Center Point

History

The city of Center Point originally started as a small farm community, founded by the Reed family of North Carolina, which was around the same time other families were coming in to settle the towns of Trussville, Springville, Clay, and Pinson. By 1924, the Rock School was built, which now stands as the Center Point City Hall, as well as several business such as a post office and blacksmith shop. Center Point remained an unincorporated and small community from the 1920s through the 1950s, but in 1947 a viable water supply was discovered enabling Center Point to become self-sufficient and set up for further development. During the 1950s, there was steady growth in the area as more people continued to move eastward from the center of Birmingham, seeing the nearby neighborhoods East Lake, Huffman, and Roebuck swell with new houses and people. However, by the 1960s, Center Point began to rapidly develop, with over 80% of all homes in city limits built within a ten-year span from 1960 to 1970. The rapid growth soon overcrowded Hewitt-Trussville High School in nearby Trussville past capacity limit, which had been the high school serving Center Point for decades. Jefferson County Schools soon elected to introduce a new high school, E.B. Erwin High School in 1965. By 1967, Center Point was recognized as the largest census-designated place (CDP) in the United States with over 67,000 people. From the 1970s through mid-1990s, Center Point was a thriving suburb of Birmingham and was one of the largest surrounding communities. By the late 1990s however, urban blight, financial decay, and violence had already plagued Birmingham's eastern neighborhoods such as Woodlawn and East Lake, which soon began to spill into still unincorporated Center Point. The decay was accelerated by the…

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the CDP had a total area of , of which was land and (0.25%) was water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,762
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  5,458
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,188
• Eastern Towhee

  Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,013
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  4,648
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,617
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,497
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,398

Largest nearby schools

• HewittTrussville High School
  High · Trussville · 1,573 students · 16.7:1 ratio
• ClayChalkville High School
  High · Pinson · 1,361 students · 18.4:1 ratio
• Paine Elementary School
  Elementary · Trussville · 1,350 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• HewittTrussville Middle School
  Middle · Trussville · 1,202 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• Shades Valley High School
  High · Irondale · 1,200 students · 20.3:1 ratio
• Huffman High SchoolMagnet
  High · Birmingham · 1,147 students · 19.1:1 ratio
• Gardendale High School
  High · Gardendale · 1,047 students · 17.4:1 ratio
• ClayChalkville Middle School
  Middle · Trussville · 1,032 students · 18.4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.1 — 2021-12-22
  10 km E of Maplesville, Alabama
• M 2.62 — 2020-11-01
  13 km SE of Triana, Alabama
• M 2.87 — 2020-06-25
  4 km NNW of Berry, Alabama
• M 2.53 — 2020-02-08
  13 km S of Moulton, Alabama
• M 2.7 — 2017-02-17
  22 km S of Oakman, Alabama
• M 2.6 — 2017-02-17
  16 km S of Oakman, Alabama