Biohazard Cleanup Near Smith Glen Warrior, AL

Warrior is a city spanning Jefferson and Blount counties in Alabama; it is the northernmost city in Jefferson County and a northern suburb of Birmingham.

Warrior takes its name from the Warrior Coal Field, which was itself named for the Black Warrior River.

The area around Warrior opened to settlement after the Creek defeat at Horseshoe Bend in 1813–1814, and the first school in the area was built before Alabama was even organized as a territory.

In 1872, J.T. Pierce opened coal mining operations and a post office at the site, and the town grew up as Warrior Station on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.

Warrior boomed as a rail and coal-shipping center — the main terminal for shipping Jefferson County coal by barge — growing from about 500 residents in 1884 to some 1,200 by 1887, and by 1910 it was the largest rural community in the county.

Most records date Warrior's incorporation to 1889, though some sources give 1899.

The 2020 census counted 3,224 residents in Warrior, up slightly from 3,176 in 2010; the 1900 census had counted 1,018.

Warrior covers about 9.8 square miles, all land, and is traversed by Interstate 65 and U.S. Highway 31.

The Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River forms Warrior's southern boundary, and the land falls from about 564 feet at the center of town to below 300 feet along the river.

Warrior's first public school building went up around 1884 and its first high school in 1893; today its public schools are part of the Jefferson County School District, with one elementary school in the city.