Sylacauga is the site of the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.

Events that occurred among these three groups were partly responsible for the settlement of the village of Chalakagay in 1748 near modern Sylacauga by refugee Shawnee Indians, led by Peter Chartier.

In 1759 Chalakagay was listed in the French territorial records as a town inhabited by 50 Shawnee warriors.

[6][7] Late in the summer of 1836 most of the remaining Native Americans in Alabama were rounded up and forcibly escorted west of the Mississippi River, by United States Army forces under the authorization of the Indian Removal Act.

In 1852, a plank road was built from Montgomery, the capital, to Winterboro, Alabama, passing through Sylacauga.

Sylacauga is located slightly to the east of the geographical center of the state of Alabama in Talladega County.

The first recorded discovery of marble was in 1820 by Dr. Edward Gantt, a physician who had accompanied General Andrew Jackson through the area in 1814.

The deposit is part of the "Murphy Marble Belt", extending 32 by 1.5 miles (51.5 by 2.4 km) by 400 feet (120 m) deep.

By the start of the 20th century, Sylacauga quarries had an established reputation, and shipments were being made throughout the state.

In spite of the approaching depression, the late 1920s and early 1930s were times of spectacular growth for Sylacauga's marble industry.

Facing tough competition, many went out of business or were absorbed by the larger companies, Alabama and Moretti-Harrah.

In 1944 Coggins sold the Sylacauga operation and Columbia Marble Company of North Carolina to McGahey.

Cream marble from Sylacauga can be found in hotels, offices, mausoleums, memorials and homes across the country.

Noted sculptor Gutzon Borglum, creator of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, sculpted a masterpiece from Alabama marble – the bust of Abraham Lincoln.

Borglum commented that the fine texture of Alabama marble enabled him to portray the expression of kindness on Lincoln's face that he had never been able to do with any other stone.

Alabama Marble Company had already moved in this direction, having introduced its first Raymond Mill products for animal feed, insecticides, and joint cement materials in 1933.

With increasingly fast and updated precision machinery, it introduced new lines of tile, window sills, and other building products.

In addition, Moretti-Harrah expanded operations to include calcium products, entering into a partnership with Thompson-Weinman and Company of Cartersville, Georgia, in 1944.

Thompson, Weinman and Company remained privately owned until 1975, when it was purchased by Cyprus Mines Corporation.

The expansion involved the installation of additional grinding capacity and new mill facilities to enable increased production.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

The Sylacauga Public Library, founded in 1936, moved into a new Works Progress Administration (WPA) building in 1939 and was renamed in honor of local factory owner and former Alabama governor B.

The present building, erected in 1979, was refurbished and expanded in 2003 to include meeting rooms and a conference center.

The library's popular Brown Bag lunch series offers a wide range of subjects and often draws crowds in excess of 100 people.

Housed in the former city library, the museum contains an exhibit of the geological history of Sylacauga marble along with works by the Italian sculptor and quarry investor Giuseppe Moretti, his assistant Geneva Mercer, and contemporary artists Frank Fleming and Craigger Browne.

The museum's Native Sons Gallery honors U.S. congressman William Flynt Nichols, U.S. Army Lieutenant General James W. Crysel, whose 33-year military career included receiving the Distinguished Service Medal, and singer and actor Jim Nabors, a 1947 graduate of Sylacauga High School.

In 2009, Sylacauga held its first marble festival as part of a cultural exchange with Pietrasanta in Italy, in connection with the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Sylacauga offers many other opportunities for outdoor activities, including Noble Park, with a skate park, playground, and picnic and grill areas as well as a quarter-mile walking track; a city pool that is converted to an indoor pool in the winter months; Lake Howard, which has areas for boating, fishing, and pavilions; several neighborhood parks; the Sylaward Trail, a 15-mile (24 km) hiking and mountain-biking trail that runs through the Talladega National Forest; and two golf courses, Sylacauga Country Club and Farm Links.

Sylacauga City Schools employs 273 people and contracts with additional personnel as needed.

It is the closest air transportation connection to southeast Birmingham and north Shelby County.