Trinity

Trinity is located in northwest Morgan County in the north-central part of the state, just west of the city of Decatur. It has a mayor/city council form of government.

History

Artist’s Rendering of Forest Home Plantation The Trinity area began to be settled as early as the 1810s as plantation owners built homes on the elevated site to escape the plague of mosquitos in the lowlands, where their plantation houses stood. A Methodist church had been established by 1820. Trinity’s first post office was established in 1848 but closed in 1853. The area was known for its rock quarries in its early years and also served as a stagecoach stop. The post office was reopened in 1866, and the town took on the name Trinity Station. Public education lagged in the town, as most of the large landowners had private tutors for their children. The first public school in Trinity evolved out of the plantation school started by John A. Lile and in 1874 opened as the private Mountain Springs School. Lile’s son Henry expanded it and renamed it Lile College in 1900. He would go on to serve as superintendent of Morgan County schools in the late 1890s. Trinity Station incorporated in 1901, and residents changed its name back to Trinity in 1903.

Demographics

According to 2020 Census estimates, Trinity recorded a population of 2,593. Of that number, 83.9 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 11.6 percent as Hispanic, 8.3 percent as African American, 3.0 percent as two or more races, 1.1 percent as American Indian, and 1.0 percent as Asian. The town’s median household income was $70,288, and the per capita income was $29,224.

Employment

According to 2020 Census estimates, the workforce in Trinity was divided among the following industrial categories:

  • Manufacturing (30.5 percent)
  • Educational services and health care and social assistance (17.5 percent)
  • Finance and insurance, and real estate and rental and leasing (9.1 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (7.5 percent)
  • Construction (6.0 percent)
  • Wholesale trade (5.6 percent)
  • Public administration (5.0 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing, and utilities (5.0 percent)
  • Retail trade (4.2 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (3.6 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, and recreation, and accommodation and food services (3.5 percent)
  • Information (2.4 percent)

Education

Schools in Trinity are part of the Morgan County Schools; the town has one elementary school, one middle school, and high school.

Transportation

Trinity is served by U.S. Highway 72, which runs east-west on the northern edge of the city, and State Highway 24, which runs northeast-southwest along the southern edge of the city.

Events and Places of Interest

Trinity maintains two municipal parks that include playground equipment and baseball fields, among other amenities. Cedar Ridge Golf Course list just southeast of the city. The Forest Home, also known as the Absalom L. Davis House (c. 1857), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it burned in 1991. The William E. Murphy House (c. 1800) was also on the National Register as well as the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage; it was destroyed in the tornado outbreak of 2011.

Additional Resources

Knox, John. History of Morgan County, Alabama. Decatur, Ala.: Decatur Printing Company, 1966.

Morgan County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Morgan County, Alabama. Clanton. Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998.

External Links

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