Ralph is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Tuscaloosa County Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region. As of the 2020 census, its population was 227,036, ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, United States. Ralph is located near

U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 or U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway extending across the eastern U.S. The southern terminus of the route is at US 90 in Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refu ...

and

U.S. Route 43 U.S. Route 43 (US 43) is a north–south United States Highway in the Southern states of Alabama and Tennessee. It travels from Prichard, Alabama, to Columbia, Tennessee. The highway's southern terminus is in Prichard, at an interse ...

, southwest of

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

. Ralph has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with ZIP code 35480, which opened on March 3, 1900. Ralph was originally known as Hickman, in honor of the first postmaster, William P. Hickman. In 1900, the name was changed to Ralph, either for Ralph Stewart, the son of the postmaster at the time, or Kathleen Ralf Stewart, the wife of said postmaster. Ralph is also the home of ROBERTSON B.B.Q .

Notable people

* Larry Gene Bell (1949-1996), murderer and suspected serial killer; born in Ralph *

Lillie Leatherwood Lillie Mae Leatherwood (born July 6, 1964) is an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. Biography Leatherwood was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and brought up in Ralph AL. She attended the University of Alabama and joined the Zeta ...

(born 1964), athlete; raised in Ralph *

Walter Roland Walter Roland (possibly December 20, 1902 – October 12, 1972) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist, guitarist and singer, noted for his association with Lucille Bogan, Josh White and Sonny Scott. The music journalist Gérard He ...

(1902 or 1903-1972), American blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, guitarist and singer; born in Ralph

References

Unincorporated communities in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama Unincorporated communities in Alabama {{TuscaloosaCountyAL-geo-stub