Grant

James P. Kaetz, Auburn University
Grant is located in north-central Marshall County in the northeastern part of the state. It has a mayor/city council form of government.
History
Pennsylvania Log Cabin at Kate Duncan Smith DAR School
Settlers began to come into the Grant area in the 1830s, after the forced removal of the Cherokees from the land. Grant's post office was established in 1887, with three potential town names being submitted to the U.S. Postal Service. Because many residents of the town were Unionists during the Civil War, the name Grant was chosen to honor Union general and U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant.
In the early 1920s, as part of a program to build schools in underserved areas of the southeastern United States, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) funded and built the Kate Duncan Smith DAR School in Grant in 1924. It remains the only K-12 school in the United States owned and operated by the DAR.
The town incorporated in November 1945 to receive funding for the construction of a municipal water system. Grant established a volunteer fire department in 1950, with 23 volunteers. A metals manufacturer is one of the area's main employers.
Demographics
According to 2016 Census estimates, Grant recorded a population of 961. Of that number, 97.9 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 2.0 percent as two or more races, 1.2 percent as Hispanic or Latino, and 0.1 percent as Native American. The town's median household income was $52,917, and the per capita income was $27,497.
Employment
According to 2016 Census estimates, the workforce in Fairfield was divided among the following industrial categories:
  • Educational services, and health care and social assistance (28.0 percent)
  • Manufacturing (19.3 percent)
  • Retail trade (14.1 percent)
  • Construction (3.2 percent)
  • Other services, except public administration (2.3 percent)
  • Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste management services (10.7 percent)
  • Wholesale trade (2.0 percent)
  • Finance, insurance, and real estate, rental, and leasing (5.9 percent)
  • Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (4.3 percent)
  • Transportation and warehousing and utilities (4.3 percent)
  • Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (0.9 percent)
  • Public administration (5.0 percent)
Education
Schools in Grant are part of the Marshall County school system; the town has one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school.
Transportation
Cathedral Caverns Highway runs north-south through Grant.
Events and Places of Interest
World's Longest Yard Sale in Grant
Guntersville Lake is located about 4 miles southeast of Grant, and Cathedral Caverns State Park is located about the same distance to the northeast. Grant is a stop on the World's Longest Yard Sale.
The Kate Duncan Smith DAR School is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Grant maintains a recreation center, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, soccer and baseball fields, and a town park with picnic areas, a playground, and pavilions.

Additional Resources

Marshall County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Marshall County, Alabama. Clanton, Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 2000.
Published:  August 9, 2013   |   Last updated:  February 13, 2020