One of my country roads leads me to Greensboro, Alabama. When I tell people I’m from Greensboro, Alabama, the state doesn’t register for some reason.  All they hear is Greensboro, and they step over Alabama into North Carolina.

No joke!

And when I type in little-known facts about Greensboro, Alabama, Google has the same problem.

When the list from the Google search for Greensboro, Alabama, appears, I have to read carefully. Ninety plus percent of the time, the information is about Greensboro, NC.

But there is a Greensboro, Alabama.

Everyone knows about Tuscaloosa, Alabama, home of the Crimson Tide Football team and the great University of Alabama, my alma   mater.

ROSLL TIDE, ROLL!

From Tuscaloosa, take exit 71A onto 69 South. Continue on the two-lane road through Moundsville and Havana. Greensboro is a 38-mile trek from Tuscaloosa.

Besides being my hometown and birthplace, Greensboro has historical significance.

Greensboro was home to three Alabama governors: Israel Pickens (1821-1825), John Gayle (1831-1835), and Thomas Seay (1886-1890). The town was the center of large-scale (500-1000 acres) plantation farming in Alabama.

Eugene Sawyer, the acting mayor of Chicago from 1987-1989, was born in Greensboro, Al.

Amelia Gorgas and I also share the same hometown. She was the University of Alabama’s first female librarian. And the University’s Amelia Gayle Gorgas library was the university’s first academic building named for a woman.

Greensboro was home to Southern University, which was founded and built by Methodists in 1856. That same year, the Alabama Legislature chartered Southern University as a Methodist school.

Did you know the university merged with Birmingham Southern College in 1918?

According to the 2010 Census, Greensboro is home to 2500 residents.

During my upbringing in Greensboro, going downtown was an outing and an event.  Downtown was walking distance from my house. There were several clothing, shoes, and furniture stores. And the town bustled with shoppers.

Other than educators, sales clerks, and business owners, most people traveled daily to work in nearby larger cities like Tuscaloosa or Northport.

Greensboro heralds as the Catfish Capital of the South. But like many small towns, due to the lack of capital investment, industry, and other economic hardships, the town struggles.