GUNTERSVILLE

city, seat of Marshall county, northeast Alabama, U.S., on Guntersville Lake. Founded (c. 1785) by John Gunter on the site of a Cherokee Indian village at the southernmost point of the Tennessee River, it developed as a transfer port for goods being shipped south. Completion (1939) of Guntersville Dam (7 mi northwest) stimulated industrialization. Guntersville Lake (82 mi long, 14 mi wide), formed by the dam, is a site for hydroplane racing. Inc. town, 1847. Pop. (1990) 7,038.