Leeds, Alabama
Leeds, Alabama | |
|---|---|
| Nickname: City of Valor | |
Location of Leeds in Jefferson County and Shelby County and St. Clair County, Alabama. | |
| Coordinates: 33°32′44″N 86°33′27″W / 33.54556°N 86.55750°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Alabama |
| Counties | Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | David Miller |
| Area | |
• Total | 22.99 sq mi (59.55 km2) |
| • Land | 22.76 sq mi (58.95 km2) |
| • Water | 0.23 sq mi (0.60 km2) |
| Elevation | 673 ft (205 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 12,324 |
| • Density | 541.48/sq mi (209.07/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP Code | 35094 |
| Area code(s) | 205 & 659 |
| FIPS code | 01-41968 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2404905 |
| Website | leedsalabama |
Leeds is a tricounty municipality in Jefferson, St. Clair, and Shelby counties in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is an eastern suburb of Birmingham. As of the 2020 census, its population was 12,324.
Leeds was founded in 1877, during the final years of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. It housed the workers and their families of Lehigh, a Portland cement manufacturing plant.
Leeds is nicknamed "The City of Valor" because of three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients from World War II and the Korean War who called Leeds home: Alford McLaughlin, William Lawley and Henry "Red" Erwin. A wall in the Leeds Historical Society's Jonathan Bass House Museum is dedicated to the three men. In spring 2023, Chip Wise, the Leeds High School band director, composed an original piece titled City of Valor meant to honor the three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. In October 2023, the Pearl Harbor National Memorial invited Wise and his marching band to perform the piece at Pearl Harbor on March 26, 2024.