Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Leeds, AL

Leeds is a city in the Cahaba Valley of north-central Alabama that spans three counties — Jefferson, St. Clair, and Shelby — as an eastern suburb of Birmingham along the Little Cahaba River.

The community grew out of earlier settlements such as Cedar Grove and Oak Ridge along an old stagecoach route, and it was renamed Leeds in 1884 for the industrial city of Leeds in Yorkshire, England.

Leeds was incorporated on April 27, 1887, and grew around railroads, iron and mineral mining, and the Lehigh Portland cement plant whose workers and families it housed.

The 2020 census counted 12,324 people in Leeds living in 4,964 households.

Leeds is nicknamed the "City of Valor" because three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients — Alford McLaughlin, William Lawley, and Henry "Red" Erwin — called the city home.

Folklorist John Garst has argued that the legendary contest between John Henry, the "steel-drivin' man," and a steam drill took place at the Oak Mountain Tunnel in Leeds on September 20, 1887, and the city celebrates the tale each September at the Leeds Downtown Folk Festival and John Henry Celebration.

Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is a native of Leeds.

The Jonathan Bass House Museum, built around 1865 and maintained by the Leeds Historical Society, preserves local history, including a wall honoring the city's three Medal of Honor recipients.

Leeds is served by its own Leeds City School District, which operates Leeds Primary School, Leeds Elementary School, Leeds Middle School, and Leeds High School.

U.S. Route 411 begins in Leeds at its junction with U.S. Route 78, and Interstate 20 passes just north of the city on the corridor between Birmingham and Atlanta.