Introduction to Montgomery, Alabama The city of Montgomery is
the capital of the state of Alabama and also the county seat of
Montgomery County. Montgomery sits in the central part of the
state, about 90 miles south of Birmingham and 170 miles
northeast of Mobile. The city is serviced by several major
thoroughfares. Interstates I-65 and I-85 intersect in the city,
and U.S. Routes 31, 80, 82, 231 and 331 are also located within
the city boundaries. Nearby communities include Pratville (to
the north), Selma (to the west), Hayneville (to the southwest),
and Tuskeegee (to the east). Once the capital of the
Confederacy, Montgomery in its later years evolved into a key
center of the Civil Rights Movement. Founded in 1819 and
incorporated in 1837, Montgomery derived its name from that of
Major Lemuel Putnam Montgomery, who was the first man killed in
the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. The city was selected as
Alabama's state capital in 1846, a few years before the onset of
the Civil War, during which Alabama woul