Decatur (dɪˈkeɪtə(r)) is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County (with a part also in Limestone County) in the U.S. state of Alabama. Nicknamed “The River City”, it is located in northern Alabama upon the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. The population in 2020 was 57,938.

Decatur is the core city of the two-county large Decatur metropolitan area, which had an estimated population of 156,494 in 2020. Combined next the Huntsville Metropolitan Area, the two Make the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area, of which Decatur is the second-largest city.

Like many southern cities in the in advance 19th century, Decatur’s early endowment was based on its location along a river. Railroad routes and boating traffic pushed the city to the belly of North Alabama’s economic atmosphere. The city tersely grew into a large economic center within the Tennessee Valley and was a hub for travelers and cargo in the midst of Nashville and Mobile, as competently as Chattanooga and New Orleans. Throughout the 20th century, the city experienced steady growth, but was eclipsed as the regional economic middle by the fast-growing Huntsville during the spread race. Decatur now finds its economy heavily based upon manufacturing, mining, cargo transit, chemical, and high-tech companies such as Vulcan Materials, Daikin, Toray, and United Launch Alliance.

Initially, the Place was known as “Rhodes Ferry Landing”, named for Dr. Henry W. Rhodes, an in advance landowner who operated a ferry that crossed the Tennessee River in the 1810s at the present-day location of Rhodes Ferry Park. The city was incorporated as Decatur in 1821. It was named in award of Stephen Decatur; after he was killed in a duel in 1820, President Monroe directed that the Alabama town be named for him.