Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Madrid, AL

Madrid is an incorporated town in southwestern Houston County, Alabama, and is part of the Dothan metropolitan area.

Madrid was named after Madrid, Spain, but locals pronounce it differently — MAD-rid, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

The town was founded in 1905 at the intersection of the new Bay Line Railroad from Panama City to Dothan and a country road surveyed from Cottonwood.

Madrid's founding involved a race: Ed Watford bought 180 acres intending to found the town, but speculators J. B. Dell and W. C. Fenn recorded their 80 acres at the courthouse as 'Madrid' first, leaving Watford's lots to be known as Watford's Addition.

Dell and Fenn launched the town with a public lot auction featuring a barbecue and a brass band, and Madrid quickly prospered on timber, turpentine and cotton, with its own cotton oil mill and gin.

Mayor Ed Watford founded the Bank of Madrid in 1912; it operated for twelve years before closing in 1924.

Madrid declined sharply after the boll weevil devastated the area's cotton crops and local timber supplies were exhausted.

The 2020 census counted 265 people in Madrid living in 117 households, down from a peak of 350 residents in 2010.

U.S. Route 231 passes through the west side of Madrid, putting the town 13 miles south of Dothan.

Madrid's own ZIP code is 36320, and the town covers about 1.75 square miles of land.