullman County in the north-central part of the state. It has a mayor/city council form of government.

History

West Point was for years an unnamed community at the juncture of two roads connecting Battle Ground and Clarkson (north-south) and Malaby and Crooked Creek (east-west). Settlers began to build homes around the crossroads as early as the late 1870s. The first telephone service in town came in 1909. A sawmill, grist mill, and cotton gin were established around 1900, and the first general store opened in 1910.

Also around 1910, residents decided upon the name West Point for the community. The first school in the town was built in 1918, replacing a school in nearby Crooked Creek. A high school was built in the early 1930s.

West Point was incorporated in October 1977.

Demographics

West Point’s population according to the 2010 Census was 586. Of that number, 95.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 6.0 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 1.2 percent as two or more races, 0.7 percent as Native American, and 0.5 percent as Asian. The town’s median household income, according to 2010 estimates, was $35,326, and the per capita income was $22,236.

Employment

According to 2010 Census estimates, the work force in West Point was divided among the following industrial categories:

· Educational services, and health care and social assistance (19.2   percent)
· Retail trade (18.1 percent)
· Manufacturing (17.7 percent)
· Construction (13.2 percent)
· Transportation and warehousing and utilities (6.0 percent)
· Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (5.7 percent)
· Wholesale trade (5.7 percent)
· Finance, insurance, and real estate, rental, and leasing (5.7 percent)
· Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services   (3.4 percent)
· Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste   management services (2.6 percent)
· Public administration (2.3 percent)
· Information (0.4 percent)

Education

Schools in West Point are part of the Cullman County school system and include in one elementary school, one intermediate school, one middle school, and one high school.

Transportation

State Highway 157 bisects West Point running roughly southeast-northwest. County Road 1141 enters town from the northwest, runs east through town, and then exits running southeast. County Road 1127 runs south from the western part of town, and County Road 1242 runs northeast from town.

This article was derived from http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3484

Additional Resources

Cullman County Heritage Book Committee. Heritage of Cullman County, Alabama. Vols. I and II. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, Inc., 1999.

Jones, Margaret Jean. Combing Cullman County. Cullman, Ala.: Modernistic Printers, Inc., 1972.