Vinegar Bend, Alabama
Census-designated place
1920 scene near Vinegar Bend
1920 scene near Vinegar Bend
Location of Vinegar Bend in Washington County, Alabama.
Location of Vinegar Bend in Washington County, Alabama.
Vinegar Bend, Alabama is located in Alabama
Vinegar Bend, Alabama
Vinegar Bend, Alabama
Coordinates: 31°15′50″N 88°20′41″W / 31.26389°N 88.34472°W / 31.26389; -88.34472
CountryUnited States
StateAlabama
CountyWashington
Area
[1]
 • Total9.47 sq mi (24.54 km2)
 • Land9.45 sq mi (24.48 km2)
 • Water0.02 sq mi (0.05 km2)
Elevation
161 ft (49 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total178
 • Density18.83/sq mi (7.27/km2)
Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code
36584
Area code251
GNIS feature ID153854[2]

Vinegar Bend is an unincorporated census-designated place in Washington County, Alabama, United States. Vinegar Bend is 15 miles (24 km) south-southwest of Chatom. As of the 2010 census, its population was 192.[3] Vinegar Bend had a post office with ZIP code 36584 until it was closed July 1, 2010. When the bridge on the "main" road into Vinegar Bend was closed for repairs, the USPS closed the post office for good.[4]

History

There are a number of stories about how Vinegar Bend got its name. One is that it received its name when a container holding vinegar burst at the freight station near the river's bend. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.[5]

Lucius Beebe visited Vinegar Bend in the 1940s and wrote "Vinegar Bend itself is a communal last chapter. Once at the turn of the century, a local ancient told us, it had been a hustling township boasting a huge planing mill, numerous stores and residences and a forty-two-room-hotel. The railroad had owned half a dozen engines, each one smokier and more pyrotechnic than the next, and life had gone on at a giddy pace."[6]

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
2020178—
U.S. Decennial Census[7]

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 192 people living in the CDP. The racial makeup of the CDP was 79.2% Black, 15.1% White, 2.6% Native American, 0.5% Asian and 2.6% from two or more races.

Notable person

Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell, Major League Baseball pitcher and U.S. Congressman from North Carolina, was born across the state line in Mississippi, but the family's residence was on the Vinegar Bend mail route, therefore Vinegar Bend was recorded as his birthplace and he was nicknamed for the community.[8]

References

  1. ^ "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Vinegar Bend, Alabama
  3. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 14, 2011.
  4. ^ ZIP Code Lookup
  5. ^ Gallant, Frank K. (2012). A Place Called Peculiar: Stories about Unusual American Place-Names. Courier Dover Publications. p. 2. ISBN 9780486483603.
  6. ^ Mixed Train Daily, Page 23, Paragraph 4, by Lucius Beebe
  7. ^ "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  8. ^ "Mizell, Wilmer David (Vinegar Bend)". Biographic Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
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