24/7 Trauma & Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Killen Killen, AL

Killen is an incorporated town in Lauderdale County in northwest Alabama, part of the Florence-Muscle Shoals metropolitan area known as "The Shoals."

The community was first known as Masonville, named for Joseph Mason, who served as its first postmaster when a post office operated there from 1826 to 1866.

Killen grew up along the Muscle Shoals Canal, the early navigation channel built to carry boats around the shoals of the Tennessee River.

Shopkeeper James Sharp Killen built a store in the community and applied for a post office in 1895, and the town was established on August 22, 1896, taking his name.

The Muscle Shoals Canal closed in 1918 when construction began on Wilson Dam, and the old canal was submerged when the dam was completed in 1924.

Killen was not incorporated until 1957, and the town's police and fire departments were established in 1962.

The 2020 census counted 1,034 residents in Killen, living in 440 households, with 474 housing units in the town.

Killen's population peaked at 1,119 in the 2000 census and stood at 1,108 in 2010 before easing to 1,034 in 2020.

The town covers about 2.0 square miles of land in eastern Lauderdale County.

Public schools in Killen are run by Lauderdale County Schools, and the town is home to Brooks Elementary School and Brooks High School, whose Lions give the town its motto, "Home of the Brooks Lions."