Morgan County, Alabama
Morgan County · Decatur is the hall · Hartselle is not this hall · Huntsville is Madison
Decatur is the seat. Hartselle is not the hall. Huntsville is Madison.
Morgan County, Alabama, was erected 6 February 1818 (as Cotaco; renamed 14 June 1821 for Daniel Morgan). Somerville was the seat until 1891. Decatur has been the seat since 1891. Decatur is the large city — it is the hall. Hartselle is a city — it is not the hall. Priceville, Falkville, Trinity, Eva, and Somerville are towns. They are not the hall now. Huntsville is Madison. Moulton is Lawrence. This is not Morgan County, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, Utah, West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, or Kentucky. Montgomery is the capital of Alabama. It does not sit here. Birmingham is Jefferson.
Places include Decatur, Hartselle, Priceville, Falkville, Trinity, Somerville, and Eva. 2020 census: 123,421. This page is Side One for the place. The Sheriff’s job — river-industrial remainder patrol and the Lee Street jail this badge still holds — is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Morgan County.
Four district Commissioners. Somerville was the seat until 1891. It is not the hall now.
Morgan is a four-district County Commission with a Chairman. Confirm the live roster at morgancounty-al.gov. There is no County Executive in the big-charter sense. Commission work lists at the Morgan County Courthouse, 302 Lee Street NE, Decatur, and at district shops (Engineering has listed 580 Shull Road NE, Hartselle — that is a shop, not the hall). They fund roads, the jail, and the Sheriff’s budget. They do not hire the Sheriff. The people do. Decatur City Council is a city body. Hartselle City Council is a city body.
The courthouse is at 302 Lee Street NE (8th Judicial Circuit). The Circuit Clerk and Absentee Election Manager list that Lee Street door (Absentee has listed first floor). Confirm at morgan.alacourt.gov. A city hall in Hartselle is not this county. Somerville’s old-seat history is history.
The Sheriff is four years, Article V § 138, 2026 with the Governor. Take office 18 January 2027. The Mayor of Decatur is a city clock.
The Tennessee River and I-65. Moulton is Lawrence.
The Tennessee River is the north edge. Interstate 65 runs the county. U.S. 31 and U.S. 72 Alternate are through roads. Limestone is north. Madison is northeast — Huntsville is that hall. Marshall is east. Cullman is south. Lawrence is west — Moulton is that hall. Staff who paste a Huntsville rocket postcard onto Lee Street, or treat Hartselle as this hall, or file “Moulton as this Sheriff,” are on the wrong county.
How a river-city public finds 302 Lee Street and 119 Lee Street
Courthouse / Circuit Clerk / Absentee: 302 Lee Street NE, Decatur, AL 35601. Sheriff headquarters and jail: 119 Lee Street NE, Decatur, AL 35601 (morgancountysheriffal.gov). Confirm live addresses on those doors — the courthouse has been under renovation; temporary annex listings have included 401 2nd Avenue SE. A student who only knows a Huntsville photograph, or a Hartselle downtown postcard as this hall, has not found Decatur’s civic pair.
119 Lee Street still jails. Decatur PD does not. ADOC's Highway 20 house is state.
Crime in unincorporated Morgan — Somerville country, Eva, Falkville roads, Priceville remainder, Trinity, the river roads off U.S. 31 — is this Sheriff. Crime in Decatur is often Decatur Police. Crime in Hartselle is often Hartselle Police. Crime in Priceville, Falkville, and Trinity is often those municipal departments. This Sheriff is not Decatur PD. The Sheriff’s corrections page says the current jail opened 2006 (replacing an older house on the courthouse), an annex opened 2016, and the facility can house up to about 994, with a daily count the office itself has published in the 600s. That house is this badge’s shop. It is not a separate county Department of Corrections. Do not paste the ADOC North Alabama community-based facility at 1401 Highway 20 West, Decatur, onto 119 Lee Street. That is state. Do not send a family looking for a county booking to Decatur Police, to Huntsville, or to Moulton. Civil process and court security at 302 Lee Street are the Sheriff. Rights do not change at the river. Remedy for Decatur Police is the City. Remedy for a Sheriff’s paper is the Sheriff. Relief when the Tennessee comes up is this count first.
Care without inventing a rocket as this county
A peace order served in unincorporated Falkville. A transport from 119 Lee Street to 302 Lee Street without becoming Decatur PD. Do not invent a church. Do not invent a Huntsville rocket as this oval. This is Decatur.
What a Tennessee River industrial county actually watches
Court calendars at 302 Lee. A wreck on I-65. Fog on the Tennessee. A night road outside Hartselle’s city limits. Coordination with Decatur PD, Hartselle PD, and ALEA without becoming those departments. Coordination with Madison’s Sheriff or Lawrence’s Sheriff is mutual aid between two offices, not a merger, and not a reason to file Huntsville or Moulton as this hall. A rocket photograph does not steal the seat.
Decatur snapshot (verify official sources)
- Seat: Decatur · Largest city (also the hall): Decatur · Capital of Alabama: Montgomery
- Government: four district Commissioners and a Chairman · courthouse 302 Lee Street NE
- Sheriff: four years · 2026 · patrol and detention this Sheriff still holds · HQ and jail 119 Lee Street NE
- Neighbors: Limestone · Madison (Huntsville) · Marshall · Cullman · Lawrence (Moulton)
- Not Huntsville as this hall · Not Hartselle as the hall · Not Decatur PD as this Sheriff · Not ADOC Highway 20 as this jailer
What Decatur is not, as this county
- Not Huntsville. Not Madison County. Not Moulton. Not Lawrence County.
- Not Hartselle as the hall. Not Priceville as the hall. Not Somerville as the seat now.
- Not Morgan County in any other state.
- Not Decatur Police as this Sheriff. Not ADOC as this jailer.
- Not a campaign flyer.