Plumbing in Gurley

Gurley at a glance

Gurley is a town of 816 people (2020) in eastern Madison County along U.S. 72, about 16 miles east of Huntsville.

What that means for your plumbing

Gurley has many older homes in its historic district, with aging drains and supply lines. Drain work and repiping are common; see drain cleaning. Surrounding farms often rely on wells and septic.

Historic district

Most of the town is in the Gurley Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Many older buildings along the main street were rebuilt after the 1923 fire and still have early 20th-century plumbing updated over time.

Gurley's Tank

The town is named for the Gurley family, who arrived in 1817, and grew around a water and coaling stop on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad known as Gurley's Tank. The post office opened in 1866 as Gurleysville, and the town incorporated in 1891. A fire in 1923 destroyed nearly the whole business district. Historic buildings here deserve careful plumbing updates; see fixtures and remodels. Hills and farmland stretch toward the Paint Rock Valley to the east.