MONTGOMERY

Welsh Trefaldwyn town, Powys county, historic county of Montgomeryshire, Wales. In the 11th century the Norman Roger de Montgomery, 1st earl of Shrewsbury, built his castle at Hendomen, northwest of the present town, and a small village developed under its walls. In 1223 the English king Henry III built another castle at a new Montgomery, the present town, to which a royal charter was granted in 1227. This castle was dismantled by the Parliamentary army in 1644 during the English Civil Wars. The town has a parish church (St. Nicholas) dating from about 1227, with two 15th-century roods, screens, and stalls. Montgomery has remained important locally as a market for sheep and cattle, but as a regional centre it has been largely superseded by Welshpool, 8 miles (13 km) to the north. Pop. (1981) 1,035. capital of the state of Alabama, U.S., and seat of Montgomery County. The locality, on a sharp bend on the Alabama River, was inhabited by prehistoric American Indian mound builders and later by Indians who established villages on the site. In 1715, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, built Fort Toulouse on the river a short distance above the present site of Montgomery. The city was founded and chartered in 1819 with the consolidation of two settlements and named for General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during the Revolutionary War. It became a political centre for the state and was made the state capital in 1847. In February 1861, during the American Civil War, Montgomery became the first capital of the Confederacy, though the capital was moved to Richmond, Va., in July of that year. Montgomery was captured by Union troops in 1865. After its recovery from the Civil War, Montgomery developed as an important centre and market for cotton, livestock, yellow pine, and hardwood. Its chief manufactures are commercial fertilizer and furniture. The adjacent Maxwell and Gunter air force installations have added much to the civic and commercial life of the city. Maxwell is headquarters of the Air University system. Montgomery itself is the seat of Auburn University Montgomery (1967), Huntingdon College (1854; Methodist), and Alabama State University (moved there from Marion in 1887). The capitol building is an example of Georgian architecture. There Alabama voted to secede from the Union on Jan. 11, 1861, and the Confederate States of America was organized there on Feb. 4, 1861hence the popular designation of Montgomery as the Cradle of the Confederacy. Other important buildings are the First White House of the Confederacy, where Jefferson Davis resided, and the State Archives and History Museum, which contains one of the largest collections of historical materials on the South. Montgomery was the scene of important civil-rights activity in the late 1950s and the '60s. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., then a Montgomery minister, blacks organized a peaceful boycott of the city's public buses in December 1955 to protest against segregation; a year later segregation on buses was prohibited by court order. A drive to register black voters in 1965, centred at Selma, was countered with violence, which resulted in a series of protest marches on Montgomery, led by King. Pop. (1990) city, 187,106; Montgomery MSA, 292,517. county, central Maryland, U.S. It consists of a piedmont region bounded by the Patuxent River to the northeast, Washington, D.C., to the south, and Virginia to the south and west (the Potomac River constituting the border). The county is drained by Rock Creek and features several parklands, including Seneca Creek State Park and part of Patuxent River State Park. Montgomery county was created in 1776 and named for Richard Montgomery, a general in the American Revolution. It contains northern and northwestern suburbs of Washington, D.C., such as Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Rockville (the county seat), and the BethesdaChevy Chase area, home of the National Institutes of Health and other research facilities, many of which are linked to the federal government. The economy is dominated by the service industry, especially business, engineering, research, and health services. Also important are tourism, manufacturing, and agriculture. Area 495 square miles (1,281 square km). Pop. (1990) 757,027; (1996 est.) 816,999. county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., consisting of a gently hilly piedmont region located northwest of Philadelphia and bounded to the southwest by the Schuylkill River. Other waterways include Green Lane Reservoir and Perkiomen, Swamp, Wissahickon, Tacony, and Pennypack creeks. Recreational areas include Evansburg and Fort Washington state parks. Notable historic buildings include Graeme Park (1722) in Horsham, Hope Lodge (c. 1750) in Fort Washington, and Pottsgrove Manor (1754) in Pottstown. The county was created in 1784 and named for Richard Montgomery, a general in the American Revolution. Audubon was named for nearby resident John James Audubon, the ornithologist and artist. Haverford College was established in Haverford in 1833, and Bryn Mawr College was founded in 1885 in Bryn Mawr. Other communities include Lansdale, Conshohocken, Hatboro, and Norristown, which is the county seat. The economy is based on health care and business services, tourism, and technological industries such as research and development and the manufacture of drugs, semiconductors, and process control instruments. Area 483 square miles (1,251 square km). Pop. (1990) 678,193; (1996 est.) 708,782. county, central New York state, U.S., located midway between Utica and Albany. It consists of a hilly region bisected east-west by the Mohawk River, which incorporates the New York State Canal System (completed 1918) and its constituent the Erie Canal (1825); Schoharie Creek is another major stream. The principal forest types are maple, birch, and beech. Mohawk Indians, members of the Iroquois Confederacy, were early inhabitants of the region. The family of Sir William Johnson, the colonial superintendent of Indian affairs and an early Mohawk valley pioneer, built homes that were restored as historic sites in Amsterdam and Fort Johnson. Fort Hunter contains an original section of the Erie Canal from the 1820s, as well as canal locks and an aqueduct from the 1840s. The county was created in 1772; originally named Tryon county, it was renamed in 1784 for Richard Montgomery, a general in the American Revolution. The county seat is Fonda. The economy is based on printing and the manufacturing of food products and textiles. Area 405 square miles (1,048 square km). Pop. (1990) 51,981; (1996 est.) 51,894.