The Trinity area began to be settled as early as the 1810s as plantation owners built homes on the elevated site to escape the plague of mosquitos in the lowlands where their plantation houses stood. A Methodist church had been established by 1820. Development of schools lagged behind, as most of the large landowners had private tutors for their children. The first public school in Trinity evolved out of one of the planation schools and in 1874 opened as the private Mountain Springs School. It became Lile College in 1900, after the family that started it.
Trinity's first post office was established in 1848 but closed in 1853. The area was known for its rock quarries in its early years and also served as a stagecoach stop. The post office was reopened in 1866, and the town took on the name Trinity Station. Trinity incorporated in 1901 and changed its name back to Trinity in 1903.
Trinity's population according to the 2010 Census was 2,095. Of that number, 88.6 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, 6.7 percent as African American, 3.3 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 1.1 percent as Native American, 1.6 percent as two or more races, and 0.2 percent as Asian. The town's median household income, according to 2010 estimates, was $61,060, and the per capita income was $28,628.
According to 2010 Census estimates, the work force in Trinity was divided among the following industrial categories:
· Manufacturing (28.7 percent)
· Educational services, and health care and social assistance (15.5 percent)
· Retail trade (10.5 percent)
· Professional, scientific, management, and administrative and waste management services (8.6 percent)
· Construction (8.5 percent)
· Transportation and warehousing and utilities (7.1 percent)
· Finance, insurance, and real estate, rental, and leasing (5.9 percent)
· Wholesale trade (5.2 percent)
· Other services, except public administration (4.8 percent)
· Arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (2.6 percent)
· Public administration (1.5 percent)
· Information (0.7 percent)
· Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, and extractive (0.3 percent)
Schools in Trinity are part of the Morgan County Schools; the town has approximately 1,277 students and 76 teachers in one elementary school, one middle school, and high school.
Trinity is served by U.S. Highway 72, which runs east-west on the northern edge of the city, and State Highway 24, which runs northeast-southwest along the southern edge of the city.
Events and Places of Interest
Trinity maintains two municipal parks that include facilities such as playground equipment and baseball fields. Cedar Ridge
Golf Course list just southeast of the city. The Forest Home, also known as the Absalom L. Davis House (c. 1857), and the
William E. Murphy House (c. 1800) are on the National Register of Historic Places. The Murphy home is also on the Alabama
Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
Knox, John. History of Morgan County, Alabama. Decatur, Ala.: Decatur Printing Company, 1966.
Morgan County Heritage Book Committee. The Heritage of Morgan County, Alabama. Clanton. Ala.: Heritage Publishing Consultants, 1998.
James P. Kaetz
Published September 28, 2012
Last updated November 8, 2012