These days, Huntsville, Ala., embraces its nickname of “The Rocket City.” It is filled with rockets, rocket scientists, rocket engines, rocket business names and rocket logos.
But Huntsville’s history dates back to the early 1800s, when rockets and space travel weren’t even imaginable. What was the city’s nickname then? And when did it change to “The Rocket City?”
In 1811, when Huntsville became the first incorporated city in the Alabama Territory, it was known for agriculture, specifically cotton and watercress. It was known as the Watercress Capital of the World.
In the 1930s and ’40s, Huntsville was known as “The Heart of the Tennessee Valley” in Chamber of Commerce materials, a Huntsville Times article said…