The city of Gadsden is the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Etowah County in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area

Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area

Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area covers all of Etowah County located in Northeast Alabama. As of 2000, the population was 103,459. It consists of Gadsden and its surrounding towns.-Suburbs:The Gadsden Metro area includes the following suburbs:...

, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the neighboring town of Attalla, Alabama

Attalla, Alabama

Attalla is a city in Etowah County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 6,474. -2000 Census data:...

. As of the U.S. Census Bureau estimate in 2006, the population of the city was about 37,300.

Gadsden was at one time in the 19th century Alabama's second most important center of commerce and industry, trailing only the seaport of Mobile

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

.