Historic Birmingham & Jefferson County

HISTORIC BIRMINGHAM & 

JEFFERSON COUNTY 

An Illustrated History 

By James R. Bennett 

A publication of the 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society

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HISTORIC BIRMINGHAM & 



By James R. Bennett 

Commissioned by the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society 

Historical Publishing Network 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

✧ 

President Warren G. Harding, 

seated in a Premocar in front of 

the Fifth Avenue entrance of the 

Tutwiler Hotel, during Birmingham’s 

fiftieth anniversary parade October 

24, 1921. 

COURTESY OF THE HUNT COLLECTION, BIRMINGHAM 

PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2008 Historical Publishing Network 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from 

the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11555 Galm Road, Suite 100, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790. 

ISBN: 9781893619838 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2008922763 

Historic Birmingham: An Illustrated History 

author: James R. Bennett 

cover artist: Hughson Hawley 

contributing writers for “Sharing the Heritage”: Joe Goodpasture 

James R. Bennett 

Historical Publishing Network 

president: Ron Lammert 

project manager: Lou Ann Murphy 

administration: Donna M. Mata 

Diane Perez 

Melissa Quinn 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

production: Colin Hart 

Craig Mitchell 

Evelyn Hart 

Charles A. Newton, III 

Roy Arellano 

HISTORIC BIRMINGHAM & JEFFERSON COUNTY 

2

CONTENTS 

4 LIST OF MAPS 

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

6 FOREWORD 

8 PREFACE traveling down the Huntsville Road 

10 CHAPTER 1 arrival: Indian Wars to statehood 

18 CHAPTER 2 settlers and settlements 

28 CHAPTER 3 a land in transition, 1830 to 1860 

42 CHAPTER 4 iron mongers & war mongers: the Civil War in the Valley 

54 CHAPTER 5 recovery: the birth of Birmingham 

76 CHAPTER 6 gay nineties, the new century 

94 CHAPTER 7 mergers and world wars 

116 CHAPTER 8 the Depression, the New Deal & World War II 

130 CHAPTER 9 the civil rights era 

140 CHAPTER 10 redemption & revival 

152 CHAPTER 11 UAB, economics 101 

170 CHAPTER 12 famous Birmingham faces 

176 ENDNOTES 

186 APPENDICES 

189 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

196 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

305 SPONSORS 

306 INDEX 

311 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

CONTENTS 

3

LIST OF MAPS 

26 Elyton town limits, established 1822 

28 Knight map of Alabama and Georgia, 1828 

✧ 

Construction of the trestle at “Three 

Points”, a part of the Birmingham- 

Edgewood Electric Railroad, 1909- 

1911. The trolley line left Eighteenth 

Street in Homewood at this point and 

veered into Rosedale near the former 

site of the Gold Nugget Restaurant. 

54 Gray’s Atlas, 1875, showing the “new city” of Birmingham 

as a suburb of Elyton 

61 Schoel map of Birmingham, 1888 

97 Bessemer County, 1901 (proposed boundaries) 

186 Jefferson County municipalities, 2005 

COURTESY OF THE WALDROP-GRIFFIN COLLECTION. 


4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

In chronicling the history of a great place, no one really goes down the road alone. 

There are many fellow travelers who offer advice, encouragement, research and family 

records, suggest places to look for stories and even open up a few hidden trunks. 

To those who took this journey, however briefly, I offer my deepest and sincerest 

gratitude. This history would not have been possible without them. 

A ready source of information was James H. Walker, an authority on Roupes Valley 

and western Jefferson County, who unexpectedly passed away on March 13, 2007. 

We spent hours together searching for sites in old Jonesborough and along the 

Huntsville Road. 

Also, of great assistance was Evonne Crumpler, director of the Southern History 

Department at the Birmingham Public Library who was never too busy to stop, retrieve 

needed information and then suggest a few other sources I might have overlooked. 

Thanks also to Jim Baggett, the Library archivist, and Yolanda Valentin who shared 

with me pictures of the past, both common and rarely seen. 

Others providing a helping hand were Leah Rawls Atkins, a prolific writer and 

researcher, who wrote The Valley and the Hills in 1981, the concept book for this volume; 

Tim Hollis of Birmingham ReWound, John Morse of BhamWiki, and John Stewart 

of Birmingham Rails, all of whom gave generously of their time and collections. 

Among those sharing family histories were Grace Boggs (Barker and Moore 

Families), Betty Kent and Florence Moss (Hawkins Family), Mary Wood and Lynne 

Dobson (Wood Family), Shirley Vaughn (Rees Family), Bill Gresham (Prince Family), 

Ralph Yeilding (Yeilding Family), and Earl Massey (Massey and Reed Families). 

Others offering interesting pieces of historical information were Ken Penhale, 

Cary Oakley, Hack Lloyd, Annie Laura Burton, Marty Everse, Chriss Doss, Jack 

Bergstresser, and Richard Anderson, and providing technical assistance, Ralph Pate and 

Gloria Richardson. 

A special word of thanks to the book committee of the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical 

Society, Thomas M. West, Jr., Herbert F. Griffin, and Craig Allen, Jr., who spent too 

many of their Sunday afternoons looking over manuscript revisions and offering 

helpful suggestions. 

And finally thanks to my wife, Andrea, for her patience and understanding for the 

time away from home it took to pursue this undertaking. 

All of the above went the proverbial extra mile. 

Jim Bennett 

April 20, 2007 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

5


6

FOREWORD 

Twenty-five years ago the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society sponsored a 

wonderful book, The Valley and the Hills, by Leah Rawls Atkins. It would become the 

definitive general history of Birmingham and Jefferson County. It was later reprinted, 

without the original sponsorship pages, by the Birmingham Public Library. 

A quarter century later the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society presents to the 

community Historic Birmingham and Jefferson County, an Illustrated History. This 

publication should also stand the test of time. 

In its search for an author, Jim Bennett was the immediate choice of the Book 

Committee. A former reporter for The Birmingham Post-Herald who covered the civil 

rights era, he has an outstanding background as a historian and prodigious researcher. 

Most of all he knows how to make a book interesting and enjoyable. While the 

publisher asked for 25,000 words, Jim provided 80,000 and in the process uncovered 

much new information about our city and county. 

Newly found photographs abound and the personal side of our history was included 

to relate how people spent their leisure time, an area not usually explored by historians. 

Mr. Bennett, twice elected secretary of state, is especially well-known as an authority 

on coal and iron. It was the unique location of these resources that dictated the 

location of the new city of Birmingham. 

We dedicate this book to the American Indians who first lived here; the veterans 

of the War of 1812 who helped establish our county; to Josiah Morris and others who 

founded Birmingham; to all those who built it thereafter; and to those who helped keep 

our history in our minds and in our books, for without their interest our history would 

be long forgotten. 

The Book Committee, June 18, 2007 

Thomas M. West, Jr., Chairman 

Craig Allen, Jr. 

Herbert F. Griffin 

✧ 

A crowd of over thirty-five thousand 

turned out to watch Harry Gardiner, 

a professional building climber 

known as the “Human Fly” scale the 

Empire Building January 30, 1917, 

as a promotional stunt for the 

Birmingham Ledger. 

COURTESY OF THE O. V. HUNT COLLECTION, 

BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

FOREWORD 

7


8

PREFACE 

T RAVELING D OWN THE H UNTSVILLE R OAD 

Settlers traveling down the Huntsville Road in 1815 entered a lush wilderness where 

the high woods in places nearly shut out the light of day. Here and there the forest, 

punctuated by soaring white oaks and tulip poplars, yielded to swollen streams and red 

rock outcrops. 

To the wagon driver the long parallel mountain ranges appeared like fingers on a 

giant’s hand reaching out ahead as far as the eye could see. 

Except for a few fur traders and procurers of turpentine who had trod the blue 

tint mountains a decade or two earlier, the land encompassing Jefferson County at 

the conclusion of the Creek Indian War was a series of surprising discoveries. Situated 

on the southern extension of the Appalachian Plateau, it was in the center of the 

most abundant iron ore, coal and limestone deposits in the South. 1 Here the 

three ingredients for making iron were found within a radius of three to eight miles. 

For those moving into the former Indian lands, hope and opportunity lay just over the 

next hill. 

These Alabama newcomers, Tennesseans and South Carolinians mostly, sought to 

distance themselves from farmland depleted by repeated tobacco harvesting and cotton 

fields invaded by boll weevils. Back home they would have to opt for second choice 

home sites and smaller tracts on which to grow their crops. 

For Native Americans, particularly the Creeks, Jones Valley and Red Mountain, 

which formed its southern rim, had long been a popular hunting ground, flush with 

game, bees and berries. For centuries they had come here, not to build settlements, but 

to forage for food and find the red rocks to paint their faces. Some traveled from 

distances of one hundred miles. 

The valley also served as a common area for the four tribes traveling through the 

region—the Creeks, Cherokees, Chickasaws, and Choctaws—a place where annual 

meetings were held to celebrate notable events in their history and to perform dances 

and competitive games. 2 

The two nearest Indian towns were on the rivers to the south and north of the valley, 

Mud Town (Tullavahajah) on the west bank of the Cahaba River near the mouth of the 

Little Cahaba and Old Warrior Town at the confluence of the Sipsey and Mulberry Forks 

of the Black Warrior. 3 A third settlement was on Turkey Creek about four miles north of 

present day Trussville. 

These Creek villages had all been burned by Jackson’s volunteer militia between 1813 

and 1814 as it sought to open the area for European Americans and to avenge the 

Massacre at Fort Mims. 

Long after the settlement of Jones Valley and the Indian removal, a trace leading 

from Mud Town to Old Town crossing Shades Mountain about one mile east of the 

furnaces at Oxmoor was still plainly visible. 

The smoke that rose from Oxmoor’s stacks during the Civil War, and those at 

Irondale and Tannehill, set the old world apart from the new. At no other place in the 

world were iron-making ingredients found in such close proximity. 

The valleys and ridges of Jefferson County, so rich in minerals, became home to 

thousands of newcomers seeking jobs in mines and factories. By the turn of the century, the 

mineral district would lay undisputed claim to Alabama’s most heavily populated county. 

Birmingham had become the South’s most heavily industrialized city. 

✧ 

Through the mists of time, Highline 

Trail, Red Mountain Park. 

COURTESY OF BETH MAYNOR YOUNG. 

PREFACE 

9


10

CHAPTER 1 

A RRIVAL: INDIAN WARS TO STATEHOOD 

The Creek Federation, Horseshoe Bend, Andrew Jackson, Statehood, 

The Great Migration, Old Jonesborough, John Jones and Caleb Friley, 

Bear Meat Cabin, Bessemer Mounds, William Roupe, New Jonesboro. 

After Andrew Jackson defeated hostile Upland Creeks at Horseshoe Bend in 1814, 

European settlers began to migrate into Alabama lands in ever increasing numbers. 

The victory over Menawa’s Red Sticks, coupled with the British demand for cotton, 

ushered in a period of heavy settlement known as the “Alabama Fever”. Newcomers 

poured in from Tennessee, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. 

At a bend in the Tallapoosa River near present day Alexander City, Jackson, with 

3,300 Tennessee volunteers, U.S. Army regulars, and 600 Cherokees and lower Creek 

allies, annihilated the Red Stick Creeks by overwhelming their defenses with multidirectional 

assaults, cannon fire and bayonet charges. As the sun set March 27, more 

than one thousand Creeks lay dead. 1 

Creek Indian war parties were often called the “Red Sticks” because their war clubs 

were invariably painted red, the color source frequently being red ocher (iron ore). 

At its highest point, the Creek Confederacy numbered 15,000 to 20,000 people living 

in over 50 villages in Alabama and Georgia. 

“The sun was going down and it set on the ruins of the Creek Nation, Charles E. 

Lester wrote after the fighting at Horseshoe Bend. “When but a few hours before a 

thousand brave savages had scowled on death and their assailants, there was nothing 

to be seen but volumes of dense smoke, rising heavily over the corpses of painted warriors, 

and the burning ruins of their fortifications.” 2 

Jackson’s victory, which ended the Creek Indian War, gave a measure of closure to 

the Fort Mims massacre seven months earlier where, along the banks of the Alabama 

River in Baldwin County, rampaging warriors killed 247 settlers including women and 

children. Some estimates were higher. 

The savagery of the attack both alarmed and enraged inhabitants of the frontier. 

Jackson called for “retaliatory vengeance” as Tennessee and Georgia volunteer militia 

attacked and burned one Creek village after another—Tallushatchee, Talladega, Autosee, 

Tallassee, and Entumchate. 3 

Both Davy Crockett and Sam Houston, who later became heroes of Texas, fought 

under Jackson in Alabama. Wrote General John Coffee in his official report after the 

fighting at Tallushatchee near Alexandria, November 3, 1813: “not one of the warriors 

escaped to carry the news.” 4 The number of Creek dead was recorded at 186. 

Houston, an ensign, was severely wounded at Horseshoe Bend. Forty nine Americans 

died in the attack. 

Jackson’s victories, where he sought to clear Alabama for settlement, effectively ended 

Creek resistance. Coupled with defeat of the British at New Orleans, the battlefield successes 

made him a national hero and propelled him into the presidency in 1828. In forcing 

the Creeks to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson near Wetumpka on August 9, 1814, 23 million 

acres, half of Alabama and a part of southwest Georgia, were ceded to the United States. 

The area was more than half of the Creek Nation. 5 Remnants of Menawa’s fighting force 

sought refuge among the Seminoles in Florida. 

The end of the War of 1812, made official by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent between 

the United States and Great Britain on Christmas Eve, 1814, not only spurred migration 

✧ 

Wagons like these flooded into Jones 

Valley at the conclusion of the Creek 

Indian War as new lands opened to 

settlers, late nineteenth century. 

COURTESY OF THE GRANGER COLLECTION, NEW YORK. 

CHAPTER 1 

11

✧ 

Alabama settlers were subject to 

Indian attacks, particularly on the 

part of hostile Creeks, prior to the 

Treaty of Ghent in 1814. 

C. S. REINHART ILLUSTRATION, HARPERS MAGAZINE, 1870. 

COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

southward but encouraged the growth of 

cotton mills and improvements in transportation 

routes. 

TO 

STATEHOOD 

Settlers, the majority of whom were 

yeoman farmers, flowed into the 

Alabama side of the Mississippi Territory 

in large numbers seeking land to 

homestead. Many had fought with 

Jackson and had seen for themselves the 

lush and scenic country opening to the 

new migration. At war’s end great 

numbers of them vowed to return with 

their families. 

Jackson considered the region “the 

best unsettled country in America.” 6 

Although it would take several years 

for veterans to gain title through land 

grants, many began clearing forests and 

building log homes despite a federal law 

against intrusion upon public lands. 

When property titles were made official, 

many squatters were forced to move. 

Some were bought off to keep the peace. 

In 1819 settlers had the chance to bid 

on land on which some of them had 

been living for three to four years. 

Former Indian lands were sold by the 

government in tracts of 160 acres at $2 

per acre. With one fourth down 

required, purchasers could pay off the 

balance in three equal annual payments 

plus interest. More valuable property 

brought $10 to $15 an acre. 

Prices often escalated due to the 

activity of speculators. The practice of 

bribing investors not to bid against 

them, sometimes running as high as 

$500, became commonplace before the 

scheme was banned. The line separating 

settlers, speculators and squatters was 

never very clear. 7 

Favorite places of settlements were 

around springs, first discovered by 

Indians and being numerous in Jones 

Valley. Their waters ran pure and steady. 

Rivers also attracted the pioneers and 

offered avenues of transportation. The 

waters of both the Warrior and Cahaba 

were in such a clear state, fish could be 

seen at depths of 8 to 10 feet. 

Thousands of immigrants flooded into 

the territory by horse, wagon, boat and 

on foot; so many the numbers were staggering. 

Before the movement slowed 

during the Panic of 1819, enough people 

had arrived to allow both Mississippi 

and Alabama to join the union as new 

states—Mississippi in 1817 and Alabama 

in 1819. 

Wrote A. J. Pickett in his History of 

Alabama in 1851: “The floodgates of 

Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, 

Kentucky and Georgia were hoisted, and 

mighty streams of migration poured 

through them, spreading over the whole 

territory of Alabama. The stately and magnificent 

forests fell. Log cabins sprang as if 

by magic into sight. Never before or since 

has a country been so rapidly populated.” 

While both states experienced rapid 

growth in the “Great Migration”, 

Alabama’s surge was the more spectacular. 

During the 10 years between 1810 

and 1820, its population increased 16 

fold. In 1810, 6,422 whites and 2,624 

slaves lived in the Alabama portion of 

the Mississippi Territory. In 1820, the 

numbers had grown to 99,198 whites 

and 47,665 slaves. 8 

Wealthier families headed to the fertile 

bottomlands of the Tennessee Valley and 

Black Belt to establish large plantations 


12

using slave labor. Poorer newcomers put 

down roots in less fertile uplands where 

they eked out a living on small farms and 

in pursuit of frontier trades. 

Among them were John Jones and his 

brother-in-law, Caleb Friley, ironsmiths 

from Tennessee, who traveled down the 

Huntsville Road to what would become 

Jefferson County. 

OLD 

JONESBOROUGH 

Jones and Friley had been members of 

Jackson’s West Tennessee Militia who 

had originally traveled through the area 

in 1813. Their return, in the first settler’s 

wagon brought into Jones Valley in 

1815, took them into the western hill 

country southwest of present day 

Bessemer. Here they prepared to plant a 

crop in a large meadow at the bend of 

Valley Creek, then called Cuttacochee, 

and awaited the arrival of others. 

Jones, who had somewhat of a reckless 

nature, put up a shanty, one of the 

first in the settlement later to bear his 

name, Jonesborough. The valley in which 

it nestled would also come to be known 

as Jones Valley. The area soon became 

synonymous with all of Jefferson County. 

The valley floor, which varies in 

widths between 4 to 12 miles, is located 

between the Red and Sand Mountain 

ridges of the Southern Appalachians, 

more notable for their length than peaks 

or pinnacles. Fast flowing streams— 

including Five Mile, Turkey and Village 

Creeks—cut through the thick woods 

winding their way to the Locust Fork of 

the Warrior River. Valley Creek poured 

into the Warrior itself while, south of 

Red Mountain, Shades Creek flowed 

into the Cahaba. 

The bottom land of the vale for nearly 

its entire length is higher than the 

mountainous country on each side of its 

raised edges. An anomaly, it creates a 

water divide separating the feeder 

streams of the Warrior and Cahaba 

Rivers and at the same time isolates the 

Warrior and Cahaba Coal Fields. 9 

At the site of the Jonesborough 

settlement, Jones, joined by his brother, 

Jeremiah, and other settlers including 

Andrew McLaughlin, Samuel and 

Isaac Fields and two slaves, began 

clearing fields and planting crops. Still 

concerned about the potential for 

Indian attacks, they built a stockade 

called Fort Jonesborough. 

Two of the settlers went back for 

family members while the others 

remained to finish building log cabins 

and protect their fields of corn and 

beans from herds of deer. Bears and 

panthers, also numerous in the area, had 

frequent encounters with pioneers. 

Williamson Hawkins, who had been 

detained “on personal affairs” in 

Tennessee, caught up with the settlement 

party in May 1815. Driving some 

cattle before him, he brought “all the 

supplies he could pack on one horse.” 

Hawkins also used a “drag” to bring 

goods into the valley. Their provisions 

nearly exhausted, the other men greeted 

him heartily living the remaining 

months on milk and honey. 

After the arrival of family members, 

the first white child born in the new settlement 

was Moses Fields, son of Samuel 

and Mary Johnstone Fields, on December 

✧ 

William Weatherford (Red Eagle) 

surrenders to General Jackson after 

the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 

ending the first Creek Indian War in 

Alabama. Weatherford, whom 

Jackson admired for his courage, 

spent the rest of his days on a farm 

in Monroe County. 


24, 1816. 10 CHAPTER 1 

13

✧ 

Fort Jonesborough, 1815: One of the 

first buildings to be erected in old 

Jonesborough was a four-sided 

wooden fort designed to stave off 

possible Indian attacks. It was 

rarely used. 

COURTESY OF JAMES WALKER, MCCALLA. 

John and Sally Smith, who came from 

Tennessee, settled on a two-thousandacre 

cotton farm in 1816 near the future 

location of the Woodward Iron Company 

north of Bessemer. Among their 10 children 

was Joseph R. Smith, later a physician 

and one of the first three children 

born to the incoming pioneers. 11 

Other early settlers included George 

and William Eubank, Joseph Riley, James 

Cunningham, Benjamin P. Worthington, 

Francis D. Nabers, Thomas Owen, Hugh 

Morrow, William Walker, Thomas James, 

Robert McAdory, John Martin, and 

Samuel Hall. They were followed by 

William Benjamin, Rev. James Tarrant, 

Edmund James, John Wood and 

Matthew Gillespy. 12 

Still others included Issiah Hunt, 

Thomas McAdory, Amos Acker, James B. 

Moore, John Adams, Lemack Edwards, 

Lemuel G. McMillion, Charles C. 

Humber, Alions Sadler, Rev. Anderson 

Sadler, William Sadler, Isaac Barger, 

William Wood, John Thomas, Ben 

Thomas, Richard Rockett, Joseph 

Thompson, Thomas Allinder, William 

D. T. Cumberton, William K. Paulding, 

Thomas Horn, John A. Hull, Alfred 

Spencer, Thomas Huffman and John 

Lawley. Some would later move to 

newer settlements. 

Mortimer Jordan and another farmer 

of means, Octavius Spencer, who also 

settled in the area, were relatives of 

Abner McGehee, a wealthy planter from 

the Broad River in Georgia who bought 

property on Valley Creek near 

Jonesborough in 1819, possibly planning 

to build a gristmill. His brother, 

John S. McGehee, bought the adjacent 

tract of land in 1831. 13 Abner McGehee 

purchased another track in 1825 which 

today is known as Hueytown, selling it 

in 1833 to Jordan. 14 

McGehee never lived on any of the 

property, but built a large plantation near 

Hope Hull in Montgomery County after 

migrating to Alabama in 1826. In 1830 

he became the principal investor in the 

Hillman iron making operation at 

Tannehill, which property he also owned. 

As blacksmiths, Jones and Friley were 

among the first to identify “paint rocks” 

in the valley as iron ore. 15 It would be a 

notation not fully appreciated until 

decades later. 

While Friley was an early figure in 

Jonesborough, he would settle further 

north on the approach route from Blount 

County at the Bear Meat Cabin community. 

Like Jonesborough, Friley and Jones 

are given credit for establishing the town 

in 1816. 

Now known as Blountsville, the outpost 

was named for a Cherokee chief 

who lived at a crossing of two paths. A 

small village of the Upper Creeks was 

located here along with a trading post. 

Indian chiefs often operated stores and 

taverns to gain additional income. 16 

The encampment would have been 

the last chance to restock before making 

the last leg of their journey on to the 

Jonesborough site some forty miles 

distant. After beginning the new log 

cabin community there, Jones and Friley 

blazed a wagon road back to Bear Meat 

Cabin, enhancing their supply route and 

opening the country to friends and 

kinfolk. The region became known as 

the Bear Meat Cabin frontier. 17 

Wagon roads were gradually 

constructed by pioneers over old Indian 

traces from Huntsville to St. Stephens, 

the territorial capital. From Madison to 


14

Jefferson Counties the improved trail 

became known as the Huntsville Road. 

Alternatively, it was called the Tennessee 

Pike, Huntsville Pike and Bear Meat 

Cabin Road. 

The initial religious service for the 

Blountsville Methodist Church was held 

at Friley’s house at Bear Meat Cabin 

where Ebenezer Hearn, the first minister 

assigned to the Alabama Territory by the 

Tennessee Conference, began his 

ministry in 1818. 

The village, the first settlement in 

Blount County, was located at the intersection 

of Highway 26 and US 231. 18 Its 

name was officially changed by the 

Alabama Legislature to Blountsville in 

1820. It became the county seat in 1819 

before the courthouse was moved to 

Oneonta in 1888. 

At Jonesborough, Jones opened a 

blacksmith shop at the base of a “long 

hill of red dye rock” treasured by 

Indians as a source of coloring, pottery 

and war paint. 19 

As blacksmiths in Tennessee, where 

iron had been made since the 1790s, it is 

likely both Jones and Friley were 

familiar with bloomery forges, furnaces 

and ore mining. 

Cumberland Furnace west of 

Nashville had made cannon balls used 

by Jackson’s troops in the Battle of New 

Orleans. The Tennessee iron industry 

also influenced the construction of 

Alabama’s first blast furnace near 

Russellville in 1815, the Cedar Creek 

Works of Joseph Heslip, thirty-five miles 

from the state line. 20 

The red rock (hematite) found in and 

around Jonesborough was considered 

inferior for making iron until blast 

furnaces were built at Oxmoor and 

Irondale to make use of it during the 

Civil War. Local smiths, not being able 

to achieve the temperatures needed to 

reduce it, tried but failed. 

Another form of ironstone called 

brown ore (limonite) was also found in 

the valley and used at the Hillman 

Bloomery at Tannehill in 1830. 

Before journeying to Nashville and to 

Huntsville where they lived briefly, the 

Friley and Jones families resided near 

Sparta in White County, Tennessee, 

along a major migration route used by 

settlers moving from North Carolina and 

Virginia. Friley (sometimes spelled 

Fraley or Freyley) is listed as living in 

Sparta in 1807 and serving as a captain 

in the Tennessee Militia. 21 He also saw 

service as part of the First Regiment, 

West Tennessee Mounted Volunteers 

from December 1813 to February 1814, 

under Col. Nicholas T. Perkins, which 

took part in some of the fiercest fighting 

of the Creek War at Emuckfau 

(Tallapoosa County) and Enotochopco 

(Randolph County). 22 

He was born in Rowan County, North 

Carolina about 1762 making him fiftyfour 

during the building of the settlements 

at Bear Meat Cabin and 

Jonesborough. Jones married Friley’s sister, 

Mary, and they traveled together to 

Huntsville to begin the journey into the 

former Alabama Indian lands. It is 

believed Jones had relatives in Greenville, 

South Carolina, and may have lived there 

before moving to Tennessee. 

Although Jonesborough was still a 

part of Monroe County in the 

Mississippi Territory when the Jones 

party arrived, the town became the first 

✧ 

Bear Meat Cabin, Blountsville, 

thought to be the original residence 

of Chief Bear Meat. 

COURTESY OF THE BLOUNTSVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

CHAPTER 1 

15

✧ 

The Dr. Francis M. Smith home in 

Jonesborough was originally the 

girl’s building of the Salem School. 

It survived the Civil War and 

was converted into a residence by 

Dr. Smith. 

COURTESY OF THE JAMES WALKER COLLECTION. 

community in Jefferson County when it 

was established in 1819, the same year 

as statehood. 

The town was incorporated by act of 

the State Legislature in 1822. The 

settlement, located within sight of the 

old Bessemer Indian mounds, was 

originally known as “Indian Mound 

Campground.” The mounds existed 

until a major archaeological excavation 

by the University of Alabama leveled 

them between 1934 and 1939. 

The three earthen temple formations, 

dating to 1,000 to 1,200 AD, had been 

built by prehistoric Indians of the 

Middle Mississippian Period and 

abandoned 200 years before the arrival 

of Columbus. Mounds at the site were 

used for domiciliary, ceremonial and 

burial purposes. 23 The Tennessee Coal, 

Iron and Railroad Company (TCI) cut a 

spur line to the Delonah dolomite 

quarry in the early 1920s through the 

western slope of the ceremonial mound. 

The early inhabitants were relatives of 

the larger mound community near 

Tuscaloosa overlooking the Warrior 

River at Moundville where three 

thousand early Indians later resided. 

Other mound sites in Jefferson County 

have been identified north of 

Birmingham, also at Elyton and along 

Village Creek. 24 

Extensive Indian archaeology was 

also done in 1970 at Pinson Cave 

one mile northeast of the town of 

Pinson. The limestone cave was found 

to be used for burials by late Woodland 

period inhabitants (ca. A.D. 500 to 

1000) during a time when bow-andarrow 

technology allowed for increased 

hunting efficiency. 25 

Also called the Talley Mounds, 

because they were later on the property 

of a farmer named N. D. Talley, the 

Bessemer Mounds and an adjacent spring 

may have been an inviting location for 

the Jonesborough settlement. 

The town site today is covered by 

Interstate 59 near the Alabama 

Adventure Theme Park 110 ramps. The 

red ore mines of the Muscoda group, 

once owned by TCI, overlooked the 

precise spot of the old wooden fort. 

Today the site is a part of the Terrace 

Manor housing project. 

U.S. Steel’s Dolonah dolomite quarry, 

filled with water, is nearby as is the 

Watermark Outlet Mall. 

Fort Jonesborough was a small 

customary fortification, square in 

form, in which pioneer families 

could seek refuge in case of an Indian 

attack. Baylis Grace, writing in the 

Jefferson County Record, said it 

was seldom used as there were few 

Indians in this part of the state and “no 

hostile demonstrations.” 26 

In time the land around the fort and 

settlement was cleared and crops grown 

despite the presence of red ore rocks in 

the fields. The bothersome farming 

conditions notwithstanding, newcomers 

flooded into the area driving creaking 

wagons over the mountains and down 

into Jones Valley. 

Early merchants at Jonesborough 

included Ben McWhorter, Mark M. 

Harris, Edward Sims, John B. Ayers and 

John W. Bramlett. 27 

Jones, whose “wild habits” had 

earned him the nickname of “Devil 

John”, reportedly set aside one thousand 

acres for his family and was none too 


16

pleased with encroachment by others. 28 

Reputed to be a man of reckless courage, 

he is said to have been called “Devil 

John” because he was unafraid of the 

Devil himself. 

Another early settler, William Roupe, 

who had arrived in 1816, was first 

a neighbor of Jones but after a 

bitter quarrel with him, moved to the 

extreme south end of the valley 

some ten miles distant the following 

year. The area, where Bucksville would 

be located in 1822, became known as 

Roupes Valley. 

In a letter to a writer for the 

Birmingham Age in 1886, a relative of 

Jones said the family considered the 

area around Jonesborough the “garden 

spot of creation.” 29 

Friley, who married Elizabeth 

Puckett, daughter of a revolutionary 

soldier in Lincoln County, Kentucky, in 

1792, had at least two children, James 

and Martin, who joined him in Alabama. 

In 1816 he is listed as head of family in 

the household census for Monroe 

County. At the time Monroe included 

the southern part of Blount County and 

all of Jefferson County. Blount was 

not established until 1818 and Jefferson 

in 1819. 30 

The 1816 Monroe County Census 

lists 11 people living on “Caleb Fryly’s” 

property including one white male over 

21 (himself), three white males under 

21, one white female over 21 (perhaps 

Elizabeth), one white female under 21 

and five slaves. 31 

Caleb left Blount County 

to go to Texas with friends 

to fight the Mexicans or 

Indians in the days leading up 

to the Alamo. He never 

returned. His wife had him 

declared dead in court 

proceedings in Mississippi 

in 1828. Family history 

states he received land 

grants in Texas for his 

service in the Indian War in 

Alabama and may have been 

searching for the property when he 

was killed. 32 

Jones is listed in the same census for 

Monroe County as having 10 people 

residing on his property including one 

white male over 21 (himself), two white 

males under 21, one white female over 

21 (presumably Mary), five white 

females under 21 and one slave. 

Although it is not known what 

became of Jones after the Jonesborough 

settlement, it is thought he may have 

moved in later years to Arkansas. His 

descendants intermarried with 

neighbors, the DeJarnette, Hawkins, 

Roebuck and Nabers families. 

When the Alabama & Chattanooga 

Railroad, built in 1870, missed the town 

by a mile and a half, its residents began 

moving nearer the tracks and a new 

settlement sprang up which today is the 

section of Bessemer known as new 

“Jonesboro.” It lies mainly between 

Owen and Chestnut Avenues. The 

community, with its newer spelling, still 

has “ward” status within the city limits. 

The railroad became known as the 

Alabama Great Southern in 1877. 

A city jail was located here as well as 

several mercantile stores, a few saloons 

and a small passenger station along the 

rail line. Its oldest surviving landmark is 

the Thomas McAdory house on Eastern 

Valley Road built in 1841. 

Old Jonesborough, whose stores were 

burnt during Wilson’s Raid through 

Jones Valley in the closing months of the 

Civil War, became a ghost town. 

✧ 

Bessemer Indian Mounds, University 

of Alabama excavation, 1939. 

COURTESY OF THE ALABAMA MUSEUM OF 

NATURAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER 1 

17


18

CHAPTER 2 

S ETTLERS AND S ETTLEMENTS 

Roupes Valley, William Prude, Carrollsville, Early Settlers, 

Williamson Hawkins, David Hanby and the coal trade, Andrew McLaughlin, 

Shades Valley, Elyton, Davy Crockett, and Richard Breckinridge. 

Jones Valley during territorial days extended sixty-four miles across the county from 

Pinson to Tannehill. As settlements became more numerous, its furthermost extensions 

became known as Roupes and Murphrees Valleys. 

William Roupe, whose feud with John Jones motivated him to relocate, became the 

first settler in Roupes Valley on the far western end when he settled near the big spring 

at Bucksville in 1817. He purchased the property in 1819 when the government held a 

land sale for the region in Huntsville. The spring provided the head waters for Roupes 

Creek which runs today through Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. 

Roupes Valley encompasses the area from McCalla and Pleasant Hill in Jefferson 

County to Bucksville just across the Tuscaloosa County line. Roupe left the valley after 

a few years and is thought to have moved to Elyton. In December of 1822 he was 

appointed by the State Legislature as one of 12 trustees for Jefferson Academy in the 

town. Others included Anthony Lubuzan, John Wood, John Brown, William K. 

Paulding, Darby Henley, Peyton King, John S. Doxey, Benjamin Mattison, Isham 

Harrison, Stephen Hall, and Isaac Brown. 1 

Some of the best farm land in Jefferson County could be found in Roupes Valley. One 

of the earliest to arrive after Roupe was William Prude, who settled in the Pleasant Hill 

community near McCalla and built a large estate using slave labor. 

When Jefferson County was created in 1819, Prude was appointed by Governor 

William Bibb as one of three commissioners to decide where the county seat would be 

permanently located. The panel selected Elyton where it was moved in 1821 from 

Carrollsville, the location of present day Powderly. It was at Carrollsville where the county 

courts were first established in 1819. The first “seat of justice” was a log hut “near the 

old Worthington Place”, probably the early plantation of Benjamin P. Worthington. 2 

The Carrollsville community, which included a blacksmith shop and water mill 

along the Huntsville Road, was named for Thomas Carroll, an early settler who built 

the county’s first schoolhouse. Like Bucksville, wrote Mary Gordon Duffee, it was a village 

out of antiquity. Marked by Lombardy poplars, the old village, located near 

Brown’s Spring, was settled in 1819 by Joseph Hickman, William Pullen, John Brown 

and William Brooks. 3 

Brooks had built one of the earliest gristmills in the county here along Valley Creek, 

its first day of operation being March 10, 1816. Another early grinding enterprise was 

John Click’s Mill, also located on Valley Creek between Midfield and Powderly. 4 

Francis D. Nabers, Sr. and his wife, Matilda Mullins Nabers, had a house on the 

Tuscaloosa Road, now Jefferson Avenue. The couple, whose farmland once covered 

major portions of downtown Birmingham, were the parents of nine children, including 

William F. Nabers, active in the Elyton Land Company which founded 

Birmingham. Francis D. Nabers died in 1853 and his wife, Matilda, in 1891. 

Among other Roupes Valley settlers was Dr. Daniel Davis, one of the first physicians 

in Jefferson County. He moved to Alabama from North Carolina, first settling in 

Tuscaloosa in 1818 but, after marrying Lanie Brownlee, relocated to a large farm along 

the Huntsville Road east of Bucksville in 1822. 

✧ 

Morgan School, originally known as 

the Elyton Academy, was built 

shortly after the Civil War on First 

Avenue near the present Juvenile 

Court building in Elyton. Professor 

Bob Baker, whose name was later 

identified with it, taught there in 

the 1880s. 

COURTESY OF BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

CHAPTER 2 

19

✧ 

Above: Pleasant Hill Methodist 

Church established in 1832. 


Below: Pleasant Hill School, 

established in 1828. 


Also settling in the area was Margaret 

Prude who, following the death of her 

husband, John Prude, Sr., built a large 

plantation near Pleasant Hill and helped 

establish the first school there in 1828. 

She also helped found the Pleasant Hill 

Methodist Church in 1832, the first 

church of that denomination located in 

Roupes Valley. 5 

The Prudes first lived near Naber’s 

Spring south of Elyton before Mr. Prude 

died on a business trip to Tennessee in 

1818. Here she helped establish the first 

school in Jones Valley near Brown’s 

Spring at Carrollsville. 

Upon Margaret Prude’s death in 1856, 

her property was purchased by her 

grandson, Thomas Lightfoot Williams, 

co-owner of the Williams & Owen 

Bloomery near Tannehill during the 

Civil War. Before the hostilities, 

Williams owned a large tan yard near 

Bucksville. 

The Tannehill area was named for 

Ninian Tannehill, a planter from South 

Carolina, who first settled near 

Jonesborough in 1818 but moved to 

Pleasant Hill where he built a house 

near the Methodist church. His marriage 

to Mary Prude on January 28, 1820 is 

the first marriage recorded in the Elyton 

Courthouse in Jefferson County. 

A veteran of the War of 1812, he 

received forty acres through a land grant 

for military service on March 11, 1836, 

south of Bucksville where he relocated 

and in 1840 purchased the Hillman 

Bloomery. The forge operation was the 

beginning of the Roupes Valley Ironworks. 

His plantation would later exceed twelve 

hundred acres. 6 

Shortly after Jonesborough was established, 

a colony came down from 

Rutherford County, Tennessee, perhaps at 

the urging of Williamson Hawkins, and resettled 

in the area now known as 

Woodlawn. In the party were Thomas 

Barton, William Cowden, and James 

Cunningham. Others soon moved there 

from South Carolina including the Brown, 

Wood, Culbertson, Tarrant, Reid (Reed), 

and Montgomery families. 7 

The community took its name from 

the Wood family headed by Obadiah 

Wood and his son, Edmund. The town of 

Rockville was established on the twelvehundred-acre 

Edmund Wood farm site in 

1832, a small cluster of houses along the 

Georgia Road. 8 When the Alabama & 

Chattanooga Railroad (later called the 

Alabama Great Southern) was built in 

1870, the town of Rockville was 

renamed Wood Station. 

The Wood family, according to its family 

history, arrived about 1824 having 

migrated from Greenville. The party 

included Edmund Wood, his wife, Stella 

Tarrant Wood, and four sons, Larkin, 

Obadiah Washington, Edmund H., and 


20

Thomas Wood. Also in the group was his 

father, Obadiah and his stepmother, Mary .9 

The Wood Plantation was an extensive 

one. Mary Gordon Duffee wrote in the 

Birmingham Iron Age that it was so vast 

“that you could not walk over it if you 

walked for days.” Edmund Wood died on 

March 29, 1865, just as Wilson’s federal 

cavalry arrived in the area. He was buried 

at night in order not to draw attention of 

union soldiers who family members 

feared might steal their horses. 10 

Edmund’s son, Obadiah Washington 

Wood married Susan Caroline Hawkins, 

daughter of David Crockett Hawkins 

and granddaughter of Williamson 

Hawkins, the early settler. His first wife, 

Nancy Talley, had died earlier. 

The elder Hawkins, born in Edgefield 

County, South Carolina in August of 1790, 

was a veteran of the War of 1812 having 

served as a private in Captain John Doaks’ 

Company of the Second Regiment, 

Williams’ Tennessee Mounted Volunteers. 11 

Described as a “tall, straight, finely 

developed man” by his granddaughter, 

Sarah E. Nabors, Hawkins cut down 

trees, built fences and planted crops 

before sending for his wife, Elizabeth 

(Betsy) Nations and two children in 

1816. They settled on a farm at West 

Lake two miles east of Jonesborough. 12 

Hawkins, it seems, confronted a foraging 

bear in 1819 while riding his 

horse about a mile from the big spring at 

Elyton. Although he had left his rifle at 

home, he drove the animal as he would 

a cow. When the bear would change 

directions, he would “dash by” forcing it 

to change directions. After chasing the 

bear in a zig zag motion for two miles, 

he cornered him near the fenced yard of 

a settler’s cabin. 

According to an account in the Jones 

Valley Times, Hawkins yelled for the 

owner to bring a gun. A lady appeared 

saying her husband was not at home and 

their rifle was not loaded. She then gave 

him an axe from the woodshed and 

“with a few blows”, the bruin lay dead. 13 

Hawkins later moved again, this time 

to a two-thousand-acre plantation on 

Village Creek where the Thomas family 

from Pennsylvania would later build 

some of early Birmingham’s largest blast 

furnaces. In 1860, Hawkins, who had 

over 150 slaves, produced more than 

100 bales of cotton and large quantities 

of corn, wheat, oats, rye, potatoes and 

turnips. During the Civil War his 

plantation house was taken over for the 

headquarters of Brig. Gen. Edward M. 

McCook’s federal force on March 29, 

✧ 

Above: Edmund Wood, 1791-1865. 

COURTESY OF THE WOOD FAMILY ARCHIVES. 

Below: Obadiah Washington Wood, 

1815-1893 

COURTESY OF THE WOOD FAMILY ARCHIVES. 

CHAPTER 2 

21

✧ 

Williamson and Elizabeth Hawkins 

were among the earliest settlers. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM AGE-HERALD. 

1,411 feet, is the county’s tallest. 16 the county’s earliest gristmills on 

In the same valley, another of 

Jackson’s blacksmiths and machinists, 

David Hanby, purchased land near 

Hagood’s Crossroads at Pinson as early 

as 1822. With the help of his five sons, 

David, Felix, John, Milton and Jesse, he 

opened corn, wheat and saw mills on 

Turkey Creek. 

Hanby, also put up a smithy where he 

made knives, horseshoes and other 

household implements. By the 1840s he 

entered the coal trade, prying large 

amounts from the banks of the Warrior 

River which he shipped to Mobile. 

1865 during Wilson’s Raid through 

Jefferson County. It had been vacated 

the day before by units of U.S. General 

At first Hanby had trouble selling it for 

lack of understanding on the part of 

homeowners on how coal could be used in 

Emory Upton’s Fourth Division. residential stoves. He had to give some of it 

Hawkins died in Elyton in 1875 ten 

years after the war, and was buried in 

the family burial ground on the 

plantation site. The family markers were 

later moved to the Elyton Cemetery. 14 

Hawkins was rumored to be related to 

Davy Crockett and the Indian fighter 

may have visited him when he came 

through Jones Valley prospecting for a 

home site in 1816. Davy’s parents were 

John Crockett and Rebeckah (Rebecca) 

Hawkins Crockett. When Williamson’s 

first son was born, he named him 

“David Crockett Hawkins”. When he 

married Mary Finley in 1831, his father 

gave the couple property near the 

“Stony Lonesome”, a limestone outcrop 

along the Huntsville Road near present 

day Midfield. On the premises flowed 

one of the deepest springs in the county, 

away and sent a black worker along with 

each bucketful to show people how to light 

and burn it. By 1844 he was sending from 

eight to ten boatloads a year to Mobile and 

later as many as seventy-five boatloads. He 

built the business to the point where he 

was making $6,000 a year in sales getting 

from $4 to $7 a ton. 17 

In 1850, Jefferson County coal 

operators were producing 80,350 bushels 

a year. 

The early community known as 

Hagood’s Crossroads was named for Dr. 

Zachariah Hagood, an immigrant from 

South Carolina, who had originally 

settled the area between 1816 and 1817. 

The Hagood and Anderson families built 

houses near a big spring at the 

crossroads and constructed a log church 

along the Huntsville Road called the 

known alternatively as Hawkins or Big “Oldsides” Baptist Church, later 

Blue Spring. Their Carolina style house 

was an area landmark until it burned 

several years after the Civil War ended. 15 

Further to the east, Daniel Murphree, 

who migrated from South Carolina, 

established a settlement in Pinson in the 

early years which became known as 

Murphrees Valley. Some of the highest 

summits in Jefferson County are in the 

area including Butler and Foster 

reorganized as the Salem Baptist Church 

which still exists today. 

One of the first physicians in the area, 

Dr. Hagood owned a square mile of land 

around what is now Pinson. His home 

place also was the site of the first post 

office in the community in 1837. Married 

three times, he had 21 children. 18 

Also near Hagood’s, another of 

Jackson’s veterans, James Cunningham, 

Mountains. Butler, at an elevation of an Irishman, established one of 


22

Cunningham Creek with the help of his 

sons. He invited Ebenezer Hearn, who 

led the Methodist movement into Jones 

Valley, to preach in the yard of the old 

mill in 1816. This was thought to have 

been the first sermon ever preached in 

the valley. 19 Like Cunningham, the 

Reverend Hearn, born in North Carolina 

in 1794, was a Creek Indian War veteran 

serving with Jackson’s army in 1813. 20 

Another gristmill was built in 1819 

near Hagood’s Crossroads by Jonathan 

Moreland five or six miles east of the 

Hanby place on Turkey Creek. 21 

In 1852 the crossroads community 

was renamed Mt. Pinson after a group of 

horse drovers from Pinson, Tennessee, 

gained a voting majority in the area and 

gave that name to the settlement. The 

community was renamed Pinson in 1895. 

Robert Green established a farm near 

Roebuck in 1819 and another South 

Carolinian, Warren Truss, established a 

prosperous farming community (now 

Trussville) off the old Georgia Road in 

1821. His property bordered the Cahaba 

River. Others settling nearby included 

the families of Samuel Massey who came 

in 1818 and Silver Billy Reed in 1816. 

Reed’s daughter, Ruth, was born in 

October of 1817, one of the first children 

born to pioneer parents in what 

was the become eastern Jefferson 

County. The farm of Silver Billy and 

Sarah Reed was located on Springville 

Road in present day Huffman. Its old log 

home is thought to be the oldest house 

in Jefferson County still in existence. 22 

Henry Little, one of the first settlers 

in the Cahaba Valley, moved there from 

South Carolina and built a cabin, which 

yet remains, near Leeds in 1821. Little 

also built a grist mill on the property in 

1857. Other early Leeds area settlers 

were David Overton and Needham Lee, 

both of whom relocated from Tennessee 

in 1815 and Hezekiah B. Moar, a veteran 

of Jackson’s Tennessee troops, in 1816. 23 

Robert Eubanks, also from the 

Carolinas and William Brown from 

Tennessee settled in Opossum Valley in 

what is now Ensley and Fairfield. So did 

James Rutledge, who purchased land in 

1817 a few miles west of Fairfield and 

donated a portion of it to establish the 

Bethlehem Methodist Church. A oneroom 

log building, constructed by slaves 

from the Mortimer Jordan farm, was 

✧ 

Little Cabin, home of Henry Little 

near Leeds, 1821. 

ILLUSTRATION BY REVIS BRASHER. COURTESY OF THE 

LEEDS PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

CHAPTER 2 

23

✧ 

Daniel Watkins 

COURTESY OF LARRY PARSONS. 

erected under the watchful eye of 

Reverend James Tarrant, Margaret Prude, 

and Mrs. William Rose Sadler. It is today 

the oldest church in Jefferson County. 

Some settlers remained in the county’s 

northern most reaches including the 

area around Warrior including the 

Linton, Thomas, Jones, Blackmon, 

and Reid families in the 1820s and 

Bennett Brake about 1830. The Cane 

Creek School opened sometime before 

1817, two years before Alabama became 

a state. 24 

Others settled in Shades Valley in 

present day Oxmoor, Homewood and 

Mountain Brook including Daniel 

Watkins along with the Wylie, Mahan, 

Byars, Goode, Benjamin Tannehill, King, 

South, Hickman and Pullen families. 

Watkins first settled in Powderly, 

then known as Carrollsville, where he 

led a group of families from North 

and South Carolina and Tennessee 

to the top of Shades Mountain where 

Edgewood and Rosedale are 

now located. A veteran of the Creek 

Indian War, Watkins married Drucilla 

Byars of Spartanburg, South Carolina in 

1821 and the couple had 15 children. 

Moving to an area called Wadell further 

east, the location of present day 

Mountain Brook, he built the first poorhouse 

in Jefferson County and managed 

it from 1872 until his death 

in 1888. 25 

The first settler in Mountain Brook 

was James Rowan who moved his family 

into the area extending northward from 

Mountain Brook Village after buying 

the property at the Tuscaloosa land sale 

in 1821. 

A short time later, Rowan’s fatherin-law, 

William Pullen, a close neighbor 

of George Washington in Westmoreland 

County, Virginia and a member of his 

personal guard during the Revolution, 

settled at a large spring which now feeds 

the WPA ponds at the Birmingham Zoo. 26 

Shades Valley, located just south of 

Jones Valley, was for many years a 

densely wooded area where more than a 

few adventurers got lost, among them 

Andrew McLaughlin, an original member 

of the John Jones party. 

Born in Scotland in 1778 and a sailor 

on the high seas, he was attracted to the 

Jefferson County area while still living 

in Tennessee. According to family lore, 

he set out one day on a hunting trip 

from his home west of Jonesborough 

with his dog, Jack, and his musket in 

search of deer and other wild game. 

Crossing over Red Mountain, he lost his 

bearings in Shades Valley and only 

found his way back, hungry and afraid 

for his life, a few days later. He told 

friends he felt he had been in the 

“Shades of Death” 27 . 

The valley would become known as 

Shades Valley and the creek that ran 

through it Shades Creek. 

Some say it was called Shades of 

Death by the Indians because of its 

heavy foliage and darkness, especially 

around the creek, and became a place to 

be avoided. Another story relates that 

several pioneers once found a skeleton 

on the creek bank. The story has been 

repeated with many variations over 

the years. 

Life on the high seas left the Scotsman 

unprepared for pioneer life. One day 

when wolves attacked his dog, he killed 


24

four or five of them with a long hunting 

knife thinking they were panthers. 28 

McLaughlin, who was listed in the 

1816 Monroe County Census with Jones 

and Friley, is buried in the old part of 

Cedar Hill Cemetery in Bessemer near 

present-day West Lake Mall. He died at 

age eighty in 1858. A large marker on 

the same plot reads “Jones”, on the 

reverse side of which is written: Sudie 

McLaughin Jones, 1857-1923. His home 

sat near the present site of West Side 

Baptist Church in Bessemer near present-day 

West Lake Mall. 

ELYTON 

Elyton, which became the county seat 

in 1821, soon outpaced Jonesborough and 

Carrollsville in growth and as a center for 

business. It was located at the crossroads 

of major stage routes coming into the 

county connecting with Tuscaloosa, 

Montevallo, Blountsville and Trussville. 

It got its start when Hartford attorney 

William Ely, an agent for the 

Connecticut Asylum for the Education 

of the Deaf and Dumb, visited Jones 

Valley in 1820 to look over 2,560 acres 

of land recently given to the hospital by 

the U.S. Congress. 

Greatly disappointed in its appearance, 

which he said was “broken, poor 

and barren”, he recommended his board 

of directors sell the property. Ely 

thought he might get as much as $1.50 

an acre. 

When sales began in February 1820, 

he was surprised the land went for $15 

to $100 an acre. Pleased with the higher 

than expected bids, he donated a portion 

of the property to the county with 

the provision it build a courthouse and 

jail on it within four years. The town 

site, itself, covered 120 acres. 29 

In appreciation of the gift, residents 

voted to name the new town “Elyton” in 

his honor. It was incorporated by the 

Legislature on December 20, 1820. 

The town center, located near a big 

spring alongside land resembling a 

prairie, had originally been known as the 

“Frog Level Racing Ground”. It was given 

that name because of the horse racing 

which took place on the level plain and 

the tendency of the area to flood. The 

gambling activity also brought other 

businesses including a tavern. 

Elyton, unlike Alabama’s bigger 

cities of the decade, Mobile, Selma 

and Montgomery, was just a small pioneer 

settlement with a large spring. 

There was little to indicate it would 

one day evolve into the state’s biggest 

city, Birmingham. 

Elyton in 1821 had some three hundred 

residents. By 1871, its population 

would reach eleven hunderd, many of its 

citizens finding jobs in laying out the 

new city of Birmingham. Among its early 

merchants were Slaughter & Lubuzan, 

Jonathan Steele, Charles McLaran, 

William A. Walker and Thomas W. 

Rockett. Other leading citizens included 

James McAdory, James Mudd, Thomas W. 

Farrar, Baylis W. Earle, John W. Henley, 

William F. Nabers, William S. Mudd, M. 

T. Porter, Joseph R. Smith, Mortimer H. 

Jordan, G. W. Hewitt, Paul E. Earle, 

David Prude, John Martin, James Hall, 

Stephen Hall, John M. Dupuy, J. W. 

McWilliams, Stephen Reeder, Elias 

✧ 

William Ely. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

CHAPTER 2 

25

✧ 

A map of Elyton, formerly known as 

Frog Level, 1820s-1870s. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY, 1957. 

DeJarnette, and Daniel Watkins, Jr. 30 

Some moved from Jonesborough. Later, 

others moved to outlying areas. 

The first lawyer to practice in Elyton 

was E. W. Peck who came in 1824 and 

stayed until moving to Tuscaloosa, then 

the state capital, in 1833. Peck would 

later become chief justice of the 

Alabama Supreme Court. 31 Another 

early attorney was William K. Baylor 

who was elected to the state legislature. 

Early physicians included Samuel 

S. Earle, Peyton King, and William 

B. Duncan. 

Nothing much remains of Elyton 

today except the old cemetery and the 

antebellum home of William S. Mudd, 

called Arlington, built between 1845 

and 1850. Late in the Civil War, it 

temporarily served as headquarters for 

Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson during the 

federal cavalry raid organized in March 

and April 1865 to destroy the Alabama 

iron industry. 

The home was spared the torch 

because of Mr. Mudd’s apparent 

cooperation with federal authorities 

who at his home laid plans to march on 

Tuscaloosa and Selma. 

DAVY CROCKETT IN 

JONES VALLEY 

Among the War of 1812 veterans who 

came for a look around was Davy 

Crockett, the Tennessee frontiersman 

and backwoods statesman. 

In the company of three friends, 

Crockett arrived in the fall of 1816 and 

passed through Murphrees and Jones 


26

Valleys near present-day Birmingham. In 

his party were three neighbors from 

Franklin County, Tennessee named 

Robinson, Frazier, and Rich. 32 

Jones Valley was opened to settlers 

when Tennessee troops built a wagon 

road to Baird’s Bluff near the Blount 

County line. Many Tennesseans built 

homes in the area after the war. 33 

While exploring Murphrees Valley, 

Crockett selected a tract for himself 

closer to Oneonta which he said was 

“the one spot in the world” he would 

like to make his home. 

The Crockett party continued its 

exploration in the direction of the 

falls of the Warrior River near presentday 

Tuscaloosa. On the way they 

passed “through a large rich valley 

where several families had settled” 

near Jonesborough. 

Moving west, they made camp near the 

river. During the night, their horses broke 

lose from their hobbles and headed back 

toward Jonesborough. Crockett said he 

pursued them on foot, it seemed like for 

fifty miles, until he was exhausted and 

alone in the deep woods. Found by 

Indians, sick and disoriented, they took 

him to the residence of Jesse Jones, 

(perhaps Jeremiah), about a mile and a 

half distant. Crockett said he paid one 

Indian a half-dollar to carry his heavy rifle. 

“I was kindly received and put to 

bed,” he said. “I knew little about what 

was going on for about two weeks when 

I began to mend from the treatment (of 

Mrs. Jones). 

Crockett said she thought he was 

going to die (from malaria) and gave 

him “a whole bottle of Bateman’s 

Drops.” The mixture, an early medicinal 

patent, contained forty-six percent 

alcohol and two grams of opium per 

fluid ounce. 34 

The Jones farm, possibly the same one 

owned by Jeremiah Jones, was located at 

the site of the Woodward Iron Furnaces 

(established in 1883). After his recovery, 

Crockett traveled back up the Huntsville 

Road along a stretch near Midfield called 

the “Stony Lonesome” because of its 

many limestone outcroppings. 

He returned to Tennessee and settled 

instead in Lawrence County in 1817 

where he became engaged in the politics 

of the state. He eventually was killed 

defending the Alamo in 1836. It is not 

known if he ever returned to Blount 

County, Alabama. 

Another Tennessee veteran of the Creek 

War, Richard Breckenridge, also wandered 

across the same area visiting William 

Roupe on August 29, 1816, and “got a 

good breakfast and corn for the mare.” 

That evening he came to the Jones place 

and was given supper for “12 and a half 

cents, half the common price in the valley.” 

The next day he paid twenty-five cents for 

lodging, corn and fodder for his horse. 

Although he considered the area 

inviting, he thought the valley was too far 

from trade and the soil “too stiff and 

clayey” with rocks in places “on top of the 

ground”. 35 Little did Breckenridge realize 

the rocks he described were iron ore and 

limestone, two of the main ingredients 

needed to make iron which would one 

day give rise to a great industrial city. 

The population of Jefferson County 

grew slowly as its farmland was staked 

out for agricultural enterprises large and 

small. While the federal census for 1820 

is lost or incomplete, there were 

approximately 140 families living in 

what is now Jefferson County in the fall 

of 1816 when the population was 

3,593. 36 In 1830, the first year a 

complete federal census was taken, the 

county had 6,855 residents of which 

5,121 were white and 1,734 were black. 

That figure increased to 7,131 in 1840, 

8,989 in 1850 and by 1860, at the 

advent of the Civil War, the census 

count for Jefferson County reached 

11,746. The percentage of black 

population for the period ranged from 

twenty-two to twenty-five percent. 

Industrialists, now beginning to more 

fully appreciate the value of the valley’s 

mineral wealth, considered road and rail 

construction to exploit it. 

✧ 

Davy Crockett said this illustration 

“is the only correct likeness that has 

ever been taken of me.” 

S. S. OSGOOD PAINTING, CHARLES & LEHMAN, 1830S. 

CHAPTER 2 

27


28

CHAPTER 3 

A LAND IN T RANSITION, 1830 TO 1860 

Jefferson County Established, Capitol Moved to Tuscaloosa, 

Indian Removal, Second Creek War, Rivers, Railroads, John T. Milner, 

Farms and Plantations, Postal Service, James E. Hawkins. 

On achieving statehood, the Alabama Legislature first met at Huntsville, site of the 

1819 Constitutional Convention, but moved to Cahawba (Cahaba) in Dallas County 

the following year for its second session. The town had been selected as the temporary 

seat of government by the territorial legislature. 

Under Alabama’s first two governors, brothers William W. and Thomas Bibb, nine 

new counties were created, including Jefferson in 1819. 

Jefferson County was named for the third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, who was 

still living at the time. Both the territorial and state general assemblies of Alabama 

showed great respect for Revolutionary War heroes naming 16 counties for war veterans 

or presidents including Washington County (George Washington, 1800), Madison 

County (James Madison, 1808) Monroe County (James Monroe, 1815) and Franklin 

County (Benjamin Franklin, 1818). 

Established by legislative act on December 13, 1819, Jefferson County was taken 

from the southern half of Blount County. A portion of Shelby was also added as was a 

part of St. Clair by separate act passed December 20, 1820. The original language of 

the legislation described the boundaries of Jefferson as follows: 

Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That all that tract of country, bounded as follows, to-wit: 

Beginning at a point on Tuskaloosa (sic) river, at the mouth of the first large creek below the 

junction of the Mulberry and Locust forks of said river; thence on a direct line to the Big Pond 

spring at the upper end of Roup’s valley, thence southeast, to the ridge dividing the waters of 

Shade’s creek from the waters of Cahawba: thence up said ridge to its northern extremity; 

thence by a direct line to the Cedar mountain; thence up the former line dividing Blount from 

St. Clair county, to a point opposite to Hartgrove’s, leaving said Hartgrove’s in Blount county; 

thence by a direct line, to William Dunn’s, on the Mulberry fork of Tuskaloosa, thence by a 

direct line to the Cypsey (sic) fork, thence down said stream, to its junction with the 

Mulberry; thence down their united stream, to its junction with the Locust fork, thence down 

the same, to its junction with the Tuskaloosa, thence down the same to the place of beginning, 

shall constitute one county, to be called and known by the name of Jefferson. 1 

✧ 

Knight Map of Alabama and 

Georgia, 1828. The Huntsville Road 

(marked “23”) divides into two 

directions at Jonesborough, one 

toward Cahawba, the old state 

capital, and the other toward 

Tuscaloosa where the seat of 

government was moved. 

COURTESY OF THE HARGRETT RARE BOOK & MANUSCRIPT 

LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA LIBRARIES. 

The same legislation also established a five-member county commission including 

Reuben Read, William Irvin, John Adams, John Cochran, and William Prude. In 1822, 

two additional members were added—Peyton King and John Martin. 2 

The first justices of the county court elected by the Legislature included Moses Kelly, 

David Murphy, David Owen, Robert Lacey, and John Wood. 3 

Jefferson County’s first legislators were Representatives Isaac Brown and Thomas W. 

Farrar and Senator John Wood, all elected in 1822. 4 

Originally a part of Monroe, what would become Jefferson County was a part of 

Montgomery County from 1816 to 1818, a part of Blount from 1818 to 1819 and made a 

county of its own in 1819. 

In 1821, Jefferson County had four voting precincts, at Greer’s Store near Turkey 

Creek, Squire Micajah Lindsay’s in the lower end of the county, and in Elyton at the 

CHAPTER 3 

29

✧ 

Trail of Tears, 1838, the removal of 

the Cherokee Indians to the West, 

oil on canvas by Robert Lindneux. 


Wiggin & McWhorter Store and the King 

& Brown Store. 5 

Cahawba was a long way for legislators 

to travel in pioneer times and in 

search of a more central location, the 

capitol was moved in 1826 to Tuscaloosa 

deserting the oft-flooded and unhealthy 

Black Belt town where the Cahaba met 

the Alabama. Tuscaloosa at the time was 

a thriving community on the Black 

Warrior River with strong shipping and 

financial interests, some of them tied to 

new towns in Jones Valley. 

Beginning in the 1830s, iron bars 

from the Hillman Bloomery at Tannehill 

and cotton, apples and other staples 

from farms around Jonesborough made 

their way to Tuscaloosa markets, some 

thirty-five miles distant. Many local 

farmers also bought their supplies from 

Tuscaloosa merchants. 

Legislators and other state dignitaries 

frequently visited the big spring at 

McMaths near Bucksville for parties, 

social events and weddings. 

INDIAN 

REMOVAL 

Alabama in these years was the last 

stand for its Native American population. 

Already depleted by Jackson’s military 

campaigns, many of the remaining 

tribes headed west, some forcibly. The 

Mississippi Legislature passed an act 

relinquishing Chickasaw claims there in 

1829 and extending its jurisdiction over 

the territory. Negotiations for federal 

removal were completed in 1832 at 

Pontotoc Creek when Chickasaw lands 

were ceded to the U.S. government. The 

Chickasaws also occupied a portion of 

northwestern Alabama. 

Indian removal became a major issue 

during the administration of Gov. John 

Gayle (1831-35) eventually resulting in 

a dispute with the White House. Andrew 

Jackson, who favored removal under 

terms of the Indian Removal Act of 

1830, sent Francis Scott Key, author of 

the national anthem, as his personal representative 

to Tuscaloosa to gain Gayle’s 

support. The act did not force Indians to 

move but allowed Jackson to negotiate 

land exchange treaties. 6 

Under the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit 

Creek in 1830, the Choctaws gave up the 

last of their Alabama and Mississippi 

land in exchange for property in 

Oklahoma. Under the Treaty of New 

Echota in 1835, the Cherokees, although 

their elected leaders never agreed to the 

terms, also ceded their remaining 


30

territory in Alabama and Georgia to the 

government for land in Oklahoma plus 

$5 million in relocation costs. 

More resistant, the Creeks were on 

the verge of a new Indian uprising. In 

their reluctance to accept removal terms 

they became violent in a series of isolated 

skirmishes in which a number of 

settlers and Indians were killed. 

The Second Creek War in Alabama 

reached down into Florida as Creek 

warriors raided plantations and homesteads 

in the panhandle area. 

The unrest caused a great deal of 

panic in Jefferson County where a few 

Creeks remained. When Governor 

Clement Clay issued a call for volunteers, 

Jefferson County responded by 

raising a company of one hundred men 

under Captain James McAdory. About 

the same time a regiment under Colonel 

Dent from Tuscaloosa, which included 

some men from Jefferson County, was 

sent to Florida. 

In February and March 1837, the 

Creeks were defeated at Hobdy’s Bridge 

and along the Pea River in south 

Alabama, ending the rebellion. The 

Indians, including women and children 

who survived, were sent west. 

A portion of the tribe not transported 

by river boat passed through Elyton as it 

was marched overland toward Arkansas 

and Oklahoma. Baylis Grace said he 

remembered a group of chiefs as they 

rested on the piazza of the Taylor Hotel 

in Elyton. 

“I think a finer looking set of men, 

consisting of some twenty or more, were 

seldom seen together.” 7 

The era of Indian removal was marked 

by the “Trail of Tears” which name was 

given the forced relocation of the 

Choctaws in 1831 and then the Cherokees 

in 1838. In the Cherokee language, the 

event is called Nunna daul Isunyi—”the 

Trail Where We Cried.” Some estimates 

put the number of Indians who died along 

the way as high as four thousand. 

Two of the three major removal routes 

passed through North Alabama, one 

originating at Fort Payne. Departure 

points included Gunter’s Landing 

(Guntersville) and at Ross’s Landing 

(Chattanooga, Tennessee), both on the 

Tennessee River and at the Cherokee 

Agency on the Hiwassee River 

(Calhoun, Tennessee). By 1840, almost 

all Native Americans had been removed 

from Alabama. 

TRANSPORTATION 

The development of transportation 

routes including steamboats, railroads 

and stage roads greatly influenced the 

growth and location of settlements. 

Stage and wagon roads, many following 

old Indian trails, crossed through 

the piney woods of Alabama. The 

Huntsville Road took travelers from 

Huntsville to Elyton and Tuscaloosa and 

on to St. Stephens and the old Federal 

Road ran from Athens, Georgia, 

to Fort Stoddard, north of Mobile. 

The Natchez Trace extended from 

Nashville in a southwesterly direction 

through Franklin and Colbert Counties 

and on to Natchez. Other roads, 

including the Byler Road, which 

reached from Courtland to Tuscaloosa, 

connected communities, railheads and 

river ports. 

✧ 

Steamboat Tinnsie Moore, Alabama 

River, Montgomery, 1890. From 

Society of Pioneers, A History of 

Montgomery in Pictures, published 

by the Alabama Department of 

Archives & History. 

CHAPTER 3 

31

Alabama’s largest towns in the 1830s 

were mostly river cities, Montgomery, 

Mobile, Tuscaloosa, and Selma. Huntsville 

was ten miles from the Tennessee River. 

Blessed with many navigable rivers, 

cotton planters shipped their product 

downstream to Mobile and New 

Orleans. Coal operators, like David 

Hanby, James A. Mudd and Jonathan 

Steele in Jefferson County, did the same, 

using flatboats which occasionally had 

to wait for the rainy season to raise the 

water level over rapids. Most river traffic 

occurred in the wintertime. 

From Mobile, the Alabama River was 

navigable to Montgomery and steamboats 

could ascend the Tombigbee as far 

as Demopolis. Tennessee River planters, 

however, faced a more formidable problem, 

the big set of rapids near Florence 

known as Muscle Shoals. Impassable 

much of the year, they cut off the upper 

reaches of the Tennessee Valley. 

While the shallower portions of the 

Cahaba in Jefferson County would allow 

only canoes and flat boats for hauling 

coal, small steamboat traffic could travel 

from its flow through Bibb County to its 

junction with the Alabama at Cahawba. 

Steam travel on the Black Warrior, 

and the Tombigbee into which it flows, 

began in the 1820s with shipping companies 

competing to serve fast growing 

river towns along its banks. River conditions, 

however, required the passenger 

boats plying these rivers to be much 

smaller than the “floating palaces” on 

the Mississippi. By the mid-1800s, many 

were outfitted for comfort including 

sleeping compartments, saloons and 

fancy trimmed railings. 8 

A three-deck boat, like some which 

plied the Alabama River at Montgomery, 

could carry 2,000 to 3,000 bales of cotton 

and 100 to 150 passengers. 

The Black Warrior, Jefferson County’s 

major river, got its name in Indian lore. In 

the early days it was called the 

Tuscaloosee. “Tuse” was Choctaw for warrior, 

“loosee” meant black. In 1870 when 

the Warrior coal fields were opened, the 

river was a vital transportation route to 

take the product to Mobile. At the time it 

could be navigated by paddle wheel 

steamers only as far as Tuscaloosa for 

about four months of the year and even 

then under hazardous conditions. 

The Corps of Engineers in 1874 

undertook a project to improve navigation 

which Congress authorized the following 

year. The work cleared snags and 

obstructions, built temporary dams and 

dredged and blasted the river bottom. 

The effort, including construction of 

additional locks and dams, continued in 

phases until the first coal barge made it 

from Birmingham to Mobile through 

Tuscaloosa in 1896 in 18 days. 9 

RAILROADS 

The first railroad in the state, the 

Tuscumbia Railroad, was envisioned by 

cotton planter David Hubbard as a 

means to overcome the obstruction to 

river traffic caused by the shoals on the 

Tennessee River near Florence. The line, 

the first railroad west of the Alleghenies, 

✧ 

Georgia Pacific Railroad engine at 

Sloss Furnace on opening day, 1881. 

COURTESY OF THE BRANTLEY COLLECTION, 

SAMFORD UNIVERSITY. 


32

originally connected to Tuscumbia, two 

miles away. 

Chartered by the Legislature in 1830, 

it consisted of cars placed on rails and 

pulled by mules. Two years later in 

1832, the line was expanded and 

renamed the Tuscumbia, Courtland & 

Decatur Railroad. It provided cotton 

shippers, wishing to bypass the river 

rapids called Muscle Shoals, with fortysix 

miles of track along the west side of 

the river terminating at Decatur. 10 

Alabama’s second railroad, which was 

chartered in 1834 to run from 

Montgomery to West Point, Georgia, the 

Montgomery & West Point Railroad, was 

spearheaded by Abner McGehee. At 

Montgomery, products could be loaded 

on river boats to Mobile. 11 

McGehee, who had a large plantation 

near Hope Hull, was the principal 

investor in the bloomery built at 

Tannehill by Daniel Hillman in 1830. He 

also owned various parcels of land in 

Jones Valley and near Jonesborough containing 

ore deposits, apparently eyeing 

further development of the iron industry. 

Rail construction in Jefferson County, 

however, was delayed by the Civil War 

and plans to exploit the area’s mineral 

resources put on hold. The hostilities 

did, however, focus attention on the 

obvious. Railroads were necessary to get 

raw materials to factories and products 

to supply points. 

While the Shelby and Brierfield (Bibb) 

Furnaces were near the tracks of the 

Alabama & Tennessee Rivers Railroad, 

many of the state’s other wartime iron 

furnaces had more difficulty transporting 

pig iron over back country dirt roads to 

rail heads, sometimes at great distances. 

The destination point was the huge 

Selma Arsenal and Gun Works which, during 

the last two years of the war, manufactured 

most of the cannon and ammunition 

used by Confederate troops in the field. 12 

The first link of the South & North 

Railroad, which was intended to extend 

from Calera to the Oxmoor Furnace in 

1863, had track in place only to the west 

side of the Cahaba (then spelled 

Cahawba) River by the end of the war. 13 

The lack of explosives for use in blasting 

impeded construction through the rocky 

face of Shades Mountain at Brock’s Gap. 

The line, however, was graded to the iron 

works which allowed teamsters to haul 

pig iron by wagon from the furnace to the 

pick-up point at the river, a distance of 

approximately eight miles. 

The same grade was used by Wilson’s 

Federal cavalry as it raced from Elyton 

✧ 

Above: The old Cahaba Bridge which 

carried the tracks of the South & 

North Railroad across the Cahaba 

River near Gould’s Coal Mine in the 

vicinity of Helena. Wilson’s Raiders 

crossed this way en route to 

Centreville and Selma. 

COURTESY OF KEN PENHALE. 

Below: Abner McGehee built 

Alabama’s second railroad, the 

Montgomery & West Point. He 

also financed the Hillman Forge 

at Tannehill. 

COURTESY OF THE ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF 

ARCHIVES & HISTORY. 

CHAPTER 3 

33

✧ 

The cut at Brock’s Gap for the South 

& North Railroad was hand drilled 

through sixty feet of sandstone. Work 

on this segment was halted until 

after the Civil War although the 

grade was used as a road. 

COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR. 

toward Selma. Major S. V. Shipman of the 

First Wisconsin Regiment said as his unit 

crossed “over a range of high hills.” 

Moving from Elyton to Montevallo they 

traveled over the railroad grade at Oxmoor 

Furnace all the way to the Cahaba River. 

Here they crossed the railroad bridge 

by laying a flooring of railroad ties they 

found nearby so their horses and wagons 

could pass. A huge stone pier still 

stands in the river where the bridge was 

once in place. Shipman said on crossing 

they found “the coal works of Mr. 

Wilson” (old Gould Mine) ablaze and its 

buildings burned. Later the same day his 

troops passed the Helena Rolling Mill, 

“a very fine structure in flames.” 14 

William Rose Scott, adjutant of the 

Fourth Iowa Volunteers, said the railroad 

span was a “lattice bridge, high, with 

long trestle-work approached at each end 

and the whole built of wood.” The bridge 

was open between the ties but “fortunately 

some new cross-ties were found 

near the track on our side of the river.” 15 

He said Gen. Winslow “put to work 

as many men as possible tearing up the 

iron rails and laying the new cross-ties 

between those already down so as to 

make of all a close floor” so the troops 

and wagon train could cross. He said 

within a few hours the bridge was finished 

with a floor 8 feet wide and 300 

feet long and 100 feet high. The brigade, 

“carefully leading over their trembling 

horses” moved on toward Montevallo. 

A few years after the war the 

lattice bridge burned and was replaced 

with new piers, also stone, to carry 

heavier trains. 

The narrow cut through Brock’s gap 

can still be seen just off Highway 150 

near the Williams Lake Subdivision with 

huge piles of cast away limestone piled 

along both sides of the rail cut. 

Pig iron from the Irondale Furnace in 

present day Mountain Brook was sent by 

wagon to Oxmoor and followed the 

same route, a distance of some sixteen 

miles. The Roupes Valley Furnaces 

(Tannehill) shipped its iron down a dirt 

road eighteen miles through the back 

country to the Alabama & Tennessee 

Rivers rail station at Montevallo. Parts 

of the old wagon trace still exist. 

It was not until after the Civil War 

that the grade through Brock’s Gap was 

finally completed and track laid to 

Oxmoor. Under the supervision of J. F. B. 

Jackson, workers cut through 60 to 70 


34

feet of rock through the gap and moved 

on to Grace’s Gap on Red Mountain. 

From here the track was extended to the 

place where the new city of Birmingham 

was planned crossing the tracks of the 

Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad in a 

corn field in 1872. 16 

The L&N, which took over the South 

& North when it fell on hard times, 

built the Parkwood Tunnel in 1908 and 

moved the route a short distance to the 

east adding a double set of track. 

Birmingham, built as a planned community 

by the Elyton Land Company and 

incorporated in 1871, was sited on the 

premise that the economy of the post-war 

South would be based on the railroad. 

The history of the first railroad to 

venture into Jefferson County, the South 

& North, was marked by great expectations 

and a series of dashed hopes. Still, 

the engineer who dreamed it could happen, 

John T. Milner, pressed on. 

The short line’s only locomotive was a 

small engine, called the Willis J. Milner, 

ironically named for Milner’s father, 

saved from a northwest Florida lumber 

mill when Pensacola was evacuated during 

the Civil War. 

Considerable planning was done in 

the 1850s to bring other rail lines into 

the mineral district but one delay after 

another frustrated investors. Primary 

backers of the South & North Railroad 

were Milner, who had honed his skills 

on the Montgomery & West Point 

Railroad, Frank M. Gilmer, an investor 

in the Alabama & Florida Railroad from 

Montgomery and industrialist Daniel 

Pratt of Prattville. 

Originally proposed as the “Alabama 

Central Railroad”, Milner suggested the 

new line would connect Decatur to 

Montgomery and open iron ore deposits 

on Red Mountain to mining and manufacturing. 

It would also funnel commerce 

toward the port of Mobile linking with 

water transportation on the Alabama 

River. Failure to act in a timely fashion, he 

warned, would allow another line being 

planned, the North East & South West 

Railroad, to siphon off the mineral wealth 

of the region to outside interests and 

divert economic benefits to Chattanooga. 

The Legislature granted a charter for 

the Central Railroad in 1854 and 

approved $10,000 to have the route surveyed 

in 1858. Governor Andrew B. 

Moore selected Milner as chief engineer 

to select the route the road would take. 

Milner, who was at work on a muddy 

right-of-way south of Montgomery 

when word came of his appointment, 

left immediately for the capitol without 

changing his work clothes. Upon presenting 

himself to Moore, the governor 

was taken back by his appearance. 

“Is this the man I have appointed 

chief engineer of our great state railroad? 

Well, it looks to me, Mr. Milner, as 

if the first thing we’d better do is get you 

some new breeches.” 17 

Milner, who worked on the survey during 

1858 and 1859, considered eight 

routes to enter the rough terrain and 

mountains rimming the mineral district. 

Having set as a starting point the existing 

railroad at Montevallo, Milner charted 

routes to two alternative destinations on 

the Tennessee River, Decatur and Beard’s 

Bluff (Guntersville). Throughout the 

planning process, he kept his mind on 

entering the coal region in north Jefferson 

County near Old Warrior Town. 18 

Because of its varied uses, coal was 

believed to be the most important mineral 

✧ 

John T. Milner, chief engineer for the 

South & North Railroad. 

COURTESY OF JOHN W. DUBOIS. 

CHAPTER 3 

35

✧ 

Ross Bridge. In 1858, James Taylor 

Ross established a homestead in 

Shades Valley and made this site on 

his farm available for a crossing for 

the South & North Railroad over 

Ross Creek. The line was 

straightened and the track doubled 

in 1908 when the bridge was 

abandoned. It can be seen today off 

Ross Bridge Parkway. 

COURTESY OF JOHN STEWART. 

resource in the Birmingham District. Iron 

ore was valuable as well but of secondary 

interest. Coal was needed to power 

steamboats and locomotives and to make 

castings in foundries. 

Following valleys and water cuts 

through the Appalachian foothills, Milner 

selected Brock’s Gap as the best available 

pass through Shades Mountain and the 

stage road at the Cahaba River near 

Smith’s Plantation for the river crossing. 

Aware that the Legislature, still in the 

hands of agricultural interests, would 

have to appropriate the money to fund 

the construction, Milner postured that 

farming interests would share the benefits 

of the new rail line. In his report, he 

stated not only could coal be shipped to 

new markets by rail but other Alabama 

resources could as well including lime, 

marble and timber. Further, the railroad 

would promote “resort traffic” to places 

like Blount Springs. 

Milner predicted shipment of farm 

products could equal iron products as 

potential rail revenue if one considered 

the experience of the Georgia state railroad 

already in operation. The Georgia 

line, he said, brought with it major economic 

benefits by opening up farm markets 

previously controlled by local buyers 

who set the price paid for produce. 

The cost of the 121 mile segment 

from Montevallo to Decatur was estimated 

at $2.8 million. Cross ties cost 

$600 per mile, laying of the track another 

$500 per mile and grading and 

bridges, almost $1.3 million. Milner said 

18 locomotives would be needed at 

$8,500 each, 10 passenger cars at $2,500 

each, 225 freight cars at $700 each and 

eight baggage and mail cars at $1,500 

each. The cost of the rail needed for the 

project was estimated at between $40 

and $60 per ton. Expenses could be 

saved, he said, by using domestic rail 

manufactured in Ohio rather than track 

imported from Great Britain. 19 

Although work on the line was interrupted 

by the Civil War, Milner’s original 

route for the Central line, renamed the 

South & North, was completed from 

Decatur to Montgomery in 1872. It 

reached Birmingham in 1871, the same 

year the L&N took over operating control. 

The North East & South West line, 

chartered in 1853 to run from Meridian, 

Mississippi to Chattanooga, Tennessee, 

was also delayed by the war. At the outbreak 

of hostilities only 27 miles of the 

route from Meridian to York, Alabama, 

were complete although most of the 

heavy grading had been done from York 

to Tuscaloosa. 20 

The Alabama Legislature had also 

granted a charter to the Wills Valley 

Railroad in 1852 which road was already 

being planned from Chattanooga into 

central Alabama. When L. C. Garland 

was named president of the North East 

& South West Railroad, he immediately 

initiated a merger in 1861 hoping to 

save construction costs from Jefferson 

County to Chattanooga. 

Construction on the Wills Railroad 

began in 1858 at Wauhatchie, Tennessee 

where it made connections with the 

Nashville & Chattanooga. By 1860 the 

tracks were extended to Trenton, Georgia. 

Merger efforts resumed after the war culminating 

in consolidation in 1867. 21 

The railroad would not reach the 

Birmingham area until the fall of 1870 


36

under the name of the Alabama & 

Chattanooga Railroad. Following bankruptcy 

proceedings, it was acquired in 

1877 by the Alabama Great Southern. 

The Alabama & Tennessee Rivers 

Railroad, to which the South & North 

connected during the Civil War, ran 

from Selma to a point near the Oxford 

Furnace in Calhoun County (Blue 

Mountain) although its investors wanted 

it to end in Rome, Georgia. Again, the 

war brought a prompt halt to construction 

plans. 

Other Alabama railroads of the period 

included the Tennessee & Alabama 

Central, which ran from Decatur to 

Nashville, the Memphis & Charleston, 

which ran from Chattanooga to Corinth, 

Mississippi and beyond, the Nashville & 

Chattanooga, which serviced Stevenson, 

the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers 

Railroad, which ran from Selma to 

Uniontown, the Mobile & Girard, which 

ran from Union Springs to Columbus, 

Georgia, the Alabama & Florida, which 

ran from Pensacola to Montgomery, the 

Cahaba, Marion & Greensboro which 

ran from Cahaba to Marion and the 

Mobile & Ohio which terminated in 

Columbus, Kentucky, easily reached by 

steamer from St. Louis and Cairo, 

Illinois. When completed in 1861, the 

M&O had the distinction of being the 

longest railroad under a single charter in 

the country. 

The practice of salvaging rail from 

lines in danger of falling behind Union 

lines and using them to expand other 

routes resulted in serious depletion of 

rails of both the Alabama & Florida 

Railroad and the Memphis & Charleston. 

VALLEY FARMS & 

PLANTATIONS 

While railroads pointed to the 

future, most residents of Jefferson 

County were engaged in farming, somewhat 

oblivious to the railroad fever 

sweeping the nation. 

The long growing season, temperate 

climate and easily drained sandy loamed 

soil invited agricultural pursuits nourished 

by abundant springs and creeks to 

water livestock. Farms were quickly 

established and soon involved the 

length of the county from Pinson to 

Pleasant Hill. Between 1815 and 1817 

almost every fertile spot along the 

Huntsville Road had been settled. 

In the 1880s, John Witherspoon 

DuBose said red clover in the summer 

✧ 

Construction of the Hawkins 

Plantation House was thought 

similar to the Walker House at 

Elyton at 300 Center Street shown 

above. The columned verandah is 

probably a post-Civil War addition. 

COURTESY OF ALEX BUSH, HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDING 

SURVEY, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 1937. 

CHAPTER 3 

37

grew to heights of two to three feet, winter 

grass (vetch) reached three feet and 

“all kinds of garden vegetables grow to 

the highest known perfection.” 22 

Woodlands still covered great areas of 

Jones Valley and pigs, goats and cows 

stayed cool beneath the trees. 

The main crops included cotton, 

corn, wheat, oats, sweet potatoes, peas, 

and sugar cane. 

From the top of Red Mountain, the 

valley below, into which Birmingham 

would grow, was filled with farms and 

livestock enclosures. In 1858, when John 

Milner was surveying the location of the 

new Alabama Central Railroad (South & 

North), he paused on horseback to take 

in the panoramic scene spread out before 

him. He recalled it while speaking to the 

Georgia Society in 1889: 

“I rode along the top of Red 

Mountain, and looked over that beautiful 

valley where the city of Birmingham lies 

today. It was one vast garden as far as the 

eye could reach, northeast and 

southwest. It was on the first day of June, 

in the year 1858. Jones Valley was well 

cultivated then. I had before traveled all 

over the United States. I had seen the 

great and rich valleys of the Pacific 

Coast, but nowhere had I seen an 

agricultural people so perfectly provided 

for, and so completely happy. They raised 

everything they required to eat, and sold 

thousands of bushels of wheat. Their 

settlements were around these beautiful 

clear running streams found gushing out 

everywhere in this valley. Cotton was 

raised here also, but on account of the 

difficulty of transportation, only in small 

quantities. It was, on the whole, a quiet 

easy going, well framed and well 

regulated civilization.” 23 

Farms in Jones Valley were both large 

and small. The big plantation, like the 

Hawkins place, was an oddity, both 

in the size and the number of slaves. 

One of the county’s earliest pioneers, 

Williamson Hawkins built a 2,000-acre 

cotton farm about four miles northwest 

of Elyton along Valley Creek on the same 

property that the Thomas Iron Furnaces 

would later be located. He was the county’s 

largest slave holder having 150 slaves 

at work in 1860 producing 100 bales a 

year and great quantities of corn. 24 

Other large plantations included the 

farms of Benjamin Pinkney Worthington 

✧ 

Worthington Plantation House, 

Lakeview District, Birmingham. 

COURTESY OF ALEX BUSH, HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDING 

SURVEY, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 1937. 


38

in the Lakeview district and his son-inlaw, 

William Franklin Nabers, in the 

central Birmingham area. Further east 

was the large estate of the Wood family. 

Worthington, who had an extensive 

farming operation of 3,000 acres and over 

100 slaves, built his plantation house near 

Thirty-first Street South between Sixth 

and Seventh Avenues, South. A driveway 

connected to the Georgia Road. 

Worthington, called “Pink” by his neighbors, 

could view activities on his plantation 

from an observatory built atop his 

home reached by an interior staircase. 25 

Construction of the house began in 

1859 but it was not finished until 1865. 

Lumber was hauled by slaves from 

Shades Mountain and plaster was 

bought from Selma. Glass could not be 

obtained for windows until after the 

Civil War which accounted for a lack of 

windows on either side of the house. 26 

It was sold to the Elyton Land 

Company in 1873, the firm in which 

Worthington was a stockholder. The 

house was a large, eight room structure 

with high ceilings, a veranda, six 

columns at the front and equipped with 

the first water system in the area supplied 

by springs later submerged under 

Rushton Park on Highland Avenue. 27 

DuBose said the typical Jones Valley 

farmer was different from farmers elsewhere, 

“a peculiar class of men” who 

were “land locked amidst the mountains” 

and thus “developed (the) character 

of islanders.” 

The planter differed from mountaineers 

in the education they possessed and their 

ability to support their families. They also 

had little in common with the big plantations 

in the Black Belt to the south. 

DuBose believed the farmers in Jones 

Valley, less wealthy to be sure, enjoyed 

the simpler pleasures of life. “He placed 

no great stress upon the fit of his clothes, 

the regulation of his etiquette or the 

spread of his fortune. He delighted in 

hospitality with no thought of its exacting 

ceremonies. 28 ” 

In the valley, cotton did not overwhelm 

other products and farms grew a 

variety of crops, making those who 

toiled the soil more or less self-sufficient 

with the occasional visit to the stores in 

Jonesborough or Elyton. 

In the fields, some slave owners 

plowed their small farms alongside their 

slaves while other farmsteads were purely 

family affairs. Jefferson County 

ranked among the smallest counties in 

total slave population. 

In 1830 only about 30 percent of families 

listed in the census had slaves. By 

1860 the number had fallen to less than 

19 percent and more than 70 percent of 

those had less than 10. Only eight families 

owned more than 40 slaves. 29 In the 

year before the Civil War, the slave population 

of Jefferson County represented 

only about 20 percent of the total population 

compared to 80 percent in some 

Black Belt counties. 

Droughts, like those occurring in 

1816 and 1836, interrupted crop production 

but the location of numerous 

springs and creeks in the county helped 

farmers through the unpredictable dry 

seasons. Even the big spring at Elyton 

was said to have gone dry in 1816. 

While Elyton grew, Jonesborough also 

attracted new residents including Dr. 

✧ 

Dr. Francis Marion Prince helped 

organize the Jefferson County 

Medical Society. 

COURTESY OF BILL GRESHAM. 

CHAPTER 3 

39

✧ 

Martha Gaines Jordan Prince. 

COURTESY OF BILL GRESHAM. 

Francis Marion Prince who brought his 

medical practice there from Tuscaloosa 

at the close of the Civil War in which he 

served as a medical inspector and surgeon 

in the Confederate Army. While 

living on farm in Marengo County in 

1850, he married Martha Gaines Jordon, 

daughter of a wealthy planter named 

Mortimer Jordon, one of Jonesborough’s 

earliest citizens. 30 

The couple bought the old Salem 

School property at Jonesborough 

in 1863 and moved into the 

academy’s former girl’s building, 

possibly desiring the protection of family 

in war time. On March 31, 1865, the 

boy’s building, located close by, was 

burnt by Wilson’s Raiders. 

Dr. Prince became one of the organizers 

of the Jefferson County Medical 

Society and was a charter member of the 

Gynecological and Surgical Association. 

As vice president of the Alabama State 

Medical Association in 1877, he helped 

push for mandatory vaccines and licensing 

of physicians. He was further 

involved in the later development of 

Bessemer (1887) with Henry F. 

DeBardeleben. His daughter, Margaret, 

married DeBardeleben’s son, Charles. 31 

POSTAL 

SERVICE 

Not only were transportation improvements 

needed to move agricultural commodities 

to market in the late 1850s, the 

mail system required changes as well. 

Mail came from Tuscaloosa on horseback 

once a week. It was succeeded by a twohorse 

hack, then faster four-horse coaches 

from Huntsville to Tuscaloosa. 

Robert Jemison, Sr., from Tuscaloosa, 

was credited with the later improvements, 

an idea put in place nationally by 

Jackson’s postmaster general, Amos 

Kendall, before the telegraph was 

invented. The four-horse teams, called 

“express mail”, were changed every 10 

miles. They traveled at about 10 miles 

an hour. One major express line ran 

from Nashville to Montgomery through 

Jefferson County. 32 

It was replaced by stage routes competitively 

pioneered locally by Jemison 

and James R. Powell of Elyton until they 

were replaced by railroads. After a fierce 

competition, the two mail contractors 

merged their efforts into the stage line 

known as Jemison, Powell, Ficklen & 

Company It took the mails from one end 

of Alabama to the other. 33 

By 1860, post offices had been set up in 

a number of Jefferson County communities 

including: Beazley (1851), Boyle’s 

(1828), Bradford (1828), Brownsville 

(1838), Carrollsville (1819), Cedar Grove 

(1835), Chester (1856), Coal Creek 

(1859) Elyton Court House (1820), Five 

Mile Creek (1856), Green’s (1828), 

Greenville (1803), Jonesborough (1820), 

Little Cahaba (1840), Meridianville 

(1824), Mexico (1849), Nebo (1857), 

Oregon (1846), Owen’s Ferry (1827), 

Post Oak Flat (1860), Rockville (1842), 

Shady Grove (1852), Taylor’s (1847), 

Truss’ (1828), Village Springs (1823), 

Vinesville (1858), Waldrop’s Mills (1858) 

and Woodlawn (1833) 34 . 


40

Some delivery points were located at 

country stores or separate buildings. 

Rival businesses at times competed for 

the right to house the post office and 

sites would change. 

By 1863 mail service for employees of 

the Red Mountain Iron Works at 

Oxmoor was available at the Elyton Post 

Office. A postal outlet near the works 

would not be opened until 1874. 

During the Civil War, Elyton had biweekly 

mail service. The route from 

Montevallo to Huntsville was carried by 

Simon Easterwood who, according to 

James E. Hawkins, later the county solicitor, 

would blow a bugle on his arrival. 

The clarion tones could be heard for 

miles and we all flocked to the post 

office for this sound told that the mail 

had come and there was news from the 

front. The first paper was always 

opened and read by Dr. Gilbert T. 

Deason. He was a splendid reader and 

standing in front of the crowd he would 

give to them each line of the news as it 

reached him in type. Sometimes it was a 

victory for the Confederacy and cheers 

would go up; again it was defeat and 

there were groans and once in a while 

there was a record of an engagement 

where a Jefferson County company had 

been engaged and a list of the killed and 

wounded and then there came upon the 

group that depression and sole silence 

that is the tribute of sorrow. 35 

Hawkins, grandson of the old pioneer 

Williamson Hawkins, was elected by the 

State Legislature as Jefferson County 

solicitor in 1884 after having practiced 

law with U.S. Senator John T. Morgan. 

He also became political editor of the 

Jefferson Independent. 36 

James E. Hawkins’ grandson, Burgin 

Hawkins, also filled the role of 

solicitor serving as a Jefferson County 

deputy district attorney during the 

1940s and ’50s before rejoining the 

office in 1961 after a period of private 

law practice. He was appointed an associate 

judge of the Criminal Court of 

Jefferson County in 1967 before retiring 

in 1974. 37 

✧ 

Above: A letter to B. J. Jordan, a 

Virginia ironmaster who held a 

management position at Oxmoor 

Furnace and the Helena Coal Mines 

in 1864. Immediately after the 

Civil War, he operated the cupola 

at the burnt-out Tannehill Ironworks 

in 1865. 

COURTESY OF THE IRON & STEEL MUSEUM OF ALABAMA. 

Below: Jefferson County Solicitor 

James E. Hawkins, 1884. 


CHAPTER 3 

41


42

CHAPTER 4 

I RON M ONGERS & W AR M ONGERS: 

T HE C IVIL W AR IN THE V ALLEY 

Wilson’s Raid, Alabama Iron Industry, Jefferson County, Oxmoor Furnace, 

Irondale Furnace, Mt. Pinson Ironworks, Tannehill Furnaces, First School, 

Elyton, Valley Planters, Williamson Hawkins, the Hawkins Plantation. 

While Alabama’s developing iron industry was an exciting new area of investment 

and economic growth, the war materials the state’s iron furnaces and foundries produced 

during the Civil War invited invasion. 

The plan to send the largest cavalry raid of the Civil War into Alabama to destroy its 

iron-making facilities was conceived high up the command chain involving both U.S. 

Generals Grant and Thomas. 

During the last two years of the war, Alabama’s 17 iron furnaces were producing 70 

percent of all Confederate iron, twice the amount of any other southern state. If 

Federal forces could destroy its production capacity and keep southern armies from 

being resupplied, they reasoned, it could bring an earlier end to the fighting. 

As other iron furnaces fell behind advancing union lines in both Tennessee and 

Virginia, Alabama’s importance as an iron making center became all the more evident. 

The state was also the location of the huge Selma Arsenal and Gun Works which in 

1864 was producing two-thirds of all the fixed ammunition used by Confederate forces 

in the field and one half of the cannon. With the exception of the Tredegar Iron Works 

in Richmond, Virginia, Selma was the most important manufacturing center in the 

South for military hardware. 1 

Remote from the fighting, yet rich in natural resources, the state was ideal for furnace 

development. The close proximity of iron ore, coal and limestone deposits in Jefferson 

County made it especially attractive. At no other place in the world are the resources needed 

for iron production found in such close relationship. On the old Williamson Hawkins 

Plantation, site of the former Republic Steel Corporation, a vein of red ore is just 150 yards 

from the Black Creek Coal Seam. Major limestone deposits are also nearby. 2 

✧ 

The Irondale Furnace, built in 1863 

in present day Mountain Brook, was 

a casualty of the Civil War and the 

first to be rebuilt when hostilities 

ended. The expanded plant, shown 

here sometime prior to 1873, 

included a raw materials elevator 

and a steam engine for air blast. 

COURTESY OF THE GEORGE GORDON CRAWFORD 

COLLECTION, SAMFORD UNIVERSITY. 

THE IRON INDUSTRY IN ALABAMA 

The development of Alabama as an iron producer came slowly at first, but with the 

aid of Confederate investment the industry grew rapidly. At the start of the hostilities 

in 1861, the state had only five producing iron furnaces, the Shelby Iron Works (1845) 

near Columbiana, the Cane Creek Furnace (1840) near present day Anniston, Round 

Mountain Furnace (1852) near Center, the Roupes Valley Works (1859) at Tannehill 

and the Hale & Murdock plant (1859) near Vernon. 

These plants were concentrated primarily in brown ore fields following the 

Appalachian ridge line and were designed to provide iron for local consumption 

including agricultural products, foundries and blacksmiths. 

Twelve additional furnaces would be added with government assistance between 

1862 and 1865, not counting the unfinished Janney Furnace under construction near 

Ohatachee. 3 Several of the plant sites had more than one furnace. 

Blast furnaces added during the war including the Bibb Furnace at Brierfield (1862), 

Cornwall near Gaylesville (1862), Oxford near Anniston (1863) and two in Talladega 

County, Salt Creek (1863) and Knight (1863), both near Munford. 

CHAPTER 4 

43

✧ 

General James H. Wilson (center) 

and staff. Brady photograph taken 

just before the Reams Station Raid, a 

part of the federal campaign against 

Petersburg, Virginia. Six months 

later he would be in Alabama. 

COURTESY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY MILITARY 

HISTORY INSTITUTE. 

There were also numerous bloomery 

forges in production turning out smaller 

amounts of iron. Most of these were 

concentrated in Bibb, Shelby and 

Talladega Counties. 4 

By 1856 there were seventeen forges 

known to exist in the state, about half of 

them then in production. At least six 

more were added during the 1860s, 

including the Williams & Owen Forge 

near Tannehill and the Mt. Pinson 

Ironworks near Pinson. 

IRONMAKING IN 


It was during the Civil War that 

Jefferson County came into the circle of 

iron-making counties when red ore 

deposits attracted mining opportunities. 

In this period, three new iron making 

ventures were begun—the Red Mountain 

Iron Works at Oxmoor, the Irondale 

(Cahawba Ironworks) Furnace in 

Mountain Brook, and the smaller Mt. 

Pinson Ironworks at Pinson, all in 1863. 

The existence of iron ore and limestone 

deposits in Jones Valley had first been 

noticed by blacksmiths in Jackson’s army, 

including Jones and Friley, when crossing 

through the area during the Creek war. 

While there were several blacksmith 

shops in the county capable of shaping 

iron and making horseshoes in the years 

prior to the Civil War, the nearest 

bloomery capable of producing iron was 

the Roupes Valley Forge just across the 

Tuscaloosa County line at Tannehill 

opened by Daniel Hillman in 1830. 

Alabama iron masters at the time considered 

brown ore superior for iron 

making purposes and had less appreciation 

and understanding for the potential 

of red ore found on Red Mountain. Not 

much had been made of it until Baylis 

Earle Grace began drawing attention to 

the huge deposits awaiting the miner’s 

pick. Grace owned a farm at Grace’s Gap 

near Oxmoor where a huge red ore bank 

was present along the Montevallo Road. 

On other roadways crossing Red 

Mountain, including the Huntsville 

Road, the presence of the ore was 

equally obvious. 

“Constant heavy traffic grounds the 

rocks in certain places into a fine red 

powder that early became a source of 

mystery”, Ethel Armes wrote in the 

Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama. 

Grace, she said, became an early promoter 

of ore mining in the area asserting 

the “iron dust” and the “dye rock” were 

iron ore.” 5 

He had come to Jones Valley at 

the age twelve when his parents moved 

to Jonesborough from North Carolina in 

1820. His grandfather had been killed in 

the Revolution and his grandmother 

burnt her own house down rather than 

let a British soldier enter. 6 

Grace attended school at the little log 

cabin school taught by Thomas Carroll 

near the site of the former Woodward 

Iron Furnaces, the first school in 

Jefferson County. When his father died, 

he moved to Elyton to work in the office 

of Circuit Clerk Harrison W. Goyne. He 

eventually became circuit clerk himself, 

sheriff and general administrator of 

county property. Grace also edited 


44

The Central Alabamian, successor to 

the Jones Valley Times, the county’s 

first newspaper. 7 

His farm on Red Mountain would 

become a focal point of the developing 

iron industry in the valley and the 

source of the iron ore that fed the 

Oxmoor Furnace beginning in 1863. 

Having convinced himself the dye 

stone on his property was iron ore, he 

cut into a twenty-foot outcrop in the 

1840s and dug out a wagon load. This 

he took down the Montevallo Road to 

Jonathan Newton Smith’s forge on the 

Little Cahaba River in Bibb County to 

see if iron could be made from it. The 

forge, formerly known as the Weissinger 

& Riddle Forge, was one of the earliest 

in Alabama. 8 

Here it was hammered into wrought 

iron and a few blooms were distributed 

to blacksmiths in Jones Valley. Grace 

kept a bar for himself, which became 

one of his prized possessions. The 

Spaulding Mine, opened by the Republic 

Iron & Steel Company, was later located 

on the site of his original excavation. 

This wrought iron is thought to be 

the first Red Mountain ore reduced in a 

bloomery. Grace would also be responsible 

for the first ore from Red Mountain 

used in a blast furnace. 

After the fall of Tennessee in 1862, 

the Confederate government began to 

consider the construction of new blast 

furnaces in Alabama. At the time the 

value of Red Mountain iron ore, 

although plentiful, was still uncertain. 

A commission was sent to the state 

and met at Selma to select possible locations. 

To the dismay of railroad engineer 

John T. Milner, the board decided “it was 

exceedingly doubtful” the red ore was 

suitable for large scale iron manufacture. 

Instead, the commission recommended 

that the Confederacy make its investments 

at brown ore sites in and around 

Shelby, Bibb, and Talladega Counties. 9 

Milner, who by then was heavily 

involved in planning the South & North 

Railroad (Alabama Central) from 

Montgomery to Decatur, said without 

construction of new iron furnaces in 

Jefferson County, the need for the new 

route, which was to pass through it, 

would be severely diminished. 

Once he expressed this concern to 

Col. Frank M. Gilmer, president of the 

Central Railroad in Montgomery, he said 

Gilmer, without hesitation gave him the 

following order: “Go get some of the ore 

from Red Mountain and have it made 

into iron.” 

Milner said he returned to Elyton and 

had a wagon load of the ore sent under 

the supervision of Baylis E. Grace to the 

furnace of Moses Stroup at Tannehill to 

be charged into the works. 10 

Stroup had built the Tannehill blast 

furnace, just across the Tuscaloosa 

County line in 1859 to replace Hillman’s 

Bloomery which had been in operation 

there since 1830. 

“That iron was submitted to every 

conceivable test and found wanting in 

nothing,” he said but red tape in 

Richmond stalled the project. 

Emphasizing the urgency of the project, 

Milner and Gilmer went to the 

Confederate capitol where Thomas H. 

Watts, then the attorney general, had set 

up an interview for them with James A. 

Seddon, the secretary of war. When 

Seddon brushed the matter aside, they 

sought out Jefferson Davis, whom 

Gilmer knew when the capitol had been 

in Montgomery. Again Watts, who 

would become governor of Alabama in 

1863, set up a meeting with the president 

at 7:30 p.m. the next evening. 

Davis, Milner said, appeared interested 

in the findings from Stroup’s test and 

passed his endorsement on to the secretary 

of the Navy, Stephen R. Mallory. 

Another commission was sent to 

Alabama, “and in sixty days Mr. Gilmer 

was notified he could have whatever aid 

the government could give him in any 

manner to aid in building the railroad 

from Calera to Elyton and that it would 

advance the funds to be paid in coal and 

iron at stipulated prices.” 11 

✧ 

Above: Baylis E. Grace, owner of 

Oxmoor ore lands, later sheriff. 


Below: Moses Stroup, builder of the 

Oxmoor and Tannehill Furnaces. 


CHAPTER 4 

45

✧ 

Above: B. J. Jordan, builder of several 

Virginia furnaces, who held a 

management post at Oxmoor. 

MICHAEL MILEY PHOTOGRAPH. COURTESY OF LEYBURN 

LIBRARY, WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, 

LEXINGTON, VIRGINIA. 

Below: Daniel Pratt, 

Oxmoor investor. 



OXMOOR 

In a short time, Milner said, over four 

thousand hands were at work in building 

the railroad, mining coal at Helena 

and erecting two furnaces at Oxmoor. 

Among them was Moses Stroup who 

left the works at Tannehill to oversee the 

new furnace construction. While at 

Round Mountain Furnace in the early 

1850s, Stroup used red ore in the operation. 

He had also conducted the experiment 

for Milner using Red Mountain ore 

at Tannehill. 

The undertaking, which also involved 

William McClane and other furnace 

builders including B. J. Jordan, an ironmaster 

from Virginia, had an air of secrecy 

about it as a war time project. The 

first of the two Oxmoor furnaces, a 

copy of the original furnace at 

Tannehill, went into operation in 

October or November 1863. 12 

The second stack was unfinished and 

did not go into operation until after the 

war in the fall of 1873. 

Because red ore, which forms a considerable 

part of Red Mountain, contains 

less actual iron content than some 

brown ores and required greater heat to 

process, its perceived use had not been 

promising. There were, however, some 

advantages. Large amounts of the ore, 

brick red and limy, is found in concentrations 

that are “self fluxing”, requiring 

little or no additional limestone flux. 

And, unlike brown ore, red ore beds of 

predictable quality are continuous over 

a large area. 13 

The Red Mountain Iron & Coal 

Company, incorporated on November 5, 

1862, was capitalized at $1,250,000, a 

tidy sum for the time even if it was in 

Confederate currency. Frank Gilmer’s 

brother, William B. Gilmer, was named 

president. Shareholders included twentyfive 

planters and businessmen in Alabama 

and Mississippi, among them members of 

the Noble and Gilmer families from 

Montgomery along with B. S. Bibb, T. L. 

Mount, M. E. Pratt, and Daniel Pratt. 14 

Others included a prominent group of 

railroad investors, Charles T. Pollard, 

John P. King, M. J. Wicks and Sam Tate 

and the Lehman Brothers firm in 

Montgomery and Fraser & Company 

of Charleston. 15 

Nestled along the banks of Shades 

Creek, Oxmoor No. 1 became the first 

blast furnace in Jefferson County. Pig 

iron produced here was shipped to the 

Selma Arsenal and Gun Works although 

a portion also made its way to the Noble 

Brothers Foundry in Rome, Georgia. 

Along the line of Wilson’s Raid from 

Elyton to Selma, federal cavalry burnt 

the Oxmoor Furnace on March 30, 

1865, as part of the plan to cripple the 

Confederacy’s iron industry. 

In 1868 the Montgomery law firm of 

Watts & Troy published a 20-page 

prospectus seeking new partners to keep 

the works afloat and to buy out several 

planters whose farming ventures had 

been ruined by the war. The offering was 

for $500,000. 

While it didn’t bring in the new funding 

hoped for, Daniel S. Troy, who did 

legal work for Milner and Gilmer, painted 

a rosy picture of the works and the 

surrounding town of Oxmoor. Here, he 

predicted, with the crossing of two railroads, 

“the Atlanta of regenerated 

Alabama will spring up.” 16 

Unfortunately for Oxmoor developers, 

the crossing of the South & North 

RR and the Northeast & Southwest, 

took place three years later 10 miles to 

the north in Birmingham. 

In his promotional piece, Troy wrote 

that the company’s 7,340 acres of ore, 

coal and timber lands contained nearly 

inexhaustible supplies of the raw materials 

needed for iron production and 

that furnace operators agreed iron could 

be made here cheaper than any place 

else in the country. 

Interestingly, Oxmoor got its name 

from Troy’s ancestral home in North 

Carolina, west of Wilmington. He had 

suggested it as the company’s lawyer. 

Troy also served as an attorney for the 


46

Elyton Land Company and as a state 

senator from Montgomery. 17 

The Oxmoor plant remained in 

wrecked condition until, with financial 

support from industrialist Daniel Pratt, 

was rebuilt and enlarged in 1873. Both 

the original stack and the unfinished 

one were increased to 60 feet in height 

with iron cylinders attached. 

Furnace No. 2 was the site of the 

famed “Eureka Experiment” in 1876 

that proved good quality coke produced 

from Alabama coal could be successfully 

used in the manufacture of pig iron. 

The experiment opened the door to the 

large scale growth of the Birmingham 

Iron and Steel District. 

After a succession of owners, the 

plant fell into the hands of the 

DeBardeleben Coal & Iron Company in 

1890 and in that manner became a property 

of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & 

Railroad Company in 1892. 18 

Frequently rebuilt, the Oxmoor 

Furnaces finally shut down in May 1927 

and were dismantled the following year. 

Large white slag piles could be seen 

along West Oxmoor Road into the 1970s 

but have given way to residential and 

commercial development. 

IRONDALE 

Jefferson County’s second iron furnace, 

known as Irondale, went into blast 

a few months after Oxmoor in 

December 1863 or in January 1864. 

It had its origins in the demise of the 

Holly Springs Ironworks in Mississippi 

which had made ordnance for the 

Confederacy. After the Battle of Shiloh 

in 1862, it became clear the foundry 

would fall under federal control. 

With help from the Confederate government, 

Wallace S. McElwain, who 

owned the Holly Springs operation, purchased 

2,100 acres along Shades Creek, 

about 10 miles from Oxmoor for a new 

furnace he named the Cahawba Iron 

Works. The people in the area always 

called the place “Irondale”, which name 

became better identified with it. 19 Exactly 

why the city of Irondale, incorporated in 

1887, took the name of the furnace located 

several miles away, is a mystery. 

With the help of W. A. Jones, 

McElwain, began construction in the 

spring of 1863. Extending some fortyone 

feet in height, the furnace differed 

slightly from other furnaces of that era 

in that it was constructed of heavy 

masonry at the base and of brick, banded 

with iron ties, on the mantle. 

A tram track extended from an old ore 

mine beside the present day Trinity 

Medical Center off Montclair Road. Tram 

lines may have also reached the Helen 

Bess Red Ore Mine located several blocks 

to the west. Iron ingots produced at the 

furnace made their way by wagon down 

the old stage road which ran from 

Nashville to Montgomery, known locally 

as “Montevallo Road.” When they 

reached Oxmoor, the teamsters headed 

south toward the Cahaba River where 

they loaded their product on the rails of 

the South & North Railroad by which 

means it was transported to the Selma 

Arsenal and Gun Works. 

Sometime during the spring or 

early summer of 1864 the first 

practical use of coke for fuel in Alabama 

was made at the Irondale Furnace. The 

✧ 

The Oxmoor Furnace, built by Moses 

Stroup in 1863 for the Red Mountain 

Iron Company, had the backing of 

the South & North Railroad. Shown 

here during its expansion in 1872, a 

second furnace was completed and 

iron cylinders were added to increase 

capacity. Also known as “Ironton”, 

the plant operated until 1927. 



CHAPTER 4 

47

✧ 

Oxmoor’s charcoal ovens, shown here 

in 1872, were located near the tracks 

of the South & North Railroad. 

Stacks of cord wood are piled in 

front of the ovens and worker 

housing and the Ironton Hotel can be 

seen in the distance. 



experiment, conducted at the request of 

the Confederate States Nitre and Mining 

Bureau in Richmond, proved successful 

although the test did not persuade the 

industry to abandon the use of charcoal 

until after the war. 

Maj. William R. Hunt, whom the C.S. 

Ordnance Department put in charge of 

its iron procurement in Alabama, wrote 

of the Irondale experiment: 

“Iron ore, coal and limestone, the 

three necessities to produce pig iron, lie 

in contiguity in this state and in unlimited 

quantities; in many places they 

approach within half a mile of each 

other, these presenting to the iron master 

unusual facilities. 

“Mr. McElwain has at my request 

tried the experiment of manufacturing 

iron with coke, in a blast furnace. His 

furnace was not built for coke being 

only about forty feet high and using cold 

instead of hot blast. Yet, notwithstanding 

these disadvantages, his experiment 

is very satisfactory, his yield was 

increased from 7 to 10 tons per day and 

the iron produced was peculiarly fitted 

for rolling mill purposes.” 20 

Given the ready availability of wood 

for charcoal, Alabama furnaces did not 

convert to coke until after the war. 

Along with other wartime blast furnaces, 

the Irondale Furnace was 

attacked by federal cavalry en route to 

Selma and put out of commission. 

Upon entering the iron and coal 

region on March 29, Upton’s Division 

found extended lines of fortification put 

up by the Confederates to protect their 

iron-making establishments but they had 

all been deserted in front of his advance. 

“This day the Third and Fourth Iowa 

reached and destroyed, by fire and explosion, 

the first of the iron-making plants, 

the McIlwain (sic) and Red Mountain.” 21 

Other Federal units in follow up positions 

report they saw these ironworks in 

flames as they passed their locations. 

Attracting northern investment, the 

plant became the first to reopen after the 

war going back into production in 1866. 

With the help of the Crane & Breed 

Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, 

McElwain’s furnace was enlarged and 

converted to steam blast. 

H. D. Merrill, who had previously 

been McElwain’s partner in the 

Holly Springs foundry, spoke promisingly 

of the new venture called the 

Jefferson Iron Company. 

When Irondale Furnace went again 

into blast, it woke up the whole valley. 

Our Big Jim whistle, the largest I believe 

that was ever made, was also the loudest. 

We blew it night and morning and it 

echoed far and wide. 

All the folks I met, even then in 1866, 

had no use for red ore other than to dye 

their clothes with it. They used to be so 

surprised when they saw us making it 

into iron right before their eyes. They 

got to thinking the land maybe had more 

value than they supposed all their lives. 22 

The rejuvenated works soon had a 

workforce of five hundred men cutting 

wood, making charcoal, digging ore, 

running the machine shops and firing 

the furnace. The height of the works was 

increased to forty-six feet and hot blast 

stoves installed. 


48

McElwain said despite the loss of 

slave labor, white laborers had been 

found and that they could do more work 

in twelve months than he could do in the 

same time in Pennsylvania due to the 

favorable climate and other conditions. 23 

For a time, the Irondale Furnace prospered, 

making castings for railroads, 

domestic use and agricultural needs. 

Within a few years, however, competition 

from more favorably located plants 

took their toll and the company began 

losing money. As available trees needed 

for charcoal production in the immediate 

area grew scarce, wood cutters had to go 

further out resulting in higher transportation 

costs. After a series of ownership 

changes, the plant was shut down 

during the Panic of 1873. 

In 1876 its boilers were sold to 

Oxmoor and a little later the blowing 

engine was moved to the Edwards 

Furnace near Woodstock. A portion of 

its machinery was acquired by the 

Birmingham Foundry, later known as the 

Linn Iron Works, in 1877. Its ruins, consisting 

primarily of its back wall, today 

are the focal point of a city historical 

park in Mountain Brook at the corner of 

Stone River Road and Old Leeds Lane. 

Road. Although McGee had more ambitious 

plans, the operation became little 

more than a blacksmith shop overrun by 

demands for horseshoes by Confederate 

cavalry on the move. 24 

His intention, not unlike other small 

forge operators of the time, was to supply 

the needs of local farmers who were 

clamoring for iron tools and agricultural 

implements. While the market for his 

goods was in place, McGee had to shoe 

so many Confederate horses he had little 

time to do anything else. 

The forge, which used brown ore 

from nearby deposits, was burnt by 

✧ 

Above: All that remains of the Mt. 

Pinson Forge, built in 1862, is this 

rock wall near the plant site along 

Turkey Creek. 

COURTESY OF RICHARD ANDERSON. 

Below: Alabama had numerous 

bloomery forges through the Civil 

War including Six Mile Forge in Bibb 

County, subject of this drawing from 

Joseph Squire’s 1868 Diary. It may 

have been similar to the Mt. Pinson 

Works, both built in the early 1860s. 


MT. PINSON 

IRONWORKS 

A third iron-making enterprise built 

in Jefferson County during the war years 

was really a small bloomery forge and 

foundry located in Pinson Valley near 

Hanby Mills. Begun in 1862 it would 

become a part of the complex of corn, 

flour and saw mills and a smithy that 

made knives, horseshoes, tools and 

household vessels along Turkey Creek. 

David Hanby and his sons began the 

development in the 1820s near Hagood’s 

Crossroads from which place he also ran 

a profitable coal mining business. 

The activity attracted A. F. McGee, a 

refugee from Tennessee, who along with 

a group of slaves trained as blacksmiths 

erected the Mt. Pinson Ironworks a 

short distance from the Mt. Pinson 

CHAPTER 4 

49

federal troops under Brigadier General 

John T. Croxton as they returned to 

Jefferson County following the attack 

on Tuscaloosa April 4. Moving through 

the Pinson Valley on April 19 and 

20, 1865, they torched the Mt. 

Pinson Ironworks and a nearby nitre 

works, then passed on through 

Trussville toward Talladega where they 

destroyed the Knight and Salt Creek 

Blast Furnaces. 25 

The ruins of the Hanby Mills and the 

Mt. Pinson Ironworks are located in the 

Turkey Creek Nature Preserve near 

where a timber dam was once located at 

the top of the falls. Remains of some 

rock walls are present about 160 feet 

south of the dam location on the east 

side of the creek. An undated map in the 

archives of the Birmingham Public 

Library shows the forge to be in a loop 

in the creek connected to a long headrace 

and located across from a sawmill. 26 

ROUPES VALLEY 

IRONWORKS 

Although the Roupes Valley Blast 

Furnaces at Tannehill had great influence 

on the development of the iron 

industry in Jefferson County, the works 

themselves are located along Roupes 

Creek just across the Tuscaloosa County 

line. The site is near the place where 

Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Bibb Counties 

come together. 

Portions of the furnace’s timber property 

and some of its charcoal making 

facilities were in Jefferson County. 

Begun as a bloomery in 1830 by Daniel 

Hillman, an experienced forge builder 

from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the 

operation grew into a large complex of 

three blast furnaces begun by Moses 

Stroup in 1859. Work on Furnaces 2 and 

3 was completed by William L. Sanders 

(Saunders), a former Selma merchant, in 

1862 and 1863. 

The Tannehill works, which could produce 

22 tons of pig iron a day for the 

Selma Arsenal and Gun Works, was 

attacked by three companies of the Eighth 

Iowa Cavalry on March 31, 1865 and put 

out of commission. These same troops a 

few days later, as part of Gen. Croxton’s 

brigade, moved on to Tuscaloosa where 

they participated in the burning of the 

University of Alabama on April 2. 

The Tannehill furnaces, so named 

because they were near the plantation of 

Ninian Tannehill, are now a part of a 

state historical park near Bucksville off 

I-59/20. Unlike Oxmoor and Irondale, 

the works at Tannehill were never 

rebuilt and its remains are largely intact. 

When the war ended, B. J. Jordan, who 

had been at Oxmoor, began operating 

the cupola at Tannehill casting iron 

objects from scrap. He was there in 

October when Josiah Gorgas, former 

chief of ordnance for the Confederacy, 

visited the site. Jordan later moved to 

✧ 

The restored Roupes Valley 

Ironworks at Tannehill, begun in 

1859, rank among the nation’s best 

preserved Civil War era iron 

furnaces. It was the only location in 

Alabama where three furnaces were 

located at the same site. 

COURTESY OF MARSHALL GOGGINS, IRON & STEEL 

MUSEUM OF ALABAMA. 


50

Wilson’s sentiments were repeated by 

First Lt. Charles D. Mitchell, acting 

adjutant of the Seventh Ohio Cavalry. 

Going into camp at “Mr. Budds”, probably 

Arlington, the home of Judge 

William S. Mudd, he said his troops 

arrived in the advance after a hard day’s 

march over 20 miles delayed by slow 

moving artillery and bad roads. 

West Virginia and reentered the iron 

trade there. 27 

At the time of Wilson’s Raid, except 

for the few stone blast furnaces in Shades 

and Roupes Valleys, there was little hint 

the Birmingham district would one day 

grow into one of the nation’s most productive 

iron and steel making regions. 

Wilson, himself, was unconvinced as he 

entered the valley with three divisions of 

federal cavalry March 29, 1865, following 

heavy rains. Writing of his war experiences 

years later, he described Elyton, where he 

made his headquarters at Arlington, as “a 

poor, insignificant Southern village, surrounded 

by old field farms, most of which 

could have been bought at $5 an acre.” 

We did not then dream that here, 

among the scrub oaks and pines of this 

fertile soil, where less than a dozen 

dilapidated houses were clustered, 

there was to spring up as by magic 

within two score years, the city of 

Birmingham with nearly one hundred 

thousand people. Nor could we 

have believed that we were marching 

over one of the richest mineral 

regions in the world, the Birmingham 

district, which was to become a great 

iron and steel center. Nature truly 

has her compensations and keeps well 

her secrets. 29 

Several Elyton plantations were taken as 

divisional headquarters, Wilson at 

Arlington and General Edward M. 

McCook at the Williamson Hawkins place. 

Generals Emory Upton and Eli Long were 

✧ 

Above: Judge William S. Mudd. 


Below: Arlington Plantation, home of 

Judge William S. Mudd, which he 

called the “Grove”, circa 1850. It 

can be seen today as a house 

museum at 331 Cotton Avenue 

Southwest in Birmingham. Parts of 

the home date to 1822. 


It presented no evidence of ever 

becoming a great city or the seat of the 

iron and steel industry in the southern 

states. Having taken position on the top 

of an overlooking ridge to inspect the 

passing columns, I was deeply 

impressed by the poverty-stricken and 

uninviting appearance of the landscape. 

A few blast furnaces had been erected 

in the adjacent region and pig iron had 

been produced in considerable quantities 

for the arsenal and foundries at Selma, 

but there was no sign whatever of the 

tremendous movement a few years later 

(that) made Birmingham the coal and 

steel center of that remarkable field.” 28 

CHAPTER 4 

51

✧ 

Dr. Nathaniel Hawkins’ residence at 

northwest corner of Tuscaloosa 

Avenue and Hawkins (Twelfth) 

Street in Elyton late 1890s. Federal 

troops camped here during Wilson”s 

Raid at the close of the Civil War. 

COURTESY OF BETTY HAWKINS KENT. 

also in the area. Due to the huge numbers 

in the command, fourteen thousand by 

some accounts, federal troops probably 

bivouacked all around Elyton. Some were 

known to be located on the freshly “planted 

crop of wheat and corn” of Dr. 

Nathaniel Hawkins and others on the farm 

of Robert H. Greene. 30 

Judge Mudd, whose stately mansion 

was spared as Wilson’s invasion force 

moved toward Montevallo, apparently 

spoke with Wilson about Confederate 

positions. Having been at Tuscaloosa 

March 28, Mudd advised the corps commander 

that only 200 militia and 300 

cadets were garrisoned there. He further 

advised him no Confederate force was in 

place between Elyton and Tuscaloosa. 31 

From Arlington, Wilson dispatched 

fifteen hundred troops under Croxton to 

march on Tuscaloosa and to destroy the 

factories and mills along the way including 

the Tannehill Ironworks and the university, 

which was considered to be a 

military school. 

While at the Hawkins Plantation on 

March 30, home to seventy-five-year-old 

Williamson Hawkins who had two 

grandsons in the Confederate Army, 

McCook took over a gristmill to grind 

corn and wheat for his soldiers. 32 At the 

place, he said, “there is abundance of forage 

and meat, good water and camping 

ground.” 33 Winslow’s Brigade of Upton’s 

command also camped here on March 28 

before moving on to Montevallo and 

burning factories and mills important to 

the Confederate cause. 

When union forces arrived there they 

were surprised to find Hawkins and his 

wife, Elizabeth, along with over 100 

slaves, carrying on business as usual. 

Hawkins’ total wealth in 1860 was listed 

at $159,975 ranking him among the 25 

richest Southern Appalachian planters. 34 

The 1860 agricultural schedule credits 

Hawkins with owning more than 

3,000 acres of which 1,000 was under 

cultivation. His farmland extended all 

the way to present day Pratt City. In 

1850, he declared the value of his farm 

at $15,000, making him one of the two 

richest men in the county. 35 

In his war diary, Maj. S. V. Shipman of 

the First Wisconsin Regiment, said the 

Hawkins Plantation was “a very extensive 

and prosperous one”, the first of its 

kind they had seen since leaving Colbert 

County (Dickson Station). 

“The proprietor is very cranky and 

insolent which will avail him little at 

present,” he wrote. 36 

On the place, Shipman said his troops 

found ten thousand bushels of corn, a 

good supply of “blade fodder”, also 

bacon and pork, which they appropriated. 

At the mill on the farm, he said, they 

ground some of the corn into meal, their 

own “pack stock” still behind them. 

Troops continued to arrive through 

the night on March 28 including the 

Fourth Iowa Cavalry which set up camp 

at 9 p.m. in an “orchard of the very 

nicest peach trees.” 37 

Gen. Upton’s clerk, Ebenezer N. 

Gilpin, labeled Hawkins’ “a rich old 

Southerner.” He wrote that they took 

possession “of his farm and mansion 

house, with a little army of Negroes, 

turkeys, chickens, butter, eggs, hams in 

the smoke house, thousands of bushels 

of corn in the barn, and forage of all 

kinds on the place,” In his well stocked 

wine cellar, he said, one keg of apple or 

peach brandy “was confiscated without 


52

delay lest it might give aid or comfort to 

the enemy.” 38 

The First Wisconsin regiment left the 

Hawkins farm around 1 p.m. March 30 

and headed down the Montevallo Road 

toward Grace’s Gap. 

“Passed the Red Mountain Iron Works 

(Oxmoor) which is in flames,” he added. 

“This was a very fine structure and there 

are large quantities of pig iron piled 

around it. Splendid farms all along.” 39 

With war damage and loss of his 

slaves, Hawkins’ fortune dipped as did 

other Jones Valley farmers. On May 13, 

1872 he filed a claim for property loss 

with the Southern Claims Commission 

for $16,646 which was “barred” being 

filed too late for consideration. 40 

Hawkins claimed Wilson’s troops, 

encamped at his place, had made off with 

36 horses and mules valued at $5,400, 

17,000 pounds of bacon valued at $3,400, 

129 hogs worth $1,036, one beef cow at 

$25 and one yearling at $10. In addition, 

Hawkins claimed he lost 5,000 bushels of 

corn, 300 bushels of wheat, rye and peas 

and large quantities of oats and fodder. 41 

On the document Hawkins signed his 

mark indicating he was illiterate. 

Despite his lack of formal education, 

he still managed to acquire a fortune 

and was especially generous to his six 

sons and three daughters giving each a 

farm stocked with cattle. 

“(He) had his money in gold and kept 

it in sacks in the corner of his room 

from which he dispensed it at will,” 

wrote Lula Hawkins Nabors in the family 

history. “There was no bank in his 

active time of life.” 42 

Despite hard economic times which 

followed the war, H. D. Merrill’s contention 

that the Irondale Furnace, 

which re-opened in 1866, would “wake 

up the entire valley” appeared literally 

to rumble through the mineral district. 

With the value of red ore established 

and the discovery that coke could be 

made from locally-mined coal, the rise 

of Birmingham as a manufacturing center 

appeared assured. 

Beginning with the rebuilding of 

Oxmoor in 1872, 24 new furnaces 

would go into blast in Jefferson County 

through 1890. 

The old Hawkins place was purchased 

by the Pioneer Mining & Manufacturing 

Company of Pennsylvania representing 

the Thomas iron-making family for $4 

an acre. The purchase, coming during 

the boom period of 1887, was made 

through the DeBardeleben and Aldrich 

interests who had acquired it when 

Hawkins died. On the property the company 

built the first of its three blast furnaces 

in 1888, the second in 1890 and 

the third in 1902. 43 

Hawkins, who died in 1875, and his 

wife, who died in 1878, were buried in 

the Hawkins cemetery on the property. 

Some of the plantation’s slaves were also 

interred here. About 1970, the old 

Hawkins tombstones were moved to the 

Elyton Cemetery (1821) located at 425 

Second Avenue, North. 

At the war’s end, the Alabama iron 

industry was in shambles. Except for the 

works of Hale & Murdock, off the line 

of march in Lamar County, Wilson’s cavalry 

had torched every blast furnace and 

rolling mill in the state. 

✧ 

The scythe in the oak tree at the old 

Green House in Elyton. Legend has it 

that it was placed there by a 

Confederate soldier to remain until 

he returned. He never came back. 

The tree was cut down to make room 

for the Elyton Village Housing. 

Project in 1939. 



CHAPTER 4 

53


54

CHAPTER 5 

R ECOVERY: T HE B IRTH OF B IRMINGHAM 

Resources, Elyton Land Company, Railroads, First Children, Growth of Birmingham, 

Courthouse Fight, Elyton Fades, Cholera Epidemic, First School, Panic of 1873, 

John Henry, Andrew Jackson Beard, Iron Boom, Suburbs, Trolley System. 

The realities of the Civil War shook many of Alabama’s investors out of their industrial 

lethargy. Although the mineral district was ripe for development, Jefferson County 

was largely isolated throughout the antebellum period by poor transportation routes 

and lack of rail facilities. At the start of the fighting Alabama’s rail system already 

lagged far behind that of other southern states and at its end what little it had was 

largely in shambles. 

The reluctance to exploit the valley’s minerals grew more out of indifference than 

ignorance. Farming interests, which had dominated the state, were none too keen on 

encouraging industry despite the pleas of Milner, Gilmer and Pratt. In a public referendum 

in 1846 Alabama voters favored macadamized roads to rails. 

The county’s untapped resources had been well documented including accounts of 

rich iron ore, coal and limestone deposits in Jones Valley. The existence of such 

resources appeared in numerous journals and reports of the pre-war years including 

Stillman’s Journal and Barnard’s Almanak in the 1830s, the writings of Sir Charles Lyell, 

an English geologist who made a study of southern mineral wealth in 1846 and 1849 

and the surveys of the state’s first geologist, Michael Toumey in 1850 and 1858. 

Lyell took particular notice of Alabama’s mineral lands predicting its coal and ore 

resources would give rise to a great industrial city. The state’s future, he said, more likely 

lay in the mineral deposits of the Appalachian Highlands than in the Black Belt farms 

100 miles to the south. 1 

There was a growing realization that if the mineral resources of Jones Valley were to 

be developed, railroads would have to be a part of it. Immediately following the war, 

railroad fever escalated with plans for new routes and work to complete older ones. 

The 1865-1866 Alabama Legislature passed a subsidy bill encouraging new rail construction 

almost before the smoke of war had cleared. 

Although the funding bill was misused by many speculators who received the subsidy 

but never built the railroads, a substantial system of rail connections was put 

together in Alabama for the first time. 

During Reconstruction (1865-1874), Alabama’s state debt quadrupled—going from 

$7 million to $29 million, most of it to companies to build railroads. 2 

In the late 1860s work resumed on the two rail lines planned in Jones Valley but 

halted by the war. By 1870 the Alabama & Chattanooga had made its ways through 

Jefferson County all the way to Tuscaloosa heading for Meridian. The South & North, 

where engineers had to blast through the mountains including the stony face of Brock’s 

Gap, finally made its way into Jones Valley in 1872. 

Here the two lines would cross in a cornfield two miles east of Elyton giving rise to 

a proposed new industrial city far different than anything Alabama had seen. Main supporters 

of the idea were investors in the railroads who courted the development of 

industry to provide revenue. 

On December 18, 1870, a group of these investors and other capitalists met at the 

offices of Montgomery banker Josiah Morris and organized the Elyton Land Company 

for the purpose of “buying land and selling lots to build a city in Jefferson County.” 

✧ 

Gray’s Atlas of Alabama, 1875. 

Birmingham was still a small suburb 

of Elyton. 

COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 

CHAPTER 5 

55

✧ 

Milner’s visionary view for the new 

city of Birmingham. He plotted 

where two railroads would cross in a 

corn field in the valley below as the 

town center. 

CHARLES NEWMANN PAINTING. COURTESY OF 

CHRISS H. DOSS. 

Among those present were James R. 

Powell, John T. Milner, Dr. Henry 

Caldwell and Judge William S. Mudd. 

Morris contributed the first $200,000. 

They met again in January 26, 1871, 

and formally transferred 4,150 acres in 

property bought in Morris’ name from the 

owners of farms east of Elyton to the new 

company. The property was purchased at 

$25 an acre, three-fourths in cash and 

one-fourth in stock ofthe company. 3 

Powell, who had made a fortune in 

the stage coach business, was unanimously 

elected president. 

Several names had been suggested for 

the new town including Morristown, 

Milnerville, Powellton and even 

Muddtown but after some debate, Powell 

is thought to have suggested it should be 

called Birmingham after the iron making 

city in England which he had recently visited. 

Morris moved the name be adopted, 

which motion passed. The new city was 

incorporated on December 19, 1871. 

Several other outlying communities 

were also later named for English 

cities, including Leeds, Cardiff, Wylam, 

and Brighton. 

The by-laws adopted by the stockholders 

includes the following: “The 

city to be built by the Elyton Land 

Company near Elyton, in the County of 

Jefferson, State of Alabama, shall be 

called “Birmingham.” 4 A brass tablet 

marks the meeting place on the side of 

Regions Bank in Montgomery at 8 

Commerce Street. 

The company was capitalized at 

$200,000 divided into 2,000 shares. 

Stockholders included Morris with 437 

shares, Powell with 360, Samuel Tate, 

360; Judge Mudd, 180; William F. 

Nabers, 180; Benjamin P. Worthington, 

133; Dr. Caldwell, 120; James N. Gilmer, 

120; Bolling Hall, 120 and Campbell 

Wallace, 120. 5 

Powell immediately opened an office 

in a small two-room section house 

which had been built by the Alabama & 

Chattanooga Railroad. It was located on 

the south side of the tracks opposite 

from where the Union Passenger Station 

would be built in 1887 at the corner of 

20th Street and Morris Avenue. 

Engineers employed by the company, 

headed by Maj. William P. Barker, took 

their surveying equipment into the corn 

field and began laying off the streets and 

blocks of Birmingham. The town site 

was surveyed on a grid with the streets 

and avenues oriented to the railroad 

tracks that ran through the center of it. 

The company had the foresight to devote 

a third of all the land it purchased for 

streets, churches and parks. 

Powell appointed Major W. J. Milner 

secretary and treasurer of the company 

in July 1871. A former employee of the 

South & North Railroad, Milner was the 

brother-in-law of Dr. Caldwell. 

Barker, who left his position as part of 

the engineering crew opening Brock’s 

Gap for the South & North Railroad, 

served as a military engineer during the 

Civil War planning fortifications for the 

Confederate defense of Vicksburg. 

To assist builders, the Elyton Land 

Company arranged for a Montgomery 

brick company to build a brick-making 

plant on lands of the company and 

agreed to purchase all the bricks it could 

turn out. In turn, the company provided 

bricks to builders at cost. 


56

Several brick works including George 

M. Figh & Bros. and W. G. Oliver made 

nearly two million bricks in their yards 

in 1871. A man named Askew also operated 

a small brick kiln in Elyton. 6 

Thompson Brick Company was located 

at Seventh Street, South and Fifth 

Avenue in 1888. 7 

The first property purchased was a 

1,115 acre tract covering much of the 

present day downtown area owned by 

stockholder William F. Nabers and his 

wife, Virginia Elizabeth (Worthington) 

for $27,875. The deed was dated March 

6, 1871. 8 Nabers held in reserve his twoacre 

house site but gave the company 

the first option to buy it if sold within 

two years. 

The rambling Nabers’ house was 

located in a wooded park-like setting 

absent of crops called “the Nabers’ 

Grove” located in a square block 

between Sixteenth and Seventeenth 

Streets, South and Avenues D and E. 

On the Nabers site the city built an 

amusement park called “the Crystal 

Palace” in 1875 on the eastern edge of 

the property on Seventeenth Street near 

Avenue D. A large pavilion-like 

structure 125 feet in length by 100 feet 

wide with no sides, it had a bandstand 

and speaker’s platform in the middle. 

Events held here included political 

rallies, picnics, barbeques, skating 

parties, dances and band concerts. The 

“Palace”, named for the Crystal Palace 

in London, was a popular attraction for 

young people, a twenty-minute buggy 

ride from downtown. It was especially 

filled on Sunday afternoons and was the 

first place in Birmingham where soda 

water was available. 9 

The attraction, which was rivaled by 

Lakeview Park, closed in 1886. 

Another property owned by Nabers, 

an old farm structure, was the first 

building in the downtown plat area 

when the town was laid out. Used as a 

tool shed and for the planning and discussions 

of surveys, it has often been 

referred to as “the first house in 

Birmingham.” The barn-like building, 

once a slave house, was located at the 

southeast corner of First Avenue, North 

and Twenty-first Street. In 1890, Z. T. 

Partin, a blacksmith, occupied it. The 

building was torn down in 1890 to make 

room for the Steiner Bank Building at 

First Avenue, North and Twenty-first 

Street. 10 

When the city was incorporated it 

automatically picked up a number of 

older houses including the plantation 

residence of Colonel Benjamin P. 

Worthington in the Lakeview section east 

of the Nabers Farm which dated to 1858. 

Virginia Nabers was his daughter. 11 

On June 1, Powell opened the office 

for the sale of lots and the land rush was 

on. The first lot sold was on the corner 

of First Avenue and Nineteenth Street. 

Sold to Major Andrew Marre for $100, it 

measured 50 by 100 feet. 12 

On the property, Marre built the first 

brick building in the new town, a twostory 

store in partnership with J. A. Allen. 

“The name of the store was Marre & 

Allen,” according to Marre’s own story. 

“We brought to Birmingham the first 

goods offered to the public. There was 

not a house to be seen when the store was 

erected. I remember I used to pull fresh 

corn in the rear of the building while 

men were completing the structure.” 13 

Marre had actually bought what he 

thought was the first lot, somewhere in 

the vicinity of Ninth Street, in April only 

to be required to trade it for another 

“first lot” when the property was needed 

for the Alabama & Chattanooga 

Railway. The second lot was sold under 

the same circumstances to Lockett & 

Francis, which firm chose new property 

on the northwest corner of Second 

Avenue and Twentieth Street, North. 14 

The planned town center, due to railroad 

concerns, was moved from somewhere 

near today’s Ninth and Tenth 

Streets to Twentieth Street. 

Ella Cheek Hawkins, who as a child 

arrived with her family in Birmingham on 

September 29, 1871, said at the time there 

✧ 

Above: Josiah Morris, founder of 

Elyton Land Company. From 

Newcomen Society address booklet, 

Josiah Morris, 1818-1891. 

Below: Dr. Henry Caldwell, 

second president of the Elyton 

Land Company. 


CHAPTER 5 

57

✧ 

Above: W. J. Milner, secretary for the 

Elyton Land Company. 


Below: James R. Powell, stockholder 

and second mayor of Birmingham. 


were only four buildings in the little town 

before they had a house built for them on 

Fourth Avenue at Twenty-second Street, 

North, site of the old Birmingham News 

building. The only nearby water supply 

was a well located near the present site of 

Twenty-fifth Street and Second Avenue. 15 

“There was no shelter to be had for 

love or money so we camped in tents on 

Village Creek at the old Hawkins home, 

which is now Thomas Furnace,” she 

wrote in the late 1890s. 

The four structures in place were the 

Marre & Allen Grocery (First Avenue 

between Nineteenth and Twentieth 

Streets), the tool house for the Alabama 

& Chattanooga Railroad (site of the 

Steiner Building, First Avenue at 

Twenty-first Street), the Watkins residence 

(Third Avenue at Twenty-first 

Street) and Webb’s Saloon (Second 

Avenue and Twentieth Street). 

There being no established housing, 

Pat McAnnally, an engineer in the team 

laying out city streets, and his wife 

moved into a tool shed at on First Avenue 

at Twenty-third Street. Here was born, 

according to published histories, the first 

male child in Birmingham on November 

11, 1871, Richard P. McAnnally. 16 

The first girl born in Birmingham was 

Mary Ellen Morrow, daughter of Judge 

John C. and Mary Morrow, near Alice 

Furnace in the autumn of 1871. 17 Morrow, 

a former state legislator, served as Jefferson 

County probate judge from 1865 to 1884. 

Mary was the daughter of William A. 

Walker, one of Elyton’s founding fathers. 18 

The birthdates, which precede the 

actual incorporation of Birmingham by a 

few months, may refer instead to when 

the Elyton Land Company began staking 

out the city and selling lots. 

Among the first businesses to open in 

the new town were a drug store, a dry 

goods store and a tinner’s shop. 

Powell, always the promoter, recognized 

the need for hotel accommodations and 

prevailed upon Elyton Land Company 

stockholders to put up the funds to construct 

the Relay House, a thirty-room frame 

structure located on the railroad reservation 

along Nineteenth Street. It opened in 

December 1871 under the management of 

William Ketchum of Rome, Georgia. 

The building remained one of the area’s 

major hotels until torn down in 1886 to 

make room for Union Station. The hotel 

not only housed Birmingham’s first post 

office but was the location of the city’s 

first formal ball. Ketchum served as the 

first postmaster as well as the hotel 

manager. The hotel lobby featured two 

high-gilt mirrors used by Jefferson Davis 

in his Montgomery residence as president 

of the Confederacy. 19 

Marre said the land on which the 

Relay House was built was in “an area so 

dense in woods and undergrowth that a 

man could hardly get through it.” 20 

While the Marre & Allen Store may 

have been the first brick mercantile establishment, 

O. A. Johnson built a “wooded 

business house” on the northeast corner 

of Morris Avenue and Twentieth Street 

measuring 20 feet by 10 feet which reportedly 

opened while Marre’s building was 

under construction. Lumber for the building 

“had to be hauled over the mountains 

at a cost of $20 per thousand from a saw 

mill owned by Captain Pendergrast.” 21 

J. B. Webb, who purchased the southwest 

corner of Second Avenue and 20th 

Street, North for $150 in 1871, was 

given a $100 premium for building the 

first three-story brick building in the 

city. The same property in 1921 was valued 

a quarter of a million dollars. 22 

The construction of a water works 

was approved by the Elyton Land 

Company on September 25, 1872, and, 

with the work getting underway immediately, 

water was turned on in the town 

in May 1873. 23 

Fear of fires prompted city leaders to 

organize a Fire Department for which 

the Legislature approved a charter on 

March 23, 1873, with seventy-five members. 

It was incorporated under the name 

of the Pioneer Fire Department No. 1. 24 

Birmingham’s first fire had occurred 

the previous year on July 4, 1872 with 


58

✧ 

Top, left: The site of the old Morris 

Bank where Birmingham was born, 

now the Regions Bank Building in 

downtown Montgomery. 


Top, right: Morris’ original bank 

offices can be seen in this old 

photograph just to the left of 

Montgomery’s first “skyscraper”, the 

Moses Building, built in 1887. 

Morris’ building was converted into 

the Union Bank & Trust Company in 

1926 and was demolished in 1962. 

FROM SOCIETY OF PIONEERS OF ALABAMA, A HISTORY OF 

MONTGOMERY IN PICTURES. COURTESY OF THE ALABAMA 

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY. 

disastrous consequences starting on the 

second floor of a building owned by B. F. 

Cheek. There, at the southeast corner of 

Third Avenue and Twentieth Street 

North, a little girl spilled a kerosene 

lamp. The fire quickly spread downstairs 

to Birmingham’s first drugstore. There 

was little a bucket brigade could do to 

control the blaze. Drawing water from 

the well at Second Avenue and Twentyfifth 

Street North, volunteers fought gallantly, 

but there simply was not enough 

water. The building was lost as well as 

twelve nearby houses. 25 

Birmingham firemen improved their 

ability to fight fires with the arrival of the 

first fire engine on April 9, 1873. It was 

a wooden hand pumper, named “Tom 

Tate” after a past mayor pro-tem and 

young contractor who had built many of 

the homes in early Birmingham. 

Carrying stiff leather hose, it was pulled 

to fires by the men on either side who 

could maintain sixty up and down 

strokes a minute. Within a few weeks 

after arrival of the engine, Village Creek 

was serving the new water works system 

consisting of twenty-five fire hydrants. 

Almost four thousand citizens lived 

within the city limits spanning only from 

Seventh Avenue North to Seventh 

Avenue South and from Eleventh Street, 

West to Twenty-sixth Street, East. 26 

One of the city’s most devastating 

fires occurred at the Caldwell Hotel at 

First Avenue and Twenty-second Street 

in 1894 which proudly advertised itself 

as being fireproof. When a fire broke out 

in the Stowers Furniture Store, burning 

embers blew across street and ignited 

the hotel’s wooden window casements. 

By mid-morning on July 22, the hotel— 

where President Benjamin Harrison had 

dined in 1891—was an empty shell. 27 

Below: William P. Barker, chief 

engineer for the Elyton Land 

Company, laid out the streets for the 

new city of Birmingham. Several 

years later he built a house at Tenth 

Avenue, North and Twenty-ninth 

Street where this picture was taken 

about 1888 with children (from left) 

Nathaniel, Ruth, Margaret and Annie 

and standing, Frances, Hannah and 

Mary. The house was demolished 

in 1954. 

COURTESY OF GRACE BOGGS. 

CHAPTER 5 

59

✧ 

Above: The first building in the 

downtown Birmingham plat area was 

this existing farm building and tool 

shed, once used as a slave residence 

and later a blacksmith shop, on the 

Benjamin P. Worthington Plantation. 


Below: The Relay House Hotel, 1871, 

was the first hotel in Birmingham when 

built at 19th Street in 1871 along the 

tracks of the Alabama & Chattanooga 

Railroad (L&N). Birmingham’s first 

post office was located here. 


Other major fires in the city’s history 

occurred at the old City Hall in 1925 

and at Loveman’s Department Store in 

1934. The City Hall fire, at Fourth 

Avenue and Nineteenth Street, North, 

destroyed the Birmingham Public 

Library, which was located on the fourth 

floor. The Loveman’s fire was the most 

costly in city history causing more than 

$3 million in damage. 28 

While mindful of the fire dangers, 

Elyton Land Company officials turned 

their attention to gas and street railroad 

systems to keep up with the city growth. 

New citizens gobbled up the lots and 

speculators bought and sold land for a 

profit often on the same day. 

“Lots were rapidly sold and in a 

remarkably short space of time houses 

were springing up in all directions, where 

but a few months ago cotton and corn had 

been growing and where the rail fences 

were still standing,” Caldwell wrote. 29 

Powell was equally energized. In his 

report to stockholders on February 27, 

1873, he stated Birmingham’s population 

was rapidly growing. From the previous 

year when it numbered about 800 

with about 125 houses, it had increased 

to almost 4,000 with about 500 houses. 

The structures in place then also included 

125 frame stores, six churches, two 

public mills, four hotels, restaurants, a 

national bank and several manufacturing 

establishments. 30 

Predicting the growth of Birmingham 

was a certainty, The Shelby Guide wrote: 

“Every purchaser is required to build a 

first class house within six months of 

his purchase. Near the center of the city 

there is a large spring, some 20 by 40 

feet in size and can be made to supply 

the city with water at a small expense.” 31 

Col. Powell, as mayor, invited the 

Alabama Press Association to meet in 

Birmingham in 1874 so he could showcase 

the town. He also invited the New 

York Press Association, which unexpectedly 

accepted. During the visit, Abram 

H. Hewitt, a New York iron manufacturer 

who would later become mayor of 

New York City, prophetically announced, 

“The fact is plain—Alabama is to become 

the iron manufacturing center of the 

habitable globe.” 32 

The new town was displaying an 

aggressive character with Powell its 

leading cheerleader. It first grabbed 

the courthouse from Elyton and then 

suggested it might steal the state 

capitol from Montgomery. Powell 

and the Elyton Land Company developed 

Capitol Park at the head of Twentieth 

Street 33 with the very thought in mind. 

Years later the new Birmingham City Hall 

(1950) and the Jefferson County 

Courthouse (1930) would flank the site. 34 

The town grew so quickly many 

observers said it happened “just like 

magic.” Soon the nickname, the “Magic 

City”, was applied to Birmingham. 35 

The movement to move the courthouse 

from Elyton came to the dismay of many 

of the residents of the older town but 

when an election was called on the issue 

in 1873, it passed with a seven-hundredvote 

majority. 36 


60

The balloting, wrote Caldwell, was 

held under “the loose election 

laws” adopted by the Reconstruction 

Legislature which allowed a resident to 

cast his ballot anywhere in the county 

without regard to residence. Under 

these circumstances newly franchised 

“citizens of African descent” might vote 

at two or more places the same day with 

little chance of detection, he said. 

On election day, the first Monday in 

May 1873, Powell hosted a barbecue on 

✧ 

An 1888 Map of Birmingham. H. 

Schoel for the Elyton Land Company. 

COURTESY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY, 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA. 

CHAPTER 5 

61

✧ 

The deed from the Elyton Land 

Company to Mrs. Mollie Donovan for 

Lot 19, Block 45, fronting 50 feet on 

Fifth Avenue, North recorded August 

10, 1886. It is signed for the company 

by Josiah Morris, J. W. Sloss, and 

William S. Mudd. 

COURTESY OF THE HAWKINS FAMILY PAPERS. 

the lot he had selected for the new 

courthouse “on a most extensive and 

liberal scale” to feed hungry voters 

“without regard to race, color or previous 

condition of servitude.” Many 

of them had been given free railway 

excursion tickets into town to vote 

his way. 

Meeting the trains about noon, 

Powell, mounted on a calico pony with 

a drawn sword in his hand, led the 

throng from the depot to the feast. 

Someone in the crowd mentioned that 

the man on the pony was General 

Grant, “and forthwith every mother’s 

son of them was prepared to exercise 

the prerogative of a free American citizen 

by voting for Birmingham as Gen. 

Grant wanted them to. 37 

The campaign had been intense. 

During the debate, the old Elyton 

Courthouse, located at the corner 

Tuscaloosa Avenue and Center Street, 

burnt down. The opposition blamed 

Birmingham supporters for the fire. 

Determined to retain their courthouse, 

whatever the cost, Elyton merchants 

raised the money to replace it but with 

the vote going against them the community’s 

power began to wane. 38 

In its heyday, Elyton could boast of 

between 25 and 30 stores and housing 

for a big part of the area’s work force. For 

a while its businesses actually profited 

from the construction underway in 

Birmingham, but it would eventually 

lead to its diminished importance as a 

political and commercial center. 

Only twenty years after the founding 

of Birmingham, the old county 

seat had already taken on a weathered 

abandoned appearance. 

During the funeral of William A. 

Walker in 1890, a reporter for the 

Birmingham Age-Herald described the 

ragged ruins of the old court house 

near a little church where the 

mourners came. 

On every side were the remnants of 

the old town, decayed brick sidewalks, 


62

uildings that tottered from their age, 

offices with iron bars that told of their 

long ago precedence, were on every hand 

standing half traditional almost of the 

story of two scores ago. 

The strange contrast that the scene 

afforded to busy Birmingham was an 

instructive one. The death of an old 

citizen and his funeral had called 

together these who (were) associated 

with him (in) the old days. They had repeopled 

the streets of Elyton and there 

came back with the throng of early 

residents reminiscences of the days 

when it was one of the biggest towns of 

North Alabama and was the center for 

the people from a radius of 100 

miles about. 39 

Walker’s son, William A. Walker, Jr., 

became a prominent local lawyer after having 

being admitted to the bar in 1867. He 

was taken into partnership with Burwell 

Boykin Lewis in Elyton who later served in 

Congress. In 1870, Walker joined a new 

firm with Goldsmith W. Hewitt who also 

served in Congress. The Hewitt and 

Walker practice, later known as Hewitt, 

Walker & Porter, is the parent company of 

Bradley, Arant, Rose & White which is 

today Alabama’s largest law firm. 40 

moved from Huntsville fell ill. Healthy on 

his arrival, he became sick after his bed 

and bed clothing had arrived three days 

earlier. Huntsville at the time was experiencing 

a cholera outbreak of its own. 

Hardest hit was an area of black 

shanties known as the “Baconsides” 

between Eleventh and Fourteenth Streets, 

North. Ironically, the same calico pony 

Powell used to lead the parade to his outdoor 

rally for the courthouse in 

Birmingham in May, now carried a wagon 

load of bodies to Oak Hill Cemetery. 41 

Elevated on pillars and dry, the Relay 

House Hotel remained disease free. 

In fear, many left the city. The population 

dwindled almost in half and 

empty buildings became home to “bats 

and owls.” 42 The nationwide depression 

which hit full stride later in the summer 

only aggravated Birmingham’s worsening 

crisis. Property values plummeted 

and the vaunted Elyton Land Company 

barely made enough money for the next 

six years to pay interest and office 

expenses. Powell voluntarily agreed to 

serve without pay, the salary of the company 

secretary, Mr. Milner, was reduced 

and the water works superintendent 

had to raise his own income from fees 

to customers. 

✧ 

Above: William A. Walker, Elyton merchant 

during the Civil War 


Below: One of the old buildings in Elyton 

was Taylor’s Tavern. By 1920 when this 

photograph was taken, it appears to have 

been used as a residence. 

COURTESY OF THE HUNT COLLECTION, SAMFORD 

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 

THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC 

As Elyton faded, Birmingham grew 

but not without its share of turbulence. 

In 1871 upon incorporation the town 

had 2,000 inhabitants. In 1873, the population, 

now at 4,000, was hit in the 

spring by a depression followed in June 

with a cholera epidemic. 

The disease found a perfect environment 

in the poorly treated sewage and 

drinking water systems. It was assumed 

cholera was spread through the air so 

barrels of burning tar were placed in the 

streets to cleanse the area. By the end of 

the summer, the count of those who 

died from the disease stood at 128. 

The first case was reported on June 12, 

1873, when a man who had recently 

CHAPTER 5 

63

✧ 

Powell School, which opened in 1883 

at Sixth Avenue, North and Twentyfourth 

Street, was named for Mayor 

James R. Powell who donated his 

salary to help fund it. Previously 

known as the “Free School”, the land 

on which it was built was donated by 

the Elyton Land Company. 


FIRST 

SCHOOL 

After the cholera epidemic, attention 

again turned to renewing Birmingham’s 

growth potential. In October 1873, City 

Attorney John T. Terry originated the 

idea of a “free school system” for 

Birmingham. Older communities in the 

county had already established schools 

at Elyton, Carrollsville, Jonesborough, 

Pleasant Hill and Warrior and just across 

the Tuscaloosa County line at Bucksville. 

At Terry’s urging, the Elyton Land 

Company donated a lot 100 by 190 feet 

on the southwest corner of Sixth 

Avenue, North and Twenty-Fourth 

Street in Birmingham. Terry raised a 

subscription of “several thousand dollars” 

from residents while contributing 

to the project himself along with Capt. 

Linn and Mayor Powell. The mayor even 

donated his annual salary for future 

years to the project along with “fees” 

collected by his office. 43 

The city’s first bond issue, which 

totaled $3,000, was for construction of a 

brick school building which originally 

consisted of only four classrooms. Three 

more were later added. It opened March 1, 

1874, with D. C. B. Connelly as principal. 

The first teachers included Mrs. Thomas, 

Frank Grace, Felix McLaughlin, and Mary 

A. Cahalan. The building was replaced 

with a larger 15-room school house in 

1888 financed through a $50,000 bond 

issue and, on Colonel Terry’s suggestion, 

was named for Mayor Powell. Although 

no longer used for public instruction, 

Powell School stands vacant today. 44 

Powell School opened with 240 students 

and seven teachers. Concurrently, 

a school opened for black children with 

100 students and three teachers. Two 

months later two more schools, both for 

white children, opened on the city’s 

south and west sides. 45 

In 1908, grateful citizens erected a monument 

to Miss Cahalan, which still stands 

in Linn Park (Capitol Park) noting her long 

service both as a teacher and later principal 

at Powell School from 1874 to 1906. 

The first high school was the “high 

school class” at the school consisting of 

16 boys and 30 girls with one teacher 

assisted by the principal. The high school 

had three grades. In 1885 the high school 

moved into a rented building on Third 

Avenue, North and Nineteenth Street. It 

became the first in the state to be established 

as a regular coeducational high 

school with a separate building apart 

from the elementary grades. 46 

The city built a new high school building 

in 1906 between Seventh and Eighth 

Avenues and Twenty-third and Twentyfourth 

Streets which went by a series of 

names. It was first known as “Birmingham 

High School” from 1906 to 1912, in 1913 

simply referred to as “the High School” 

and in 1914 as “Central High School.” 47 

The building burned in 1918 and was 

replaced on the same lot by Phillips High 

School in 1923. In the meantime, high 


64

school classes were temporarily housed in 

the old Paul Hayne School on Twentieth 

Street, South at Avenue E. 

The site on which the high school sat 

was once the location of the old Terry 

house. Phillips closed in 2001. 

HARD TIMES & RECOVERY 

Although the city made strides in public 

education, its economy suffered. 

As a depression worsened, Powell’s 

leadership in the Elyton Land Company 

came into question. In March 1875, he 

resigned and was succeeded by Dr. H. M. 

Caldwell. The company debt now stood 

at $70,000. No dividends were paid subscribers 

until 1883. 

Desperate to turn things around, the 

company began donating land for the 

development of new industry including 

twenty acres in 1879 to T. T. Hillman and 

Henry F. DeBardeleben on which to build 

the Alice Furnace. It became the first furnace 

to be located in the city limits the 

next year. 48 During the same year work 

on the Birmingham Rolling Mill also 

commenced and, with the national 

depression at an end, investments in iron 

industries increased. 

Elyton Land Company sales jumped 

from $69,448 in 1880 to $355,817 in 1883. 

During the same time period, the average 

cost per lot in Birmingham jumped 

from $260 to $905. At the annual stockholders 

meeting in January 1883, Caldwell 

announced the company was out of debt. 49 

During the same year, dividends of 

$200,000 were paid to stockholders. 

The company also erected a new building 

to house its offices on the corner of 

Twentieth Street and Morris Avenue. 

The Georgia Pacific Railroad was 

completed from Atlanta to Birmingham 

also in 1883 and work began in 1884 on 

the Highland Avenue trolley to help turn 

what had been an inaccessible wilderness 

into prime residential property. 

Extensive improvements were begun as 

well in the Lakeview Park area. 

JOHN 

HENRY 

It was during construction of the 

Georgia Pacific, then known as the 

Columbus & Western, that John Henry 

became a folk legend at the Big Oak Tunnel 

(possibly the nearby Coosa Tunnel) near 

Leeds about fifteen miles east of 

Birmingham. Henry, an ex-slave from 

✧ 

Paul Hayne School, which opened as 

an elementary school on the 

Southside in 1883, served many 

educational purposes over the years 

including use as a vocational school 

before closing in 1952. The ornate 

structure was demolished in 1955. 


CHAPTER 5 

65

✧ 

The Elyton Land Company erected 

this new building for its 

headquarters in 1883 at the corner 

of Twentieth Street, North and 

Morris Avenue. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM-JEFFERSON 

HISTORY MUSEUM. 

Holly Springs, Mississippi, was a steel driver 

employed by the railroad to drill holes 

for explosives used to blast tunnels. Steel 

drivers hit a drill bit with a sledge hammer 

while a worker known as a shaker gave the 

drill a turn to shake off debris. Either man 

would sometimes sing to keep time. 50 

According to the song, John Henry was 

involved in a contest with a steam-powered 

drill that its manufacturers claimed 

could do the job faster than a man. The 

song relates how John Henry won the contest 

but died from exhaustion, supposedly 

with his hammer in his hands. 

John Garst, a former University of 

Georgia professor and folklore 

researcher, puts the date of the event at 

September 20, 1887, at the tunnel located 

near Dunnavant just outside town. 51 

The railroad, which was constructed 

between 1882 and 1889, was extended 

to Greenville, Mississippi. 

While many former slaves were 

employed in lower level mill jobs, others 

excelled including Andrew Jackson 

Beard, reputed to be Birmingham’s first 

black millionaire. 

Beard, who turned money received 

from his inventions into a lucrative real 

estate trade, held patents for new plow 

designs (1881 and 1887), a rotary engine 

(1892) and an automatic coupling device 

for railroad cars known as the Jenny coupler 

(1897). The device did the dangerous 

job of hooking railroad cars together 

and probably saved countless lives and 

limbs. He received $50,000 for the patent 

rights, a considerable sum at the time. 

Beard, however, lost most of his fortune 

and died in the Jefferson County Alms 

House in 1921. He is buried in an 

unmarked grave in Woodlawn Cemetery. 52 

In the early summer of 1884 

Birmingham, like the rest of the 

nation, was hit by another depression with 

the failure of several New York financial 

houses but recovery came in the latter part 

of 1885. Iron companies in Birmingham 

kept busy during the turndown. 

“This test through which the iron 

industries of Birmingham have just 

passed has at least done one thing,” 

Caldwell told stockholders at the annual 

meeting in January 1886. “It has 


66

convinced the world that the claim we 

have set up, of being the cheapest iron 

producing district in the country, is not 

simply an idle boast. Birmingham is at 

this time attracting the attention of 

almost the entire civilized world, her 

wonderful growth and matchless development 

is noted in every land.” 53 

By 1884 total sales by the Elyton Land 

Company reached $373,227 and dividends 

paid amounted to a 95-percent 

return on capital stock. 54 

As the city grew, so did the demand 

for an adequate water supply. To meet 

these needs, the water works purchased 

the property at the headwaters of Five 

Mile Creek and set up works to pump 

water to the city reservoir in North 

Birmingham. The system was purchased 

in 1885 by the Elyton Land Company 

and the next year the company began 

drilling wells to supplement the supply. 

Despite protests of property owners 

and a saw mill downstream, four million 

gallons of water were diverted each day 

to the pumping station. 

The same year, Birmingham Gas 

Light Company bought out a fledgling 

electric generating plant being built 

by land company investors at the urging 

of the Thompson-Houston Electric 

Company of Cincinnati which later 

grew into General Electric. For the first 

time in its history, Birmingham was illuminated 

by electricity. 

While Elyton company stockholders 

were busy promoting utilities, they also 

worked to bring in new industries to use 

the services. Of the original 4,000 acres 

purchased, 2,000 were given to various 

industrial enterprises. 

Between 1880 and 1886 six blast furnaces 

were built along First Avenue, 

North in Birmingham. In rapid order, 

iron furnaces roared to life, first the Alice 

Furnace in 1880 followed by the Sloss 

City Furnace in 1882 and Mary Pratt 

Furnace, Alice No. 2, and Sloss City No. 

2, all in 1883. 55 

In 1885 the construction of new iron 

works continued with the building of 

the Williamson Furnace which went 

into blast the next year just south of 

First Avenue, North at Fourteenth 

Street. Further west, the Woodward Iron 

Company also erected two furnaces near 

old Jonesborough in 1883 and 1887. 

While investing or trading stock for 

new works in Birmingham, the Elyton 

Land Company also invested over $1 

million in cash in various enterprises for 

the improvement and benefit of the 

✧ 

Elyton Land Company Stock 

Certificate No. 582, un-issued. The 

stock was privately held. In 

December 1882 it sold for $350 per 

share but by spring, 1887, it had 

risen to $4,000 per share. 



CHAPTER 5 

67

town. Birmingham, whose population at 

incorporation was just 800, grew in 15 

years to about 20,000 and was attracting 

new citizens from all over the South 

seeking to make fortunes in construction 

and land speculation. At times, purchasers 

of Elyton Land Company property 

would rush into the streets to resell 

it at a profit even before their bond for 

title could be executed. 56 

At Christmas, 1886, the Elyton Land 

Company declared a 100-percent dividend 

on investment, which added to earlier 

payments made during the year, 

amounted to a 340-percent rate of return. 

Company sales totaled $4,866,955, more 

than quadruple any previous year’s business. 

An additional $1.3-million dividend 

was paid on water company stock. 57 

“As the city has prospered so have 

you prospered,” Caldwell wrote in his 

report to stock holders in 1887, “and 

today Birmingham is the most prosperous 

city and the Elyton Land Company 

the most powerful corporation financially 

in the South.” 58 

Suddenly, almost as quickly as it had 

begun, property sales subsided in the 

spring of 1887, some real estate speculators 

headed out of town, others sold for 

greatly reduced prices. Still the city had 

an air of vibrancy. 

While Birmingham flourished, 

attempts to establish other towns in 

Jones Valley got underway, three of them 

in the mineral rich region to the south 

and southwest. 

ENSLEY 

Ensley was founded in 1886 by 

Memphis entrepreneur Enoch Ensley as a 

new industrial city directly adjacent to the 

Pratt coal seam. Two years earlier he had 

purchased the Pratt Coal & Coke 

Company from Henry F. DeBardeleben in 

the state’s first million dollar business 

deal. Through a series of acquisitions, he 

owned vast mineral lands and coke works 

to which he added the Alice Furnace and 

the Linn Iron Company in Birmingham 

and the Sheffield Furnace in Colbert 

County, further solidifying his hold on 

iron producing properties in Alabama. 

The name of the consolidated company 

was the Pratt Coal & Iron Company. 59 

Investing heavily in the project, 

Ensley soon attracted the interest of the 

Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad 

Company (TCI), which bought a controlling 

interest in the iron making 

enterprise. Those negotiations involved 

Col. Alfred Montgomery Shook, former 

general manager of the Tennessee 

✧ 

Alice Furnace, 1880, first furnace 

built in Birmingham; located on 

First Avenue, North, just west of 

Fourteenth Street near the later site 

of Sears Roebuck. 

COURTESY OF THE POST CARD EXCHANGE, 



68

Company and T. T. Hillman, who had 

lost control of the Alice Furnace when it 

was added to Ensley’s budding empire. 60 

Transfer of ownership to TCI came on 

December 28, 1886, when the company 

purchased an option Shook and Hillman 

had secured. While Ensley was made 

president of the expanded company, 

Hillman became vice president. 

The company now listed among its 

holdings outside Tennessee 76,000 acres 

of coal lands, 460 coke ovens, two blast 

furnaces (Oxmoor and Alice) and 

almost 13,000 acres of land containing 

seven and a half miles along the outcrop 

of the Red Mountain iron ore seam. 61 

TCI erected four new 200-ton blast 

furnaces which were in operation by 

April 1889, the largest such grouping in 

the world. It was here that TCI pioneered 

the open-hearth process of making 

steel in the Birmingham District. By 

1906 two more blast furnaces were completed 

and a record 400,000 tons of steel 

were produced in a single year. 62 

TCI was among the original twelve 

stocks listed in the Dow Jones Industrial 

Average when created in 1896 to gauge 

America’s new industrial economy. 63 

Ensley envisioned his namesake town 

to rival Birmingham in size. The city, 

however, was annexed into Birmingham 

in 1910. 

As TCI moved from production of 

wrought iron rails to steel track in 1898 

with the creation of a new subsidiary, the 

Alabama Steel & Shipbuilding Company, 

it built an open hearth plant at Ensley 

capable of producing one thousand tons 

of steel per day. The first heat of steel was 

tapped on Thanksgiving Day, 1899. 

The success of the operation made 

the Birmingham District a national competitor 

and TCI the largest iron and steel 

manufacturer in Alabama. 

Shortly after the Civil War, TCI had 

become the leading coal and iron 

operation in Tennessee as well through 

some consolidating of its own. It bought 

the Southern States Coal, Iron & Land 

Company in 1882 expanding its operation 

to include extensive coal mines in Tracy 

City, blast furnaces at South Pittsburgh 

and Cowan and rail lines to nearby ore 

and coal properties. TCI had come into 

being in 1860 as a reorganization of the 

Sewanee Mining Company. 

The Southern States company, organized 

through an English syndicate at 

Stockton-on-Tees, had come to the 

Sequatchie Valley near Chattanooga to 

open coal mines, make coke and produce 

iron, which it did by building an 

iron furnace in South Pittsburgh just 

north of the Alabama line. Its organizers 

included three Quakers—Thomas 

Whitwell, an ironmaster; James Bowron, 

Sr., a glass manufacturer; and his son, 

James Bowron, Jr. 64 

While the Bowrons came to 

Tennessee, Whitwell remained in 

England. When the elder Bowron died 

in 1877, his son took over the company. 

Whitwell, who offered encouragement 

from abroad, died in an ironworks gas 

explosion in 1878. 

Facing economic difficulties, the 

company holdings at South Pittsburgh 

were purchased in 1882 by the 

Tennessee Coal & Iron Company, which 

was already operating nearby in 

Tracy City and Sewanee. When his 

company was acquired, Bowron became 

a part of the TCI administration as 

✧ 

Memphis entrepreneur Enoch Ensley 

founded the new industrial town of 

Ensley in 1886 and opened furnaces 

at the site beginning in 1889. 

COURTESY OF THE U.S. STEEL CORPORATION 

CHAPTER 5 

69

✧ 

Henry DeBardeleben founded the 

town of Bessemer in 1886. 

COURTESY OF THE DEBARDELEBEN FAMILY ARCHIVES. 

secretary and treasurer and eventually as 

vice president. 65 

Bowron would later become one of 

Birmingham’s most prominent citizens 

after TCI moved its headquarters from 

Nashville to Alabama in 1895. He also 

figured prominently in the company’s 

shift to steel making. 

Convincing the TCI management to 

invest in a new steel making venture in 

Birmingham was not an easy matter. At 

first, the board resisted. Only when 

Milton H. Smith of the L&N Railroad 

sounded a warning of economic disaster 

for Birmingham and the rail line did 

TCI reconsider. Smith, who had become 

president of L&N in 1884, threatened at 

one point to find another steelmaker to 

enter the Birmingham market. 66 

Even then the local managers, with 

Bowron in the lead, had to put up 

personal funds to help underwrite the 

new plant. The mill was eventually 

capitalized at $1.1 million including a 

$200,000 subscription from the L&N 

and another $200,000 from the 

Southern Railway. Local subscribers 

were required to put up an additional 

$150,000 with Bowron investing 

$25,000. In this endeavor, he was 

assisted by George B. McCormack, a 

close Shook associate. 67 

Unlike many other industrialists of 

the day, Bowron involved himself in 

civic affairs becoming an avid promoter 

of music and the arts. He also lent his 

support to the Mendelssohn Society and 

the YMCA. After leaving TCI in 1900, 

he became an investor in the Dimmick 

Pipe Company. 68 

Like Bowron, another of the early 

TCI executives who helped shaped 

Birmingham was Col. Shook, who had at 

various times held key leadership positions 

in the company. Shook, as general 

manager in the late 1870s, built the 

Fiery Gizzard, an experimental blast furnace 

in Tracy City, to test the suitability 

of coke produced in the area for reducing 

iron ore. Shook, later during a period 

of separation with the company, built 

several blast furnaces in Chattanooga to 

test whether pig iron produced in 

southern furnaces could be converted 

to steel using the open hearth process. 

Both experiments influenced the 

development of the steel industry 

in Birmingham. 69 

After TCI bought Ensley’s Pratt coal 

mines and furnaces in Birmingham, a 

deal Shook helped broker, he returned 

to the company as vice president and 

helped guide the development of the 

steel industry in Alabama. 

Meanwhile, Ensley, who was serving 

as titular head of the company, saw his 

real estate hopes dashed by the on-going 

depression, resigned the TCI presidency 

in 1887 and sold his properties in and 

around Birmingham to concentrate on 

making iron in Sheffield. 

OTHER 

SUBURBS 

About the same time as Ensley was 

promoting “Ensley City”, Emil Lesser, a 

German Jew and local restaurateur, 

established a “cooperative town” known 

as Powderly, near old Carrollsville. In 

December, 1886, along with N. 

Lowenthal and L. N. Schmid, he formed 

the Mutual Land and Improvement 

Company to build the community for 

members of the Knights of Labor, 

Birmingham’s first labor organization. 70 


70

Acquiring 37 acres of land for 

$9,000, they laid plans for the town and 

named it in honor of Terrence V. 

Powderly, the Knights’ Grand Master 

Workman (1879-1893). The town contained 

175 lots, each 50 by 120 feet. 

Homes valued at $700 were sold to 

Knights for $350 each. 

Within the first six months, 15 homes 

were built and 30 more contracted. The 

Knights also located in the new town a 

cigar works capitalized at $10,000. By 

the next year, Powderly attracted still 

more houses, a general store, depot, post 

office, school and a union hall. 71 

So successful were the Knights the 

organization undertook funding a second 

town called Trevelick, named for 

Richard Trevelick, the Knights’ general 

lecturer. Although it briefly flourished, 

the effort eventually failed. 

Powderly existed for many years, 

sometimes facing disappointments. It 

lost its cigar factory and was never able 

to attract a steel mill which town fathers 

had sought. The city was annexed into 

Birmingham in 1951. 

Bessemer was founded in 1886 by 

iron and steel magnate Henry F. 

DeBardeleben whose dream, like 

Ensley’s, was to make his town a steel 

center that would attract companies and 

people from all over the United States. 

He founded the Bessemer Land and 

Improvement Company to facilitate his 

vision. In 1887 DeBardeleben bought 

four thousand acres of land and marked 

off blocks along the tracks of the 

Alabama Great Southern Railway. 72 

DeBardeleben, who located four new 

blast furnaces at Bessemer and 

Robertstown, believed that the town’s 

name should reflect an economy on 

which it was built. He named the community 

“Bessemer” in honor of Sir 

Henry Bessemer who invented the openhearth 

method of making steel. In April 

1887 the first commercial lots were sold 

and the town began to take shape. Its 

growth was so phenomenal it was nicknamed 

the “Marvel City”. The 1880 census 

ranked Bessemer’s population as the 

eighth largest in the state. 

The over-the-mountain suburb of 

Homewood had its beginning with the 

merger of three residential communities, 

Rosedale, Edgewood and Grove Park in 

1927. Rosedale was developed by 

Benjamin F. Roden who formed the 

Clifton Land Company in 1886. A florist 

and nurseryman from Bedford, New York, 

Theodore Smith, moved his business and 

residence here in the 1880s which he 

called “Rosedale Park.” Smith sold 

residential lots to his workers and the 

community soon became one of the 

largest over-the-mountain black 

neighborhoods. Among the new residents 

was Damon Lee from Eufaula. The Lee 

Family, including his son, Afton Lee, took 

a prominent role in the affairs of the 

Rosedale community well into the 

twenty-first century. 73 

The land upon which the town of 

Edgewood was built was originally settled 

by Nathan Byars, Jr. in 1836 followed 

by William D. Satterwhite and 

Philip Thomas Griffin in the 1850s. By 

1909 real estate developers Stephen 

Smith and Troupe Brazelton purchased 

1,700 acres in the name of the 

Edgewood Highlands Land Company 

and began several developments including 

the Edgewood Country Club and 

Edgewood Lake. The town’s first mayor 

was Hartley T. Brownell. 74 CHAPTER 5 

✧ 

A portrait of James Bowron, Jr. 

COURTESY OF WILLIAM A. BOWRON. 

71

The town of Hollywood, developed 

partly with a Spanish style residential 

influence by Clyde Nelson, was annexed 

to Homewood in 1929. Its one and only 

mayor was Clarence Lloyd who also 

owned the first house in the town on 

Bonita Drive. The old town hall, now 

the American Legion Post 134, still 

stands on Hollywood Boulevard near 

Independence Drive. 75 

Mountain Brook was originally planned 

in 1929 by local developer Robert Jemison, 

Jr., as an upscale residential subdivision. 

The plans, by Boston-based landscape 

architect Warren H. Manning, called for 

estate-sized lots along winding scenic 

roads and denser commercial areas centering 

on three villages called “English 

Village”, “Mountain Brook Village” and 

“Crestline Village.” The city was incorporated 

in 1942 and became the first city in 

Alabama to operate under the councilmanager 

form of government. 

Vestavia Hills also originated in the 

1920s further south along the Birmingham 

to Montgomery highway but was not 

incorporated until 1950. Hoover, now 

Jefferson County’s second largest city, 

developed even further out down U.S. 31 

becoming incorporated in 1967. 

While the suburbs began to take shape, 

Birmingham’s steel industry continued to 

expand including foundry and finishing 

operations, among them the Birmingham 

Foundry and Car Manufacturing 

Company founded in 1877 and the 

Birmingham Rolling Mill in 1885. The 

Birmingham Foundry was the work of a 

retired Swedish sea captain named Charles 

Linn who had acquired machinery from 

the defunct Irondale Furnace which closed 

four years earlier. Linn’s mill became 

known as the Linn Iron Works. The 

Birmingham Rolling Mill, a partnership of 

Henry F. DeBardeleben, W. H. Caldwell, Jr., 

and Thomas C. Ward of Louisville, 

Kentucky, was built near Alice Furnace. 

These plants processed pig iron produced 

by Birmingham blast furnaces into 

rods, bars and sheets and quickly became 

some of the city’s largest employers. 

By the end of the century, Jefferson 

County could lay claim to 28 blast furnaces 

and a population of 140,420. Of 

that total 38,415 lived in Birmingham, a 

city not yet 30 years old. 76 

In the final decades of the nineteenth 

century, the American iron industry witnessed 

its greatest era of growth. Between 

1880 and 1890, Alabama’s pig iron production 

increased ten times over. In 1880 

the state turned out 68,919 tons. By 1890 

the figure had risen to 816,911 tons from 

39 furnaces, most of them in the 

✧ 

A view of Nineteenth Street from 

Second Avenue in Bessemer in the 

early 1900s. 

COURTESY OF THE BESSEMER HALL OF HISTORY. 


72

Birmingham District. Coal and iron ore 

mining experienced the same phenomenal 

growth. By 1890, Alabama mines produced 

four million tons of coal and 1.5 

million tons of iron ore. 77 

When Morris died in 1891, the Elyton 

Land Company lost its first champion. 

Mourning his passing on March 9, the 

company passed a resolution on June 4, 

drafted by officers Daniel S. Troy, James T. 

Woodward and John T. Milner, stating that 

Morris was “the leading mind in its management” 

and that “no single man is entitled 

to more credit” for its success. The 

memorial statement concluded: “…the 

stockholders of this company recognize in 

Mr. Morris the true founder of this 

Company and the City of Birmingham.” 78 

His obituary in the Birmingham Age- 

Herald called Morris “the best known 

banker in Alabama and probably the 

state’s richest citizen…The dead millionaire’s 

position in Montgomery and 

Alabama was unique and there is no 

man left to fill it.” 79 

During his career, he founded the City 

Bank in 1880 which in 1884 combined 

with the National Bank of Birmingham to 

become the First National Bank of 

Birmingham, later AmSouth. He also 

founded the Birmingham Savings and 

Trust Company in 1887, which later 

became SouthTrust. Further, Morris 

served as president of the Mobile & 

Montgomery Railroad, was a director of 

the South & North Railroad and was an 

original stockholder in the Capital City 

Street Railway Company in Montgomery. 

He also built the Morris Hotel in 

Birmingham and the famous “Morris 

Block” in the city. Morris Avenue in 

downtown Birmingham is named for him. 

ETHNIC 

GROUPS 

Most early immigrants to 

Birmingham were native Alabamians, 

black and white, many drawn here by 

iron and steel industries. Others came 

from Tennessee and Georgia and a scattering 

of northern states. Citizens from 

other countries accounted for only 

about eight percent of the population in 

the early 1890s. While there were only 

31 foreigners in all of Jefferson County 

in 1870, there were over 5,000 in the 

Birmingham district by 1890. 

The largest group was made up of 

Germans, most of whom came in the 

1880s. Unlike some groups of foreigners, 

they displayed no specific occupational 

trade but quickly became involved in political, 

economic and cultural affairs. The 

most important organizations that tied the 

community together were the Turn-Verein, 

the German Society, and the German 

Political Union. The Concordia (German) 

Society was formed May 1, 1886, by a 

group of men who were either from 

Germany or of German descent. Its purpose 

was to “cultivate sociability, enjoyment 

and singing, as well as German customs.” 

Several German newspapers were 

also published here including the 

Birmingham Courier, edited by Emil Lesser, 

which flourished from 1892 to 1910. 80 

The second largest group of immigrants, 

the Italians, arrived in large 

numbers in the 1900s although some 

came in the 1880s and ’90s as strike 

breakers. Their presence in labor disputes 

not only involved shootings and 

fights but many were paid less than 

other workers, including Negroes. 

✧ 

Edgewood Boulevard in Homewood 

under construction in 1909-1911, 

probably between Oxmoor Road and 

Roseland Drive. 


CHAPTER 5 

73

✧ 

Greek immigrant Alex Kontos, third 

from left, began business as a fruit 

peddler before becoming the 

“Banana King” of Birmingham. He 

is shown here on Morris Avenue in 

front of the Riverside Café near the 

Morris Hotel. 


Primary occupations of Italians in early 

Birmingham were coal mining and store 

keeping, often in Negro districts or on 

their outskirts. Family members, including 

grocers, ran their stores on the street level 

and lived upstairs. Memories of the old 

country were kept alive with parades and 

picnics sponsored by the Italian Society. 

Italian families tended to live together 

more than other ethnic groups. The 

largest single concentration was a twenty-block 

area in Ensley known as “Little 

Italy.” Others lived in Thomas, Pratt City 

and Bessemer, usually around industrial 

areas. Some of these immigrants were 

accomplished brick layers employed in 

the building of hundreds of beehive coke 

ovens in the Birmingham District. 81 

By 1930, Italians owned over three hundred 

grocery stores in the Birmingham area. 82 

Among prominent ice cream makers 

was the Schilleci family which had operated 

the Superior Ice Cream Company in 

Bessemer since the turn of the century. 

Also present were Irish workers who 

formed societies such as the Hibernian 

and Democratic Clubs, celebrated St. 

Patrick’s Day with festivals and protested 

actions of the British Parliament. In 1877, 

Mayor A. O. Lane presided over a rally at 

O’Brien’s Opera House to protest the Irish 

coercion bill in the House of Commons. 83 

There were also smaller groups of 

French and Welsh immigrants who 

worked in the mines. 

While Greeks dominated street fruit 

stands, the few Chinese in the area looked 

after traditional laundry enterprises and 

Syrians, fifty of whom were identified as 

living here in the 1902, were listed as jewelry 

peddlers. 84 In 1900, Birmingham had 

about a hundred Greek immigrants, one 

of the largest in the South. Their numbers 

jumped to 302 in 1910 and to 425 in 

1920. Many of them lived in Ensley, 

Norwood and on the Southside. Some of 

the city’s most popular restaurants were 

operated by Greek businessmen, which 

practice continues today. 

Czechs, Russians and other eastern 

European residents responded to efforts 

by the Sloss company to find workers for 

its west Jefferson County coal mining 

operations. Brookside became the home 

for many such immigrants and their 

families. The culture of the town reflected 

their ethnic traditions. A Russian 

Orthodox church was founded here 

and served to strengthen community 

ties. It was one of the first Russian 

Orthodox churches built south of the 

Mason-Dixon Line. 

THE TROLLEY SYSTEM 

The rapid growth of Birmingham 

from 1880 and 1890 encouraged the 

development of a public transportation 

system that would not only serve the 

central city but outlying areas which 

grew up as mining communities. 

Horse railways which served the more 

concentrated big cities in the East were 

unsuited for such long distances and 

lengthy cable railways were too expensive. 

The answer came with steam 

dummy. The idea of powering light rail 

cars with steam engines seemed ideally 

suited for Birmingham and the city 

became the largest operator of surface 

dummy lines in the United States. 85 

More than a dozen companies served 

Birmingham during the formative years, 


74

some using horse power in downtown 

areas and others steam power to reach 

outlying towns. The first horse car ran 

on city streets on January 24, 1884, 

while steam dummies began service on 

May 25, 1885. 

Birmingham Street Railway Company, 

the oldest horse car line, opened its first 

route from downtown to Avondale, then 

added another known as North and 

South Highlands which ran down 

Twentieth Street to Highland Avenue. 

Early rail cars were built locally at a 

blacksmith shop on Twentieth Street 

between Third and Fourth Avenues. This 

was probably the shop of R. N. Warner. 

Although referred to as horse cars, 

motive power was provided exclusively 

by mules. 

The first steam trolley was placed into 

service by the Highland Avenue & Belt 

Railroad Company, which operated both 

passenger and freight lines for the Elyton 

Land Company. Its passenger route not 

only took workers and shoppers 

downtown but made a stop at Lakeview 

Park, one of the city’s first amusement 

parks and present day site of Highland 

Park Golf Course. By June 1886, the 

company had all its services in operation 

including the freight line which took 

products from regular railroads to 

warehouses on the Southside. 86 

In 1888 the price of a roundtrip 

ticket on the Bessemer Dummy Line 

from Bessemer to Birmingham was 

forty cents. 

More than a dozen such companies 

served Birmingham in its formative years 

but were later all merged into the 

Birmingham Railway & Electric 

Company which, organized in 1890, 

gave the city its first regular electrified 

rail service on October 10 on the 

Highlands line. While conversion to 

electric power continued, a competing 

company, the Birmingham Traction 

Company, sprang to life and ran lines to 

Gate City and North Birmingham. These 

two companies were merged into the 

Birmingham Railway, Light & Power 

Company in 1898 along with the city’s 

light and gas utilities. 87 

By 1900, Birmingham had more than 

100 miles of track in place and trolley 

lines carried over 10 million passengers 

for the year making it one of the South’s 

most vibrant systems. The tracks, larger 

than in most cities, were built to also 

carry freight if necessary. 88 CHAPTER 5 

✧ 

North Highland Streetcar, end of the 

line at Fifteenth Avenue South near 

former Phoenix Club, c. 1910. 

COVELL PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF THE 

WALDROP-GRIFFIN COLLECTION. 

75


76

CHAPTER 6 

G AY N INETIES, THE N EW C ENTURY 

Gay Nineties, the Southern Club, Birmingham Athletic Club, 

Turn of the Century, Hotels, Saloons, High Rises, Entertainment, 

Oak Hill Cemetery, Churches, New Construction, Department Stores 

Birmingham in the Gay Nineties had transformed itself into a cosmopolitan city. 

While in the previous decade Birmingham’s wealthier citizens had little time for 

leisure, lifestyles changed. Fine homes extended from North Birmingham to the 

fashionable South Highlands. 

Social clubs and debutante parties became the rage. 

Before the Caldwell Hotel burned in 1894, the Fortnight, Monogram and Kosmos 

Clubs tried to outdo each other in dances at the hotel’s ballroom. The German Turn- 

Verein Society made Birmingham into a Mardi Gras town from 1896 to 1901. 1 

The social club movement was begun by formation of the Shakespeare Club, a group 

of professionals, which evolved in 1887 into the Alabama Club. Another group known as 

the Racket Club formed in 1883 which evolved into the Kosmos (Cosmos) Club in 1891. 2 

Soon thereafter, a number of dance clubs began to organize including the Friday 

Night Club. The Rioalto Club catered to dinner parties. 

SOUTHERN 

CLUB 

In 1891-1892, several of the groups, including the Alabama and Kosmos Clubs, 

joined together to form the Southern Club, membership in which became the city’s 

leading measuring stick for society. The club purchased the former home of Charles 

Linn, Jr., on Fifth Avenue, North at Twentieth Street. John McQueen was its first 

president. In 1901 the Linn house was torn down and replaced with a three-story club 

building complete with a ballroom, lounge and billiards room. Here a number of major 

social events were held including the Mardi Gras and Gypsy Balls. 3 

Among the leading dance bands of the era was one directed by Fred L. Grambs who played 

cornet and led several musical organizations. The Grambs’ Military Band made a recording 

during the mid-1890s with the Alabama Phonograph and Graphophone Company. 

The Southern Club building, which later became home to the Red Cross, was torn down 

in 1968 to make way for the new AmSouth-Sonat Tower (Regions Center). Birmingham 

also had a number of music clubs and literary societies including the Mendelssohn Club 

which dates to 1887. Grambs led the club’s mixed chorus until he was succeeded by A. M. 

Burbank, director of the Orpheus Society of Bessemer, in 1890. A rival choral organization 

was the Apollo Club. 

✧ 

A bird’s-eye view from the Morris 

Hotel on First Avenue looking east, 

First National Bank, also known as 

Linn’s Folly, in foreground, and the 

Caldwell Hotel in the distance. 


BIRMINGHAM ATHLETIC CLUB 

The Birmingham Athletic Club, which sponsored a number of sporting events, also 

had great public appeal. Formed in 1886, its first president was Joseph P. Ross, a former 

rugby player from Ireland. The club first rented a group of rooms above a store on 

Powell Avenue at Twentieth Street. Among its charter members were Ross, Albert J. 

Morton, J. D. Kirkpatrick, Henry Underwood, Victor Martin and A. M. Chum. 4 

The B.A.C. provided facilities for various sporting activities and fielded a variety of 

teams including football, basketball and track. In 1901 the club began a capital campaign 

CHAPTER 6 

77

✧ 

Above: A little instruction is offered 

by R. H. Baugh (left), golf pro at 

Birmingham Country Club, to Col. E. 

M. Tutwiler, when the club operated 

at its old location in Lakeview. 

HUNT PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF THE BRANTLEY 

COLLECTION, SAMFORD UNIVERSITY. 

Below: Southern and Birmingham 

Athletic Clubs and YMCA, 1908. 

This view is from Fifth Avenue North 

and Twentieth Street. 

COURTESY OF ISIDORE NEWMAN, BIRMINGHAM 


and claimed a membership of over 650. 

When it moved into a new building of its 

own along Twentieth Street next to the 

Southern Club in 1903, the block became 

one of the city’s most exclusive corners. 

By 1914 club membership had grown 

to 850 and plans were underway, led by its 

new president, Edward L. Anderson, to 

build a 10-story building to be “the most 

modern sports and social center in the 

South”. The plans, delayed by World War 

I, were reactivated in 1924 under the leadership 

of Herbert Cobbs, assistant pay 

master at TCI. A year later, the new tenstory 

downtown B.A.C. center was built at 

the corner of Third Avenue, North and 

Twenty-third Street, complete with apartments 

for members who desired them. 

The old B.A.C. building was taken over 

by the Ku Klux Klan in 1926. Interestingly, 

the Klan for a time had its headquarters on 

the same block as the prestigious Southern 

Club and next door to the YMCA. 5 

The expanded building campaign 

crippled the B.A.C financially and Cobbs 

committed suicide. In receivership, the 

building was converted into public apartments 

known as the Club Hotel in 1939. 

In 1941 it became the Dixie Carlton Hotel, 

now the YWCA. 

The YMCA was organized in 1884 by 

Robert S. Munger, James Bowron, Jr., 

Robert. Jemison, Jr., William Francis Tyler, 

and Edward H. Cabaniss. After meeting in 

a succession of buildings, including the 

Potter Building, plans were drawn up to 

build a permanent downtown facility. With 

help from the national YMCA, a campaign 

was launched to erect a new building on 

Twentieth Street at Fifth Avenue, North. 

OTHER SOCIAL CLUBS 

Social and civic clubs flourished in 

the late 1880s and ’90s, many of them 

for women. Although Birmingham had 

been founded as a man’s town full of 

miners and iron workers, their wives 

soon found their own sense of presence. 

The first women’s literary club, the 

Cadmean Club, was formed by Mrs. 

William Hardie in 1887 followed by the 

North Highlands Chautauqua in 1890, the 

Highland Book Club in 1891, the 

Nineteenth Century Club in 1895 and the 

Clioian Club, also in the 1890s. Other 

women’s organizations included the 

Fenelon Club, the Twentieth Century 

Literary Club, and the Axis Club, popular 

in the 1920s and ’30s. 

One of the earliest women’s organizations 

in Jefferson County was the 

Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 

records of which date back to 1857. 

Black women also formed social organizations 

including the Semper Fidelis Club, 

the Climbers Club and the Sinovadad Club 

during the same period. They were followed 

by the Negro Federation of Women’s 

Clubs, the Sojourner Truth Club and the 

Periclean Club. 6 

Women began the Birmingham Art 

League in 1891 and other music and drama 

societies including the Philharmonics. The 


78

most important music club formed after the 

turn of the century was the Music Study 

Club organized by Mrs. Oliver Chalifoux 

and Julia Neely Finch in 1905. 

The organization, which changed its 

name to the Birmingham Music Club in 

1928, is still active and has sponsored 

concerts by some of America’s leading 

performers from the Metropolitan Opera 

to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is the 

oldest cultural organization in the state. 

The women’s suffrage movement was 

active in Birmingham before World War 

I led by social reformers Pattie Ruffner 

Jacobs and Lillian Roden Bowron, both 

leaders in the Alabama Equal Suffrage 

Association. The group opened an office 

on Second Avenue, North in about 1913. 

Others joined patriotic groups such as 

the Daughters of the American Revolution 

(Mrs. J. Morgan Smith), the United 

Daughters of the Confederacy (Mrs. 

Chappell Cory) and the Pioneers Club 

(Mrs. John C. Henley). Membership in the 

Pioneers Club was limited to those ladies 

who were living in Birmingham during 

1872-1873. Church groups, such as the 

Presbyterian Ladies Society and the West 

End Methodist Women’s Bible Class, were 

also popular. 

Other active women’s organizations 

included the Alabama Federation of 

Business and Professional Women’s Clubs 

(1919), the League of Women Voters 

(1921) and the YWCA (1900). Add to the 

list the Amaranth Club (1898), Kenilworth 

Club (1907), the Progressive Study Club 

(1917) and the Peter Pan Club (1926). 

Men were also active on the club 

scene including Elks Lodge No. 79 chartered 

in 1888. One of the first national 

Grand Exalted Rulers of the BPOE was 

from Birmingham, Judge Basil M. Allen, 

who served in the late 1800s. 

One out of every two men in the 

city’s earliest years were members of 

secret societies. 

The Redstone Club, organized in 

1908, was formed as a fraternity at 

Birmingham High School called the 

“Growlers”. It evolved into one of the 

city’s most prominent men’s clubs. 

Similar organizations of the period 

included the Knickerbocker Club, the 

Friar’s Club, the R.M.T. Club and the 

University Club. Members of the R.M.T. 

Club later joined The Redstone Club. 

The Redstone Club, known as the 

Community Club in 1916, stressed both 

civic and social pursuits. It was instrumental 

in organizing the Community Chest 

which later became the United Way. 

Adopting the Redstone name in 1927, it is 

today Birmingham’s oldest surviving luncheon 

club and sponsor of the city’s longest 

surviving debutante-presentation ball. 

Other debutante-presentation balls in 

Birmingham are the Beaux Arts Krewe, 

the Heritage Ball, the Ball of Roses, the 

Poinsettia Ball and the Imperial Ball. 

The Gun Club, organized for sportsmen 

in 1888, held various shoots at places 

around the city including the Fairgrounds, 

East Lake, Lakeview and the ball park in 

West End. 

While Mardi Gras celebrations are more 

common to New Orleans and Mobile, 

Birmingham tried to begin the tradition in 

the 1880s under the sponsorship of the 

local German Society. The Magic City’s 

first Mardi Gras was held March 8, 1886. 

Though successful, the tradition was not 

attempted again until Emil Lesser, owner 

✧ 

The Birmingham Elks at Blount 

Springs, 1899. U.S. Representative 

Oscar Understood stands behind 

Henry Badham, Sr., John O’Neal and 

Mr. Schillinger (with hat in hand 

and white bow tie) on left in 

front row. 

HUNT, COURTESY OF THE BRANTLEY COLLECTION, 

SAMFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 

CHAPTER 6 

79

Plagued by the continuing cold 

weather in February, the event waned 

and the last parade was held in 1900, the 

last ball in 1901. 8 

The German Club, which also sponsored 

public events, began in the mid- 

1920s and still exists today as a social club. 

CIVIC 

CLUBS 

✧ 

Above: Birmingham Gun Club, c. 

1913-1916, at the Fairgrounds. Fifth 

from the right in second row is John 

Phillip Sousa, the famous band 

leader. Second from the right in the 

rear row is H. C. Ryding, later 

president of TCI. Sousa’s band 

appeared in Birmingham at the 

invitation of the Birmingham 

Music Club. 

HUNT, COURTESY OF THE BRANTLEY COLLECTION, 

SAMFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 

Below: Birmingham’s Redstone Club 

visits Blount Springs Hotel in 1909. 

Redstone was then known as the 

Growlers Club, a fraternity from 

Birmingham 

High School. 

COURTESY OF THE REDSTONE CLUB ARCHIVES. 

of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and a group of 

associates founded the Birmingham 

Carnival Society to organize a new event 

in 1896. The king of Birmingham’s new 

Mardi Gras would be called Rex Vulcan I. 

Despite troubles from cold weather, 

the 1896 parade, according to Birmingham 

newspapers, attracted “30,000 to 40,000 

people.” The parade featured elaborate 

floats, some built by a Mobile company 

well experienced with that city’s Mardi 

Gras, depicting scenes from children’s stories, 

mythology and history. The 

Birmingham Carnival Society’s floats 

included children’s characters Jack and Jill, 

Cinderella, and Humpty Dumpty. The 

Birmingham Athletic Club float depicted 

“Samson Destroying the Temple,” and the 

Schillinger Brewing Company offered 

“Washington Crossing the Delaware.” 7 

In 1889 the Mardi Gras parade was 

again hit by cold weather. Three days 

before the event, a blizzard left one foot 

of snow on the city and on Fat Tuesday 

temperatures hit nine degrees below 

zero forcing the carnival to be cancelled. 

Birmingham has some of the oldest 

civic clubs in the South including the 

Birmingham Rotary Club formed in 1913. 

Two of its members, Roy Hickman (1972- 

1973) and Frank Spain (1951-1952), 

served as presidents of Rotary 

International. A third Rotary International 

president from Birmingham was Glenn E. 

Estess, Sr. (2004-2005), a member of the 

Shades Valley Rotary Club. 

America’s first Civitan club was 

formed in the city by Dr. Courtney W. 

Shopshire in 1917, who three years later 

formed Civitan International which still 

maintains its headquarters in the city. 

Birmingham’s first Kiwanis club dates 

to 1917 and Kiwanis International held its 

convention at the Tutwiler Hotel in 1919. 

The Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, with 

498 members in 2007, is the largest of the 

organization’s 8,200 chapters worldwide. 

These early service clubs were followed 

by the Junior Chamber of Commerce 

(1920), Exchange (1921), Lions (1922), 

and the Optimist Club (1928). 

Interestingly, the Exchange Bank, later 

known as the Exchange Security Bank 

(now Regions), was founded by members 

of the Birmingham Exchange Club. 

During the Depression, Lions Clubs, 

like many organizations, struggled financially. 

Birmingham attorney Roderick 

Beddow, Sr., a member of the Birmingham 

Lions Club, donated $10,000 as operating 

funds to help keep the national organization 

alive. Beddow later became the group’s 

seventeenth international president, one of 

three Alabama Lions to hold that office. 

While a professional association and not 

a civic club, Birmingham has had three 

presidents of the American Bar 


80

Association, including Henry Upton Sims 

in 1929-1930, N. Lee Cooper in 1996- 

1997 and H. Thomas Wells, Jr., in 2008- 

2009, the last two members of the same 

law firm, Maynard Cooper & Gale. Jim 

Bennett of Homewood served as president 

of the National Association of Secretaries 

of State in 1999-2000; Anita King Tatum, 

formerly of Fairfield; served as president of 

the National Association of State Election 

Directors in 1995; and Rachel A. 

Clinkscale of Vincent, served as national 

chair of the Gold Star Wives (widows of 

soldiers killed in military action), in 2001. 

COUNTRY 

CLUBS 

With growth of the city, the social 

center began shifting from downtown 

to the suburbs including the location of 

several prominent country clubs, the 

first of which was the Birmingham 

Country Club. 

First located in North Birmingham in 

1898, it moved to a new site in Lakeview 

in 1904 following a land dispute with the 

Dimmick Pipe Company. The club’s first 

president was Henry Key Milner, an engineer 

with the Elyton Land Company and 

a relative of Francis Scott Key. 9 In the 

1920s, the club would move once again, 

this time to Mountain Brook when other 

country clubs were also established 

around the county (see Chapter 7). 

HOTELS 

Birmingham hotels flourished in the 

Gay Nineties. Following the Relay House 

which was located at the present site of 

the Bank for Savings Building on 

Twentieth Street, came the more elegant 

Florence Hotel which opened in 1884 at 

Second Avenue and Nineteenth Street. 

Built by Judge Mudd and named in honor 

of his wife, the former Florence Earle, it 

stood at the later location of Newberry’s 

Department Store. The hotel was known 

for its Indian Room which was famous for 

club sandwiches and elegant furnishings. 

Judge Mudd’s wife was the daughter of Dr. 

Samuel S. Earle, one of Jefferson County’s 

first physicians. She died in 1867. 10 

The Caldwell, which opened in August 

of 1889 at the corner of Twenty-second 

Street and First Avenue, North, was called 

by some “the largest and finest hotel in 

the South.” It was, in fact, the largest 

hotel in the state. Less than five years later 

it was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. 

With its loss, the Florence regained 

some of its earlier prominence and along 

with the Morris, which became a hotel in 

1894, shared honors as the city’s leading 

hotels. Built by Josiah Morris of 

Montgomery, one of the city’s early financiers, 

the Morris had originally been 

planned in 1889 as an office building but, 

after the Caldwell fire, was converted to a 

hotel. Its dining room, called the El 

Dorado, was operated by C. H. McNabb, 

who had come to Birmingham to manage 

the lunch room at the Union Depot. 

The six-story Hillman, which opened 

in 1901, outdid them both. Located at 

Nineteenth Street and Fourth Avenue, 

North, it was the center of the city’s 

social life until about 1914. President 

Taft once dined there as did many other 

prominent visitors. 

One of its unique features was an electric 

bus which ran between the railroad 

station and the new hotel. Built by John 

Lansden, it was operated by electric storage 

batteries placed under the seats and 

was reported to be the first of its kind in 

the United States. After an agent for 

Thomas Edison rode the bus while visiting 

Birmingham, Mr. Lansden was invited to 

✧ 

The interior of the Birmingham 

Country Club in Lakeview, c. 1905 

COURTESY OF BIRMINGHAM-JEFFERSON 


CHAPTER 6 

81

✧ 

Above: Heading for an all day 

excursion at East Lake, these 

youngsters board the East Lake steam 

dummy at First Avenue, North and 

Twenty-second Street in downtown 

Birmingham in 1893. The Caldwell 

Hotel, which opened in 1889, can be 

seen in the background. 


Below: The Florence Hotel, built in 

1884, was located at the corner of 

Second Avenue, North, and Nineteenth 

Street which property, after demolition 

in 1916, would become the future site 

of the Louis Saks Department Store and 

later Newberry’s. 

COURTESY OF O. V. HUNT, SAMFORD UNIVERSITY. 

consult with the Edison Laboratories in 

East Orange, New Jersey. 11 

The Hillman Hotel, named for TCI Vice 

President T. T. Hillman, was demolished in 

1967. The Hillman Hospital was also 

named for Hillman in 1896 as was the 

Hillman community west of Birmingham. 

He was the grandson of Daniel Hillman, 

builder of the first bloomery at Tannehill. 

For a time after the original Florence 

Hotel was demolished in 1916, 

Birmingham had a second hotel by that 

name when the Birmingham Hotel, a 

block away on Second Avenue and 

Eighteenth Street, North, assumed it after 

a major reconditioning project. There was 

no connection to the older hotel built by 

Judge Mudd. The new six-story Florence 

Hotel, where L. R. Benz was the proprietor, 

was later the site of a major fire 

which claimed several lives. 12 

Hotels were also built in Bessemer, 

including the Grand Hotel in the 1880s. 

Located on Nineteenth Street, it quickly 

became the social center of town replacing 

the Montezuma Hotel which had 

been moved from New Orleans. 

Interestingly, the Montezuma was converted 

into Montezuma University in 

1895 offering steam heat and more than 

100 rooms. Course work could be taken 

from kindergarten to college including 

Latin and banjo for $10 a month room and 

board with scholarships. The new school, 

under the direction of Dr. J. A. B. Lovett, 

was a joint venture of the Bessemer Land 

and Improvement Company and a group 

of interested townspeople. 13 

At the turn of the century, Birmingham 

had 40 churches and 98 saloons. In 1901 

the most desirable business corners in 

the city were occupied by taverns of one 

type or another. While wealthier families 

occupied themselves with social clubs, 

the working class frequented the drinking 

establishments. 

Many were located along Twentieth 

Street including a saloon in the 

Metropolitan Hotel and another on the 

corner of First Avenue and Twentieth 

Street, a site that would become the location 

of the Woodward Building. Across the 

street sat the Solomon & Levi Saloon, popular 

with businessmen. At the next alley 

corner was another and the Dude Saloon 

was at the corner of Second Avenue and 

Twentieth Street. 

The Dude Saloon and Restaurant, 

operated by Joe J. Hochstadter, was located 

in the Webb Building from 1871 to 

1907. The well-furnished bar was located 

on the ground floor with rooms for 

boarding guests upstairs. In 1887 the 

Dude Saloon offered “regular meals” for 

twenty-five cents. 

Like other saloons of the era, the 

Dude Saloon issued tokens to customers 

which could be exchanged for drinks. 

Located on the northwest corner of 

Twentieth Street and First Avenue North, 

on the present site of the Empire 

Building, the Bank Saloon had floors of 

Georgia marble, a large copper chandelier 

and a thirty-two-foot-long mirror. It 


82

closed in the wake of Birmingham’s first 

prohibition in 1908. 

“No lady ever walked along the block 

on Twentieth Street (North) between 

Third and Fourth Avenues,” wrote 

Birmingham Age-Herald reporter C. M. 

Stanley, “because of the drunks and 

saloons and beer kegs on the sidewalks 

she would have to pass.” 14 

Louisiana lottery tickets were sold in 

many of the saloons. While some were 

dives, others, including the Peerless at the 

corner of Second Avenue and Nineteenth 

Street, appealed to those with money. 

From Nineteenth Street westward, First 

Avenue, North, according to Stanley, was a 

row of saloons and pool rooms designed 

to meet the needs and wants of employees 

of the Birmingham Rolling Mill, then on 

Twelfth Street and First Avenue. 

“It was a rough and wild region,” 

he wrote. 15 

The area encompassed the First Ward, 

a working class district frequented by 

political candidates in election years seeking 

blue collar votes. In 1901, through 

appeals to labor, W. Melville Drennan was 

elected mayor over Ross C. Smith. 

As the city grew so did its skyline. 

When work on the 10-story Woodward 

Building began October 1, 1901, people 

came from miles around to watch the 

steel girders be set in place for 

Birmingham’s first skyscraper. At the time 

the only other substantial building was 

the Chalifoux Building at the corner of 

First Avenue and Nineteenth Street which 

was five or six stories. The ground floor 

was occupied by the Chalifoux Clothing 

Store and the Chamber of Commerce was 

a tenant. When the building burned a few 

years later, so did several hundred first 

edition copies of Ethel Armes’ The Story of 

Coal and Iron in Alabama. 

The first home of the National Bank 

of Birmingham, later First National 

Bank, was a three story brick building at 

First Avenue at Twentieth Street where 

the Brown-Marx Building is now located. 

The bank occupied its first floor, a 

group of attorneys the second and the 

Commercial Club, which later became 

the Chamber of Commerce, on the third 

floor. Erected early in Birmingham’s history 

by industrialist Charles Linn, it 

became known as “Linn’s Folly” because 

of its opulence in the still small town. 

Criticism notwithstanding, Linn scheduled 

the Calico Ball as its official public 

opening on December 31, 1873. Over 

five hundred people from across the 

state were invited and the women wore 

calico dresses. An orchestra from 

Montgomery furnished the music. 

The new bank building marked 

Birmingham’s emergence from the 

Depression of 1873 as a developing economic 

power. In 1901 the bank cashed 

salary checks in silver dollars. 

Founded by Linn, the National Bank of 

Birmingham had a paid up capital of 

✧ 

Above: The Birmingham Hotel was 

remodeled and renamed the second 

Florence Hotel following demolition 

of the older one. This hotel was 

located on Eighteenth Street North 

and Second Avenue, a block from 

the first hotel with which there was 

no connection. 



Below: The Eagle Hotel, c. the 

1940s, was also called the Vulcan 

Hotel. Located at Second Avenue and 

Twenty-fourth Street, it was the 

location of the Star Super Market. 



CHAPTER 6 

83

✧ 

The Hillman Hotel, located at 312- 

322 North Nineteenth Street, was 

named for T. T. Hillman, vice 

president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron 

and RR Company. The hotel opened 

in 1901. Photograph by Watson 

Alexander, c. the 1920s. 


$50,000 in 1872. Among its incorporators 

were Col. Powell, president of the Elyton 

Land Company and the city’s mayor, Bryant 

Tulley, Mortimer H. Jordan, Willis J. Milner, 

James O’Connor, and B. P. Worthington. 

The bank was the forerunner of the First 

National Bank of Birmingham which 

resulted from a merger in 1884. 16 

For a time, the brewery industry flourished. 

The city’s biggest brewery was 

operated by the Shillinger family on 

Twenty-first Street. August C. Reckling 

had a saddle and harness factory, also on 

Twenty-first Street, and announced his 

wares with a big papier mache horse in 

front of the place. 17 

ENTERTAINMENT 

Theatre also became popular during 

this period. Lakeview Park on Highland 

Avenue and Avenue G was the scene of 

summer plays attended by patrons who 

arrived by steam dummy trains. 

The three-story Lakeview Hotel which 

opened July 12, 1887, was an imposing 

frame structure owned by the Elyton Land 

Company. Measuring 60 by 250 feet, it 

overlooked Lakeview Park and Lake and 

was noted for its cuisine. As a gathering 

place for the elite, especially in the summer 

months, it could accommodate 320 

guests. A wing was added to the hotel in 

1888 to keep up with its growing clientele. 

Lakeview Park, itself, consisted of one 

hundred acres, a casino “with refreshment 

rooms”, billiards, a bowling ally, skating 

rink and “a huge swimming bath.” 18 

The attraction closed in 1891 and was 

taken over by the Southern Female 

Academy before it burned in 1894. The 

Birmingham Country Club later moved 

to the site. 

The first Alabama versus Auburn football 

game was played in the old Lakeview 

Park baseball field in 1893 when both 

programs were just beginning. Some five 

thousand people showed up on February 

22 to witness a 32-22 Auburn victory. 

The site today is the location of the 

Compass Bank records center between 

Sixth and Seventh Avenues, South. 19 

All four of Alabama’s first season 

games were played in Birmingham 

including its inaugural outing against 

select players from Birmingham high 

schools (including the Taylor School) on 

November 11, 1892. Alabama won 56-0. 

The next day Alabama played the 

Birmingham Athletic Club at Lakeview, 

losing 5-4 when a kicker named Joseph 

P. Ross of B.A.C. kicked a 65-yard field 

goal, for many years a collegiate record. 20 

The very first football game in the city 

was played May 2, 1885, with the two 

major teams of the period being the 

Birmingham Athletic Club and Howard 

College, known as keen rivals. The communities 

of Cardiff and Pratt City also 

fielded teams. 21 

While football was in its infancy, theatre 

was well established, including the 


84

Jefferson Theatre downtown, a playhouse 

where road plays could be seen. 

Birmingham was a convenient stop 

between Atlanta and New Orleans for 

traveling companies. 

O’Brien’s Opera House at First Avenue 

and Nineteenth Street was built in 1882 by 

Capt. Frank P. O’Brien of Montgomery. He 

later became mayor of Birmingham and 

sheriff of Jefferson County. The opera 

house, which featured vaudeville and 

burlesque performances, seated 1,266 in 

its auditorium. A hotel was added in 1886. 

Young people frequented the Mims B. 

Stone soda fountain on Second Avenue, 

North. His place was located along 

“Chicken Run”, so named because it 

was where teenagers strolled in the 

afternoon on Second Avenue, down 

Nineteenth Street, then on to Third 

Avenue and back to Twentieth Street. 22 

The same strolling area was called “the 

Race Track” by 1914. 

Popular restaurants included Gelder’s 

on Twentieth Street and Paul Gilardoni’s 

on Nineteenth Street. John Galatoire 

moved from an establishment on 

Twentieth to New Orleans where he 

became famous for Oysters Rockefeller. 

In the late 1890s, an auditorium was 

built at Seventeenth Street and Third 

Avenue, North for theatrical presentations. 

It was later known as the Bijou and then 

the Pantages Theatre. Here theatre goers 

watched minstrel shows, comedies, 

melodramas, traveling troops and “moving 

pictures.” 23 

He told his skeptical fellow citizens: 

“I shall have my tomb built upon a 

high promontory above the town of 

Birmingham, in which you profess to 

have so little faith, so that I may walk out 

on judgment day and view the greatest 

industrial city of the entire South.” 24 

O’Brien, although best remembered for 

his opera house, built the first coke ovens 

at Oxmoor and Alice Furnaces, as a 

contractor, supervised construction of the 

Birmingham Rolling Mill and erected the 

first Jefferson County Courthouse. He also 

served later as editor of the Birmingham 

Age-Herald, sheriff of Jefferson County 

and mayor of Birmingham. 

The cemetery, established five months 

before the incorporation of Birmingham, is 

also the final resting place of Louise 

Wooster, a bordello matron whose 

reputation improved when she and a group 

of prostitutes nursed residents through the 

cholera epidemic of 1873. 25 Birmingham’s 

red light district was located along First 

Avenue, South near Twenty-second Street. 

Several of the old buildings still stand. 

Others interred at Oak Hill include 

James W. Sloss, whose monument is as 

tall as a smokestack from his downtown 

blast furnaces, Industrialist Henry F. 

✧ 

The Mabson Hotel at Third Avenue 

and Twenty-third Street, circa the 

1940s. The Mabson was built in the 

1890s to serve guests generated from 

rail traffic. The hotel was bought by 

Thomas Hill Mabson of Montgomery, 

who owned nine Alabama hotels, in 

1913. The building was torn down in 

the 1950s. 



OAK HILL CEMETERY 

Both Linn and O’Brien are buried in 

Birmingham’s Oak Hill Cemetery just 

north of the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic 

Center as are many of the city’s pioneers 

including William P. Barker, who laid out 

the city streets, John T. Milner, chief 

engineer for the South & North line and 

his brother, Willis J. Milner, Jr., who 

installed the water works for the Elyton 

Land Company. Linn’s grave stands as he 

predicted on a hill overlooking the city. 

CHAPTER 6 

85

✧ 

The Metropolitan Hotel, built in 

1906 on Twentieth Street, North 

between Morris and First Avenues, 

was a favorite overnight and dining 

spot for train travelers coming 

through Birmingham. It was torn 

down in 1957. In 1908 its president 

and manager was Hendon B. Mabson. 

Robert R. Meyer, who later became 

head of a large hotel chain, served 

as treasurer. 



DeBardeleben, founder of Bessemer, Giles 

Edwards, a prominent figure in the 

Shelby, Brierfield and Edwards Furnace 

operations and Birmingham’s first mayor, 

Robert H. Henley. 

The cemetery was placed on the National 

Register of Historic Places in 1976. 

FIRST 

CHURCHES 

At its founding, Birmingham church 

congregations were already organizing. 

Before they could raise money to build 

sanctuaries, they met in other locations 

including O’Brien’s Opera House, Gafford’s 

Livery Stable, and the Bryant Store. 

The location of churches in the 

downtown area was encouraged by the 

Elyton Land Company which donated 

lots for new church buildings. A number 

of new churches took advantage of the 

offer and selected sites in the residential 

area of what was described as “a crude 

village sitting in a mud hole.” 26 

One of the oldest Methodist congregations 

in Birmingham was Walker Memorial, 

organized in 1818 before Alabama, Jefferson 

County or Birmingham existed. It was originally 

known as the Elyton Methodist 

Church and was located on Center Street. 

After moving to 14 Second Avenue, it 

moved for a final time in 1909 to its present 

site, 631 Third Street, Southwest. The 

church closed in 1989 and now serves a predominately 

black congregation known as 

the New Community Church. 27 

Shortly after the founding of 

Birmingham, early Methodists, who first 

met at Gafford’s Livery along with several 

other denominations on alternate 

Sundays, built a church at the corner of 

Sixth Avenue, North and Twenty-first 

Street in 1872 on land donated by the 

Elyton Land Company. The original pastor 

of the First Methodist Church was 

Reverend T. H. Deavenport. 

Their first real church was a “neat and 

comfortable” wooden frame meeting 

house two blocks from today’s sanctuary 

which became the catalyst for the City 

Board of Missions, the first community 

centered work in Birmingham. 

In 1891, the city, in the throes of the 

“iron boom”, began work on its present 

day sanctuary at the corner of Nineteenth 

Street and Sixth Avenue North. Listed on 

the National Register of Historic Places, it 

is one of the best examples of Romanesque 

Revival architecture in the state. 

Another of the older United Methodist 

churches, McCoy Memorial, was founded 

in 1901 and was located at Eighth Avenue, 

West at Arkadelphia Road across from 

Birmingham-Southern College. It closed 

in 1993. The city-owned property now 

houses an adult day care center, a business 

incubator and a literacy library. It was 

originally known as the Owenton Church. 

Trinity United Methodist Church in 

Homewood traces its start to 1889 when a 

pastor was assigned to begin a “Southside 

mission” in Birmingham. Its first church 

building was located on Sixth Avenue, 

South, at Thirty-first Street in 1891. In 

1928 the church moved to the new 

Edgewood community where it is still 

located on Oxmoor Road. 

Baptists also came early into the 

Birmingham area. The Enon Baptist 

Church was established in 1818 in the 

northern part of Jefferson County on 


86

Turkey Creek as was the Canaan Baptist 

Church, three miles below Jonesborough 

on Valley Creek. Its organizers included 

Reverend Sion Blythe, Joshua Stephens 

and Robert Harmon. 28 

The Ruhama Baptist Church was 

organized by Reverend Hosea Holcombe 

March 27, 1819, at the home of the Jacks 

family in East Lake. The first known 

Baptist church in the Birmingham area, it 

began as a log cabin on Seventy-fifth 

Street. It is now located at Second Avenue 

and Seventy-ninth Street, South. 

The First Baptist Church of Birmingham 

had its beginnings in the fall of 1871 when 

the Home Mission Board of the Southern 

Baptist Convention sent Reverend John L. 

D. Hillyer to Birmingham as a missionary 

just as city streets were being laid out. He 

organized the First Baptist Church June 9, 

1872, and became its first pastor. 29 

The congregation first met at O’Brien’s 

Opera House before the Elyton Land 

Company provided the property on 

which to erect a church building June 9, 

1872, at Sixth Avenue and Twenty-second 

Street, North. 

The church helped organize other 

congregations including Southside 

Baptist Church in 1884 and a mission in 

West End in 1885. 

Another early Baptist congregation, 

Hunter Street, had its beginnings in 1894 

when congregants began meeting at the 

Compton Hill schoolhouse located on 

Twenty-fourth Street and Avenue Z in 

Fairview. They organized the Compton 

Hill Baptist Church in 1907 and, moving 

the next year to Hunter Street, became 

known as the Hunter Street Baptist 

Church. In 1928, the church moved again 

to a new sanctuary on the corner of 

Fourth Court West and Seventeenth 

Street. Facing declining attendance in the 

1960s and ’70s, the church left its Bush 

Hills location in 1987 to move to Hoover. 

The old church property was sold to Sardis 

Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly 

black congregation. 

The Ensley Baptist Church, founded 

in 1900, closed in 2005 also due to 

declining membership. Its Sunday 

School attendance fell from a mid-1950s 

average of 763 to only 33. The church and 

its large sanctuary at 2301 Avenue East 

Ensley was sold to Abyssinia Missionary 

Baptist Church, a black congregation 

founded in 1929 with six hundred members 

in Ensley. 

Pioneer Presbyterians led by 

Reverend Anderson Sadler, a former resident 

of Jonesborough, established the 

Five Mile Creek Presbyterian Church in 

eastern Jefferson County in 1820. 

Those living in Elyton met in a large 

wooden building until given a church 

site by the Elyton Land Company in 

1872 at the corner of Fourth Avenue, 

✧ 

Above: The Adams Saloon, 

Eighteenth Street, North, c. 1891. 


Below: The old Birmingham City 

Hall burnt April 23, 1923, toppling 

the bell tower and destroying the 

library located on the top floor. 

COURTESY OF THE HUNT COLLECTION, SAMFORD 

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY. 

CHAPTER 6 

87

✧ 

Right: The second courthouse in 

Birmingham was located on the 

corner of Third Avenue and Twentyfirst 

Street, North, in 1887. It was 

an elaborate four-story Romanesque 

brick structure with a central clock 

tower rising 180 feet. Just down the 

street is St. Paul’s Catholic Cathedral 

and the Mabson Hotel. The $300,000 

courthouse served the county until 

the present day courthouse opened in 

1931. The older building was 

demolished in 1937. 


Below: Lakeview Park Hotel, c. 

1889, built by the Elyton Land 

Company in 1887, overlooked 

Lakeview Park and Lake on the 

Southside. The site of the imposing 

hotel, location of many social 

gatherings, is currently the Highland 

Park Golf Course. 

HORGAN, BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

North, and Twenty-first Street. This 

became the First Presbyterian Church. 

The Third Presbyterian Church, an outgrowth 

of the First Presbyterian Church, 

was organized in 1884. By 1889, the church 

had grown to over five hundred members 

and commissioned new congregations itself 

in Woodlawn, Leeds, and South Highlands. 

The same year, the church installed its first 

permanent pastor, James Alexander Bryan, 

who had been a visiting pastor while a seminary 

student at Princeton University. He 

would later become known to virtually 

everyone in Birmingham as “Brother 

Bryan” and would continue to serve the 

church for fifty-two years. 

A 1934 landmark statute of Brother 

Byran kneeling in prayer, designed by 

sculptor Georges Bridges, can be seen in 

Five Points, South. As a minister, he conducted 

large evangelistic and prayer gatherings 

with various groups across the city. 

He was an outspoken supporter of civil 

rights and racial reconciliation but is best 

remembered for his tireless efforts to help 

the poor and homeless. 

The sanctuary, built in 1891 at 

Twenty-second Street, South and Sixth 

Avenue, caught fire and burnt in 1901 

when a spark from a passing street car 

ignited a barn next to the church parsonage. 

A new church was built a block 

down the street. 

Another Presbyterian Church, called 

Central Presbyterian under the direction 

of Reverend R. F. Bedinger, was organized 

as a colony of First Presbyterian in 1890. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church 

was organized in 1876 with Reverend J. 

C. Armstrong as its first pastor. Two 

years later, the congregation built a 

frame meeting house at Eighteenth 

Street and Fifth Avenue, North. 

St. John’s Episcopal Church grew out of 

the efforts of two young school teachers 

from Connecticut who were teaching 

school in Elyton, Maria and Amy Welton. 

They longed for the denominational services 

they knew as children in New England. 

Both married into prominent Birmingham 

families, Maria to Dr. Nathaniel Hawkins 

and Amy to Mortimer H. Jordan. 

Organized in 1850, the congregation 

met at the Hawkins home, the Jefferson 

County Courthouse and Jefferson Academy 

until 1870. In 1871, Dr. Hawkins donated a 

lot at the corner of Broad and Spring Streets 

in Elyton for a chapel, made up largely of a 

an old church building relocated from 

Ashville in St. Clair County and hauled to 

the site by ox wagons. His father, 

Williamson Hawkins, donated a bronze bell 

to the church in March 1872, which today 

is a part of an outdoor display near the 

intersection of Crosshaven and Overton 

Roads in Cahaba Heights at the St. Johns 

Episcopal Church for the Deaf. The elder 

Hawkins, one of Jefferson County’s earliest 

settlers, special ordered the bell from the 

Troy Bell Foundry (Jones & Company) in 

Troy, New York. 


88

The Episcopal Church of the Advent 

grew out of the St. John’s congregation 

when the Elyton Land Company made 

property available to it on Twentieth 

Street and Sixth Avenue, North, in 1872. 

The older church in Elyton, losing 

most of its membership to the new one, 

is said to have died giving birth to the 

downtown church which later was designated 

a cathedral for the denomination. 

St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Episcopal 

Church grew out of the Advent congregation 

when a new parish was established in 

the Town of the Highland, now known as 

the Southside. The community, reached 

by horse-drawn street cars, was 

Birmingham’s first residential suburb. St. 

Mary’s became an active parish February 

11, 1887. Its first minister was the 

Reverend Lysander Washington Rose who 

served until 1891. 30 

In 1881, Temple Emanu-El was organized 

by twenty-five Jewish residents who 

met in the home of H. Simon. On June 28, 

1882, they received a charter while meeting 

in the Masonic Hall on the top floor of 

the bank building at First Avenue and 

Twentieth Street, North. Later they met at 

the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church 

(now the Sixth Avenue Presbyterian 

Church) before building a synagogue at 

Fifth Avenue and Seventeenth Street, 

North. In 1914 the temple moved to its 

present site on Highland Avenue. 

Two others Jewish congregations also 

formed in the city, Knesseth Israel in 

1899 and Beth-El in 1918. 

The First Lutheran Church, located at 

2507 Highland Avenue across from 

Caldwell Park, was founded as Zion 

Lutheran Church in 1887. Services were 

conducted primarily in German using the 

sanctuary of a nearby Methodist church 

each Sunday at for 2 p.m. Its first pastor 

was C. E. Scheibe. 

Wishing to construct their own church, 

a congregation member, J. William 

Schaefer, donated a lot in Elyton for a 

church building, construction of which 

began in the fall of 1888. This first church 

was a frame structure measuring 27 by 55 

feet costing $1200. In 1902 a new church 

was built at Second Avenue and 

Nineteenth Street South. During World 

War I, because of anti-German prejudice, 

German services were discontinued in 

favor of English, although German observances 

were resumed in 1919. 

In 1948 a portion of the congregation 

left to start Trinity Lutheran Church in 

West End. In 1949 the current church 

property was acquired on Highland 

Avenue and the church changed its name 

to First Lutheran Church. Construction 

was begun in 1950 and the new church 

was dedicated on May 13, 1951. 

The First Christian Church (Church of 

Disciples) formed a Birmingham congregation 

in 1885 through the efforts of R. W. 

Van Hook, the state evangelist for that congregation. 

It was organized at the home of 

Mrs. S. W. Jolly on Sixth Avenue. The 

church first met at the YMCA and the court 

house until 1886 when, on a lot acquired 

from the Elyton Land Company, built a 

building at Avenue F and Twenty-first 

Street, North, in downtown Birmingham. 

It later moved to a new church on 

Valleydale Road. 

The Cathedral of St. Paul is another 

very early church. In 1873 a 30-by-60- 

foot wooden structure named St. Paul’s 

Church was erected to provide a place of 

worship for Catholic immigrants. 

Twenty years later, right next door to the 

humble wooden structure, a grand 

cathedral was built on Third Avenue at 

Twenty-second Street. Its first priest was 

Father Patrick O’Reilly. 

Other early churches in Jefferson 

County include the Bethlehem Methodist 

Church near Fairfield which dates to 

1817. When James Rutledge, who came 

from Tennessee with William Brown, 

✧ 

The “Flying Wedge,” February 22, 

1893, in the first Alabama-Auburn 

football game. Played at Lakeview 

Park on the Southside, Auburn won 

32-22 before an estimated crowd of 

five thousand fans. 


CHAPTER 6 

89

✧ 

Above: O’Brien’s Opera House, built 

on the corner of First Avenue and 

Nineteenth Street in 1882, was an 

early center of live stage 

entertainment. It later became the 

Gayety Theatre, a burlesque house. 


Below: Pantages Theatre, formerly 

the Bijou, was located at Third 

Avenue at Seventeenth Street, North. 

It opened in the late 1890s to feature 

vaudeville shows. In 1946 the movie 

house became known as the 

Birmingham Theatre; it was 

demolished in 1950. 


purchased land for the sanctuary completed 

in 1818. The First Baptist Church of 

Trussville, organized as the Cahawba 

Baptist Church in 1821. 

In 1819, Reverend James Tarrant 

became the first pastor of the Bethlehem 

congregation, the oldest church in 

Jefferson County. Early settlers were charter 

families of the church. Elder Sission 

Blythe was the first pastor of the First 

Baptist Church in Trussville with 

Anderson Robertson and Sherwood 

Holley as deacons and John Stovall and 

Jordan Williams as trustees. The Five Mile 

Creek Presbyterian Church was established 

in 1820 by Reverend Anderson 

Sadler, a former resident of Jonesborough, 

in eastern Jefferson County. 

Although blacks would eventually form 

their own churches, worship for slaves 

began in white churches at the invitation 

of slave owners who had them sit in back 

pews or in balconies. Before the Civil War 

ended, there were only two churches in 

Jefferson County set up specifically for 

blacks. One was on the Sam Latham plantation 

in Trussville where the owners 

allowed slaves to have their own church, 

which became Mount Joy Baptist Church 

and is still in existence. The other was on 

Hewitt Ladd’s farm where Huffman is 

presently located. 31 

Black citizens, sometimes with aid 

from white churches or missionaries 

from the North, began forming their own 

churches in earnest shortly after 

Birmingham was incorporated with 

Baptists being the leading denomination. 

The first Negro church was the Green 

Springs Baptist Church although perhaps 

the most influential was the Sixteenth 

Street Baptist Church organized April 20, 

1873, by the Reverend James Readon and 

the Reverend Warner Reed. By 1878 

there was at least one Methodist congregation 

and by 1885, according to the 

Birmingham Age-Herald, there were ten 

black churches in town. 

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church 

was originally known as the First 

Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham 

and was located at Twelfth Street and 

Fourth Avenue, North. 

It moved to Third Avenue North, 

between Nineteenth and Twentieth Streets, 

where J. Blach & Sons was later located 

and finally in 1880 to the present site at 

Sixteenth Street and Sixth Avenue, North. 

The Sixth Avenue Baptist Church was 

organized on the Southside on June 18, 

1881, with the Reverend Silas Jones its 

first pastor. St. John AME Church, site of 

one of Birmingham earliest Negro schools 

in 1894, is the oldest African Methodist 

Episcopal Church in the city. 32 

Several former slave preachers gained 

local renown. William Ware, born on the 

Ware Plantation where East Lake is now 

located, was ordained at Ruhama Baptist 


90

Church in 1868. He founded at least 

twenty churches and the Mount Pilgim 

Baptist Association which continues 

today. Another was a man named Job, 

who traveled with a leading white evangelist 

in the post-war period. 33 

NEW DOWNTOWN 

CONSTRUCTION 

Major construction projects in 

Birmingham in 1901 included a new city 

hall at Fourth Avenue and Nineteenth 

Street, a wing on St. Vincent’s Hospital, 

which had previously used the old 

DeBardeleben home, and a new 

$500,000 city sewer system. 

In 1916 the Florence Hotel was torn 

down to make way for the store operated 

by Louis Saks Clothing Company. 

The Morris was razed in 1958 to become 

a parking lot, which fate also befell the 

Hillman in 1967. 

Stanley, the reporter, said, in 1901, 

Birmingham had only two or three automobiles, 

one of them owned by Robert S. 

Munger, a cotton gin manufacturer, who 

had purchased the former Mudd mansion 

known as Arlington. 

Munger, born in Texas, moved to 

Birmingham in 1889 and organized the 

Northington-Munger-Pratt Company to 

manufacture cotton gin machinery which 

revolutionized the ginning industry. He is 

credited with bringing an end to the 

“plantation ginning” system-replacing it 

with a new pneumatic process that 

moved, ginned and baled cotton faster 

than ever before. His inventions brought 

the cotton press indoors. 34 

Munger’s company became the 

Continental Gin Company, now 

Continental Eagle Corporation with headquarters 

in Prattville. The company 

became the largest manufacturer of cotton 

gins in the United States. 35 

department stores had their start including 

Parisians, Loveman’s and Pizitz. Louis 

Saks ran the biggest department store in 

town at First Avenue and Nineteenth 

Street, North, in Birmingham’s first 

decade but other stores would soon challenge 

him for business. 

The original Parisian store was founded 

in 1887 by sisters Bertha and Estella 

Sommers under the name Parisian Dry 

Goods & Millinery Company. The 

Sommers sisters sold the store in 1911 to 

Louis Gelders and G. W. Beringer, who 

renamed it the Parisian Company. Lauren 

Bloch, the store’s general manager, 

bought it in 1918 and renamed it Bloch’s 

✧ 

Above: A montage of local churches, 

including First Methodist and 

Central Presbyterian. 

Below: St. Johns Episcopal Church in 

Elyton, organized in 1850, built this 

sanctuary in 1870, the year before 

Birmingham was founded, on 

Tuscaloosa Avenue. The old Eubanks 

home place was located behind 

the church. 

COURTESY OF BETTY KENT. 

DEPARTMENT 

STORES 

It was during the latter part of the nineteenth 

century that the big downtown 

CHAPTER 6 

91

✧ 

Above: Bethlehem Methodist Church, 

1818, still holds services at the 

church site on Allison-Bonnett 

Memorial Drive. Several early 

settlers are buried in the adjoining 

cemetery including Martha Prude, 

1818-1890, Mortimer Jordan, 

1799-1866 and Thomas Owen, 

1814-1884. 


Below: The Sixteenth Street Baptist 

Church was the first black church to 

organize in Birmingham when 

founded in 1873. Its present 

building, a modified Romanesque 

and Byzantine sanctuary designed by 

noted black architect Wallace 

Rayfield, was constructed in 1911. 

Today it is a major point of 

visitation in Birmingham’s Civil 

Rights District. 


Parisian. 35 The store was sold again in the 

early 1920s to Carl Hess, a German 

immigrant, and William Holiner who 

moved to a larger building in 1928. The 

Great Depression pushed the company 

into receivership in 1932, though it 

emerged and grew in the 1940s and ’50s. 

Emil Hess, son of Carl Hess, and Lenny 

Salit, son-in-law of William Holiner, 

developed a credit program in the 1950s 

and the store was one of the first in the 

country to offer free gift wrapping, free 

shipping and a liberal return policy. 

Loveman’s was originally founded as 

Loveman & Joseph in 1887 by A. B. 

Loveman and M. V. Joseph. In 1889 the 

company became Loveman, Joseph, & 

Loeb with the addition of Emil Loeb. 

Loveman’s primary location was built 

in 1890 at the corner of Nineteenth Street 

and Third Avenue, North. The store was 

expanded in 1899 and by 1911 was 

known as the largest department store 

south of the Ohio River. In 1917 an addon 

known as the Loveman’s Annex was 

built between the main building and the 

Alabama Theatre. 37 

The store was destroyed by fire in 1934 

although the exterior of the annex survived. 

It reopened within a few weeks at a 

temporary location while a new Loveman’s 

building was built on the site of the fire. 

The new Loveman’s building, completed 

in 1935, now houses the McWane Science 

Center. A clock on the corner of the new 

building, facing the Nineteenth Street and 

Third Avenue intersection, became a popular 

downtown landmark. 

“Meet me under the Loveman’s 

clock,” was popular conversation. 

Pizitz was a family-owned chain of 

department stores founded in 1899 by 

Louis Pizitz as the Louis Pizitz Dry 

Goods Company. 38 It was located directly 

across from the Florence Hotel on 

Second Avenue and Nineteenth Street, 

North. Pizitz was a Polish immigrant 

who sold merchandize door-to-door in 

Georgia before moving to Birmingham. 39 

His store would grow into one of the 

city’s largest mercantile operations with 

multiple branches statewide. The flagship 

store was located in the seven-story 

Pizitz Building, completed in 1925 at the 

store’s original downtown location, 

Second Avenue at Nineteeth Street North. 

Among the other major department 

stores, Blach’s began in 1883 and Burger- 

Phillips in 1895. The latter store was 

known as Burger Dry Goods Company 

until 1923. The Phillips brothers had 

been partners with Jacob Burger from the 

beginning even though their names didn’t 

appear on the store front until that time. 

Blach’s, known for its “quality clothing”, 

originated as J. Blach & Sons located at 

Third Avenue and Nineteenth Street, North, 

from 1905 to 1935 when it moved into new 

facilities in the remodeled Bencor Hotel 

building at 300 Twentieth Street North. The 

old hotel had been built in 1888. A new S. 

H. Kress store was built on the former 

Blach’s location in 1939. After eighty-two 

years in business, Blach’s closed in 1987. 

The present-day Burger-Phillips building, 

at 1914 Third Avenue North, was 


92

uilt in the 1930s and renovated in the 

early ’80s. Its original store had been 

located on Second Avenue. Like the 

Burger-Phillips site, the former department 

store building was converted to loft 

apartments in 2007. 

Yeilding’s, which dates to 1876, closed 

its downtown store on Second Avenue 

and Twenty-second Street, North in 1981 

but the rest of the chain survived until 

1996 at shopping center locations. From 

1876 to 1910, the store was located on 

Third Avenue between Nineteenth and 

Twentieth Streets, North. 

The parent store of Yeilding’s was begun 

by William Hood when the city was just 

five years old. Here he sold farming 

supplies, equipment, produce and clothing 

to those who would travel into town from 

the country and for the city’s growing local 

population, particularly railroad workers. 

In 1884, Hood’s brother-in-law, Francis Bee 

Yeilding, moved to Birmingham from 

Blountsville and began working in the 

store. After several years, they became 

partners in the business then known as the 

Hood-Yeilding Mercantile Store. In 1910, 

Bee Yeilding and his brother, William 

Jackson Lee Yeilding, bought out Hood’s 

interest when the store became known as 

the Yeilding Brothers Company. 40 

Four of Bee Yeilding’s seven children, 

Howard, Milton, Grant, and Henry, 

became involved in the department store 

business. In 1967 the brothers and their 

families dedicated the chapel at 

Birmingham-Southern College in memory 

of their father who died in 1948. 

William Drennen owned and operated 

one of the largest downtown merchandise 

stores at the turn of the century on Third 

Avenue, North, the Drennen and 

Company General Store. His son, Herbert 

A. Drennen, was president of the Drennen 

Motor Car Company, a dealer in Cadillacs 

and Buicks. 

The original site of the old Saks Store 

(1916) became J. J. Newberry, one of 

several popular five and dime or variety 

stores downtown. Others included S. H. 

Kress (1939), F. W. Woolworth Company 

(1930), Silver’s, and W. T. Grant. Some of 

them also operated stores in Ensley. The 

downtown Silver’s eventually became H. L. 

Green. S. S. Kresge, which gave rise to the 

K-Mart chain, had a store at Eastwood Mall 

and McClellan’s had a store in Bessemer. 

Other downtown department stores 

included Adams, which became Calder’s 

Furniture, and the Ideal, built by the Aland 

family, both opened in 1928. Standard 

Furniture moved into the original Ideal 

department store site when the owners of 

the Ideal moved across the street into the 

building vacated by Sears & Roebuck in 

October 1941. Sears moved to its big new 

downtown store on First Avenue, North. 41 

The next year, Ideal changed its name 

to the New Ideal. The store closed in the 

1980s. Sears, which moved to the suburbs, 

closed its downtown location in 1990. 

Birmingham’s large downtown retail 

stores, many of them built during the 

1920s and ’30s, had a definite Chicago 

influence, frequently copying features of 

big city stores. 

✧ 

Above: St. John’s AME Church, 708 

Fifteenth Street North, like the 

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, was 

a prominent site of the civil rights 

movement in the 1960s. 


Below: Louis Saks Dept. Store, one 

of the city’s first large department 

stores, it was located at First 

Avenue, North at Nineteenth Street. 

The store was hit by a devastating 

fire in 1902 as was the Moore- 

Handley Hardware Company, present 

day site of the Daniel Building, 

COURTESY OF TIM HOLLIS, BIRMINGHAM REWOUND. 

CHAPTER 6 

93


94

CHAPTER 7 

M ERGERS AND W ORLD W ARS 

Annexations, Downtown Skyline, Spanish-American War, Panic of 1907, 

Open Hearth Process, U.S. Steel, Pittsburgh Plus, World War I, 

Roaring Twenties, Fiftieth Anniversary, Real Estate Boom, Hotels and Clubs. 

At the turn of the century, Birmingham was one of the fastest growing cities in America. 

The annexation of six suburban cities saw its population jump from 38,415 in 1900 

to 132,685 in 1910. Birmingham’s growth rate of 245 percent for the decade eclipsed 

that of any large city in the nation. 

The Alabama Legislature had no small hand in the matter of passing the Greater 

Birmingham Annexation Act (1910) adding forty-eight square miles to the city stretching 

from East Lake to Ensley and Wylam. The Town of Highland at Five Points, South 

was the first to be annexed in 1893 followed by Avondale, Woodlawn, East Lake, North 

Birmingham, West End, Pratt City, Ensley, Wylam, East Birmingham and Elyton. 1 

At the same time Birmingham changed its form of government from the Mayor- 

Council system to a five-member commission, a proposal the annexed cities thought 

might better represent the entire population. 

The annexation movement, pushed by the Chamber of Commerce, first gained 

momentum in 1908 when the voters approved a merger of suburban communities with 

the central city only to see the decision thrown out on a technicality when challenged 

in the courts. The vote in favor of annexation was 3,499 to 897. 2 

Frustrated by the contest, State Representative Jere King, who had sponsored the referendum, 

pushed for annexation next by legislative act the very next year. The plan, although 

opposed by steel companies fearing higher city taxes, took in an even greater area. King 

finally prevailed winning in the House 69-1 and in the Senate without a dissenting vote but 

not before Ensley and the U.S. Steel rail mill, coke oven properties, the Thomas and North 

Birmingham Furnaces and the Dimmick Pipe Works, were excluded. 

Chamber officials and promoters of Birmingham appealed to Governor Braxton B. 

Comer to add an executive amendment bringing even these areas into the city. As a former 

Birmingham industrialist, Comer, who had been president of Avondale Mills and City 

National Bank, faced a difficult decision. He finally relented and offered an executive 

amendment including Ensley and the industrial property, which passed and was signed 

into law January 1, 1910. 3 

The governor’s executive amendment was approved by the House 52-26 and by the 

Senate 19-10. 4 

The bill, even with the Comer amendment, some contended, did not go far enough. 

Excluded were Fairfield and the city’s southern suburbs. Although further efforts at 

expanding Birmingham’s city limits would be attempted over the years, the annexation 

movement never again gained the momentum it had in 1910. 

The merger movement did not please everyone. Former Lieutenant Governor 

Russell M. Cunningham, an Ensley resident, said the “forced annexation” by the 

Legislature was “a sad day” marked by “unholy ambition and despotic and tyrannically 

methods.” 5 Cunningham, a physician and former Jefferson County state senator 

(1896-1900), served as acting governor for a year (1904-1905) during the absence of 

Governor William D. Jelks, who was in the west on account of ill health. 

Cunningham, who lost to Comer in the 1906 Democratic primary race for governor, 

said had he been elected the outcome would have been different. The merger, he added, 

✧ 

The Brown-Marx Building, a sixteenstory, 

steel-frame office tower built 

on the corner of Twentieth Street and 

First Avenue North in 1906, was the 

tallest building in Birmingham until 

1909. It was located on the former 

site of the National Bank of 

Birmingham, known in 1873 

as “Linn’s Folly.” 


CHAPTER 7 

95

✧ 

Lieutenant Governor Russell M. 

Cunningham, Sr., who served in 

office from 1901 to 1904 became 

acting governor during the absence 

of Governor William Jelks from 1904 

to 1905. After losing the 1906 

governor’s race, he returned to his 

medical practice and in 1914 was 

elected Birmingham's first health 

officer. He is shown here (sitting on 

the stool) during a campaign rally. 


“wiped out” Ensley, which he called a 

monument to Col. Enoch Ensley, the 

steel magnate who had built the town. 

While Birmingham was expanding, a 

concurrent movement reappeared to 

reduce the size of Jefferson County by 

creating a new county around Bessemer 

and other western suburbs called “Pettus”. 

While a joint resolution, sponsored by 

Representative Milton C. Ragsdale, passed 

the House calling for a referendum on the 

issue, it failed to clear the Senate during 

the same session. A similar effort also 

failed in 1900 which would have created 

the “new county of Bessemer” encompassing 

an area from Birmingport to 

Blockton taking in parts of Bibb, Walker, 

Tuscaloosa and Shelby Counties. It was 

backed primarily by taxpayers unhappy 

with the attention given Birmingham over 

the rest of Jefferson County. 6 

The defeat of the “Pettus Plan” was 

coupled with an alternative proposal 

suggested by Birmingham City 

Commissioner Henry Page Burrass 

recommending that Birmingham separate 

from Jefferson County and itself become a 

new county. It would contain 146 and a 

half square miles reaching to the Warrior 

and Cahaba Rivers. “This county, when 

well organized and built up would make a 

fine city capable of taking care of 

itself…. 7 ” It, too, failed to gain steam. 

There was no doubt Birmingham had 

become Alabama’s economic hot spot. 

The city’s population jumped almost 

100,000 by the annexations—from 

38,415 in 1900 to 132,685 in 1910. Not 

only had it replaced Mobile as the state’s 

largest city, it also led the nation, showing 

the largest percentage increase of any city 

in the country over one hundred 

thousand population. 

Feeding its economic engine was continued 

growth in iron and steel. The 

Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad 

Company had provided a major push in 

1890 when it bought the Pratt Coal & 

Coke Company, putting together a major 

steel-making center and pouring the first 

heat of steel on Thanksgiving Day, 1899. 

Downtown construction boomed. The 

Woodward Building, built in 1901, was 

followed by the Brown-Marx Building in 

1906; the Terminal Station, 1907; the 

Empire Building, 1908; the Stallings 

Building (known as the Chalifoux) in 

1909; the First Avenue Viaduct in 1911; 

and the Jefferson County Savings Bank 

(City Federal) in 1913. 

When the Empire Building, a 16- 

story, 247-foot tall classical revival style 

skyscraper at 1928 First Avenue North 

was built, it was the tallest building in 

Alabama. It was erected on the former 

site of the Bank Saloon. 

Within four years that honor was passed 

to the twenty-one-story American Trust 

and Savings Bank Building on the opposite 

corner, creating what became known as the 

“Heaviest Corner on Earth”. Later known 

as the John Hand Building (First National 

Bank), it became the tallest building in 

Alabama for a year before being surpassed 

by the twenty-seven-story Jefferson 

County Savings and Bank Building, later 

renamed the Comer Building. That structure 

was the tallest building in 

Birmingham from 1913 to 1972. 8 Upon its 

completion, it was the tallest building in 

the Southeast. The brain child of Eugene F. 

Enslen, president of the savings and loan, 

the architectural icon was renamed the 

City Federal Building in 1963. 

Local architects local architects William 

T. Warren and William Leslie Welton were 


96

involved in the design for the Empire 

Building. Welton also designed the John 

Hand, Massey and Jackson Buildings and 

collaborated on the Tutwiler Hotel. 

Before the era of Prohibition (1920- 

1933), downtown Birmingham was home 

to numerous saloons. As the reformist 

movement swept across the country, the 

city became a target for restricted sales. 

Birmingham increased its saloon license 

fee from $500 in 1906 to $3,000 in 1911, 

outlawed Negro saloons and forced 

remaining saloons into the heavily-policed 

downtown area. 

It was in this period that Birmingham 

also became the site of the Jack Daniels 

distillery at 1215 Second Avenue, South. 

Lem Motlow, who had taken over control 

of the famous distillery in Lynchburg, 

Tennessee from his uncle, Jack Daniels, 

moved the operation here when 

Tennessee went dry in 1910. City directories 

show that the Jack Daniels Distillery 

Company, which made sipping whiskey 

and peach and apple brandy, was in business 

in Birmingham from 1913 to 1915. 

When Alabama went dry in 1915, Motlow 

closed the Birmingham plant and moved 

it to St. Louis, Missouri. 9 

A restored sign on a downtown building 

still proclaims “Motlow’s Corn and Jack 

Daniel’s No. 7 Lincoln County Whiskies, 

probably the last thing left of the original 

operation. Interestingly, Lem Motlow’s 

cousin, Frank “Spoon” Motlow, opened a 

saloon in downtown Gadsden in 1900 and 

in 1903 built a distillery there with Lem as 

a one-third investor. It closed in 1908. 

Returning the favor, “Spoon” Motlow 

invested in Lem’s Birmingham plant. 

Another distillery is also listed in the 

1915 City Directory, the Pratt City 

✧ 

A map of the proposed “New County 

of Bessemer.” 

MAP BY THE S. E. JONES COMPANY, 1900. 

CHAPTER 7 

97

War, its iron and steel plants turned out 

the materials of war. Using the same ore 

as did the Confederate iron makers at 

Irondale and Oxmoor, weapons were 

again being produced from it for the 

American armed forces. 

SPANISH- AMERICAN 

WAR 

Distilling Company at 118 Fourth 

Street. Histories of these early distilleries 

are sometimes commingled. 

Those who knew where to find it 

turned to Alabama-made “moonshine”, 

often produced in abandoned mines and 

factories, warehouses, even company 

houses. Remnants of such operations can 

still be seen near the Tannehill Furnaces. 

Amid rapid growth, especially in the 

iron industry, Birmingham also experienced 

the realities of war. Not only did its 

soldiers appear on foreign battle fields 

beginning with the Spanish-American 

The root causes of the war with Spain 

ran far from the fields of Alabama but 

Alabamians, like most Americans, were 

incensed by the sinking of the Battleship 

Maine in Havana Harbor on February 

15, 1898. They also sympathized with 

the desire of Spain’s remaining colonies 

to be free. 

The conflict was fought on three 

fronts, Cuba, the Philippines and Puerto 

Rico and marked the first major land 

campaign fought by the U.S. outside the 

Western Hemisphere. 

When the war started, President 

McKinley called for volunteers from across 

the nation. A week later Governor Joseph 

F. Johnston called for Alabama volunteers. 

Of the 1,800 members of the Alabama 

National Guard, two-thirds responded. 

Alarmingly, about half of the troops failed 

to meet the army’s fitness standards. 10 

Three regiments of Alabama troops, 

two white and one black, were stationed 

at various times in Birmingham and 

Mobile and later at Miami and 

Jacksonville, Florida. While the state’s 

units never got closer to the fighting 

than Florida, several Alabamians did 

gain fame in Cuba, among them former 

Confederate Gen. Joseph H. Wheeler at 

San Juan Hill and Lt. Richmond Pearson 

Hobson at Santiago Harbor. 

Following a series of American 

victories, Spain’s surrendered its territories 

in December 1898, establishing 

independence for Cuba while ceding 

Puerto Rico and Guam to the United 

States. The surrender terms also allowed 

the U.S. to purchase the Philippine Islands 

for $20 million. 

The war marked American entry into 

world affairs; over the course of the next 


98

century, the United States had a large hand 

in various conflicts around the world. 

On September 13, the First Alabama 

Volunteer Infantry, made up largely of 

Birmingham and Bessemer soldiers, 

headed home from Jacksonville and, 

arriving the next day, were paid and 

given a 30-day furlough. 

While encamped at East Lake, some 

of the soldiers, free from the rigors of 

military life, went on a rampage. Several 

bloody confrontations occurred with the 

most serious resulting in the shooting 

death of Pvt. John Slaben. Private David 

B. McClung was jailed in the shooting. 

In a confrontation with the camp 

provost guard, several drunken soldiers 

were left with bayonet wounds; another 

was seriously injured in a fight. 11 

Eight days after the treaty was signed 

formally ending the war, another soldier 

from the regiment killed a Town Creek 

resident at a country dance. 

In spite of its service to the country, 

the regiment, some historians claimed, 

proved more dangerous to themselves 

and other American citizens than the 

Spanish military. 

The First Alabama Volunteer Infantry, 

led by Col. Elijah L. Higdan and Major 

Thomas A. Smith, was mustered out 

of service on October 31, 1898, at 

Birmingham. At the time, the regiment 

consisted of 49 officers and 1,089 enlisted 

men. During its term of service, the 

regiment lost one officer and 15 enlisted 

men to disease. Thirty-one men were 

discharged on disability. In addition, 

thirty-two enlisted men deserted. 12 

Birmingham also had a number of 

black soldiers in the Third Alabama 

which included Capts. Harris C. Vaughn, 

John Trimble, Samuel E. Perkins, and 

Edward D. Johnston, and First Lt. 

Dabney Luckie, assistant surgeon. 13 

Birmingham iron, specifically from 

the Sloss Iron & Steel Company, found a 

new market in the U.S. Navy which 

expanding rapidly in the 1880s and 

1890s as the country began to break 

away from isolationism. 

✧ 

Opposite, top: A crowd at the Union 

Passenger Station spills out into 

Twentieth Street as volunteers leave 

for the Spanish-American War, May 

1, 1898. 


Opposite, bottom: The USS Oregon, 

which had eighteen-inch side armor 

plating, was built with Sloss iron 

from Birmingham between 1891-1896 

at the Union Ironworks in San 

Francisco. Seeing action in the 

Spanish-American War, she was the 

flagship of the Pacific Fleet during 

World War I. 

COURTESY OF THE U.S. NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER. 

Above: Ensley Furnaces, Tennessee 

Coal, Iron & Railroad Company, 

c. 1905. 


Left: Henderson Steel & 

Manufacturing Company, where steel 

was first made from Birmingham 

iron in 1888. The North 

Birmingham Sloss furnaces can be 

seen in the background. 


CHAPTER 7 

99

✧ 

Above: The casting floor, Sloss City 

Furnaces, built in 1882-1883. 

GRAHAM PAINTING, 1981. COURTESY OF THE 


Below: Vulcan, the world’s largest 

cast iron statue, offers a spectacular 

view of downtown Birmingham from 

Vulcan Park. 

COURTESY OF GREENBERG/ALABAMA BUREAU OF 

TOURISM & TRAVEL. 

The battleships Oregon and Texas, 

among other vessels, were made of iron 

produced at the Sloss Furnaces. The 

Oregon, the newest and most advanced 

ship in the American fleet, speedily 

sailed from San Francisco around South 

America in May 1898, an epic voyage of 

68 days, to take part in the naval battle 

at Santiago Bay. 14 

Asked to explain the ship’s phenomenal 

endurance record, the Navy’s chief engineer, 

George W. Melville, said, “After all, 

you know, she was built of Sloss iron.” 15 

Company in North Birmingham but the 

company, lacking resources, never fully 

developed the process as a competitor. 

The Henderson experiment, however, 

was closely watched as the first attempt to 

convert ordinary high phosphoric pig iron 

into steel from native material in the district. 

It was the work of James Henderson 

of New York who came to Birmingham in 

August 1887, to introduce his patent furnace 

and other metallurgical advances. 

The plant, capitalized at $20,000, had a 

board of directors, which included H. F. 

Wilson, J. A. Montgomery, Col. J. W. Bush, 

Dr. Vann M. Geddery, and John McCoy. 16 

Like the Oxmoor experiment in 1876 

that proved coke produced in the 

Birmingham area could make quality pig 

iron, the Henderson experiment proved 

steel could be made from local pig iron. 17 

An old plant located at Boston, 

Massachusetts, which had been built for 

the same kind of experiment several 

years before, was moved to a site in 

North Birmingham near the Sloss works. 

A deposit of dolomite on the site was 

used in the process. While the steel it 

produced proved to be of a good grade, 

its capacity was limited to one and one 

half tons per run. 

OPEN HEARTH STEEL 

With new national markets opening 

for Sloss, the Tennessee Coal, Iron & 

Railroad Company and other 

Birmingham iron producers, the area 

economy boomed. On Thanksgiving 

Day, 1889, the year following the cessation 

of hostilities in Cuba, TCI cast its 

first run of steel. 

Previous to this date, iron made in 

Birmingham, TCI’s Alice Furnace, was 

shipped to the Carnegie Steel Works in 

Pennsylvania to be made into steel. Now, 

Birmingham, where iron could be produced 

cheaper than anywhere in the 

country, posed a new threat to Pittsburgh. 

The first steel in Birmingham had 

actually been made in 1888 at the 

Henderson Steel and Manufacturing 


100

The Henderson effort did catch the 

attention of Andrew Carnegie, who visiting 

Birmingham in 1889, commented, 

“the South is Pennsylvania’s most formidable 

industrial enemy”. 18 

The next year members of the British 

Iron and Steel Institute visited 

Birmingham. Among the visitors was 

Percy Gilchrist, the inventor of the open 

hearth process. On inspection of the 

Henderson mill he was reported to have 

said: “My God, gentlemen, why have you 

not got forty of these instead of one?” 19 

Despite the attention, the Henderson 

effort fell short of attracting needed 

investment and closed. It was bought by 

TCI for the purpose of continuing the 

experiments with steelmaking. 

By 1895 northern steelworks were 

converting TCI iron into quality steel. 

This success, coupled with the 

Henderson success convinced the company 

management that mass production 

of steel in Alabama was practical. In 

1898 the company created a new subsidiary 

for this purpose, the Alabama 

Steel & Shipbuilding Company, which 

opened in 1899. 20 

TCI adopted the open hearth process 

for making steel rails at its Ensley mill. 

In the late 1880s, Carnegie Steel, headquartered 

in Pittsburgh, was the largest 

manufacturer of pig iron, steel rails, and 

coke in the world, with a capacity to produce 

approximately two thousand tons of 

pig metal per day. After buying out much 

of his competition and looking to retire, 

he sold his steel making empire to banker 

John Pierpoint Morgan, whose holdings 

became the United States Steel 

Corporation, in 1901. The buyout was 

the largest industrial takeover in United 

States history to that time. 

perfect place to stake a claim as the 

nation’s new steel manufacturing center. 

To dramatically demonstrate the 

flourishing local foundry industry and 

its ability to produce quality products 

made from iron, it was decided to build 

a giant iron statute of the Roman god of 

fire, Vulcan. 21 

Over eighteen million people saw 

Vulcan in its exhibit space in the Palace of 

Mines and Metallurgy. So well received was 

the statute, it was awarded the Grand Prize 

of the Exposition by the jury of the Mineral 

Department. A sign attached to Vulcan’s 

anvil proudly proclaimed “Iron is King, Its 

Home is Birmingham, Alabama”. 22 

James MacKnight, a journalist and promoter, 

came up with the idea of the statute 

which he took to the Commercial Club, 

forerunner of the Birmingham Chamber of 

Commerce. There he won the support of 

the club’s president, Fred M. Jackson, Sr., 

who set the plan in motion. Giuseppe 

Moretti, who had created major civic 

sculptures in Pittsburgh, was contracted to 

undertake the work for which he was paid 

$6,000 (about $90,000 in today’s dollars). 23 

Rising 56 feet in height, the statute, 

weighing 50 tons, is the largest cast iron 

statute in the world. It was cast at the 

Birmingham Steel and Iron Company 

founded by James R. McWane in 1903. 

Failure of the Commercial Club to fully 

pay for the casting nearly bankrupted the 

✧ 

The Helen Bess Mine, a source of 

iron ore for the Irondale Furnace 

during the Civil War, was purchased 

by the Birmingham Ore & Mining 

Company in 1902. The ore 

concentrating plant shown here 

burnt about 1917. The mines were 

located behind the present day site of 

the Mountain Brook Post Office in 

Crestline off Morningside Drive. 


VULCAN 

Birmingham’s iron and steel industry, 

which was attracting national attention at 

the turn of the century, was a source of 

pride to workers and managers alike. The 

1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis seemed the 

CHAPTER 7 

101

✧ 

Coke Ovens, Pratt Coal & Coke 

Company. Organized in 1878 by 

Henry DeBardeleben and others, the 

company soon became the largest 

mining enterprise in the Birmingham 

District. It was bought by Col. Enoch 

Ensley in 1884. 


foundry. McWane later served as president 

of the American Cast Iron and Pipe 

Company and founded McWane Cast 

Iron Pipe Company in 1922. 

After the world’s fair, the statue was reerected 

at Birmingham’s Fair Park in 1906 

where it remained for the next thirty 

years. The statute relocation, as part of a 

WPA project, was placed at its present 

location on Red Mountain in the 1930s. 

The cooperative effort involved the 

Birmingham Kiwanis Club, the 

Birmingham Parks and Recreation Board, 

the Alabama Highway Department and 

TCI. The statute, located in Vulcan Park, 

is today a major tourist attraction. 

U . S . STEEL 

As Vulcan was reassembled at Fair 

Park, TCI, itself, was about to undergo a 

major make-over. In 1907, the year of a 

national panic, U.S. Steel acquired the 


Company and entered the Birmingham 

market. The buyout, although raising 

claims it violated anti-trust statutes, 

gave U.S. Steel tremendous furnace, ore 

and coal properties estimated at $1 

billion for the sum of $35,317.632. 24 

The purchase, which went all the way 

to the White House for President 

Theodore Roosevelt’s blessing, was made 

at Morgan’s suggestion to stave off further 

failures at New York’s financial houses 

thereby mitigating the depression. 

“Unless someone furnishes immediate 

relief, no man on earth can say what the 

effect will be on the financial institutions 

of the country under these critical 

conditions,” Morgan said. 25 

TCI’s stock, held by the financial firm of 

Moore & Schley, was greatly devalued and 

threatened the stability of a firm already 

hard hit by the Depression. E. G. Gary, 

U.S. Steel’s chairman, said while staving 

off further financial panic, the acquisition 

of TCI would keep U.S. Steel’s share of 

steel manufacturing at about sixty percent 

of U.S. capacity, which was about the level 

the company had when it was organized. 

Gary and Henry Clay Frick, a member 

of the U. S. Steel’s board of directors and 

well known coal baron, met with Secretary 

of State Elihu Root and the president in a 

hurriedly-arranged meeting at the White 

House just before Wall Street opened for a 

crucial day of trading. 26 It was suggested 

that both the financial house and TCI 

were in danger of failure which would further 

spread panic and unemployment. 

While TCI bonds were somewhat 

shaky, Morgan and Gary’s contention the 

Birmingham steelmaker was about to go 

under was viewed by others in the 

nation’s capital as unfounded. Just before 

the merger, the Harriman Railroad had 

placed an order for 150,000 tons of openhearth 

rails with TCI. Its Ensley plant was 

turning out the greater part of the openhearth 

steel rails in the United States in 

direct competition with U.S. Steel. 27 


102

Congressional critics of the merger 

cried foul and promoted efforts to break 

up U.S. Steel as a monopoly. President 

Taft, fresh from successful antitrust suits 

against American Tobacco and Standard 

Oil, filed a dissolution suit against 

U.S. Steel in 1911. In 1920, the U.S. 

Supreme Court upheld a lower court 

order from New Jersey not to dissolve 

the corporation. 28 

In Birmingham, U.S. Steel made its 

headquarters in the Brown-Marx 

Building, a window view on the rapidly 

growing workshop town, and made plans 

for further expansion of its Alabama 

mills. To oversee its southern operations, 

the corporation sent George Gordon 

Crawford, a Georgia-born executive who 

had managed its National Tube Company, 

to Birmingham as TCI president. 

From 1907 until the end of his term 

23 years later, each year saw some major 

expansion or modernization including 

by-product coke ovens, improved industrial 

water supply systems and a far 

reaching employee health care program. 

In 1912, the Tennessee Division built 

280 by-product coke ovens and 363 

additional ovens in 1919, 1920, and 

1928. Another 146 were added in 1937. 29 

By 1913 the turnover in the number 

of workers in the mills and mines had 

reached 400 percent annually and the 

average working time per employee was 

12 days of each month. The high rate of 

absenteeism was traceable to the prevalence 

of serious diseases among workers 

and their families. 30 

To improve available medical care, 

Crawford created a company health 

department headed by Dr. Lloyd Noland, 

a young physician and surgeon on the 

staff of Gen. William C. Gorgas in the 

Canal Zone. 

Conditions in western Jefferson 

County at the time included large areas 

of swamp land very much like conditions 

that were threatening Panama and 

holding up work on the canal. To prevent 

the spread of malaria, Noland 

added a hospital and a dispensary service 

for employees, set up a sanitary division 

to drain and treat swamps, sealed 

off polluted water supplies, constructed 

sanitary facilities and established a 

health counseling service. 

During its first year of operation, TCI’s 

Health Department expended three quarters 

of a million dollars, compared to the 

Alabama Department of Health budget 

during the same period of only $25,000. 31 

The occurrence of the mosquito-spread 

disease dropped by more than ninety percent 

in the first year. 

It was also during Crawford’s administration 

that the town of Fairfield, originally 

called Corey, was planned and built 

by TCI to provide a convenient and livable 

space for its employees. When the 

city was still under construction in 1911, 

President Theodore Roosevelt made a 

speech in the town plaza which today is 

in the center of the business district. 

TCI also built other residential communities 

around its mining camps including 

Docena, Edgewater, and Bayview. 

While much of Birmingham’s early 

iron and steel development centered on 

TCI and U.S. Steel, other companies 

were also active in the district. By 1900 

many of the smaller iron producers had 

been forced by price competition to 

merge into Sloss-Sheffield Iron & Steel 

Company, Republic Iron and Steel 

Company and Woodward Iron Company. 

✧ 

Armed company guards at the TCI 

Mines Slope No. 5 during the coal 

strike of 1894. More than nine 

thousand miners joined the UMW 

protest against reduced wages. 

COURTESY OF ERSKINE RAMSAY COLLECTION, 


CHAPTER 7 

103

✧ 

Above: Eugene B. Ely, a civilian test 

pilot, flew from the USS 

Birmingham at Hampton Roads, 

making the first airplane takeoff 

from a ship. 


Below: The USS Birmingham, CL-2, 

a Chester-class light cruiser laid 

down by the Fore River Shipbuilding 

Company at Quincy, Massachusetts 

August 14, 1905 and launched 

May 29, 1907. From her deck, 

November 14, 1910, civilian pilot 

Eugene Ely made the first airplane 

takeoff from a warship in a Curtiss 

Model “D” biplane. 


The trend that began in 1881 toward 

absentee ownership of Birmingham’s 

metals industry had become a reality. 

Between 1900 and the outbreak of 

World War I, Alabama and specifically the 

Birmingham district would become the 

center of the cast iron pipe industry when 

seven new plants were built in the state. 

Although the Panic of 1907 slowed the 

growth, by 1912 the surge was back on. 

“In 1913 more than one million tons of 

cast iron pipe and fittings were made 

(here),” wrote Henry Jeffers Noble, manager 

of the American Cast Iron Pipe 

Company. “The leading states on a tonnage 

basis were Alabama, New Jersey, 

Pennsylvania and Ohio in the order 

named, this being one of the few instances 

where Pennsylvania failed to take precedence 

in a branch of iron production.” 32 

Growth in the industry did not come 

without its share of labor strife. At the turn 

of the century organized labor had become 

a political and economic force in the 

Birmingham district. When miners struck 

in 1904, plant owners ordered a lock out. 

Labor discontent boiled over into a 

coal strike again in July 1908 when 

18,000 miners left the pits. Governor 

Comer sent in National Guard troops to 

protect nonunion miners on August 10 

after violence flared and property was 

destroyed. On August 26 the governor 

ordered the military to cut down the tents 

of the strikers. On August 30, Comer 

threatened to arrest every striking miner 

for vagrancy, thus ending the strike. 

The trouble in 1908 was rivaled by 

another coal strike in 1920 and 1921 

that pitted coal companies against the 

United Mine Workers in the union’s 

efforts to organize blacks and whites in 

the Birmingham District. As racial tones 

rose, one miner was killed and another 

lynched as members of the Guard were 

sent into the strike zone. 32 The union 

suffered a major setback in losing the 

strike action as its members were 

replaced by convicts and non-union 

workers. Union strength in the coal 

fields did not return until 1933. 

Steel works continued to expand over 

the next decade. In 1928 TCI, under 

U.S. Steel control, built the first two furnaces 

at the new Fairfield Works complimenting 

its giant Ensley rail mill. 

While enjoying some of the fruits from 

plants in Birmingham and other parts of 

the country, the growth of the iron and 

steel industry outside Pennsylvania continued 

to vex the moguls of the industry. 

To protect their base a pricing system 

known as “Pittsburgh Plus” was introduced 

in 1911. All steel companies—no 

matter where they were located—based 

their prices on those quoted by United 

States Steel in Pittsburgh. A customer in 

Atlanta, for example, ordering steel from 

Birmingham had to pay freight rates f.o.b. 

from Pittsburgh under a schedule 

approved by the Interstate Commerce 

Commission. The regulation, which further 

concentrated the iron and steel industry 

to the Pittsburgh area, was not abandoned 

until 1924 when discontinued by 

order of the Federal Trade Commission. 

Although U.S. Steel would make a 

heavy investment in the Birmingham 

district, the long term impact of 

“Pittsburgh Plus” would be to strangle 

TCI’s chances of competing on equal 

terms with the rest of the steel industry. 

The decision would also profoundly 

affect the location of secondary steel processing 

industries whose interests were 

better served staying the northeast where 


104

transportation costs in acquiring steel 

bars and plates were more competitive 

than those from the Birmingham District 

with its “add-on” costs. 33 

While the entry of U.S. Steel into the 

Birmingham market brought with it 

improved health care and educational and 

social services, its pricing scheme meant 

TCI was no longer competitive with 

northern steel mills. Hugh W. Sanford, 

writing in the Manufacturer’s Record in 

1908, said the fact that steel bars and 

plates could be made in Birmingham $3 

cheaper than Pittsburgh meant nothing 

under the prevailing system. 34 

WORLD WAR I 

As World War I approached, 

Birmingham steel plants, despite the 

unfair pricing scheme, played a key role 

in providing war materials and armament. 

Birmingham factories made 

shells, ship engines, rolled steel for ship 

building and produced other war supplies. 

Birmingham citizens, in a show of 

patriotism, also demonstrated strong 

support for the military effort to stem 

German aggression in Europe. 

In 1916 as the U.S. went to war with 

Germany, the tide ran so strong 15,000 

people marched in Birmingham on 

Liberty Day and bond drives over- subscribed 

their quotas. In Jefferson 

County, 20,000 men registered for active 

duty, many comprising Alabama’s 167th 

Infantry of the famed Rainbow Division. 

The first American killed in action 

during World War I was Gunner’s Mate 

First Class Osmond Kelly Ingram, a thirty-year-old 

sailor from Pratt City. He was 

serving aboard the destroyer USS Cassin 

on September 16, 1917, when he was 

blown overboard by a German torpedo. 

For his heroic deeds, Ingram was later 

awarded the Medal of Honor and became 

the first enlisted man to have a ship 

named after him. 36 

The city also had a cruiser named for it 

which saw action during World War I. 

The first of three ships to bear the name, 

the first USS Birmingham (CL-2) was a 

light cruiser commissioned in April 

1908. From her deck on November 14, 

1910 Eugene Ely, in a Curtiss biplane, 

made the first airplane take-off from a 

ship. During the war she served as flagship 

for the Destroyer Force Atlantic 

Fleet. She was decommissioned on 

December 1, 1923, and scraped in 1930. 37 

Alabama contributed seventy-four thousand 

draftees to the armed forces in World 

War I, in addition to whole units of the 

state’s National Guard which were federalized 

soon after war was declared. Among 

them was the Fourth Alabama which 

became part of the Forty-second “Rainbow 

Division.” Losses in France included 2,401 

Alabamians killed in action; another 3,861 

of the state’s soldiers died from wounds or 

disease suffered in service. 38 

Maintaining support on the home 

front in the face of such losses prompted 

extensive morale building efforts on 

the part of governmental agencies. 

Posters lauding the virtues of those who 

supported the war at home and damning 

the atrocities of the German “Huns” 

abroad were apparent everywhere. 

Community programs were held to 

entertain, enlighten, and to sell the 

✧ 

Birmingham welcomed home the 

Fourth Infantry Division of the 

Alabama National Guard, part of the 

Rainbow Division, in this parade 

down Twentieth Street May 10, 

1919, noting the end of World War I. 

COURTESY OF THE SULZBY COLLECTION, BIRMINGHAM 


CHAPTER 7 

105

increase over the decade. Jefferson 

County’s population the same year 

reached 310,054. Only New Orleans, 

Louisville, and Atlanta exceeded 

Birmingham in size in the entire South. 41 

THE 1918 FLU PANDEMIC 

✧ 

The automobile age also meant the 

rise of repair shops including the 

Rees Auto Service shown here in 

1923. It was operated by four 

brothers, Harry, Wade, Howard, 

and George at 427 South Twentieth 

Street. An old Jefferson County 

school bus is being hauled in 

for repairs. 

COURTESY OF SHIRLEY VAUGHN. 

audiences on “Liberty Bonds,” Red 

Cross volunteerism and a host of other 

war effort-related programs. 

When the war ended in 1918, 

Birmingham welcomed back its soldiers 

in a giant parade along Twentieth Street. 

In their honor, the new Twenty-first 

Street Viaduct was renamed the 

Rainbow Viaduct. 39 

The parade included 1,400 men and 

officers, most of whom had been 

engaged in the fierce fighting at St. 

Mihiel, the Argonne and Sedan and the 

army of occupation on the Rhine. All 

former soldiers—including Confederate 

veterans—were invited to participate. 

The war had brought changes to 

Jefferson County, more industries and 

higher wages. It also brought infrastructure 

improvements including modernizations 

in the Warrior-Tombigbee River 

system opening the waterway to tug 

boats and coal fields. 

The Port of Birmingham at the mouth 

of Short Creek on the Locust Fork was 

completed in 1920. The SS Birmingham, 

made in St. Louis, was the first tug to 

operate out of the port but soon scores of 

tugs and barges were plying back and 

forth from Birmingham to Mobile carrying 

raw materials and finished products. 40 

Birmingham now had an answer to 

excessively high rail rates designed to 

help northern factories. 

In population, Birmingham continued 

its rapid growth, reaching 178,806 

in the 1920 Census, a 35 percent 

Birmingham grew despite the devastating 

affects of the 1918 Spanish flu 

pandemic which, for many Alabamians, 

was worse than World War I. 

It first appeared in late September 

1918, in Florence. Just three weeks later, 

over twenty-five thousand cases of 

influenza in the state had been reported 

to the U.S. Public Health Service. It is 

impossible to know for sure exactly how 

many Alabamans were affected by the 

flu, since regular reports to the U.S. 

Public Health Service were never made. 

But it is known that during the last two 

weeks of October, more than thirtyseven 

thousand cases of the flu erupted 

in Alabama. 42 

People around the state died by the 

hundreds. One of them was John Paul 

(Booze) Jones, a young sailor and member 

of the Community Club (Redstone 

Club) from Birmingham who, rescued at 

sea during World War I when his sub 

chaser was sunk, died of his wounds and 

influenza in October 1918, at the military 

hospital in Selma. 43 

J. D. Washburn, who served in a medical 

unit in Alabama during the war, 

recalled his experience: 

“We worked like dogs from about 

seven in the morning until the last 

patient of the day had been checked in 

or out—usually about 10 o’clock that 

night. The men died like flies and several 

times we ran out of boxes to bury 

them in and had to put their bodies in 

cold storage until more boxes were 

shipped in. It was horrible.” 44 

The flu pandemic circled the globe in 

just four months, claiming the lives of 

more than 21 million people. The United 

States lost 675,000 people to the Spanish 

flu in 1918—more casualties than World 


106

War I, World War II, the Korean War and 

the Vietnam War combined. 

THE ROARING TWENTIES 

The decade of the 1920s was characterized 

as a period of American prosperity 

and optimism. The “Roaring 

Twenties,” featured bath tub gin, jazz, 

the model T, the $5 work day, the first 

transatlantic flight and movies. 

In Birmingham and across the nation, 

business grew amid a period of rising 

intolerance and isolation. At the close of 

World War I, Americans retreated into a 

provincialism evidenced by the rise of 

the Ku Klux Klan, a crackdown on left 

wing political groups by the government, 

restrictive immigration laws 

and prohibition. 

Even as the country was enjoying 

economic success, the 1920s were setting 

the stage for the Great Depression 

that would dominate the 1930s. 

Cheap mass-produced vehicles became 

common throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

By 1927, Henry Ford had sold 15 million 

Model Ts. Birmingham streets were a mix 

of automobiles and horse carriages. 

While fans got to Rickwood Field anyway 

they could, some on trollys, others by 

automobile, baseball was big league entertainment. 

During the decade the 

Birmingham Barons set attendance 

records, drawing 299,150 in 1927 alone 

when Hall of Famer Rube Marquard was 

on the pitcher’s mound. For eight of the 10 

years, the team drew over 160,000 fans. 

Trolleys also reached two area lakes 

popular for picnics, boating and fishing—East 

Lake and Edgewood Lake. 

While the resort hotel at East Lake was 

lost to a fire in 1891, the area remained 

popular for outdoor events including 

political rallies. Here in 1923, some fifty 

thousand people gathered to witness the 

public initiation ceremony for the 

Nathan Bedford Forrest Klan No. 60 of 

the Ku Klux Klan. 

East Lake, the only man-made lake 

site remaining from the 1890s, developed 

into an amusement park and zoo. 

In 1908, Birmingham Attorney James 

Gillespy, writing in his diary, recorded 

his family’s outing at the place: 

“We rode the ‘Circular Swing,” 

Gillespy recalled, “the ‘Roller Coaster,’ 

the ‘Scenic Railway,’ the ‘Shoot the 

Shoot,’ the ‘Launch’ and the ‘Miniature 

RR’ and had a big time generally…I was 

the biggest child in the bunch.” 45 

Edgewood Lake, planned in 1912 

with a dam on Shades Creek near Green 

Springs Highway in present day 

Homewood, became the site of the 

Edgewood Country Club, later called the 

Birmingham Motor and Country Club. 

By the fall of 1915 the lake, 6,500 feet 

long and 750 feet wide at its western 

end, was filled and stocked with bass and 

bream for fishing. In the mid 1920s the 

clubhouse was opened to the public 

when parking areas and a dance pavilion 

were added to the facilities then known 

as Edgewood Park. 46 

Developed by the originators of the 

town of Edgewood, Stephen Smith 

and Troupe Brazelton, the original 

plans included an automobile racetrack 

to encircle the lake. The northern 

and southern straight-a-ways of the 

track were graded and today are 

Lakeshore and South Lakeshore Drives 

in Homewood. 

Like East Lake, Edgewood Lake was 

also used for Klan initiations. In 1925 

some 25,000 people gathered to watch 

the Robert E. Lee Klan No. 1 swear in 

1,750 men including then-Birmingham 

✧ 

East Lake Park, c. the 1920s. A 

major feature of the park was a 

wooden roller coaster near First 

Avenue North. 

COURTESY OF THE O. V. HUNT COLLECTION, 


CHAPTER 7 

107

attorney and later U.S. Senator and U.S. 

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. 47 

The log-constructed Edgewood 

Lake clubhouse fell into ruin and was 

demolished in 1938. The lake was 

drained by a series of dam breaks and 

wash-outs in 1933 and finally left 

drained by Jefferson County in the 

1940s. It is currently the site of 

Homewood High School and the 

Somerby retirement community across 

from Samford University. 48 

West Lake in Bessemer began as a 

water source for the growing new suburban 

community after it outgrew the supply 

provided by Valley Creek. Here two 

reservoirs were located and later another 

line connected to Hawkins Spring on 

the old Hawkins Plantation, some four 

miles northeast. In 1927, Bessemer customers 

began to be served by the 

Birmingham Water Works. 49 

When the waters of West Lake reservoir 

became unsuited for drinking water, 

the reservoir became a resort area. By 

1912, the Littleton Family had a water 

slide and recreational hall in operation at 

the place. Today, the West Lake Shopping 

Center sits on the old lake bed site. 

Other swimming places included 

Tapawingo Springs near Pinson and 

along the waters of Turkey Creek, locally 

known as the Blue Hole, the Narrows 

and Bull Frog Bend. Others preferred 

Fulton Springs near Fultondale and 

Roebuck Springs on Birmingham’s east 

side as well as secret swimming holes in 

Shades and Village Creeks. 

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY 

CELEBRATION 

In 1921 Birmingham celebrated its 

fiftieth anniversary with an elaborate 

semi-centennial pageant. President and 

Mrs. Warren G. Harding, guests of 

honor, rode through the streets in a 

Premocar manufactured in Birmingham 

by the Preston Motor Car Company. 

The company’s factory was located on 

Vanderbilt Road at Fifteenth Avenue, 

North, now occupied by ALTEC Industries. 

R. A. Skinner served as president and chief 

engineer and James T. Driver as vice 

president and sales manager. 50 

The car was made in Birmingham from 

1918 to 1923. Another local resident, 

Mary Anderson, also made an impact on 

✧ 

A construction crew using picks and 

shovels builds the road up Red 

Mountain from the Southside 

between 1909-1911—today known 

as Richard Arrington Boulevard, 

South. Warrick Road is under 

construction to the left and a sign 

down the way welcomes visitors to 

Edgewood near the future site of 

Vulcan Park. 



108

the American automobile industry by 

inventing the windshield wiper. 

Anderson moved to Birmingham with 

her widowed mother and sister in 1889 

where the women built the Fairmont 

Apartments on Highland Avenue. In 

1902, on a trip to New York City, she conceived 

the concept for the windshield 

wiper while sitting in a trolley car in 

sleety rain. 51 

When she returned to Birmingham 

she sketched a design for a handoperated 

device and had a local 

company produce a working model. She 

applied for, and was granted, a 17-year 

patent for a windshield wiper in 1903. 

After the patent expired in 1920 and the 

automobile manufacturing business 

grew rapidly, windshield wipers using 

Anderson’s basic design became 

standard equipment. 

The fiftieth anniversary parade in 

downtown Birmingham attracted a number 

of dignitaries including Albert B. Fall, 

Secretary of the Interior, John W. Weeks, 

Secretary of War, and U.S. Senator Oscar 

Underwood, the Democratic leader of the 

Senate. Also present were Gov. and Mrs. 

Thomas E. Kilby. A special train brought 

legislators from Montgomery. 

The week-long event included free band 

concerts, a baby parade, aerial stunts, balls, 

pageants—including a cast of two thousand 

at the Avondale Park amphitheatre— 

and a baseball double header including a 

game between the “Elyton Warriors” and 

the “Cahaba Invincibles” which ended in a 

4-4 tie. Sidney W. Bowie served as event 

chairman and Erskine Ramsay as finance 

chairman. 52 

The celebration in many ways was a 

chest thumper. An editorial in the 

Birmingham Age-Herald on October 25, 

1921, read: 

In a wilderness, though rich in coal 

and iron, a metropolis has sprung up to 

become an industrial marvel, a city of 

great industries, of belching smokestacks, 

towering buildings and handsome 

homes. One only has to glance back 20 

years to realize the transformation that 

has been wrought in Jefferson County. 

Alabama’s first radio station, WSY, 

began broadcasting on April 24, 1922. 

The station was started by Alabama 

Power Company to stay in touch with 

line crews in isolated areas. In 1925 the 

station merged with Auburn’s WMAV to 

become WAPI, the call letters standing 

for the Alabama Polytechnic Institute 

(later Auburn University). 

Alabama’s first television station 

would not go on the air until June 1949 

when Birmingham’s Channel 13 was 

known as WAFM-TV. It later became 

WAPI-TV to reflect the same ownership 

as the radio station. 53 WBRC-TV, 

Channel 6, went on the air on the 

Fourth of July of the same year. 

Birmingham got its first traffic lights 

in 1923 covering twelve of the busiest 

downtown intersections. The traffic signals, 

manufactured in England and purchased 

through the Moore & Handley 

Hardware Company, cost $5,000. 54 

Between 1910 and 1925 a number of 

new hotels were built in downtown 

Birmingham including the Molton Hotel 

in 1913 and the Tutwiler in 1914, the 

Thomas Jefferson in 1920, the Redmont 

(named for Red Mountain) in 1925 and 

the Bankhead in 1926. The Dixie Carlton, 

built in 1925 as the Birmingham Athletic 

✧ 

The unfinished Roden Hotel, located 

along 5th Avenue, North, was begun 

in 1914 but, facing financial 

troubles, was torn down and the steel 

used in World War I. 


CHAPTER 7 

109

✧ 

Robert Jemison, Jr. The Jemison Real 

Estate and Insurance Company, 

which he founded in 1903, made a 

major mark on the city. 


Club, opened as a hotel in 1938. It was 

purchased and remodeled as the new 

home of the YWCA in 1948. 

The eight-story Molton was built by 

Thomas H. Molton whose wife was the 

daughter of Charles Linn who had given 

the property to her. It was actually completed 

before the Tutwiler but Molton 

held up its grand opening until after the 

Tutwiler opened in order to claim it was 

Birmingham’s newest hotel. 

The Tutwiler, just across Fifth Avenue, 

North, was a twelve-story hotel built by 

Robert Jemison, Jr., with financing by 

Major E. M. Tutwiler, owner of Tutwiler 

Coal and Coke Company Considered by 

many to be Birmingham’s finest hotel of 

the period, it was demolished in 1974 to 

make way for an office building. 

The Tutwiler family opened a hotel 

by the same name a few blocks way on 

Twentieth Street, North and Park Place 

in 1986 while renovating the Ridgely 

Apartments, a complex it also owned. 

The Roden Hotel was an unfinished 

high-rise hotel designed by William C. 

Weston and located at Fifth Avenue, 

North, and 18th Street on the site of the 

Benjamin F. Roden mansion, demolished 

in 1913 to make way for the hotel. 

Over the next year, its 12-story steel 

frame was erected, but backers ran out 

of funds and the building remained a 

skeleton until 1917 when it was dismantled 

and sold for scrap. The war-time 

demand for steel allowed the project to 

net $150,000 for its investors despite 

never opening for business. 55 

While farmers sought excitement in 

the city, Birmingham residents looked 

for relaxation in resorts outside of town 

including Blount Springs, which entertained 

guests from 1843 to 1914 and the 

Bluff Park Hotel from 1907 to 1925. 

Both were destroyed by fire. 

Blount Springs was reached by an 

excursion train, like Cook Springs in St. 

Clair County. Bluff Park was approached 

by horse drawn carriages called “tallyhos” 

connecting with the rail station at 

Oxmoor. The two-story Cook Springs 

Hotel, built by LaFayette Cooke in 1880, 

had 60 guest rooms, a 200-seat dining 

room, swimming pool, bowling alley, tennis 

courts and mineral springs. It was 

demolished in the 1950s to make way for 

the Cook Springs Nursing Home, now 

known as The Village at Cook Springs. 56 

The Bluff Park Hotel featured a spectacular 

view from Lover’s Leap and 

Sunset Rock where guests could catch 

the red glow of Oxmoor Furnace or follow 

the L&N train through Oxmoor 

Valley. The site of the old hotel is still a 

popular overlook along Shades Crest 

Road in Bluff Park, currently the location 

of the Tip Top Grill. 57 

“As Spring came on, the popular spot 

for Saturday night parties was the old 

Bluff Park Hotel atop Shades Mountain 

10 miles south of town,” Thomas 

Mabson West, Sr. recollected on his stay 

in the city in 1914. “The girls that had 

dates would usually go out for supper but 

we stags would show up about 9 

o’clock.” 58 It was not unusual for 

(teenage) boys to pawn their watches or 

other items, West said, to obtain the funds 

needed temporarily for transportation to 

and from the mountain. 

At first Bluff Park was reachable only 

by walking trails and later, in 1892, a 

wagon road was built from Oxmoor 

Station to Hale Springs. As passengers 


110

would disembark from the train, a loud 

bell was rung to notify an attendant to 

send down a horse drawn carriage to 

transport guests up the mountain. 

The resort area, begun as a mineral 

water designation, went by many different 

names over the years, Mountain Springs, 

Linthicum Springs, Spencer Springs and 

Hale Springs, reflecting the names of some 

of its owners. Although the first house on 

the bluff was built in 1819, groups of 

settlers did not arrive until 1925 including 

Thomas W. Farrar, Jacob Walton and 

Samuel S. Earle. They bought property 

here seeking a refuge from Elyton, the 

small valley town where Birmingham 

began. Later, some of Birmingham’s most 

prominent residents had summer homes 

on the mountain. 59 

The Bluff Park Hotel, built at the site 

of the Hale’s boarding house called 

“Liberty Hall”, was a dark green 

building with 20 guest rooms, a large 

expansive porch, a large central lobby 

and a third floor observatory. Here, 

some of the best bands in Birmingham 

would play on weekends for dances. The 

site, which featured huge boulders, also 

had a dining room which sat 25 guests. 

When the hotel burned in 1927, it was 

known as the “Mountain Top Inn.” 

During the hotel’s final years another 

private club was built on Shades 

Mountain, the Linger Longer Lodge. 

Located near the intersection of Berry 

and Shades Crest Roads, the club house 

was constructed in 1920 by Henry F. 

Beaumont. By 1925 it had more than six 

hundred members, many of them 

prominent Birmingham businessmen. 

John R. Hornady, a local author, served 

as its first president. 60 

Among the services provided were 

lodging, a livery stable, barbershop, 

and dining facilities for meetings and 

parties including weekly dinner dances 

during the summer months, swimming 

and tennis. The lodge’s popularity 

increased after the Bluff Park Hotel 

burned but it closed in the 1930s, a 

victim of the Depression. 

In later years the stone building 

served as a nightclub known as the Blue 

Crystal and a real estate office before 

being torn down to make way for the 

Alford Avenue interchange on I-65. The 

Blue Crystal, with gambling in the basement 

playroom, also attracted dinner 

parties including those thrown by Gus 

H. Jebeles, owner of the Birmingham 

Barons, who would invite fans and 

friends up for the biggest steak in town. 

The 1920s represented a boom period 

in real estate, both downtown and in the 

suburbs. To promote professionalism 

among brokers, the Birmingham Real 

Estate Exchange was established in 1911 

with R. P. McDavid serving as its first 

president. He was followed by Hill 

Ferguson in 1914. In 1926, local member 

Robert Jemison, Jr., served as president 

of the National Association of Real 

Estate Boards. 

Jemison, who opened his own agency, 

the Jemison Real Estate and Insurance 

Company in 1903, would in less than a 

decade make a major mark in the development 

of new Birmingham neighborhoods 

including Ensley Highlands, Earle 

Place, Central Park, Mountain Terrace 

(Forest Park) and Bush Hills. Jemison 

was also responsible for the development 

of Redmont Park and Mountain Brook, 

thought by some too far from the business 

district to be successful. 

✧ 

The Bluff Park Hotel atop Shades 

Mountain. Built before 1900, it was 

a convenient summer resort for 

Birmingham residents. It was located 

near Lover’s Leap on Shades Crest 

Road overlooking Shades Valley, the 

present day site of the Tip Top Grill. 



CHAPTER 7 

111

✧ 

The present Birmingham Country 

Club in Mountain Brook, relocated 

from Lakeview in 1927. 


The Forest Park development, which 

began in 1906, extended from the 

crest of Red Mountain to the floor of 

Jones Valley built along natural land 

contours. Home construction, in what 

would become one of the city’s most 

desirable neighborhoods, continued 

into the 1920s. 

Other fashionable residential areas 

included Highland Avenue, which began 

in the 1880s and continued into the 

1930s, Glen Iris from 1898 into the 

1920s and Idlewild, developed by 

T. M. Bradley around 1905 as a 

section of Highland Park. Glen Iris Park, 

a Jemison development, was the first 

residential complex in the city to adhere 

to covenants and make use of professional 

landscaping. 61 

COUNTRY 

CLUBS 

With neighborhood growth also came 

the development of several prominent 

country clubs including the Country 

Club of Birmingham, which opened in 

1898. Originally located at sites in 

North Birmingham and Lakeview, it 

moved to a three-hundred-acre site in 

Shades Valley at the suggestion of 

Robert Jemison in the 1920s. 

The club grounds, located in present 

day Mountain Brook, opened in 1927. It 

features two golf courses. The old 

Lakeview site was sold to the city and 

became the Highland Park Club. 62 The 

sandstone English tutor style of the 

clubhouse echoes the architecture of 

English Village and Mountain Brook 

Village. Stone used in its construction 

came from a large outcropping of sandstone 

on Jowers Lane in Crestline Park. 63 

Instrumental in the development, especially 

in securing land for its golf courses, 

were Will Franke and Hill Ferguson, 

who negotiated with truck farmers for 

the property where cattle once grazed 

and “moonshiners” located stills. 

The Mountain Brook Club was established 

by the Jemison interests two years 

later in 1929 becoming a part of the 

Mountain Brook Land Company development. 

The site, bounded by 

Overbrook, Cherokee, Beechwood and 

Old Leeds Roads, featured an early 

American Colonial style clubhouse as 

Jemison wanted. Donald Ross not only 

designed the golf courses at the 

Birmingham Country Club but those at 

the Mountain Brook Club as well. 

A fire destroyed the central part of the 

clubhouse December 28, 1963, when a 


112

ceiling-high Christmas tree burst into 

flames during a debutante ball featuring 

the Pete Fountain Band. Only minor 

injuries were reported and the club 

was rebuilt. 63 

The Roebuck Country Club grew 

out of the Roebuck Springs neighborhood 

in 1912 with the backing of W. W. 

Crawford, George Gordon Crawford, A. 

L. Fulenwider, S. L. Yerkes, Robert S. 

Munger, and J. D. Kirkpatrick. Reached 

by a trolley car from downtown and 

East Lake, the site included a clubhouse, 

swimming pool and an eighteenhole 

golf course. In 1914, it changed its 

name to the Roebuck Golf and 

Automobile Club. 64 

It was here that golfing legend Bobby 

Jones, as a thirteen-year-old youngster 

from Atlanta, won his first golf 

tournament outside Georgia over W. T. 

(Bill) Badham. 

During the Depression, the club was 

sold to the city which opened it to the 

public in 1931. 

As part of the Hollywood development 

in present-day Homewood, Clyde 

Nelson built the Hollywood Country 

Club in 1928. To promote the 

neighborhood, he provided an upscale 

forty-passenger bus with leather seats 

which ran from downtown to the Shades 

Valley site on the hour. His slogan was 

“From the Smoke Zone to the Ozone.” 65 

The large Spanish-Style clubhouse, 

with a swimming pool in the front, was a 

favorite for families seeking the suburban 

life. Although plans to add a golf course 

never materialized, the site became a popular 

dancing and dining spot. 

An instant landmark on U.S. 31, the 

club underwent numerous reincarnations 

from a country club, to a supper 

club and finally to a rock music hall. At 

various times it was known as Club Rex, 

which featured Fess Whatley and his 

Orchestra, the Cahaba Golf and Country 

Club and the Brother’s Music Hall. 

Under the management of promoter Joe 

Rubino in the 1960s, it featured such big 

name entertainers as Jayne Mansfield 

and Roberta Sherwood. 

The clubhouse burnt in 1984 and 

is currently the site of the Mariott 

Courtyard Hotel. 

The Vestavia Country Club, which 

opened in 1950, was originally planned 

as a riding academy. Construction on 

the project, which covers 340 acres, 

began in 1948. 

Birmingham had a number of other 

social and dining clubs that attracted 

✧ 

The Mountain Brook Country Club, 

which dates to 1929, was located 

in a new residential area off Old 

Leeds Road. 


CHAPTER 7 

113

many of the city’s leading professional 

and civic figures including The Club 

atop Red Mountain, the Downtown 

Club and the Relay House. 

The Club, a Birmingham landmark 

since 1951, has a picture view of downtown 

Birmingham. It is built on the former 

property of the Valley View red ore 

mines and approached from Robert 

Smith Drive in Homewood. 

Built as a “swank club” with dining 

and dancing, it opened with twentyeight 

hundred paid memberships as the 

dream of Robert S. Smith, a U.S. Steel 

executive at Fairfield, who became its 

first president. Smith felt Birmingham 

lacked both a facility to showcase its 

bright city lights from Red Mountain 

and a major restaurant that identified 

itself with the city in the manner of 

Antoines in New Orleans and the Pump 

House Restaurant in Chicago. 66 

The showplace, designed by the 

Birmingham architectural firm of 

Warren, Knight & Davis and built by 

Daniel Construction Company, cost 

$650,000. By 1963 membership had 

grown to forty-three hundred. Over the 

years, The Club drew major entertainers 

including Guy Lombardo, Jack 

Teagarden, Vaughn Monroe, Clyde 

McCoy, Danny Davis and the Nashville 

Brass, Woody Herman, Ray Anthony, 

Kitty Kallen, Dorothy Shaw and Marion 

Marlowe. 67 Its illuminated dance floor 

was the inspiration used by director 

John Badham in the 1977 movie, 

Saturday Night Fever. 

The Downtown Club began as a meeting 

place for members of the radio, 

press, theatre and advertising professions 

in a special suite of rooms, first at 

the Tutwiler Hotel in 1947, then at the 

Essex House in 1951. In 1966 the 

Downtown Club built its own building 

nearby on Sixth Avenue, North at 

Twenty-second Street. 69 

Built at a cost of $1 million, the 

Downtown Club had twelve hundred 

members when the new building was 

opened and featured a main dining room 

with a stage for entertainers and ten 

private dining rooms. Like The Club, it 

was designed by Warren, Knight & 

Davis but built by Brice Building 

Company. Elmer Bissell was president at 

the time. 70 

The club became a popular place 

for luncheons with guest speakers and 

a meeting place for civic clubs. Gerald 

Ford, who became president in 

1974, spoke there in the 1960s as 

House minority leader. The Downtown 

Club was closed in 1993 and demolished 

✧ 

Hollywood Country Club, built in 

1928, became a landmark along U.S. 

31 South between Homewood and 

Vestavia Hills. It was destroyed by 

fire in 1984. 



114

to make room for the parking deck of 

the new Energen Plaza Building. Its 

remaining members became a part of 

The Club. 

The Relay House, also a private club, 

opened in the Bank for Savings Building 

in 1963 “as a gentlemen’s club of 

elegance” with J. C. Headley as manager. 

Like the Downtown Club, it hosted 

luncheons and dinner meetings. The 

club, which sat atop the seventeenth 

floor of the bank building, began with 

516 members with Clarence B. Hanson, 

publisher of the Birmingham News as its 

first president. It represented an 

investment of over $400,000. 71 

The men’s grill and bar at the 

club was named “The Colonel’s Room” in 

honor of Col. James R. Powell who was 

president of the Elyton Land Company 

which had built the original Relay House 

in 1871, Birmingham’s first hotel. 

The Relay House Club closed in 1989 

and merged into the new Summit 

Club, which is located on the Thirtyfirst 

and Thirty-second floors of the 

Harbert Plaza Building, also in downtown 

Birmingham. 

Several clubs served Birmingham’s 

Jewish community including the 

Phoenix Club in the South Highlands 

neighbor-hood and later the Hillcrest 

and Pine Tree Country Clubs further 

out in the suburbs. The Phoenix 

was incorporated on April 21, 1883, 

by some of the city’s leading merchants 

“to promote the moral, social, 

literary and educational advancement of 

its members.” 72 

Held here were bridge parties, dances 

and private parties. A pool was on the 

top floor and a bowling alley in the basement. 

The club, of which Leo K. Steiner 

was the first president, was located at 

the end of the Twentieth Street Car Line 

at the foot of Red Mountain. 73 The club 

was no longer listed in the Birmingham 

City Directory after 1921. 

The Hillcrest Club, organized in 1921 

by Hugo Marx, Leo Kayser and G. 

Goldman, acquired ninety-two acres 

on Oxmoor Road in the Homewood 

area costing $40,000. The club 

included a nine-hole golf course and a 

swimming pool. 74 

In 1959, with membership having 

grown to 250, Hillcrest built a new clubhouse 

costing $200,000. 75 

When the club merged with the 

Fairmont Club, another Jewish club, 

to form the Pine Tree County Club 

in Irondale in 1969, the old Hillcrest 

property was sold to the Zamora 

Shrine Temple for its new headquarters. 

It is today the site of the Pallisades 

Shopping Center. 

The Pine Tree Club, which opened on 

June 13, 1970, modeled its eighteenhole 

golf course after the Augusta 

National, home of the Masters. It 

attracted 550 members under the leadership 

of its first president, Jack Held. 76 

The evolution of the elegant dinner 

and country clubs in the early part of 

the twentieth century appeared in 

sharp contrast to Birmingham in the 

1930s caught in the grips of the 

Great Depression. 

While the economic turndown all but 

halted real estate and commercial 

development in the city, it bounced back 

following World War II when one of the 

most dramatic changes in business took 

place, the emergence of women in the 

work force. 

✧ 

Phoenix Club, which dates to 1883, 

was built in the South Highlands 

neighborhood by leaders of the 

Jewish community. 


CHAPTER 7 

115


116

CHAPTER 8 

T HE D EPRESSION, THE N EW D EAL & WORLD W AR II 

The Great Depression, Banks, Unemployment, Organized Labor, 

WPA, Road Construction, World War II, USS Birmingham, POW Camps, 

Birmingham Airport, Population Growth. 

The Birmingham industrial district had been subject to sudden economic upswings 

and downturns since the Panic of 1873 closed the Irondale Furnace. That was followed 

by an even more devastating depression that began in 1893. 

In May of that year Wall Street was hit by one of the worst economic setbacks in 

American history. Over 15,000 businesses closed their doors including many iron and 

steel companies. By December of 1893, only 137 blast furnaces remained in operation 

across the U.S. 

Birmingham and other Southern iron centers, although hard hit, were less affected 

than some of their higher-cost northern counterparts. Nonetheless, 10 plants in 

Alabama closed during the depression following 11 others which had ceased operations 

due to falling prices in the three years previous. Most of them were economically 

marginal or obsolescent. 1 

Larger mills that were able to supply their own raw materials fared better and some 

actually increased production. Survivors, including TCI and the Sloss-Sheffield Iron 

and Steel Company, improved their marketing and sales practices and made technological 

changes to compete with other manufacturers. By 1898 the national and state 

economy improved. 

That experience, however, was nothing like the Great Depression which was to come 

in 1929. A worldwide economic decline, its affects lasted through most of the 1930s. 

Cities around the world suffered, especially those based on heavy industry like 

Birmingham. Unemployment and homelessness soared and construction virtually halted. 

Farmers in rural areas were also hurt as prices for crops fell by 40-60%. Mining and 

logging industries were perhaps the hardest hit because demand fell sharply and there 

was little alternative economic activity. 

The Great Depression fell especially hard on Birmingham as sources of capital fueling 

the city’s growth rapidly dried up at the same time that farm laborers, driven off the land, 

made their way to the city in search of work. Largely dependent upon one industry, the 

city’s economy declined as the demand for iron and steel diminished. In 1935, President 

Franklin Roosevelt described Birmingham as “the worst hit town in the country.” 2 

Conditions in Birmingham had begun deteriorating long before the stock market 

crashed in October of 1929. Layoffs mounted in 1927 and banks began failing in June. 

Across the country over 9,000 banks failed during the 1930s including a number of 

them in the Birmingham area. Among state chartered banks that either closed or 

underwent liquidation from 1929 to 1935 were the Bank of Ensley, the Bank of 

Warrior, Avondale Bank & Trust, City Bank & Trust, Woodlawn Savings Bank, 

Bessemer Trust & Savings, Southside Bank, Shades Valley Bank, Southern Bank & 

Trust, West End Savings Bank, American Savings Bank, North Birmingham-American 

Bank, Tarrant-American Savings Bank and Ensley Bank & Trust. Some later re-opened 

and others were bought out by larger banks. 3 

The First National Bank of Birmingham absorbed three of the troubled institutions 

in 1931, the North Birmingham-American Bank, the Tarrant-American Savings Bank 

and the Ensley Bank and Trust Company, making them into branches. 

✧ 

Coal miners on tipple, TCI, 

Birmingham, Alabama, c. 1939. 


CHAPTER 8 

117

✧ 

Above: Indigent immigrants, a 

woman and her two young 

daughters, make do in make-shift 

housing near Birmingham during the 

Great Depression, 1937. 

ARTHUR ROTHSTEIN PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF THE 


Below: Armed black and white 

miners protest during a 1933 

coal strike. 


Fewer of the larger banks, including 

some with federal charters, failed but 

even here there were casualties including 

the City National Bank of Bessemer 

and the First National Bank of Bessemer, 

both in 1933. The banking crisis was 

essentially over in Alabama by 1935. 4 

Among the Birmingham banks that 

survived was Exchange Security, 

opened as the Exchange Bank in 1928 

and later merged with banks in 

Huntsville and Montgomery to become 

First Alabama Bank. Still later, it evolved 

into Regions Bank. 

Birmingham Trust National Bank, 

which became SouthTrust, and First 

National Bank, which became AmSouth, 

also survived. 

AmSouth traces its roots to the first 

banking establishment in the city, Charles 

Linn’s National Bank of Birmingham, 

founded in 1872. It merged with T. L. 

Hudgins’ and Josiah Morris’ City Bank on 

April 24, 1884, to create the First 

National Bank of Birmingham. Another 

major stockholder was William S. Mudd. 

Although the bank did close after the 

Depression of 1893, it recovered. In 1902 

W. P. G. Harding became president and 

oversaw the completion of the new 10- 

story Woodward Building, which would 

serve as the bank’s new headquarters at 

the corner of Third Avenue North and 

Twentieth Street. The building was 

named for W. H. Woodward whose office 

tower would become the first skyscraper 

in the city. Harding resigned in 1914 to 

accept an appointment to the Federal 

Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. 

Oscar Wells headed First National 

from 1915 to 1930 when he was succeeded 

by Gen. John C. Persons who 

became the longest-tenured chief executive 

in the bank’s history. He directed its 

operations during the Great Depression, 

including a merger with American- 

Traders National Bank. First National 

was the only bank qualified, under the 

1933 Alabama branch banking law, to 

open branch offices in Jefferson County 

as the Depression wound down. The 


118

first branches were the formerly-independent 

banks of Leeds, Woodlawn, 

North Birmingham, Fairfield, Ensley 

and Tarrant, which had been bought up 

by American-Traders before the merger. 

BTNB opened its doors as 

Birmingham Trust and Savings 

Company on December 9, 1887. Fiftynine 

years later the company sought a 

national bank charter and assumed the 

name Birmingham Trust National Bank. 

Among its original shareholders in 

1887 were Josiah Morris, its founder; Dr. 

Henry M. Caldwell, president of Elyton 

Land Company; John T. Milner, the Elyton 

Land Company engineer, Daniel S. Troy, 

its lawyer, and Montgomery stockholder 

Bolling Hall along with iron moguls 

Edward W. Linn, T. T. Hillman and James 

W. and Fred Sloss. Other investors included 

James T. and W. H. Woodward, W. H. 

Baldwin, Jr. and Christopher Columbus 

Baldwin, all associated with Woodward, 

Baldwin & Company, a Baltimore textile 

brokerage. C. C. Baldwin would later 

become president of the L&N Railroad. 

The Baldwin family later became active in 

New York banking circles. 

Morris bought the stock in the name of 

his company and Caldwell bought shares 

both in his name and in the name of the 

Elyton Land Company. Others included 

William A. Rockefeller, Jr., the New York 

financier who helped establish the 

National City Bank of New York and 

Standard Oil; Central Trust Company 

(name of a bank in Cincinnati, Ohio) and 

L. Straus & Sons. (A company by the same 

name was a merchandising firm in New 

York led by Isidor and Nathan Straus. In 

1888 they bought a part interest in R. H. 

Macy and Company, a department store 

which they acquired in 1896). Other 

investors in the bank were B. F. Roden, a 

local coal baron and W. P. G. Harding, who 

later became a member of the Federal 

Reserve Board. Still others were W. J. 

Cameron, George W. Johnston, John B. 

Brodie, Paul H. Earle, W. T. Underwood, 

W. S. Mowery, J. E. Hurst, W. C. Ward, 

Martin S. Fechheimer, J. A. Stratton, J. F. 

O’Shaughnessy, James H. Donald, 

Williams Halls, Jr., S. J. Murphy, Lucius 

Moore and W. A. Handley. 

Handley founded the firm known 

as Moore, Moore & Handley Hardware 

Company in 1882 along with James 

D. and Benjamin Moore. Later to be 

known as the Moore-Handley Hardware 

Company, it is today the nation’s 

third-largest independent buildingmaterials 

wholesaler. 

The banking house was capitalized at 

$500,000 with the largest single investor 

being Josiah Morris. 5 

The financial strain on Alabama banks 

lessened with passage of the Glass- 

Steagall Act of 1933 which, supported by 

President Roosevelt, reformed the banking 

system and created the Federal 

Deposit Insurance Corporation to guarantee 

bank deposits. One of its sponsors was 

U.S. Representative Henry B. Steagall 

from Ozark, chairman of the House 

Banking and Currency Committee. The 

act passed on June 16. 

While Alabama depositors lost money 

in the bank closings, high interest rates 

and lack of money for loans perhaps 

✧ 

Above: Acton Mine No. 4, Jefferson 

County, Alabama Fuel & Iron 

Company, a union hold-out. 

COURTESY OF THE KEN PENHALE COLLECTION. 

Below: An armed company guard 

keeps watch over miner housing in 

Wenonah, c. 1937. 

ARTHUR ROTHSTEIN PHOTOGRAPH, COURTESY OF THE 


CHAPTER 8 

119

✧ 

Above: Convict labor being marched 

away from the Flat Top Coal Mine 

near Graysville to a nearby prison 

farm, c. 1915. 


Below: Charles DeBardeleben (with 

cane) and company officials at 

Acmar Coal Mine No. 1, November 

19, 1910. His Alabama Fuel & Iron 

Company was one of the last to 

resist union organizing efforts. 

COURTESY OF THE KEN PENHALE COLLECTION. 

affected them even more directly throughout 

the Depression. Jobs plummeted. 

Non-farm employment in Alabama 

declined by fifteen percent between 1930 

and 1940, the highest rate for any 

Southern state. The Birmingham industrial 

district was uniquely affected with job 

losses, particularly in factories. Employment 

dropped in the city from 100,000 to 

only 15,000 full time workers. 6 

Congressman George Huddleston Sr., 

testifying before a Senate relief committee 

in 1932, estimated that 100,000 of 

the city’s 108,000 workers had lost their 

jobs or were working only part-time. 

“My people are desperate,” he said. 

“They are in an agony of distress and starvation. 

They are likely to do anything. 

They have almost lost the power of reasoning. 

The situation is full of dynamite.” 7 

In 1931, the number of murders committed 

in the city hit 148. Birmingham 

also recorded 1,051 mortgages foreclosed 

in the first three months of 1933. 

TCI paid a part of its wages in script 

which workers could only redeem at its 

own commissaries, a practice the courts 

later ruled illegal. 8 As the city’s largest 

employer, the Tennessee Company came 

under fire for doing too little to help. A 

discerning newspaper editor at Harper’s 

Magazine described Birmingham as “the 

city of perpetual promise…controlled 

by the great absentee landlord, the 

United States Steel Corporation.” 9 

While murders and robberies escalated, 

the city itself faced financial ruin. In 

1933, Oscar Wells, president of the First 

National Bank, lent the city $1 million 

so it could keep operating. 

Thousands of unemployed workers 

lived by their wits. Before they were torn 

down in 1940, about two dozen former 

miner’s cabins rented for $2 a month at 

the old Valley View iron ore mine near 

the present day location of The Club off 

Robert Smith Drive in Homewood. The 

two-room buildings had no electricity or 

water and occupants had chickens and 

cows in their yards. Many of them planted 

gardens for food. 10 At the time Valley 

Avenue was a dirt road. 

Downtown, the Salvation Army rented 

three and four-story buildings to provide 

a place to sleep for the large numbers 

of homeless people. The Red Cross 

sponsored a free seed and spring garden 

planting program to encourage citizens 

to grow vegetables for food. 

Widespread economic woes prompted 

political groups to push for reforms 

in the economic and political systems 

and their arguments found an audience 

among increasingly desperate workers. 

In 1930 the Communist Party moved its 

regional headquarters to Birmingham 

and began organizing and publishing a 

newspaper called the Southern Worker. 

The International Labor Defense Fund 

was a Communist-front organization 

that agitated for change among coal and 


120

steel industry workers. Black communities, 

where unemployment soared, were 

targeted for leaflet campaigns. 

LABOR 

UNIONS 

Labor unions and the “strike” weapon 

seemed for many workers the only way to 

gain relief and recognition. Unions experienced 

an increase in membership after 

the passage of Section 7(a) of the National 

Industrial Recovery Act which guaranteed 

workers the right to organize and bargain 

collectively. This “legitimized” union 

membership in the eyes of many Alabama 

workers, especially miners and textile 

workers, who began responding to the 

efforts of union organizers. 

Even racial and gender divisions that 

had been routinely accepted in the workforce 

became blurred in the resulting confrontations 

between workers and management. 

Unions, including the United Mine 

Workers (UMWA), pushed benefits for 

black and white workers alike. It was in 

these desperate times that many blacks, 

who made up almost forty percent of the 

Birmingham population, first realized 

they could challenge the status quo. 

John L. Lewis and the Congress of 

Industrial Organizations (CIO) made 

such headway that only the Alabama 

Fuel & Iron Company’s coal mines at 

Acmar, Overton and Margaret, were conspicuous 

hold outs. When Lewis called 

for wartime strikes in Birmingham and 

the rest of the country, union members 

were denounced as “traitorous.” 11 

William Mitch, the UMW organizer 

sent to Birmingham, and other union 

leaders organized strikes that forced most 

local companies including Sloss-Sheffield 

and Woodward Iron to grant union 

recognition in March, 1937. U.S. Steel 

peacefully accepted collective bargaining 

at its steel plants while Republic resisted. 

The United Steelworkers of America had 

won statewide recognition by 1942. 

When Lewis began his organizing 

drive in 1933, only about 225 of 

Alabama’s 17,500 miners belonged to the 

United Mine Workers of America. After a 

series of strikes and work stoppages, 38 

companies representing 90 percent of the 

mines in the state signed union contracts. 

Birmingham in the 1930s and 1940s 

became the most unionized city in the 

South and Alabama led the Southeast. In 

1939 Alabama had over 64,000 union 

members, which figure by 1953 had risen 

to 168,000, 25 percent of the workforce. 12 

A serious obstacle to unionization 

and collective bargaining had been the 

convict leasing system, which was not 

ended officially until 1923, and in practice, 

not until five years later. In 1888, 

the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Co. 

was granted an exclusive 10-year contract 

to use the labor of all state convicts, 

paying the state $9 to $18 per person 

per month. 

Alabama, which was the last state in 

the nation to abandon the convict labor 

system, came under a relentless attack 

from the nation’s newspapers for “foot 

dragging” on the issue. The Montgomery 

Advertiser called the penal system 

“humiliating and disgraceful.” The 

UMWA also fought against the convict 

lease and the notorious subcontracting 

systems, both of which weighed heaviest 

upon black miners. 

✧ 

In 1938, with funding from the 

Works Products Administration 

(WPA), the Vulcan statue was placed 

atop a 120-foot reinforced concrete 

sandstone tower with all the 

characteristics of a lighthouse. 



CHAPTER 8 

121

✧ 

Above: The Bessemer Super 

Highway, built during the Depression 

with WPA funds, became Alabama’s 

first four-lane highway. 

COURTESY OF JOE HOLLIS. 

Below: U.S. 31 Homewood cloverleaf 

at Lakeshore Drive, built in 1939 

became, the first interchange in the 

state. Modern day Brookwood Mall 

can be seen in the distance. The road 

to Edgewood Lake went in the 

opposite direction. 


A final blow to the convict system 

came in August, 1924 with the death of a 

worker at Sloss. James Knox, convicted 

for falsifying a $30 check, died at Flat Top 

Mine of suspicious circumstances. An 

attorney general’s investigation revealed 

the convict had been killed by being 

lashed with a steel cable and dumped in a 

vat of hot water. 13 

In the 1930s the LaFollette Committee 

led a congressional investigation into 

labor conditions in Alabama that revealed 

often brutal behavior on the part of several 

Birmingham coal mining operations. 14 

Birmingham was slow to recover from 

the Depression, although the federal 

government poured more than $350 

million into the area in an attempt to 

stimulate the economy. 

New Deal programs, fostered by the 

Roosevelt Administration, made important 

contributions to the city’s infrastructure 

and artistic legacy, including 

such key improvements as Vulcan’s 

tower, Oak Mountain State Park, and the 

Municipal Airport. 

The Works Progress Administration 

(WPA) tended to Birmingham’s streets 

and parks, schools and beautification 

projects. The crape myrtles along 

Broadway Street in Homewood were 

planted under a WPA program and the 

roads in Rosedale, a black neighborhood, 

were made passable for vehicle 

traffic. Roosevelt Park in Bessemer and 

Lane Park, which later became the 

Birmingham Zoo, benefited as well. 15 

WPA funds also built Trussville’s water 

system in 1936 including one well and 

one water tank. Additionally, WPA 

workers were involved in the construction 

of Green Springs Highway running 

from Birmingham to Homewood. 

Among the most enduring WPA programs 

were murals in public buildings. 

Federal buildings, mostly post-offices, 

had walls decorated by artists who 

would otherwise have to abandon their 

profession and seek employment in 

other fields. At least twenty-five such 

murals were painted in Alabama with 

government assistance. 16 Among them 

were several school projects. 

Birmingham’s Woodlawn High School 

auditorium mural became the largest WPA 

mural in the South. The mural was the 

work of artists Sidney Van Sheck and 

Richard Blauvelt Coe. A $190,000 restoration 

project was begun in 2007 by John 

Bertalan, a Birmingham artist. 

Several significant highway projects 

were built during this period including 

the first cloverleaf interchange in the 

South at U.S. 31 and Lakeshore Drive in 

Homewood. The rock-faced overpass 

was named for R. H. (Bob) Wharton, 

who served as president of the Jefferson 

County Commission from 1939 to 1945. 

The contract price for the interchange, 

awarded to the W. C. Howton Contracting 

Company, was for $148,000. The work 

was completed on September 26, 1942. It 

was a part of a $750,000 improvement 


122

project on U.S. 31 South, then called the 

“Beeline Highway”, which took out four 

dangerous hairpin curves and a narrow 

bridge. The work was done by the 

Alabama State Highway Department in 

cooperation with the Public Roads 

Administration and the WPA. 17 

An identifying feature of the interchange 

is its rock arch bridge which carries 

U.S. 31 traffic over Lakeshore Drive. 

The masonry matches the extensive 

stone work in nearby Robert Jemison 

Park. While eye catching in design, the 

primary rationale for the stonework was 

to provide work for idled quarrymen 

and artisans. 18 

The Bessemer Super Highway (U.S. 11) 

was the first four-lane highway built in 

the state in the 1930s, extending originally 

from the State Fairgrounds at Five 

Points West to Nineteenth Street in 

Bessemer. After leaving Central Park, it 

traversed miles of sparsely populated 

farm and pasture land. The new route 

crossed several rail lines connecting coal 

and ore mines to TCI’s Fairfield Works 

which were relocated atop huge concrete 

and steel trestles above the street. At 

Bessemer a long viaduct was constructed 

carrying the roadway over the railroad 

complex near Nineteenth Street named 

the “Mary Bryant Bridge” after the daughter 

of then Bessemer Mayor Jap Bryant. 

Patterned after the German 

Autobahn, the new highway had many 

of the attributes of the European road 

but failed to acquire limited access. 

Businesses flocked to construction 

opportunities along the thoroughfare 

including the Wigwam Village Motor 

Court, the Old Glory Tourist Court and 

the Blue Bird Roadhouse. They were 

followed by automotive dealerships, 

gasoline stations, shopping centers, 

fast food chains and the area’s first 

Holiday Inn. The State Highway 

Department intended to simply call the 

highway the “Birmingham-Bessemer 

Boulevard” but the public was so 

enamored with the roadway it was 

dubbed the “Bessemer Super Highway.” 

In 1940 a lighting system was installed 

along the route and, for a time, the road 

became the longest whiteway east of the 

Rocky Mountains. 19 

The Bessemer Super Highway replaced 

U.S. 11 as the main access road between 

Birmingham and Bessemer, Jefferson 

County’s two major cities. The older route 

had run along narrow two—lane streets 

that passed through West End, Powderly 

and Lipscomb crossing several railroad 

tracks causing interminable delays. 

The Alabama Highway Department 

also widened U.S. 31 providing an 

approach to Vulcan while the highway 

itself became the first completely paved 

highway in the state. 

U.S. Steel, which had been criticized 

for not taking a greater hand in recovery 

efforts, invested $29 million in the 

Birmingham District, largely at its 

Ensley and Fairfield steel plants. 

Gradually, the city began to recover 

and by the time World War II was 

declared in Europe Birmingham’s manufacturing 

plants were busy preparing for 

an all-out effort. 

WORLD WAR II 

World War II sent thousands back to 

work in defense plants. The wartime 

demand for steel and the post-war building 

boom which followed gave 

✧ 

Among the many establishments 

locating along the new Bessemer 

Super Highway in 1941 was the 

landmark Wigwam Village Motel 

(Number 5), a part of a national 

chain which ran from Kentucky to 

the famed Route 66 out west. 


CHAPTER 8 

123

✧ 

Right: Connors Steel near Woodlawn 

during World War II employed 

women to make 155 mm shell 

casings. Not unlike “Rosie the 

Riveter” of song fame, a Birmingham 

steel worker accepts a plant award 

from the U.S. Army 

COURTESY OF THE SMI STEEL ARCHIVES. 

Below: The Bechtel-McCone plant in 

Birmingham refurbished thousands 

of army jeeps during World War II 

for military camps and battlefields. 

Plant workers could rebuild a jeep in 

two days. 



Birmingham a long awaited 

boost. Manufacturing diversified 

beyond the production of raw 

materials into finished products 

including military hardware. A 

number of factories began working 

three shifts a day and 

women, replacing men who 

joined the armed forces, took 

jobs on assembly lines. One out 

of every four individuals in the 

workforce was female. At the 

Bechtel-McCone plant, also 

referred to as the Birmingham 

Modification Center, forty percent 

of the workers were women. 

After the Japanese attack on 

Pearl Harbor in 1941, Birmingham 

became one of the most important cities 

in the United States arsenal. Its workers 

took pride in talk the enemy had 

marked the city the number two bombing 

target behind Pittsburgh. 

Birmingham added “the Great Arsenal 

of the South” to its list of monikers. Steel 

mills in the city received millions of dollars 

in contracts for defense related products 

such as bombs, helmets, grenades, 

shells and steel for shipbuilding. The 

Ingalls Steel Company converted a World 

War I shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi 

into a manufacturing center for making 

cargo ships and operated other facilities at 

Chickasaw and Decatur. The largest ordnance 

plant in the South, the Dupont 

Alabama Ordnance Works located at 

Childersburg, attracted many Birmingham 

workers who commuted down U.S. 

280. 20 A second powder plant opened 

at Talladega. 

The Bechtel-McCone Aircraft 

Modification Plant located at the 

Birmingham Airport customized and 

equipped half of the B-29s used in 

the war. It also modified B-24 

Liberator bombers and the P-38 

Lightning. The company was further 

engaged in reconditioning jeeps. 

Bombs and artillery shells rolled 

from assembly lines at a number of 

Birmingham factories including 

Conners Steel Company, which, in 

October 1944, made its two-millionth 

bomb casing. By April, 1945, 

U.S. Steel’s Fairfield Works had 

turned out its five-millionth artillery 

shell. Thousands more came from 

the O’Neal Steel Works and 

Stockham Valves and Fittings. 21 

Continental Gin made Navy rocket 

bodies, fuses and projectiles; Dixie 

Metal Products, bombs and mortar 


124

shells; Ferro-Enamel Corporation, incendiary 

and smoke devices; Goslin 

Birmingham Manufacturing Company, 

155-mm shells; Johnson & Jennings 

Company, tin cans; Line Material 

Company, 37-mm shells and Rheem 

Manufacturing Company, 105-mm and 

81-mm shells. 

Over seventy-five percent of all war 

materials made in the Southeastern 

Ordinance District in World War II came 

from Birmingham. Among Birmingham 

plants receiving the “E” Awards were 

Continental Gin, Republic Steel, O’Neal 

Steel, Birmingham Southern Steel, 

Stockham Valves and TCI’s two 

Birmingham steel mills. 

As a way to acknowledge the importance 

of industrial workers to the war 

effort, the “E” Award was presented to a 

plant rather than a company. It consisted 

of a flag to be flown over the factory and 

a lapel pin for each employee. “E” stood 

for “excellence” in war production. 

Jefferson County, just like in World 

War I, was quick to respond to the call 

for troops. Birmingham units fought in 

all the theatres of war but its most 

famous fighting force was the Thirtyfirst 

Infantry Division commanded by 

Lt. Gen. John C. Persons which saw 

action in New Guinea, Leyte and the 

Philippines from 1943 to 1945. 

Brig. General John E. Copeland commanded 

one of General George Patton’s 

Third Army divisions (the Sixty-fifth 

Infantry) in France and Germany in 1944 

and 1945. Capt. John A. Williamson of 

the U.S. Navy designed the famous 

“Williamson Turn” which allowed a ship 

at sea to rescue sailors. As executive officer 

of the destroyer escort, USS England, 

he also directed his ship in May 1944, in 

attacks that sank six Japanese submarines 

in twelve days. As a result, the ship was 

credited with materially impacting the 

course of the Pacific campaign for which 

it received the Presidential Unit Citation. 22 

Other home town heroes include Lt. 

Ken Horton, now living in Vestavia, who 

as a pilot aboard the USS Essex (Task 

Force 38), is credited with dropping the 

torpedo which sunk the Japanese carrier 

Chitose in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 

1945. A native of Thomasville, Georgia, 

who moved to Birmingham after the war, 

he was awarded two Navy Crosses. 23 

Capt. Joseph R. Barker, II, serving 

with the Twenty-sixth Cavalry in the 

Philippines, eluded capture by the 

Japanese after American losses at Bataan 

in 1942 to lead guerilla resistance on 

Luzon. He was finally captured in the 

mountains northwest of Manila and executed 

by the Japanese in 1943. 24 

Other Birmingham area veterans who 

served in World War II included Nancy 

Batson, an early Women Air Service pilot, 

Tom Borders who flew the first Eighth Air 

Force mission against German positions, 

Noel Gayler who won three Navy Crosses 

and led a mission across the mountains of 

New Guinea, David McCampbell, the top 

naval air ace in the Pacific and Lt. Col. 

David L. Daniel, a former Birmingham- 

Southern College student, who led paratroopers 

during the D-Day invasion of 

France. Colonel John M. Donalson was 

also a D-Day leader in command of a C-47 

towing gliders at the lead of the invasion. 25 

A sailor from Birmingham, Russell B. 

Wade, was one of the first U.S. casualties 

of the war when the destroyer USS Kearny 

was torpedoed by German U-boats. Six 

weeks later the Japanese attacked Pearl 

Harbor on December 7, 1941. 

The strike in the Hawaiian Islands 

claimed the life of Julius Ellsberry, a 

✧ 

U.S. Steel’s Ensley Works was on a 

wartime footing in 1942. In this 

photograph, plant executives pose for 

their annual Christmas picture near 

the entrance to the blast furnaces. 


CHAPTER 8 

125

sailor from Birmingham, as the first 

African American war casualty. 26 

Within twenty-four hours a prominent 

member of the Birmingham Jewish 

community, Louis Pizitz, owner of the 

downtown Pizitz Department Store, 

offered $1,000 to the first pilot to 

bomb Tokyo. 27 

Four months later he made good on 

his promise when Jimmy Doolittle’s 

raiders flew from the carrier USS Hornet 

to hit Japanese targets. Although Col. 

Doolittle refused the award, it went to 

the unit fund and was acknowledged by 

a warm letter from Army Air Force Chief 

Gen. Henry (Hap) Arnold. 

The Steel City had a light cruiser in 

the war named for her, the USS 

Birmingham (CL-62), built at the 

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry 

Dock Company in Newport News, 

Virginia in 1941. She was christened on 

March 20, 1942, by Mrs. Cooper Green, 

wife of the president of the Birmingham 

City Commission. It was the second 

ship of the same name. 

The Birmingham was engaged in numerous 

sea battles in 1944 and 1945 and suffered 

heavy damage on at least three occasions 

including a kamikaze attack during 

the Battle of Okinawa on May 4, 1945. Her 

combat record includes military operations 

at Saipan, the Philippine Sea, Guam, the 

Philippine Islands, Okinawa, Luzon, 

Formosa, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. 

Following the war she was decommissioned 

on February 2, 1947, having earned 

nine battle stars and was scrapped in 1959. 

The third naval vessel named for the 

city was the Nuclear Attack Submarine 

USS Birmingham, commissioned in 1978 

with Maryon Pittman Allen, wife of U.S. 

Senator Jim Allen, participating in the 

commissioning ceremonies. Keel laying 

ceremonies were held April 26, 1975, 

with Mrs. Carrie Foy Moorer, wife of the 

former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, taking 

part along with Admiral Hyman G. 

Rickover. Adm. Moorer was a native of 

Mount Willing, a small crossroads in 

Lowndes County. 

The sub was decommissioned at 

Pearl Harbor in 1997 after nineteen 

years of service. 

During World War II, Alabama bases 

trained many of the soldiers who fought 

overseas. Thousands of young men visited 

Alabama for the first time as soldiers 

in the United States Army. At Fort 

McClellan (Anniston) and Camp Rucker 

(Ozark), soldiers were taught weaponry, 

tactics and what to expect in combat. 

Aviators who later flew over European 

and Pacific targets received instruction 


126

✧ 

Opposite, top: A war bond parade 

down Twentieth Street at Fifth 

Avenue, North passes the Red Cross 

Building in the early 1940s. A $25 

war bond would refurbish a jeep. It 

later became Hayes Aircraft and 

then the Pemco Aeroplex. 



at Maxwell and Gunter Fields in 

Montgomery and Craig Field in Selma. 

Almost a thousand blacks were trained 

as fighter pilots at the Tuskegee Army 

Air Field. Brookley Field near Mobile 

became the major Army Air Force 

supply base for the southeast and 

the Caribbean. 

Every county in the state met its 

quota in the national war bond drives. 

Alabama alone claimed that distinction. 

While the war was fought overseas, in 

the summer of 1943 it came to Alabama 

when thousands of mostly German prisoners 

of war (POWs) arrived in the 

state. Before the war was over, more 

than fifteen thousand had come. They 

were concentrated in four main POW 

camps located at Aliceville, Opelika, 

Camp Rucker and Fort McClellan. 

Others were sent to dozens of “sidecamps” 

including one in Homewood. 

Thomas M. West, Jr., said that as a 

child in the 1940s his parents would 

point out the then-abandoned white 

concrete POW facility just off Lakeshore 

Drive. “It looked like a bunker and was 

not very attractive.” 

Harrison (Hack) Lloyd, whose father 

was the first mayor of Hollywood, also 

recalled the prisoner of war camp there 

as an old one-story white concrete 

building formerly used as a county convict 

camp. It was later converted to a 

single-family dwelling. 28 

The building was formerly known as 

the County Prison Camp No. 5, the most 

modern of nine such facilities in 

Jefferson County before it was shut 

down in 1940. County prisoners had 

been housed there, and at an even earlier 

site where Shades Cahaba Elementary 

School is located, to work on new roads. 

“In early 1943, about 300 of Rommel’s 

tank corps were housed there for a better 

part of the year and worked as orderlies, 

cooks and janitors at the TB sanitarium 

(later Lakeshore Hospital),” he said. 

“They also built South Lakeshore Road, 

I believe.” 29 

Large numbers of Rommel’s Afrika 

Corps surrendered following German 

loses in North Africa including El 

Alamein. Lloyd said his mother and sisters 

would bake cookies for the prisoners 

until their brother, a B-24 pilot, was killed 

when his plane was lost to enemy fire. 

After the war, W. H. Merritt bought 

the prison camp property, converted the 

main building into a residence and 

established the Lakeshore Stables and 

Riding Academy on the grounds. 

Many Alabamians saw the enemy faceto-face 

for the first time—chopping 

cotton, harvesting peanuts, or felling trees. 

Sometimes friendships between POWs 

and farmers or townspeople developed, 

and some of these POWs returned to the 

United States to live after the war. 

The war also spurred development at 

the Birmingham Airport where the 

Birmingham Army Base was located. By 

1944; the base had 800 civilian and 

military personnel at work and handled 

1,300 arrivals and departures per month. 

Among facilities under its supervision 

Opposite, bottom: The USS 

Birmingham, CL-62, a light cruiser 

commissioned in 1943, saw heavy 

action in the Pacific during World 

War II, suffering damage on at least 

three occasions. She is shown here 

getting underway in the Hampton 

Roads, February 20, 1943. 

COURTESY OF THE U.S. NAVY. 

Left: The Nuclear Attack Submarine 

USS Birmingham, SSN-695, on the 

left in this 1984 photograph with 

sister ships the Salt Lake City, 

Baton Rouge, and Atlanta. The 

submarine, the third Navy ship 

named for Birmingham, was 

commissioned in 1978 and removed 

from the fleet in 1997. Footage 

taken during her commissioning 

trials was used in the movie, The 

Hunt for Red October. 

COURTESY OF THE U.S. NAVY. 

CHAPTER 8 

127

✧ 

Above: Women made up a large 

part of the workforce at the 

Bechtel-McCone Aircraft Division 

plant at the Birmingham Airport 

shown here outfitting a B-29 during 

World War II. It later became Hayes 

Aircraft and then Pemco Aeroplex. 



Below: Southern Railway train 

Sunnyland leaving Birmingham at 

Forty-first Street in 1948. 

COURTESY OF F. E. ARDREY, JR., SOUTHERN MUSEUM OF 

CIVIL WAR AND LOCOMOTIVE HISTORY ARCHIVES & 

LIBRARY, SOUTHERN RAILWAY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 

PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION. 

was the Bechtel-McCone operation which 

employed about twelve thousand wartime 

workers in its modification center. Here 

newly manufactured bombers received 

from Boeing were outfitted for combat. 30 

The municipal airport, which opened 

with a great deal of fanfare on May 31, 

1931, became the venue for a series of 

popular air shows including the 

National Air Carnival first headed by 

Asa Rountree, Jr., and later Steadham 

Acker, the airport manager (1935- 

1950). More than 50,000 people 

attended the 1931 air carnival. The 

event became the project of the newlyformed 

Birmingham Aero Club, of 

which Acker was named president. 31 

Among special guests at the air shows 

were Jimmy Doolittle, Roscoe Turner, 

Eddie Rickenbacker, and Claire 

Chennault. Beauty queens from around 

the country competed for the title of 

“Miss American Aviation” and the 

carnival’s elegant ball featured such big 

name bands as Jimmy Dorsey and Guy 

Lombardo, also singer Ella Fitzgerald. 32 

Before the start of World War II, 

Birmingham’s National Air Carnival was 

the largest free air show in the United 

States. As traffic escalated at the 

Birmingham Airport, renamed the 

Birmingham International Airport in 

1993, the show moved to smaller air 

fields, more recently to Bessemer. 

While the Birmingham Airport dated to 

1931, the city had several earlier important 

aviation fields including Dixie Field (1919- 

1925) near Elmwood Cemetery which was 

owned by Virgil Evans, the state’s adjutant 

general during World War I, and operated 

by Glenn Messer and Eddie Stinson. After 

it was hit by a tornado in 1925, Messer 

founded Messer Field (1926-1934) near 

Central Park. It was later operated by Gus 

and Grace Alley. Roberts Field (1922- 

1950), located west of Birmingham- 

Southern College where I-59 currently 

runs, became the city’s aviation center in 

the 1920s and was the site of Charles 

Lindbergh’s 1927 visit. 33 

Messer was an early stunt pilot reported 

to have been the first man to change from 


128

one plane to another in flight. He later 

operated an aircraft instrument shop in 

Woodlawn. The Messer-Airport Highway 

is named in his honor. Messer, who gave 

early starts to many World War II pilots 

from Birmingham, remained active until 

his death in 1995 at age 100. 

One in ten Alabamians—more than 

250,000—saw military service in World 

War II. Over six thousand of them lost 

their lives. 34 Eight Congressional Medal 

of Honor recipients had Alabama 

connections including four from Greater 

Birmingham, Sgt. Henry E. (Red) Erwin, 

Lt. William R. Lawley, Jr., Pvt. George 

Watson and Comdr. David McCampbell. 

The war had done more to end the 

Great Depression in Birmingham than 

had the New Deal. By 1950, Jefferson 

County had over a half-million people, 37 

percent of them black, and Birmingham 

ranked as the nation’s thirty-fourth largest 

city. Birmingham’s population reached 

326,037 that year, only slightly outpaced 

by Atlanta at 331,314. 35 

The war also laid the groundwork for 

social change. The stimulus which the 

war gave to the civil rights movement, 

however, produced a backlash among 

some whites who were determined to 

maintain the status quo. In many aspects, 

the racial politics that dominated 

Alabama in the 1960s and ’70s— 

culminating in defiance of federal court 

orders to integrate schools and public 

facilities—were born in World War II. 

✧ 

Following World War II army 

surplus stores sprung up throughout 

the country. This one was located in 

Birmingham at 2112 Second 

Avenue, North. 

C ONGRESSIONAL M EDAL OF H ONOR R ECIPIENTS 

FROM THE B IRMINGHAM A REA 


Philippine Insurrection 

• 1st Lt. Gordon Johnston, Birmingham, U. S. Signal Corps 

World War I 

• Gunner’s Mate Osmond Kelly Ingram, Birmingham, U. S. Navy 

World War II 

• Staff Sgt. Henry Eugene (Red) Erwin, Bessemer, U. S. Army Air Corps 

• 1st Lt. William Robert Lawley, Jr., Birmingham, U. S. Army Air Corps 

• Comdr. David McCampbell, born in Birmingham, U. S. Army Air Corps 

• Pvt. George Watson, Birmingham, U. S. Army 

Korean War 

• PFC Alford Lee McLaughlin, Leeds, U. S. Marine Corps 

• Tech Sgt. Harold Edward (Speedy) Wilson, Birmingham, U. S. Marine Corps 

Vietnam War 

• Plat. Sgt. Matthew Leonard, Birmingham, U.S. Army 

CHAPTER 8 

129


130

CHAPTER 9 

T HE C IVIL R IGHTS E RA 

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. Martin Luther King, Freedom Riders, Bull Connor, 

Senior Citizens Committee, School Integration, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Arrests. 

In the spring of 1956, Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth organized the Alabama 

Christian Movement for Human Rights, an organization focused on ending segregation 

in Birmingham. 

As pastor of Birmingham’s Bethel Baptist Church from 1953 through 1961, he survived 

several attempts on his life while organizing black citizens against what were widely regarded 

as some of the country’s most fiercely-enforced segregation policies. After walking away 

from a Christmas night bombing of the parsonage in 1956, he seemed more determined 

than ever that Birmingham would become a staging ground for a national movement. 

Shuttlesworth invited the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to Birmingham in May, 

1963 to help desegregate stores, restaurants and schools, victories which, in fact, led 

to sweeping federal civil rights legislation in 1964. 

King was coming off a disappointing campaign in Albany, Georgia which the New 

York Herald Tribune called “one of his most stunning defeats.” After spending a year in 

Albany attempting to integrate the city’s public facilities, his Southern Christian 

Leadership Conference (SCLC) left feeling it had failed. The schools remained segregated, 

the city parks were closed to avoid integration and the libraries were integrated 

but only after all the chairs were removed. King felt “we got nothing.” 1 

The movement needed to be re-energized and Birmingham seemed right as the next 

stop. “I assure you,” Shuttlesworth told King, “if you come to Birmingham this movement 

will not only gain prestige but it will shake the country.” 2 

PROJECT C ( FOR CONFRONTATION) 

✧ 

Leading demonstrations on the 

streets of Birmingham in 1963 were 

Reverends Fred Shuttlesworth, 

Ralph David Abernethy, and 

Martin Luther King. 


King believed that, while a campaign in Birmingham would “surely be our toughest 

fight”, if he could win there, “it would break the back of segregation all over the nation.” 3 

“Our goal in Birmingham was larger than ending segregation in one Southern city,” 

John Lewis, chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) 

noted. “It was our hope that our efforts in Birmingham would dramatize the fight and 

determination of African-American citizens in the Southern states and that we would 

force the Kennedy Administration to draft and push through Congress a comprehensive 

Civil Rights Act, outlawing segregation and racial discrimination in public accommodations, 

employment and education.” 4 

Said Shuttlesworth: “He (King) needed Birmingham as bad as Birmingham needed 

him. After Albany, he was at a low point. Nobody paid attention.” 5 

A confrontation which generated national attention would enhance the movement 

and defiant Birmingham officials, including its public safety commissioner, Bull 

Connor, appeared all too willing to set the stage. Racial polarization in Birmingham 

had followed the 1954 Brown desegregation decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court 

ruled against racial segregation of public education facilities including “separate but 

equal” policies. 

As King headed for Birmingham he asked for help from the Kennedy Administration 

warning the White House Birmingham was “by far the worst big city in race relations in the 

United States”. Events there, he said, have had “the tacit consent of high public officials.” 6 

CHAPTER 9 

131

✧ 

Right: An appreciation night event 

honoring A. G. Gaston, c. 1965. 

Shown are (from left to right) Robert 

Ming, a New York attorney who 

donated to the NAACP legal defense 

fund, NAACP National Executive 

Secretary Roy Wilkins, Dr. John 

Nixon, who served as chairman of 

both the Alabama and Birmingham 

NAACP Chapters, and Dr. Gaston. 

COURTESY OF JOHN NIXON, JR. 

Below: Eugene (Bull) Connor, 

Birmingham public safety 

commissioner, confronts civil rights 

demonstrators including singer Al 

Hibbler in April 1963. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD, 


The week after the Supreme Court 

decision in the Brown case, arsonists 

tried to burn the Center Street home of 

an NAACP leader in Birmingham, Dr. 

John W. Nixon, a black dentist known to 

oppose the city’s segregation laws. 7 

In Montgomery, Governor Gordon 

Persons termed public school integration 

mandated in the Brown decision 

“unthinkable” but also warned the 

Legislature against passing any “hasty legislation” 

or “half baked plan” to get 

around it. The Legislature did create a 

joint legislative interim committee headed 

by State Senator Albert Boutwell of 

Birmingham to examine methods to preserve 

racial segregation. The following 

year it drafted a bill allowing superintendents 

to assign students based on academic 

preparation, kinds of academic programs, 

availability of transportation and other 

considerations without mentioning race. 

Shuttlesworth, a member of the SCLC, 

had joined King earlier in the 

Montgomery bus boycott which began 

with the arrest of Rosa Parks December 1, 

1955 when she refused to give up her seat 

to a white man. The boycott severely crippled 

the bus line which had received seventy 

percent of its customers from the 

black community and launched the beginning 

of the modern civil rights movement. 

After a 382-day boycott, the U. S. 

Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation 

was illegal on December 17, 1956. 

Shuttlesworth, a leading advocate for 

ending bus segregation in Birmingham as 

well, barely escaped injury when his house 

was bombed on Christmas night eight days 

later. The city was the site of 18 unsolved 

bombings in black neighborhoods over a 

six-year span, many of them concentrated 

on Center Street and in Fountain Heights. 

The national media derisively nicknamed 

the city “Bombingham.” 

While the bombings gave the city 

unwanted national media attention, incidents 

involving the “Freedom Riders” in 

1961 painted an even uglier image for the 

state. Attempting to focus attention on a 

1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning 

segregated seating of interstate bus 

passengers, an interracial delegation left 

Washington, D.C., May 4, 1961. The 

buses were scheduled to arrive in New 

Orleans May 17, the seventh anniversary 

of the Brown decision. At bus stops, 

white passengers would visit black facilities 

and black passengers would go to 

those reserved for whites. 

On Mother’s Day, May 14, one bus 

was met by a mob of about two hundred 

in Anniston which stoned the bus and 

slashed the tires. About six miles out of 

town when it stopped to change the 


132

tires, it was firebombed. The second bus 

was greeted by another mob at the 

Trailways Bus Station in Birmingham 

and its riders severely beaten. 

Connor said he had not posted any officers 

at the bus station because of the holiday. 

Published reports indicated the FBI 

had informed city officials trouble could 

be expected. Officers did arrive about five 

to ten minutes after the melee had started. 

A former announcer for the 

Birmingham Barons, Connor was first 

elected a city commissioner in charge of 

public safety in 1937. At the time of the 

incident, he headed the last all-white 

police department in an American city 

over 50,000. 8 An outspoken segregationist, 

Connor won the support of his fellow 

commissioners in 1962 to close city 

parks, swimming pools and golf courses 

rather than to see them integrated. 

The Young Men’s Business Club, led 

by Chuck Morgan and David Vann, 

opposed the plan and pushed for a 

change in the city’s form of government 

to force Connor out of office. The YMBC 

submitted a petition with over eleven 

thousand signatures to put the issue on 

the ballot. In a referendum on November 

6, city voters narrowly approved the 

change replacing the old city commission 

with a new mayor-council system. 

The vote on election night was 18,968 

for to 16,415 against. 9 

Connor promptly threw his hat in the 

ring for mayor under the new system 

but lost in a runoff on April 2, 1963 to 

Albert Boutwell (who had been elected 

lieutenant governor in 1958), 29,630 to 

21,648. The election resulted in a 75% 

voter turnout. Although Boutwell as a 

state senator chaired the 1954 legislative 

committee to preserve segregation, he 

appeared even to blacks as the more 

moderate candidate. 10 

DEMONSTRATIONS 

The next day, Reverend King and the 

SCLC began street marches to protest 

city segregation laws. 

Connor and his fellow commissioners, 

Mayor Art Hanes and J. T. (Jabo) 

Waggoner, Sr., refused to leave office and 

filed a legal challenge to the Mayor- 

Council Act. While the Alabama Supreme 

Court ruled in Boutwell’s favor on May 

23, Birmingham in the intervening time 

had two city governments meeting simultaneously. 

The newly elected city council 

included M. E. Wiggins, Dr. John E. 

Bryan, Allen T. Drennan, John Golden, 

Don A. Hawkins, Dr. E. C. Overton, 

George Seibels, and Nina Miglionico. 

Editorial writers joked Birmingham 

was the only city in the country that had 

two mayors, a King and a parade everyday. 

While reformists decried the timing of 

the demonstrations, Birmingham’s two 

daily newspapers initially relegated stories 

on the protest marches to inside pages 

while merchants, some of them major 

advertisers, feared loss of store sales. 

In response to the protests Circuit 

Judge W. A. Jenkins, Jr., issued an order 

preventing civil rights protestors including 

King, Shuttlesworth and Ralph 

David Abernethy from organizing further 

demonstrations. The SCLC’s 

“Project C” (for confrontation) had 

planned for King to be arrested on Good 

✧ 

Albert Boutwell, who was a former 

lieutenant governor, served in City 

Hall from 1963 to 1967, defeating 

“Bull” Connor for mayor. He was 

elected just before the mass 

demonstrations of the Birmingham 

campaign led by Martin Luther 

King, Jr., and Fred Shuttlesworth. 


CHAPTER 9 

133

Friday, April 2 so the marches continued. 

King was arrested and, confined 

for nine days, wrote one of his more 

famous essays, “Letter from the 

Birmingham Jail.” 

He penned it along the margins of a 

Birmingham News advertisement posted 

by a group of eight ministers claiming 

the protest marches were “unwise and 

untimely”. In the letter, King outlined 

his position that he would follow just 

laws and disobey unjust ones. 

Throughout the period, black leaders 

were critical of a slow response from the 

Kennedy Administration to bring the full 

weight of the federal government into 

play. It did not go without notice that 

Governor John Patterson, who strongly 

opposed integration, had been one of the 

first southern governors to endorse John 

F. Kennedy for president in 1960. 

Patterson later said he knew the segregation 

fight was not a battle he could win 

but only delay. 11 As attorney general, he 

had sought and won a lower court injunction 

in 1956 prohibiting the National 

Association for the Advancement of 

Colored People from operating in the state 

after it aided Rosa Parks during the 

Montgomery bus boycott and supported 

Autherine Lucy’s attempt to enter the 

University of Alabama. Patterson claimed 

the organization was not lawfully registered 

as an out-of-state corporation based 

in New York. Seeking its membership list, 

the organization refused. The decision, 

which curtailed NAACP activities and 

fined it $100,000, gave birth to several new 

organizations, including Shuttlesworth’s 

Alabama Christian Movement for Human 

Rights. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned 

the NAACP ban and fine in 1964. 

J. Edgar Hoover’s suspicious nature 

and belief that the civil rights movement 

attracted Communist sympathizers further 

slowed federal involvement. At one 

point, Hoover had the FBI bug King’s 

phone in Birmingham. 

When released from the city jail, King 

continued his protest and the SCLC 

began a “children’s crusade” as a substitute 

for their parents who stood to lose 

jobs if away from work. The crisis boiled 

over on May 3, 1963, when police 

arrested six hundred demonstrators, 

including many teenagers, at Kelly 

Ingram Park as they exited the Sixteenth 

Street Baptist Church. With the jails 

already filled, the city attempted to stop 


134

the day’s marches with fire hoses and 

police dogs in full view of the national 

and state media. The national outrage 

which followed forced the Kennedy 

Administration to speak out. Governor 

George Wallace, who took office in 

January, also sent in the state troopers to 

help to help keep the peace although he 

was critical of “outside agitators” in the 

demonstrations. 

President Kennedy offered to send 

federal troops but stopped short of the 

order after meeting in Washington, D.C. 

with Sid Smyer, a local lawyer and former 

president of the Birmingham Chamber of 

Commerce. Smyer persuaded the 

President that Birmingham could work 

out its own problems. A few days later, on 

May 7, Attorney General Robert Kennedy 

sent Burke Marshall, his assistant for civil 

rights, along with John Doar from the 

Justice Department, to Birmingham to 

meet with Smyer and other prominent 

businessmen to seek a settlement to the 

street protests. This group of business 

leaders, which included Louis Pizitz, 

owner of the city’s largest department 

store, Clarence B. Hanson, publisher of 

the Birmingham News, and A. G. Gaston, 

a black millionaire businessman, came to 

be known as the Senior Citizens 

Committee. Its larger membership 

maintained anonymity. 

On Friday, May 10, an agreement 

between the Senior Citizens Committee 

and SCLC leadership was announced. It 

contained pledges for the desegregation 

of public accommodations, a committee 

to ensure nondiscriminatory hiring practices 

in Birmingham, cooperation in 

releasing jailed protesters and open communications 

between black and white 

leaders to prevent further demonstrations. 

The announcement also included 

desegregation of lunch counters, restrooms, 

department store fitting rooms 

and drinking fountains within 90 days. 12 

& 

ATTACK 

COUNTERATTACK 

The confrontation in Birmingham, 

however, was far from over. Segregation 

leaders announced plans for a boycott of 

their own of downtown stores to oppose 

integration the next day and the 

Ku Klux Klan held a rally on the 

outskirts of town. There were calls for 

counter measures. 

That night two bombs blasted the 

home of Reverend A. D. King, brother of 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Less than an 

hour later, a bomb rocked the Gaston 

Motel, where King and other civil rights 

leaders stayed when in Birmingham. 

Gaston provided the rooms free of 

✧ 

Opposite, top: Demonstrators leave St. 

James Baptist Church on Sixth Avenue, 

North, 1963. 

COURTESY OF BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY). 

Opposite, bottom: Lunch counter sit-in, 

1963, Woolworths, downtown Birmingham. 

COURTESY OF BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY). 

Left: When the U.S. Supreme Court 

ruled the NAACP could operate in 

Alabama after being banned for eight 

years by a state court, its leadership 

called a mini-convention and 

national board meeting in 

Birmingham on July 23, 1965. Over 

350 delegates attended the meetings 

held at the L. R. Hall Auditorium. 

COURTESY OF JOHN NIXON, JR. 

CHAPTER 9 

135

✧ 

The A. G. Gaston Motel, headquarters for 

Martin Luther King’s Birmingham 

campaign. Reverend King is shown talking 

to Reverend Ralph David Abernethy (left of 

King with hands in pockets). Reverend Fred 

Shuttlesworth has his back to the camera. 

The motel was bombed in 1963. 


charge. Street riots flared around the 

motel and spilled over into Woodrow 

Wilson Park (now called Linn Park). 

Again, Wallace sent in the state troopers. 

King, who had gone back to Atlanta 

to celebrate the breakthrough in 

Birmingham with his family, returned to 

the city to face the new crisis. 

Violence flared without warning. On 

September 4 the home of Birmingham 

civil rights attorney Arthur Shores on 

Center Street was bombed for the 

second time in two weeks, this one 

knocking his wife out of bed and 

slightly injuring her. The incident 

prompted a melee in which one young 

black man was killed as he began firing 

on police from his home. Undaunted, 

street demonstrations continued. 

Amid the demonstrations, efforts to 

integrate Birmingham schools moved 

forward. Five black students were 

scheduled to enter formerly white 

schools on September 9, two each at 

West End High School and Graymont 

Elementary and one at Ramsay High 

School. Mayor Boutwell asked a federal 

court to postpone the admissions saying 

“race mixing is not in the best interest of 

our children.” 13 

Governor Wallace, citing possible 

injury to students and others, proposed 

the schools not be opened as scheduled. 

When school officials declined, the 

governor sent in National Guard troops 

to prevent the start of classes. Faced 

with the latest confrontation, President 

Kennedy federalized the state troops and 

had them withdrawn. Plans to integrate 

the schools continued. 

Through it all, Connor, while still 

public safety commissioner, remained 

absolute. As long as segregation laws 

were on the books Connor pledged to 

enforce them. In his inaugural remarks 

in 1957, upon winning his commission 

seat back after a four-year hiatus from 

politics, Connor said: “These laws are 

still constitutional and I promise you 

that until they are removed from the 

ordinance books of Birmingham and the 

statute books of Alabama, they will be 

enforced in Birmingham to the utmost 

of my ability and by all lawful means.” 14 

Reports of the incidents in 

Birmingham moved Kennedy to remark 

that “the civil rights movement should 

thank God for Bull Connor. He’s helped 

it as much as Abraham Lincoln.” 15 

When Colin Powell (later secretary of 

state) first went to Vietnam in 1963, his 

wife, Alma, returned to her hometown 

of Birmingham to stay with her parents. 

Her father, R. C. Johnson, was principal 

of Parker High School. 

“I was pregnant with my first child,” 

she recalled. “It was like we had two 

wars going on at once.” 16 


136

In a bit of irony, Condoleezza Rice, 

who would succeed Powell as secretary 

of state, was an eight-year-old in 

Birmingham in 1963. Rice’s father, John 

Wesley Rice, Jr., worked for Alma 

Powell’s uncle, George C. Bell, principal 

of Ullman High School, as a guidance 

counselor. Her mother, Angelena, was a 

music teacher. 

The shocking drama unfolding downtown 

caught many in the suburbs by 

surprise. More accustomed to keeping 

up with quarterbacks Joe Namath at 

Alabama and Jimmy Sidle at Auburn as 

they prepared for the 1963 football season, 

the stories in local papers about 

house bombings and street confrontations 

shattered a well-honed sense of 

isolation. Some thought the demonstrations 

were more the result of outside 

agitators than home grown dissidents. 

Few realized history was being made in 

their own back yard. 

Then came the unthinkable. The following 

Sunday, September 15 th , a bomb 

rocked the Sixteenth Street Baptist 

Church during the church’s annual 

Youth Day ceremonies showering those 

inside with debris. 

In the ruins of the church basement, 

four girls were found dead—Denise 

McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Addie Mae 

Collins, and Carol Robertson, ages 11 to 

14. Twenty others were injured and 

taken to University Hospital. 

President Kennedy expressed “a deep 

sense of outrage and grief” and called on 

the nation to put “passions and 

prejudice aside.” He sent Kenneth 

Royall, former Secretary of the Army, 

and Earl Blaik, former football coach at 

West Point, to Birmingham as his 

personal representatives. Martin Luther 

King again returned to Birmingham 

from Atlanta and urged people to remain 

nonviolent although he said unless 

public safety was assured “Birmingham 

and Alabama could become the scene of 

the worst racial holocaust” in the 

nation’s history. 

The Birmingham Post-Herald published 

an editorial calling the church bombing 

“the most unspeakable of all outrages that 

have been visited on this strife-torn city.” 

✧ 

On orders from Bull Connor, police 

use dogs to quell civil unrest in 

Birmingham, May 3, 1963. 

BIRMINGHAM NEWS PHOTOGRAPH. COURTESY OF THE 


CHAPTER 9 

137

✧ 

Demonstrators protect themselves 

from firemen with high pressure 

water hoses attempting to break up 

demonstrations. One fireman said 

later, “We’re supposed to fight fires, 

not people.” 



A 1965 FBI memorandum implicated 

four Klan members in the church bombing, 

Robert E. Chambliss, Bobby Frank Cherry, 

Herman Frank Cash, and Thomas E. 

Blanton, Jr., but by 1968 charges had not 

been filed and the FBI closed the case. 

In 1971, Alabama Attorney General 

Bill Baxley reopened the investigation. On 

November 18, 1977, Robert Chambliss 

was convicted of murder and sentenced to 

life in prison where he died in 1985. The 

case was again reopened in 1988 after the 

FBI received additional information. 

Herman Cash was still one of the prime 

suspects but before he could be brought 

to trial he died in 1994. 

On May 17, 2000, Thomas Blanton, Jr., 

and Bobby Frank Cherry were charged 

with the murder of the four girls. Blanton 

was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 

life in prison on May 1, 2001. 

Bobby Frank Cherry’s trial was 

postponed after the judge ruled that he was 

mentally incompetent to assist his attorney. 

After Cherry was found competent to 

stand trail on May 22, 2002, he was found 

guilty of four counts of murder and was 

sentenced to life in prison. 

CHURCHES 

While Martin Luther King was critical 

of lack of church support for efforts to 

fight segregation, especially initially, 

some Birmingham churches were more 

proactive and became targets of racial 

violence themselves. Unknown persons 

placed 54 sticks of dynamite at Temple 

Beth-El on Highland Avenue in 1954. 

According to police reports, the burning 

fuses were doused by heavy rainfall, 

preventing the dynamite from exploding. 

In 1965 a bomb was disarmed at Our 

Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic 

Church while a priest continued his 

liturgy inside. Black churches that were 

the sites of explosions included St. 

Luke’s AME Zion Church, Triumph 

Church and Kingdom of God and Christ. 

Even before the advent of the Civil 

Rights era, Reverend James A. Bryan, 

also known as “Brother Bryan”, was an 

outspoken supporter of civil rights and 

racial reconciliation as minister of the 

Third Presbyterian Church until his 

death in 1941. 

Dr. Henry M. Edmonds, founding 

minister of the Independent Presbyterian 

Church, was equally vocal in his 

opposition to racial intolerance and 

the Klan. This pursuit led him to be 

involved in the trial of the Scottsboro 

Boys in 1931 and prior to that with the 

Alabama Commission on Interracial 

Cooperation, serving as its chairman 

in 1930. 17 


138

Although sometimes controversial, 

Dr. Edmonds built a strong reputation as 

a community leader during his twentyseven 

years in the Independent 

Presbyterian pulpit. The church, established 

in 1915, split away from South 

Highland Presbyterian Church after 

Edmonds lost his credentials from the 

North Alabama Presbytery over disagreements 

with church doctrine including a 

strict construction of the Bible. Edmonds 

had served as minister of the South 

Highland congregation from 1913 

to 1915. 

He retired in 1942 when the 

congregation numbered over 2,000 and 

became a dean at Rollins College in 

Winter Park, Florida. Returning to 

Birmingham in 1947, he engaged in 

counseling services. Among his clients 

was the Loveman’s Department Store. 

Controversies also struck other 

Birmingham churches. The First Baptist 

Church of Birmingham saw a split in its 

membership when the Church of the 

Covenant took a part of its congregation 

in 1970, one of the issues being admitting 

blacks to membership. The older 

established downtown Baptist Church, 

its membership in decline, voted to 

move to Homewood in 1984. Its familiar 

rock-faced church and the five-story 

office building immediately behind it 

were torn down. 

During the 1960s, one of the more 

active Birmingham clergymen in building 

bridges between the white and black 

communities was the Reverend Oley 

Kidd, director of admissions for the 

Birmingham Baptist Association. A 

graduate of the Louisville Baptist 

Seminary, Reverend Kidd regularly spoke 

at black churches and quietly worked to 

promote racial harmony. 

Race relations continued to improve 

when David Vann, who had been a leader 

in the Young Men’s Business Club’s petition 

effort to change the form of city government, 

was himself elected mayor in 

1975. He had earlier been elected to the 

City Council in 1971. After being 

defeated for a second term in 1979 by 

Richard Arrington, Jr., who became 

Birmingham’s first African-American 

mayor, Vann served as special counsel to 

Arrington and became a founding 

board member of the Birmingham Civil 

Rights Institute. He died in 2000 still 

promoting reconciliation. 

Another Birmingham attorney, Oscar 

W. Adams, Jr., became the first African- 

American elected to statewide office in 

Alabama in 1982 when he won a seat on 

the State Supreme Court. He had been 

appointed to a vacancy on the high court 

bench by Governor Fob James in 1980. 

Judge Adams was also the first black 

member of the Birmingham Bar 

Association. He died in 1997. 

✧ 

Above: Sixteenth Street Baptist Church after 

the bombing which killed four young girls, 

September 15, 1963. Its pastor was 

Reverend John H. Cross, Jr. 



Below: David J. Vann defeated George G. 

Seibels, Jr., for mayor in 1975. Vann was a 

leader in the effort to adopt the mayorcouncil 

system. 


CHAPTER 9 

139


140

CHAPTER 10 

R EDEMPTION 

& REVIVAL 

Turnaround, All-American City Award, One Great City Movement, 

Shopping Centers, Theatres, Restaurants, Downtown Department Stores, 

Steel Industry, Pipe Mills. 

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing was so shocking Birmingham citizens 

determined to build a new image for the city. 

In 1963, Operation New Birmingham, along with the Downtown Action Committee 

and the Biracial Community Affairs Committee, joined hands to promote economic 

development, racial harmony and public improvements. They were joined two years 

later by the Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity, a social service 

agency formed under the Johnson Administration’s “War on Poverty”. 

In 1965, George Seibels, a Republican sitting on the City Council, defeated 

Albert Boutwell for mayor and in 1968, when a vacancy occurred in a council 

seat, Arthur Shores, the black Birmingham attorney whose house had been bombed, 

was appointed. 

A number of new projects were completed including “Birmingham Green” along 

Twentieth Street downtown, the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, the Red Mountain 

Expressway, and expansions at the airport and Legion Field. 

New skyscrapers were also added to the city skyline including the 2121 Building, 

Central Bank, Daniel Building, Bank for Savings, First National Bank-Southern Natural 

Gas Building, South Central Bell tower, the First Alabama Bank and the Parliament 

House Hotel. 

At the urging of Richard Pizitz, president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the 

city went after the National Municipal League and Look Magazine’s All-America City 

Award which it received on the eve of its Centennial Celebration. 

While Birmingham was making progress within its own borders, it had trouble on 

the annexation front. A referendum was scheduled to add the over-the-mountain 

suburbs or Homewood and Mountain Brook. In 1964, Mountain Brook rejected the 

invitation but Homewood approved it by a seven-vote margin. While Birmingham 

began sending its police officers into the suburb, the election was thrown out on a 

technicality and a re-vote resulted in a seventeen-hundred-vote rejection. 

An even more ambitious annexation effort was made in 1971 called the “One Great 

City” plan which was designed to add 100,000 citizens and move Birmingham ahead 

of Atlanta in size. It died in the Legislature, however, out of fears the suburbs would 

lose their independent school systems and taxes would increase. 

Instead white flight began growing the size of the suburbs and Birmingham itself 

lost population falling from 340,887 in 1960 to 300,910 in 1970. Of the 40,000 who 

moved out, 31,709 were white and 8,725 were black. Jefferson County, meanwhile, 

grew by 10,000 and construction of new residential neighborhoods began in North 

Shelby County. 1 

Businesses and department stores also began moving to outlying areas. The 

long established practice of living above store fronts faded as suburbs flourished. 

The shift in neighborhood patterns was encouraged by passage of zoning ordnances 

in the early 1960s aimed at what was called “separate use.” In Birmingham and 

elsewhere people became convinced it made more sense to work in one place and live 

at another. 2 

✧ 

Mayor George Seibels, Jr., shown in 

the Parliament House Hotel at the 

time of the announcement of 

Birmingham’s All-America City 

Award. He served as mayor from 

1967 to 1975. 


CHAPTER 10 

141

SHOPPING 

CENTERS 

Eastwood Mall, which opened on 

August 25, 1960, in Birmingham’s 

Crestwood area, was the first enclosed 

mall in the Southeast. One of its anchor 

stores was a branch of the downtown 

Pizitz Department Store. It also had a 

Blach’s and a J. J. Newberry Five and 

Dime outlet. At the time of its construction, 

Eastwood Mall was the third 

largest mall in the nation and was the 

fifth ever to be built in the United States. 

Planned as the “merchandise city of 

the future”, it started as a dream of local 

land developer Newman H. Waters who 

had already made a name for himself by 

building a chain of successful neighborhood 

and drive-in theaters. Among the 

Waters properties were the Homewood, 

Five Points, Fairfield, Avon, College and 

Norwood Theatres and the drive-ins, Fair 

Park, Roebuck, Skyview, Robinwood, 

Shades Mountain and Starlite. 

Waters was also a partner with Ervin 

Jackson in developing Office Park in 

Mountain Brook in 1953, the first business 

park of its kind in the country. Their 

concept, considered radical at the time, 

was that office workers deserved their 

own parking areas just as workers at 

industrial plants had. Western Hills Mall, 

located in Fairfield and Midfield, opened 

in the late 1960s with two anchor department 

stores, Loveman’s and JCPenney and 

about three dozen specialty stores. It was 

the second mall to be built in the greater 

Birmingham area. 

In 1967, the Alabama Farm Bureau purchased 

Eastwood Mall from the Waters 

family and hoped to duplicate its success 

in the western area of Birmingham. 

In 1969 it began construction on an 

indoor mall behind an existing strip of 

businesses built by Shepherd-Sloss 

Realty in the 1950s known as Five Points 

West Shopping City. The new indoor 

mall was connected to the existing complex 

by a stairway. An overhead walkway 

spanning Forty-seventh Street-Ensley 

joined the parking deck for the new 

Pizitz Store behind it. 

The addition came in reaction to 

Eastwood Mall’s enormous popularity and 

the new Western Hills Mall, located just 

down Bessemer Super Highway. Farm 

Bureau gained control of the entire operation, 

which totaled 60 stores including W. 

T. Grant, F. W. Woolworth, JCPenney, 

Parisian and a Kroger grocery. While the 

enclosed mall closed in the 1980s, stores 

still operate in the older strip mall portion. 

Everett Shepherd, Sr., and A. Page 

Sloss, Sr., conceived the idea of a major 

shopping center at Five Points, West, 

when they began acquiring property near 

the State Fairgrounds as early as 1941. 3 


142

Another early shopping center built in 

the 1960s was Roebuck Shopping City on 

Birmingham’s east side. It, like Eastwood 

and Five Points West, attracted branches 

of some of the major downtown stores. 

Construction of new shopping centers 

in Birmingham’s suburbs continued 

including Brookwood Mall in 

Homewood and Mountain Brook (1975), 

another Shepherd-Sloss development; 

Century Plaza in Crestwood (1976) 

built by George Barber and the 

Riverchase Galleria in Hoover (1986) 

built by Jim Wilson. Like their 

predecessors, they also pulled retail sales 

from the downtown area relegating it 

largely to banking, government and 

professional offices. 

Birmingham’s big department stores 

closed one by one. Pizitz sold out to the 

McRae’s chain which closed its downtown 

store in 1992, Loveman’s was last 

owned by City Stores Corporation 

which closed it in 1986. Newberry’s, 

Blach’s, Yeilding’s, and Burger-Phillips 

and Sears & Roebuck also closed their 

downtown stores. 

Parisian, which became a property of 

Saks, was the only big name department 

store still with a downtown location 

(Regions-Harbert Plaza) in 2007. The 

chain was bought out by Belk and the 

last of Birmingham’s historic department 

store brand names was lost. Bromberg’s, 

which specializes in jewelry, continues 

to operate downtown although it has 

opened several suburban stores. 

Other stores having downtown locations 

in the 1960s but now closed 

included Alands, Porter’s, Henry Porter’s, 

Odum Bowers & White, Kesslers, New 

Ideal, New Williams, S. H. Kress & 

Company, F. W. Woolworth Company, W. 

T. Grant & Company, Silvers, Odum 

Clothing, Sokols, National Shirt Shops, 

Goldbro, Jobe-Rose. Feeney’s, Standard 

Distributors, and Tilman-Levinson. 

Mountain Brook stores no longer in existence 

include Richards, Fain, LTD and 

the Canterbury Shop. 

While large shopping centers attracted 

thousands of customers in the 1960s, 

so did a number of free-standing mass 

merchandising outlets including a pair 

of GES Stores, one on 12th Street SW, 

south of Lomb Avenue near Rickwood 

Field and the other in Roebuck. GES, 

which at first catered to government 

employees, was an early membership 

marketer along the same lines as modern 

day Sam’s and Costco. 

Birmingham in the same decade also 

had three Miller’s Stores, one on U.S. 78 

in East Thomas, one on the Bessemer 

Super Highway and another along First 

✧ 

Opposite, top: The 223-room 

Parliament House, now closed, was 

located on Twentieth Street South 

between Fourth and Fifth Avenues. 

Built in 1964 by a group of investors 

that included actress Doris Day, 

the site is owned by UAB. President 

Nixon spoke here several times in 

the 1960s. 


Opposite, bottom: The bird cage at 

Eastwood Mall was a familiar site to 

thousands of shoppers in the 1960s. 

The mall covered eight acres. 


Above: Five Points West Shopping 

City included over sixty stores near 

the Fairgrounds. 


Below: Pizitz at Five Points West 

Shopping City, now closed and 

in disrepair. 


CHAPTER 10 

143

Avenue, North near Sixty-fourth Street 

in Woodlawn. When GES closed down, 

Miller acquired its stores in 1973 and 

turned them into their own outlets. 

Similar stores were also operated by 

the Atlantic Store chain, one was on 

Eighth Avenue, North and Thirteenh 

Street and another on the Bessemer Super 

Highway and Wiebel Drive in Midfield 

and at least two Gulf Miles Stores, one 

downtown in the old Calder Furniture 

Company Building across from the Lyric 

Theatre. Other discount outlets included 

TG&Y, Bargain Town USA, Woolco and 

Zayre’s, all early versions of Wal-Mart. 

Eastwood Mall, the Waters enterprise 

that helped begin the exodus from the 

downtown business district fell, itself, 

to new business locations. After losing 

most if its tenants by the late 1990’s and 

early 2000’s, it finally closed its doors in 

2006 and was demolished to make way 

for a Wal-Mart Super Center. 

A number of the old downtown 

department stores were being converted 

into condos in 2006 and 2007 including 

Burger-Phillips, New Williams, Vaughan 

& Weil and Blach’s. 

MOVIE 

THEATERS 

Birmingham’s large downtown motion 

picture theatres also began to give way to 

new ones in the suburbs, many of them in 

shopping centers. The list of closed movie 

palaces included the Lyric (which opened 

in 1914) and Empire (1926) both of which 

shutdown in the 1960s. Other well known 

downtown theatres also passed from the 

scene including the Ritz (1926), Melba 

(1946), Galax (1945), Strand, previously 

the Newmar, Capitol and the Royal. The 

Temple Theatre (1922) was built for 

Shrine ceremonies and also hosted vaudeville 

and traveling shows. It occasionally 

showed movies. Most of these theatres 

were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. 

The grand Alabama Theatre, built as 

an answer to Atlanta’s famous Fox 

Theatre, remained open until 1981. Built 

by the Publix Theater division of 


144

✧ 

Opposite, top: Pizitz Department 

Store, downtown at Third Avenue 

and Nineteenth Street, North, 

celebrated its fiftieh anniversary 

in 1949. 


Opposite, middle: Loveman’s 

Department Store, downtown at 

Third Avenue and Second Avenue, 

North, was, like Pizitz, popular with 

shoppers. Its familiar front entrance 

clock was a favorite meeting place. 


Opposite, bottom: The Alabama 

Theatre, 1959, The Nun’s Story 

starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter 

Finch attracted long lines which 

reached around Goldstein’s Furs. 


Paramount Studios, the movie palace 

opened on December 26, 1927. Featuring 

a Spanish/Moorish design, the theatre 

seated 2,500 in a five-story, three-tiered 

auditorium. It was the first public building 

in Alabama to have air conditioning. 

Paramount’s president, Adolph Zukor, 

named it the “Showplace of the South”. 4 

Its “Mighty Wurlitzer” pipe organ, with 

twenty-one sets of pipes, was played for 

many years by Stanleigh Malotte and later 

by Cecil Whitmire. The Alabama Theatre 

also hosted the Miss Alabama Pageant 

from 1935 to 1966 and the weekly 

Mickey Mouse Club from 1933 to 1943. 

The building was saved from demolition 

in 1987 and was designated by the 

Alabama Legislature as the official State 

Historic Theatre. It underwent a major 

restoration in 1998 and today, as a tourist 

attraction, hosts over three hundred annual 

events, including special features, the 

Above: Blach’s Department Store, 

1943, was located at Twentieth 

Street and Third Avenue North. It 

was considered a high end clothing 

store, especially its Black Knight 

Men’s Department. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS COLLECTION, 


Below: The GES Department Store 

on Twelfth Street Southwest, south of 

Lomb Avenue near Rickwood Field. 

One of the first membership stores in 

the city, GES was originally for 

government employees. A tornado hit 

near here in 1967. 


CHAPTER 10 

145

Summer and Christmas Film Series, and 

live theatre and musical performances. 

Among other bygone area theatres are 

the Homewood, Five Points, College, 

North Birmingham, Grand and State 

Theatres (Bessemer), Woodlawn, East 

Lake, Wylam, Fairfield, Center Point and 

Franklin (Ensley). Well known black 

theatres of yesteryear include the Carver, 

restored as the Carver Performing Arts 

Center and Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, 

the Eighth Avenue Theatre, the Famous, 

now home to the Birmingham Urban 

League, the Birmingham Theatre, the 

Champion and the Frolic. 

Theatres from the early 1900s 

included the Alcazar, the Jefferson 

Theatre (later called the Erlanger), the 

Trianon and the Bonita. H. M. Newsome 

purchased the Bonita in 1913 shortly 

after completing his Trianon Theatre on 

Second Avenue North. Though he 

already owned three cinemas, he bought 

the fourth in order to secure local 

control of motion pictures distributed 

by the General Film Company. 

The Odeon Theatre was a favorite for 

cowboy movies in the 1920s. 

The Lyric, just across Third Avenue 

from the Alabama, opened during vaudeville’s 

heyday in 1914 with guest appearances 

by Sophie Tucker and Rube 

Goldberg. Other headliners appearing in 

later years included Milton Berle, Will 

Rogers, Jack Benny and George Burns. 

Built in the fashion of a Broadway theatre 

with twelve hundred seats, the showplace 

served both as a live theatre and a movie 

theatre until closing in 1959. It reopened 

briefly in the 1970s showing classic 

movies and then adult movies before 

closing again in 1993. It has been the subject 

of a $12-million renovation effort. 5 

The Empire was demolished for a 

parking facility for the Watts Building in 

1984. The building had originally 

housed the Drennen & Company 

General Store in 1898 but was converted 

to a theatre in 1926. 6 

The Ritz, located on Second Avenue, 

North, had a number of firsts. In 1933, 


146

✧ 

Opposite, top: The Homewood 

Theatre, 1955, featured Geordie 

starring Alistair Sims and Bill 

Travers. The V. J. Elmore store is 

next door. 


Opposite, middle: The Carver 

Theatre, 1949 was located at 1631 

4th Ave N. They Live By Night 

starring Farley Granger is the 

featured movie. 


Opposite, bottom: The Lyric 

Theatre was one of Birmingham’s 

oldest movie theatres having its 

beginnings as a vaudeville stage. The 

Casey Jones train shown here in 

1928 is a movie promotion for the 

film by the same name featuring the 

Cannon Ball Express. The Watts 

Building is under construction in 

the background. 


Above: The Empire Theatre in 1937 

showed Lost Horizon featuring 

Jane Wyatt and Ronald Coleman. It 

was located along Third Avenue, 

North between Twentieth and 

Twenty-first Streets. 


Left: The Ritz Theatre, 1721 Second 

Avenue North shown here in 1961, 

featured Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

starring George Peppard and 

Audrey Hepburn. 


it became one of the first movie houses 

to show “talkies” and in 1962 became 

Alabama’s first Cinerama theatre. Even 

Atlanta did not have Cinerama yet. The 

Ritz closed in 1980. 7 

Originally known as the RKO Ritz, it, 

like other downtown theatres, lost 

moviegoers as businesses moved to the 

suburbs and new theatres followed. 

The old 1890s theatre known as the 

Pantages on Third Avenue and 

Seventeenth Street, North, became the 

Birmingham Theatre in 1946 before closing 

in the early 1950s. 

“People have stopped coming downtown 

at night,” said Harry Curl of Cobb 

Theatres. “People go to theatres near where 

they live.” But it wasn’t always that way. 

CHAPTER 10 

147

✧ 

Above: Britlings Cafeteria had three 

downtown locations, one on Third 

Avenue, North, one on Twentieth 

Street, North and another on First 

Avenue, North, shown here. 

Woodmen of the World had offices on 

the second floor. 


Below: The interior of Britlings on 

First Avenue, North, a favorite 

downtown lunch location near the 

Morris Hotel. 


“Back in 1931, downtown was the 

only place to go. You paid a nickel to ride 

the streetcar downtown to the Lyric, or 

the Rialto or the Melba.” 8 

Movies cost a dime in 1915. The 

Rialto was located next to the Farley 

Building at 1923 Third Avenue, North. 

The fifth motion picture theater built by 

the Newsome interests in Birmingham, 

it was constructed in 1915 on the former 

site of the Bonita Theater. The name 

for the five-hundred-seat theater was 

chosen by contest. The Rialto closed in 

the 1930s, a victim of the Great 

Depression and was later taken over by 

the Guarantee Shoe Company. 

CHRISTMAS 

CARNIVAL 

Birmingham residents also found 

entertainment outlets in balls, parades 

and social events in the 1930s and 1940s 

including elaborate Christmas Carnivals. 

While begun mainly as a ball in 1934, by 

1949 the carnival became a city wide 

event involving several civic clubs including 

the Birmingham Jaycees. The carnivals 

took on themes, such as “Peace on 

Earth” in 1948, and the week-long events 

included speeches, concerts, a major 

downtown parade, a high school football 

game benefiting the Crippled Children’s 

Clinic and a coronation ball proclaiming 

“King Cheer” and “Queen Joy.” 9 

Alabama had become the first state to 

recognize Christmas as an official holiday 

in 1836. 

When the Christmas carnivals were no 

longer held after the Korean War, a new 

event known as the Beaux Arts Ball, still 

featuring kings and queens, emerged to 

take its place. Sponsored by the 

Birmingham Art Association to benefit 

the Birmingham Museum of Art, the first 

costumed ball was held in 1956 as an 

opening event for the larger Festival of 

Arts. Later it broke away from the 

Festival program to become known as 

the Beaux Arts Jewell Ball, still benefiting 

the Art Museum. Since 1968, the ball has 

been sponsored by a dues-paying membership 

known as the Beaux Arts Krewe. 10 

In the 1920s and ’30s the Linly Heflin 

Balls were popular affairs sponsored by 

the Linly Heflin Unit Service Group 

begun after World War I. The charity 

balls and Mardi Gras parties helped raise 

funds for various projects, including 

Children’s Hospital and to further the 

education of young women. 

RESTAURANTS 

From the 1920s through the ’80s, 

Birmingham was a mecca for good 

restaurants, soda fountains, short order 


148

establishments and ice cream parlors. Most 

of the older establishments have closed. 

Among the most frequently visited were: 

Armondo’s, Baby Doe’s Matchless Mine, 

Bohemian Bakery, Brass Rail, Britlings 

Cafeteria, Browdy’s, Burger-in-a-Hurry, 

Café Italiano, Caramel Corn Shop, 

Carmichael’s Supper Club (Lotus Club), 

Carnaggio’s, Catfish King, Chicken-in-the- 

Rough, Constantine’s, Copper Kettle, 

Dales Cellar, Dales Hideway, Dave’s Club 

Village, Dixie Cream Donuts, Dobbs 

House, Dr. Gus, Ed Salem’s, Electrik Maid, 

Eli’s Sky Castle, Ensley Grill, Frank 

Merrill’s Charcoal Steak House, Fred Jones, 

Gold Nugget (Vulcan Restaurant), 

Grayson’s Spinning Wheel, Greenwood’s, 

Gulas, Gulas Supper Club, Hogan’s 

Hideaway, Holland House, Homewood 

Dairy, Hooper’s, Howard Johnson’s, Irish 

Deli, Jack O’Lantern, Jack’s, Jacque’s 

Hamburger Heaven, Jeb’s Seafood, 

Jefferson Seafood, Jimez, Joy Young’s, 

LaParee, Leo’s Seafood House, Little 

Southerner, LL BBQ, Lou-Jac Drive-In, 

Luau, Mary Ball Candy, Mary Beard’s Tea 

Room, Melrose Creamery, Michael’s 

Steakhouse, Mrs. Todd’s Cafeteria, Newt’s, 

Old Plantation BBQ, Ollie’s BBQ, Pasquales 

Pizza, Pig Trail Inn, Pipers, Romeo’s, 

Shang-Hai-Low, Social Grill, Sombrero, 

Strawberry Fields, Tanner’s, The Buttery, 

Thompson’s, Toddle House, Top of the 21, 

20th Century, Waite’s, Wilfoy’s Chicken in 

the Rough, Caddell’s, and Windsor Castle. 

Joy Young’s, the most popular downtown 

American Chinese eating establishment, 

was a favorite place to take out-oftown 

company. Located across 20th Street 

from the Tutwiler Hotel, it had been located 

at two other downtown locations 

before finally locating there in 1924. It was 

originally known as the King Joy Inn 

Restaurant when established by four 

Chinese-American businessmen, Mansion 

Joe, Loo Choy, Loo Bing, and George Sai. 11 

Leaving downtown for the suburbs in 

the 1980s, its last major location being 

in the bottom of the parking deck at 

Brookwood Hospital in Homewood, the 

landmark restaurant finally closed. In its 

last years, it was operated by Henry Joe. 

Other downtown Chinese restaurants 

included Shang-Hai-Low at 1716 Third 

Avenue, North, and Ding Ho. 

Popular restaurants that have endured 

over time include the Bright Star in 

Bessemer, over 100 years, Bogue’s in 

Lakeview and the Anchorage (Newt’s) in 

Homewood, over 70 years and Lovoy’s in 

Homewood, Cobb Lane on the Southside 

and John’s downtown, sixty years. 

One of Birmingham most 

popular old-time hot dog stands is 

still in business, Pete’s Famous, 

which began operating under that 

name in 1946. Located at 1925 

Second Avenue, North, it began as 

Louis’ Place in 1912, and according 

to owner Gus Koutroulakis, was 

referred to by old timers as “the 

Hole in the Wall.” In business at 

the same location for ninety-five 

years, it is thought to the longest 

existing eating establishment in 

downtown Birmingham. 

The historical Gus’ Hot Dogs, 

which dates to the late 1940s, was 

located at the Farmer’s Market on 

Third Avenue, North and Twentyfifth 

Street. Like Gus’, other old time 

favorites, also closed, include DeMoes, 

Tom’s Coneys and the Downtowner. The 

Lyric Hotdog stand, on Third Avenue, 

✧ 

Left: Joy Young Chinese American 

Restaurant, across from the Tutwiler 

Hotel on Twentieth Street, North, c. 

the 1940s, was a popular place to 

take out-of-town company. 

COURTESY OF TIM HOLLIS BIRMINGHAMREWOUND. 

Below: The menu from Joy Young 

Restaurant, 1970s, shows 

restaurant’s interior and mezzanine. 


CHAPTER 10 

149

✧ 

Above: Catfish King in Ensley on 

Twentieth Street in the 1960s. The 

tall building next door is the 

Ramsay-McCormack Building 

(1926), empty since 1986. 


Below: The interior of Mary Ball 

Candies on Fifth Avenue. Mary Ball, 

named by the Vlahos family after 

George Washington’s mother, also had 

a store at Eastwood Mall. 



North, and Eighteenth Street, opened 

in 1957. 

Several private clubs also provided 

individualized attention including Joe’s 

Ranch House in Vestavia, Down the 

Hatch in Lakeview and the Press Club at 

Cobb Lane. Popular party and dance locations 

included the Cascade Plunge in East 

Lake, the Pickwick Club on the Southside 

and the Hollywood Country Club in 

Homewood. Musical entertainment was 

featured at the Cain Break (Bob Cain and 

the Cain Breakers) and at the Lowenbrau 

in Homewood (Three on a String). 

Well-known Birmingham dance 

bands leaders from the 1940s through 

the 1970s included Dewitt Shaw, Bill 

Nappi, Joe Giattina and Harrison 

Cooper. Black band leaders from the 

1930s and 1940s included Fess Whatley 

and Erskine Hawkins. 

Among rock and roll bands, The 

Ramblers, featuring singer Tommy Terrell, 

were popular in the 1960s through the 

1980s. Another 1960s band was Bo 

Reynolds and the Premiers from Ensley. 

Hawkins made it big in New York after 

beginning his career at Alabama State 

Teachers College (now Alabama State 

University) in Montgomery with the Bama 

State Collegians. His dance band attracted 

a loyal following later at the Savoy 

Ballroom in New York City. He was born in 

Birmingham in 1914, the son of a U.S. soldier 

who lost his life during World War I. 

A talented high-note trumpeter, 

Hawkins was nicknamed “The Twentieth 

Century Gabriel.” The Erskine Hawkins 

Orchestra started making records in 1936 

and stayed together until 1953. Hawkins 

had three major hits, Tuxedo Junction, After 

Hours, and Tippin’ In. Tuxedo Junction, also 

became a number one hit by the Glenn 

Miller Orchestra in 1940, and was one of 

the most popular songs of the World War 

II era. 12 

Hawkins named the tune for the streetcar 

crossing at Tuxedo Park in Ensley. A 

second floor dance hall in the Nixon 

Building (1922) was the social hub for 

Birmingham’s black community in the 

1920s and ’30s. 

Interestingly, Hawkins was named 

for Erskine Ramsay, a well-known 

Birmingham industrial engineer and 

inventor who paid new parents $100 to 

name their children after him. 

In the 1970s, the Birmingham 

entertainment district centered on Morris 

Avenue but has since moved to the 

Southside. One of the first streets in 

Birmingham, Morris Avenue’s cobblestones 

provided a pleasant but somewhat 

bumpy ride to Victoria Station, Oaks Street, 

1776 A.D., Diamond Jim’s, the Morris 

House and even a peanut warehouse. 

Among other popular bar and lounge 

locations during this period were Ben’s 

Barn, Blue Front, Cadillac Café, 

Cahaba Cave, Cahaba Club, Clover Club, 


150

Club 280, Club 31, Club 78, Crazy Horse, 

Domino Lounge, Dutch’s Tavern, Eighty 

Eights Piano Bar behind the Pickwick, 

Friendly Tavern, Gaslight (Pussy Cat), 

Gikka’s, Grundy’s Music Hall, Gulas’ Blue 

Note, Hi-Fi Lounge, Hogan’s Hideaway, 

Ironwood Inn, Joe Bar, Mack’s Tavern, 

Miami Club, Mountain Brook Lodge 

(Tanglewood), Mr. Lucky’s, Murphy’s, 

Nola’s (Billy’s), Pappy’s, Pickwick Club, 

Plantation Club, Playroom atop the Guest 

House Hotel, Plaza on Highland Avenue, 

Rathkellar, Red Lion, Rinky Dink, Rose 

Hill, Shades Mountain Country Club, 

Shades Tavern, Showboat, The Casbah, 

The Dutchman, Tito’s, Trail’s End, 

Woodland Club, and Yellow Dog on 

Highway 31 South. 

STEEL 

INDUSTRY 

Beginning in the late 1950s and into 

the 1960s, Birmingham’s steel industry 

began to wane, largely because of economics. 

Not only were foreign imports 

bringing cheaper steel to market, but 

U.S. plants were modernizing, eliminating 

antiquated capacity. 

U.S. Steel, which in the early 1900s 

supplied 65 percent of American steel, 

dropped to only 10 percent of national 

production in 2000. 

While Birmingham at one time had 

over thirty iron and steel plants in operation, 

the only steel making facility still 

producing iron from ore here is U.S. 

Steel’s Fairfield Works and it even uses 

ore imported from Minnesota. Mining of 

lesser quality Alabama iron ore—including 

extractions from Red Mountain— 

stopped in 1975. 

In 1951, U.S. Steel moved its 

Birmingham headquarters overseeing 

TCI operations from the Brown-Marx 

Building downtown to the new 

Flintridge Building in Fairfield. The 

1950s were good years for steel making 

but the entire industry was in trouble by 

the 1960s, Birmingham included. 

The number of workers in Birmingham 

District primary metals industries, including 

blast furnaces and foundries, dropped 

from 38,800 in 1960 to 7,281 in 2006, the 

decrease being attributed to plant closings 

and cheaper foreign steel finding its way 

into U.S. markets. 13 

The Sloss City Furnaces, now a 

Birmingham historical park, closed in 

1970. The shutdown was followed by 

the giant U.S. Steel rail mill at Ensley in 

1981 where the furnaces had closed six 

years earlier. Republic Steel Corporation 

closed in 1972, Woodward Iron made its 

last run in 1973 and U.S. Pipe closed its 

North Birmingham blast furnace in 1982 

but still casts pipe at the site. 

Despite the loss of iron making capacity, 

Birmingham continued to be a major 

center for the production of cast iron pipe 

although Stockham Valves and Fittings 

closed its plant in 1998. American Cast 

Iron Pipe Company, U.S. Pipe, with plants 

in Bessemer and North Birmingham, and 

McWane Pipe still produce about half of 

the cast iron pipe made in America. 

Several of the new generation of minimills, 

using electric furnaces melting 

scrap, opened in Birmingham, SMI Steel 

in 1983 (in the former Connors Steel 

Company location) and Nucor (formerly 

Birmingham Steel) in 2002. 

While Birmingham began to lose its 

steel city image, it was forced to diversify 

and began building a new base for 

business along the lines of banking, 

hospitals, medical research and education. 

✧ 

Above: Pete’s Famous Hotdogs, 

downtown at 1925 Second Avenue, 

North, has been a Birmingham 

institution since 1948. The hot dog 

business at the location, however, 

dates back to 1915. It is said to be the 

narrowest restaurant in Birmingham. 

COURTESY OF JOHN MORSE, BHAMWIKI. 

Below: A nostalgic backdrop to 

Birmingham’s industrial past is this 

scene from a long abandoned second 

floor office window at the old Ensley 

Rail Mill, shut down in 1981. Now 

mostly demolished, this view shows its 

remaining open hearth stacks and 

power house. 

COURTESY OF ERIC MCFERRIN. 

CHAPTER 10 

151


152

CHAPTER 11 

UAB, ECONOMICS 101 

Medical Center, Hill-Burton Act, University Hospital, UAB, Schools and Colleges, 

Sports, Movies, Products, Breweries, The Future. 

Perhaps no institution meant more to Birmingham’s future than the University of 

Alabama Medical School. As the city fell increasingly into its racial troubles, the medical 

center continued to grow and prosper while seeking federal dollars to finance it. A 

big part of the growth came by acquiring land originally set aside for slum clearance 

and redevelopment. 

Awarded the medical college in 1944, university officials in Birmingham, lacking 

adequate state funding, looked to Washington almost immediately for help and found 

it in the Hill-Burton Act sponsored by Alabama’s senior senator, Lister Hill. 

This landmark legislation, backed by the Truman Administration and passed in 

1946, was designed to provide federal grants and guaranteed loans to improve the 

physical plants of the nation’s hospital system. The federal dollars, however, came with 

strings. Facilities that received Hill-Burton funding had to adhere to several requirements. 

They were not allowed to discriminate based on race, color, national origin, or 

creed–except for the proviso that allowed for discrimination so long as separate, equal 

facilities were located in the same area. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that provision 

in 1963. Facilities that received funding were also required to provide a “reasonable 

volume” of free care each year for those residents in the facility’s service area 

who needed care but could not afford to pay. 

During his nearly 46 years in Congress, Senator Hill championed over 60 pieces of 

health care legislation including the Hill-Burton Hospital Survey & Construction Act. 

In Alabama all but two of 67 county hospitals were built with Hill-Burton funds. In 

Birmingham, numerous facilities can trace their start to the program, including a number 

of buildings on the UAB campus: the School of Dentistry building, Children’s 

Hospital, Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital, Spain Rehabilitation Center, Smolian 

Psychiatric Clinic, the north wing of University Hospital and Hixson Hall. 

The UAB Medical Center Library was renamed the Lister Hill Library of the Health 

Sciences as a tribute to him in 1971. 

The two men largely responsible with steering a bill through the Legislature creating 

the University of Alabama School of Medicine were then Governor Chauncey 

Sparks and Dr. Raymond R. Paty, president of the University of Alabama. Almost immediately 

a contest developed as to where it should be located—Birmingham, Tuscaloosa 

or Mobile. 

Governor Sparks appointed a building commission to make a recommendation and 

after a series of hearings, it recommended Birmingham, primarily because of local 

interest in the project as well as the availability of Jefferson Hospital (1940) and 

Hillman Clinic (1903). The Birmingham location was strongly backed by six men, H. 

A. Byrd and James Lee, both members of the building commission, three physicians, 

Dr. James McLester, Dr. Seale Harris and Dr. Alfred A. Walker and Oscar Wells, chairman 

of the Citizens’ Committee of Birmingham. 1 

The Citizens’ Committee Wells headed was composed of 15 leading citizens and 10 

physicians who raised $160,000 to supplement the Legislature’s appropriation to get 

the Medical School started. Dr. Paty, the university president, selected Dr. Roy R. 

Kracke, professor of pathology and bacteriology at the Emory School of Medicine in 

✧ 

Jefferson Hospital Tower, built in 

1945, began as the teaching hospital 

for the University of Alabama School 

of Medicine. Today, it is a part of a 

908-bed Level I trauma center 

located in the Medical Center on 

Birmingham’s Southside. 

COURTESY OF THE UAB ARCHIVES, THE UNIVERSITY OF 

ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM. 

CHAPTER 11 

153

✧ 

Hillman Hospital, c. 1928, opened 

on July 15, 1903. Its history reaches 

back to 1888 when a charity 

hospital was established. The clinic 

is still in use today as part of the 

UAB Medical Center. 

COURTESY OF THE UAB ARCHIVES, THE UNIVERSITY OF 

ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM. 

Atlanta, as the new medical college’s 

first dean. 

On November 15, 1944, a ninety-nineyear 

contract was entered into by the 

University of Alabama and Jefferson 

County taking over Jefferson Hospital and 

the Hillman Clinic along with an agreement 

to provide indigent care. Governor 

Sparks considered the project one of the 

most important steps forward in state history 

since the end of the Civil War. 2 

Over the next ten years, the UA 

Medical College grew rapidly, both in 

staff and training facilities. 

The location of the medical school in 

Birmingham was the second such effort 

to establish a training institution for 

doctors here. Medical education first 

came to Birmingham in the early 1890s 

when the Birmingham Dental College 

received a state charter in 1893. A medical 

college was added the following 

year. Both schools were located in a former 

five-story hotel at 211 North 

Twenty-first Street called the Lunsford. 

The medical school moved to a new 

building adjacent to the Hillman 

Hospital in 1903. The two schools were 

merged in 1910 and became known as 

the Birmingham Medical, Dental and 

Pharmaceutical College. Lacking the 

needed endowment, the college three 

years later was offered to the University 

of Alabama as a graduate school but legislation 

accepting the transfer was 

vetoed by Governor Charles Henderson 

and the institution closed in 1915. 3 

When Central High School burned in 

1918, juniors and seniors were assigned 

to several scattered locations, including 

the Medical College building, until a 

new high school was built on Seventh 

Avenue, North, the present site of 

Phillips High School. Others students 

were moved to the Paul Hayne School 

located at Fifth Avenue, South at 

Twentieth Street. This building, which 

was used at various times for different 

educational purposes including a vocational 

school, was built in 1886. 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA 

BIRMINGHAM 

Assuming leadership of the new 

University medical college in 1962, Dr. 

Joseph Volker worked tirelessly to secure 

federal grants as a means to expand it 

further, an effort which often brought 

him into conflict with the city’s political 

leadership including Bull Connor. 

“Our dilemma is a simple one,” Volker 

said. “On the one hand we are increasingly 

dependent upon federal support for 

construction and the financing of research 

and instruction (and) such grants forbid 

discrimination in job employment. On the 

other the elected officials have what they 

believe to be a mandate from the population 

to maintain the local custom of segregation 

of the races.” 4 

While other segments of the 

Birmingham and Jefferson County economy 

stalled, the medical school moved forward. 

By 1992 the University of Alabama 

at Birmingham accounted for one out of 

every seven jobs in the metropolitan area. 

UAB, which replaced U.S. Steel as 

Birmingham’s largest employer, did not 

come into existence until 1969 when it 

was made an autonomous campus in the 


154

University of Alabama System. Before that 

time, the Medical College was a part of 

the University of Alabama and the undergraduate 

school that grew up around it 

was considered a branch or extension 

center of the main campus in Tuscaloosa. 

The School of Medicine traces its 

roots back to the founding of the 

Medical College of Alabama in Mobile in 

1859. By the early 1900’s, the work of 

Abraham Flexner led to moving the 

medical school to Tuscaloosa to become 

more closely affiliated with the 

University of Alabama. In 1936, the 

University of Alabama Extension Center 

was opened in Birmingham because of 

the recent population growth there. In 

1945 the Medical College was moved 

from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham and the 

University’s Medical Center was founded. 

Later, in November of 1966, the 

Extension Center and the Medical 

Center were merged to form the 

“University of Alabama in Birmingham,” 

an organizational component of The 

University of Alabama system. In 1969, 

UAB became an independent institution 

although operating under the same 

board of trustees as the University of 

Alabama campus at Tuscaloosa. 

In just a few decades, UAB evolved 

into a world-renowned research university 

and health care center. With more 

than 17,000 students and a workforce of 

over 20,000, including faculty and staff, 

the campus now covers 80 city blocks. It 

has become a major growth area for the 

city and an engine of revitalization. The 

Medical Center complex encompasses 

approximately twelve city blocks and is 

ranked among the top academic medical 

centers in the United States. 

In 2005, the UAB Medical Center and 

its facilities trained more than 3,900 students 

in its health science schools, 

which include the Schools of Medicine, 

Dentistry, Health Related Professionals, 

Optometry, Nursing and Public Health. 

UAB is also the site of several federally 

funded regional centers for patient care, 

training, and research. Some 16 special 

national institutes and centers are located 

at UAB. Current levels of grants and contracts 

make the university one of the top 

research institutions in the nation. 

U.S. News & World Report in 2006 

ranked seven UAB Hospital specialty 

programs among the nation’s top 50 

health care delivery systems from 16 

categories evaluated at America’s 5,189 

hospitals. Five of the programs were in 

the top 25 in the nation. With its seven 

ranked programs, UAB Hospital was one 

of just 176 hospitals—and the only hospital 

in Alabama—to rank high enough 

in even one specialty to make the magazine’s 

national “Best Hospitals” list. 5 

Singled out in the national rankings 

were programs in rheumatology, heart 

and heart surgery, gynecology, kidney 

disease, cancer and orthopedics. 

A major component of the UAB hospital 

system is Children’s Hospital, founded 

as the Holy Innocents Hospital in 1911 as 

a charity institution for children by 

Reverend Carl Henckell, rector of All 

Saints Church, along with Reverend 

Raimundo de Ovies, rector of St. Andrew’s 

Episcopal Church and Dr. James E. 

Dedman, Birmingham’s city health officer. 

Begun in the All Saints Parish House, 

the hospital would move and be 

✧ 

The Lunsford Hotel, formerly located 

at 211 North Twenty-first Street next 

to the Jackson Building, served as 

the first home of the Birmingham 

Medical College in 1894. 



CHAPTER 11 

155

✧ 

Carraway Methodist Hospital in 

Norwood, founded at the turn of the 

century by Dr. C. N. Carraway. Its 

familiar blue star, which can be seen 

from downtown heading north on 

Carraway Boulevard, was in place in 

the 1960s. 


enlarged several times including a 100- 

bed facility near University Hospital in 

the 1950s to its present 225-bed location 

at 1600 Seventh Avenue South. 

The hospital has ranked among the 

top ten pediatric departments in funding 

by the National Institutes of Health. 

While the UA Medical Center complex 

underwent rapid expansion, twenty other 

hospitals in Jefferson County also experienced 

growth. They accounted for approximately 

sixty-five hundred additional beds. 

Among the largest are Brookwood 

Medical Center, Baptist Medical Center 

Princeton, Trinity Medical Center (formerly 

Baptist-Montclair), Medical Center 

East, Carraway Methodist, St. Vincent’s 

(Catholic), Mercy-Cooper Green 

Hospital and the Callahan Eye 

Foundation Hospital. The Lakeshore 

Rehabilitation Hospital, nationally 

known for its paraolympic participation, 

is located in Homewood. 

St. Vincent’s, begun in 1898 with the 

arrival of four Daughters of Charity, is 

Birmingham’s oldest hospital. Beginning 

with a meeting of a determined group of 

Birmingham citizens, St. Vincent’s opened 

a few months later in November, 1898, in 

a rented Southside mansion, the former 

home of Henry F. DeBardeleben. The hospital 

quickly filled with patients, almost 

half of them without the ability to pay for 

the care they received. The hospital grew 

into a new 200-patient facility which 

opened in 1900. Its first new wing was 

added in 1910 to serve the increasing number 

of patients. St. Vincent’s became the 

city’s first outpatient clinic for the poor. 

Around 1910, Dr. Elisha Miller 

Robinson left the St. Vincent’s staff and 

established his own hospital. The new 

institution was first known as the 

Robinson-Nelson Infirmary and later as 

the Robinson Infirmary. It was located at 

Eleventh Avenue, South and Fifteenth 

Street. A nursing school was added later 

the same year. Little is know about this 

hospital but it continued to be listed in 

the Birmingham City Directory through 

1923. 6 A CVS drug store now occupies 

the site of the old twenty-nine-room hospital 

behind the UAB campus. 

In later years, Dr. Robinson worked 

as company doctor at the Overton 

Mines, a property of the Alabama Fuel 

& Iron Company operated by his brother-in-law, 

Charles F. DeBardeleben. 7 

When Carraway Methodist was 

founded in 1908, Birmingham was gritty 

industrial town. Poor sanitary conditions 

bred disease and working conditions 

in local mills and mines were very 

dangerous. With workers too poor to pay 

and health care delivery lacking, the hospital’s 

founder, Dr. C. N. Carraway, came 

up with an innovative solution. He contracted 

with local companies, agreeing to 

provide health care for workers and their 

families in an exchange for a small 

monthly fee. In modern terms, he created 

a health maintenance organization. 

He also established the Norwood 

Clinic in 1926 as multi-specialty clinic 

working with the hospital, a system similar 

to what is in place at the famed 

Mayo Clinic. Carraway also become a 

teaching hospital, establishing an 

internship program as early as 1919. 

South Highlands Infirmary, founded 

by Dr. Edmond M. Prince in 1910, was 

acquired by Health-South Rehabilitation 

Corporation in 1989 after several years of 

expansion and today is a part of the UAB 

campus. The UAB Health System took 

over management of the HealthSouth 

facility in 2005 and finalized the $33- 


156

million purchase in 2006, including two 

adjacent office buildings. It renamed the 

facility UAB Highlands. Prior to acquisition 

by HealthSouth, the facility had been 

named the South Highlands Hospital and 

the South Highlands Infirmary. 

The first hospital in Bessemer was 

also operated by Dr. Elisha M. Robinson 

and his brother, Dr. Thomas F. 

Robinson, both of whom had arrived in 

Jefferson County in the 1880s and married 

daughters of Dr. Francis Marion 

Prince of Jonesborough. Known as the 

Nancy Duncan Robinson Memorial 

Hospital, it eventually became Bessemer 

General Hospital which closed when 

Bessemer Carraway Medical Center 

opened on the Bessemer Super Highway 

in 1964. Dr. Elisha Robinson is the same 

man who later founded the Robinson- 

Nelson Infirmary near UAB. 8 

POLIO 

EPIDEMIC 

In the 1930s and ’40s, Birmingham, like 

the rest of the nation, experienced the 

worst polio epidemic since 1916. By 1950, 

when about thirty-two thousand people 

nationwide contracted the disease, acute 

poliomyelitis was the most feared communicable 

disease in the United States. 

Birmingham’s worst year came in 1941 

when 163 died from the disease in Jefferson 

County alone and 871 in Alabama. 9 

In 1952, when the national rate topped 

37 per 100,000, more than 58,000 

Americans contracted poliomyelitis, 

which killed 1,400 of them including 297 

in Alabama and 58 in Jefferson County. 

That most of the paralysis and death 

occurred among children made polio particularly 

frightening. 10 

Through the March of Dimes campaign 

in the 1950s to raise funds for 

polio research, the polio vaccine was 

developed and it brought the disease 

under control by 1957. 

President Franklin Roosevelt, who 

contracted polio in 1921 at age thirtynine, 

was left crippled by the disease. So 

was Irvin Payne, a young Homewood student, 

who could only move one finger following 

his own paralyses in the late 

1930s. His mother, Mrs. Irvin Payne, Sr., 

persuaded local radio personality Ralph 

Sizemore to give her son guitar lessons, 

which process restored the use of his 

hand. Payne became a performing musician—including 

time with Happy Wilson 

and the Golden River Boys and Country 

Boy Eddie—and taught guitar, himself, 

for over sixty years. One of his students is 

Wanda Vick, who played with the group, 

Wild Rose, and other Nashville bands. 

Screen star Lili Gentle and her sister, 

Janet, who lived in East Lake, both contracted 

polio in 1946. Janet was in an iron 

lung for a time and Lili in braces. Dancing 

lessons helped Lili recover. Although the 

disease abated during Lili’s movie career, 

it returned forty years later. She now lives 

near Atlanta. 11 

SCHOOLS 

& COLLEGES 

In 2006, metropolitan Birmingham 

included 17 colleges, universities and 

other institutions along with five county 

and 13 city and suburban public 

school systems. 

The Jefferson County International 

Baccalaureate School in Irondale 

(housed at the new Shades Valley High 

School) was rated as the number one 

high school in America in 2005 by 

Newsweek. In 2006, it was ranked second 

✧ 

St. Vincent’s Hospital, founded by 

Catholic nuns in a rented mansion in 

1898, grew into this two-hundredpatient 

treatment facility on the 

Southside by 1900. Adding a new 

wing in 1910, it became the city’s 

first outpatient clinic for the poor. 

In this 1909 picture, nurses prepare 

to remove a patient from an 

“invalid ambulance.” 

COURTESY OF THE ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL ARCHIVES. 

CHAPTER 11 

157

✧ 

South Highlands Hospital began as 

South Highlands Infirmary in 1910. 

It was acquired by Health-South 

Rehabilitation Corporation in 1989 

and became a part of the UAB 

Health System in 2005. 


in the nation and in 2007, fourth. 12 Also, 

Hoover High School was selected as one 

of 24 model high schools in the nation in 

2007 by the International Center for 

Leadership in Education. 

Other local schools that have been 

rated among America’s best in various 

publications include Mountain Brook 

High School, Spain Park High School 

(Hoover), Vestavia Hills High School 

and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. 

The Magic City also has two highly 

regarded prep schools: The Altamont 

School and Indian Springs School. 

Altamont was created through a merger 

of the Birmingham University School 

(boys) and the Brooke Hill School 

(girls) in 1975. 

Along with UAB, other institutions of 

higher education in the metropolitan 

area include: Samford University (1841) 

including the Cumberland School of 

Law, Birmingham-Southern College 

(1856), the University of Montevallo 

(1896), the Birmingham School of Law 

(1915), Miles College (1905), Lawson 

State Community College (1965), 

Jefferson State Community College 

(1965), Bessemer State Technical 

College (1966), Bevill State Community 

College (1966) in Sumiton, Herzing 

College (1965), Faulkner University 

(1975), Southeastern Bible College 

(1935), ITT Technical Institute (1994), 

Virginia College of Birmingham (1992) 

including the Culinard Culinary 

Institute, Andrew Jackson University 

(1994) and the Birmingham Theological 

Seminary (1972). 

BIRMINGHAM- SOUTHERN 

COLLEGE 

Birmingham-Southern, founded by 

Alabama Methodists, is the result of a 

merger of Southern University, begun in 

Greensboro in 1856 with Birmingham 

College, opened in 1898 in Birmingham. 

These two institutions were consolidated 

on May 30, 1918, under the name of 

Birmingham-Southern College. 

The current campus in Owenton covers 

192 wooded acres three miles west of 

downtown. The institution offers both 

Bachelor and Masters level degrees and 

has been a sheltering institution for a 

chapter of Phi Beta Kappa since 1937. 

Like Samford University, BSC is one of 

the South’s most highly rated academic 

institutions. 

The campus is also home to the Robert 

R. Meyer Planetarium built in 1964 as a 

gift from the Robert Meyer Foundation. 

SAMFORD 

UNIVERSITY 

Samford University, an institution of 

the Southern Baptist Convention, was 

founded as Howard College in 1841. It 

was originally located in Marion where 

classes were first offered on January 3, 

1842. In 1887 the school relocated to a 

new campus in East Lake as 

Birmingham’s population began to grow. 

Under the direction of Maj. Harwell 

Goodwin Davis the college relocated 

once again, this time to Shades Valley just 

south of Birmingham. It broke ground on 

the new Homewood campus June 11, 

1953 and occupied the site in 1957. 

Women were first admitted Samford 

in 1895 and the college officially became 

coeducational in 1913. A year later, the 

school established its teacher education 

program and in 1927 it added a pharmacy 

school. In 1961, it acquired the 


158

Cumberland School of Law from 

Cumberland University in Lebanon, 

Tennessee. A nursing school was added 

in 1973 and the Beeson Divinity School 

in 1988. 

In 1965, when Howard College reinstituted 

its masters degree program, it 

took on university status. In the process 

it renamed itself in honor of Frank P. 

Samford, chairman of the Board of 

Trustees and to that time the institution’s 

most generous individual benefactor. 

The new name was chosen because 

there was already a Howard University 

in Washington, D.C. 

MILES 

COLLEGE 

Miles College, a historically black college 

(HBCU) founded in 1905, was 

named for William H. Miles, a former 

slave and the first bishop of the Christian 

Methodist Episcopal Church. Located in 

Fairfield near the former U.S. Steel headquarters, 

it is a private liberal arts institution 

of the CME Church. It was first 

known as Miles Memorial College. 

The school, which began as a high 

school in Booker City, was reorganized in 

1907 and moved to its present site. The 

first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 

1911, the same year the Board of Trustees 

changed the name to Miles College. The 

institution was the only four-year college 

open to black students for the first half of 

the twentieth century. 

Its campus, once landlocked, doubled 

the size in 2006 with the purchase of the 

former HealthSouth Metro West 

Hospital, also known as the old Lloyd 

Nolan Hospital, built by U.S. Steel. 

The Miles Law School is a separate 

entity, having its own Board of Trustees. 

It was established in 1974 largely 

through the efforts of Bishop C. A. 

Kirkendoll of the C.M.E. Church, Dr. W. 

Clyde Williams, then the Miles College 

president, State Senator J. Richmond 

Pearson, now a circuit judge, and Morris 

Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty 

Law Center in Montgomery. 

Birmingham-Southern was ranked as 

the seventy-fourth best liberal arts college 

in the entire nation in the 2007 U.S. 

News & World Report rankings and 

Samford as the fourth best in the South. 

Miles ranked forty-fourth in the South 

among “comprehensive colleges” and 

the University of Montevallo fifty-ninth 

among southern “masters level” institutions. 

13 According to Education Trust, a 

non-profit organization that analyzes 

education issues, Miles College ranked 

fourth in the nation in 2006 in graduation 

rates for black students. 

LIBRARIES 

The Birmingham Public Library was 

established in 1886 as an adjunct of the 

city’s public schools by Superintendent 

John Herbert Phillips in a room adjacent 

to his office. It has grown into one of the 

largest public libraries in the Southeast 

with twenty branches. In 2000 holdings 

amounted to more than a million books 

and non-book items with an annual circulation 

of approximately 1.7 million 

checkouts. Birmingham has more 

branches than other cities of its size, a 

✧ 

The Birmingham Art Museum, 

which began in a five-room section 

of City Hall in 1908, today is the 

largest municipal museum in the 

Southeast with over twenty-one 

thousand works of art. 

COURTESY OF THE GREATER BIRMINGHAM CONVENTION 

& VISITORS BUREAU. 

CHAPTER 11 

159

✧ 

The Barber Vintage Motorsports 

Museum, a part of Barber 

Motorsports Park which opened near 

Leeds in 2003, is the largest vintage 

and modern motorcycle exhibition 

center in North America. It also has 

a substantial collection of Lotus 

automobiles and other race cars. 



derivation of segregation days when 

more libraries were built. 

Family Tree Magazine in 2002 ranked 

Birmingham among America’s top ten 

public libraries. 14 

Seventeen suburban cities also maintain 

public libraries. 

MUSEUMS 

Birmingham is home to several outstanding 

museums including the 

Birmingham Museum of Art, the largest 

municipal art museum in the Southeast, 

and the Barber Vintage Motorsports 

Museum, which includes the largest collection 

of motorcycles in the world. 

The Art Museum, which traces its history 

to 1908, opened the Oscar Wells 

Memorial Exhibit Building in 1959. The 

Barber Vintage Motorcycle Museum, 

first opened by George Barber on the 

Southside in 1993, moved to its current 

location at Barber Motorsports Park 

near Leeds in 2003. 

The idea for an art museum is thought 

to have originated with the Birmingham 

Art Club, formed in 1908. The women’s 

group proposed the idea in the 1920s and 

when the Birmingham Public Library 

opened in 1927, the fourth floor became 

the first museum location under H. E. 

Wheeler, who was named curator. 15 

Efforts to expand were derailed by the 

Depression but in 1951, a new 

Birmingham Art Museum opened in 

Birmingham City Hall with a major gift 

from the Kress Foundation. Richard 

Howard was named director. A gift from 

the estate of Mrs. Oscar Wells in 1954 

provided funding for the present museum 

building on Eighth Avenue, North. 

Other nationally known museums in 

the city include the Birmingham Civil 

Rights Museum, the Southern Museum 

of Flight, the Alabama Museum of Health 

Sciences at UAB and the McWane Science 

Center and IMAX Theatre. History museums 

include Vulcan Park and Statue, the 

Bessemer Hall of History, the Iron & Steel 

Museum of Alabama at Tannehill 

Ironworks Historical State Park, the Sloss 

National Historic Landmark and the 

Arlington Home. 

In 2005, the Birmingham-Jefferson 

Historical Society announced plans for a 

new history museum in Birmingham 

and began a fundraising drive. 

CULTURAL 

INSTITUTIONS 

The Alabama Symphony traces its 

beginnings to 1921 when fifty-two volunteer 

musicians joined together to perform 

at the Birmingham Music Festival 

at the old Jefferson Theatre. In 1933 the 

orchestra began giving formal concerts 

when the Birmingham Music Club sponsored 

a featured performance at the 

Phillips High School auditorium. 

Over the years, various conductors 

and music directors have led the symphony, 

including Dorsey Whittington 

(1933-1949), Arthur Bennett Lipkin 

(1949-1960), Arthur Winograd (1960- 

1964), Amerigo Marino (1964-1985), 

Paul Polivnick (1985-1993) and Mark 

Gibson (1997), Richard Wersterfield 

(1998), Christopher Confessore (2004) 

and Justin Brown (2006). 

The orchestra changed its name to the 

Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 1956 

and became fully professional. It changed 

its name again to the Alabama Symphony 


160

in 1979 reflecting its growing popularity 

statewide. Today, it has fifty-three full-time 

professional members. 

The Alabama Ballet began in 1981 as an 

outgrowth of the Birmingham Civic Ballet, 

the University of Alabama at Birmingham 

Ballet and Ballet Alabama. Under the 

direction of world-renowned dancers 

Dame Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski, the 

company found status and recognition in 

the ranks of professional companies. 

In 1999, the Alabama Ballet 

established a professional affiliation 

with the University of Alabama 

at Birmingham. 

The Festival of Arts, begun in 1951 by 

the women’s Committee of the 

Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, is a 

celebration of the arts, culture, education 

and business of a selected country. 

It has evolved into the nation’s oldest 

continuing arts festival of its kind. 

Each spring the sights, sounds and 

achievements of a particular culture 

are introduced to Birmingham and its 

citizens. In 2006 the Czech Republic 

was honored. 

Birmingham is also home to a number 

of music festivals, including City Stages, 

which brings more than 250,000 people 

downtown for a three day festival each 

June, including about 30,000 from out of 

town. It celebrates Alabama’s diverse 

musical and artistic heritage with jazz, 

pop, country, rock, blues, classical and 

bluegrass music performed by both professional 

and amateur musicians. City 

Stages highlights the folk life, art, literature 

and culinary talents of Birmingham 

and Alabama citizens. 

Summerfest produces three musical 

theatre shows, usually classic Broadway, 

during week-long runs in July and August 

each summer and the Birmingham 

Broadway Series brings top touring shows 

to the city. Additionally, the Birmingham 

Children’s Theater is Alabama’s oldest and 

the nation’s largest professional adult theater 

performing especially for young audiences. 

The company frequently tours 

throughout the country. 

The city’s longest running community 

playhouse is the historic Little Theatre 

which was first located at the exclusive 

Margaret Allen School for Girls on 

Highland Avenue in 1923. It grew out of 

efforts begun in 1915 by a small group 

of women determined Birmingham 

should have a community theatre showcasing 

local talent. In 1927 a successful 

fundraising drive resulted in the construction 

of a four-hundred-seat 

Renaissance Revival style playhouse on 

Twenty-sixth Street, South at Caldwell 

Park. By 1919, membership in the Little 

Theatre reached 1,005. In 1940, it was 

selected as one of the ten leading community 

theatres in the nation. 16 

After closing down during World War 

II and seeing the building sold to the 

Mormon Church, it fell back into the 

hands of the University of Alabama 

Extension Center in Birmingham (later 

UAB) in 1955 and became the home of 

the Town & Gown theatre group directed 

by James Hatcher. It was renamed the 

Clark Memorial Theatre. Hatcher, known 

as “Hatch”, successfully directed the 

community theatre for four decades 

retiring in 1991. When UAB discontinued 

its sponsorship in 1999, Virginia 

Samford Donavan spearheaded a $3 million 

remodeling project and when completed 

in 2002, it was renamed the 

✧ 

City Stages, a world-class music and 

street festival held annually in 

downtown Birmingham the third 

weekend in June, attracts big name 

entertainers as well as local bands. 

Begun in 1989, it drew over 250,000 

fans in 2006. 



CHAPTER 11 

161

✧ 

Legion Field, storied home to college 

football, was, through the 1988 

season, the site of the Iron Bowl, the 

annual gridiron battle between the 

University of Alabama and Auburn. 

Opened in 1926, the stadium is 

named in honor of the American 

Legion. It currently seats 71,594 

spectators and is the home stadium 

for the UAB Blazers. 


Virginia Samford Theatre. It is now the 

stage for the Metropolitan Arts Council. 17 

SPORTS 

Birmingham had three minor league 

professional teams in place in 2006 

including the Class AA Birmingham 

Barons, a Chicago White Sox affiliate in 

the Southern League; the Birmingham 

Steeldogs of the Arena Football League, 

AF2 Division, and the Birmingham 

Magicians of the American Basketball 

Association’s Blue Division. In 2007, the 

All-American Football League, a new 

Spring-season league composed of college 

graduates, announced Birmingham 

as a team location. 

The baseball Barons have been 

around since 1885, the Steeldogs since 

2000 and the Magicians came in 2005. 

Storied Legion Field, built in 1924, 

was the site of the first nationally televised 

evening college football game in 

1969 in which the University of 

Alabama defeated the University of 

Mississippi by one point (33-32). 

It has also been the site of multiple 

pro football franchises but the leagues 

either folded or moved elsewhere. The 

list includes the Birmingham Americans 

(Vulcans) of the World Football League 

(1974-1975), the Birmingham Stallions 

of the United States Football League 

(1983-1985) and the Birmingham Fire 

of the World League of American 

Football, now NFL Europe, (1991- 

1992). Legion Field was also home for 

one season in 1995 to the Birmingham 

Barracudas of the Canadian Football 

League. In 2001, it was the home for the 

single season of the Birmingham 

Thunderbolts of the XFL. 

Legion Field perhaps is best-known 

for hosting the annual, season-ending 

game between Alabama and Auburn 

every year from 1948 to 1988. The game 

became known as the Iron Bowl. In 

1989, Auburn moved their “home” 

games to its campus stadium. Alabama 

followed suit in 2000, leaving UAB as its 

only collegiate tenant. 

The stadium has hosted three postseason 

college football bowl games in its 

history, the Dixie Bowl (1947-1948), the 

Hall of Fame Classic (1977-1985) and 

the All-American Bowl (1986-1990). In 

addition, it was the site of the first two 

Southeastern Conference (SEC) football 

championship games. It still hosts the 

championship football game for the historically 

black Southwestern Athletic 

Conference (SWAC). 

A new college bowl game, the 

PappaJohns.com Bowl, came to 

Birmingham December 23, 2006 featuring 

teams from Conference USA and the Big 

East. The University of South Florida 

defeated Eastern Carolina 24-7. 


162

In 1996, Birmingham hosted early 

rounds of Olympic soccer at the stadium 

where it drew record crowds. 

Birmingham added an Arena Football 

League team (af2) in 1999 which plays 

its games at the 17,500 seat Birmingham 

Civic Center arena. The team, borrowing 

from the city’s industrial image, 

became known as the “Steeldogs.” 

Motor sports were also very popular 

in the Birmingham area and across the 

state including the Birmingham 

International Raceway (BIR) located at 

the State Fairgrounds, NASCAR races at 

the nearby Talladega Super Speedway 

and Sports Car Grand Am and motorcycle 

races at the Barber Motorsports Park 

near Leeds. The BIR is in its 94th season 

as one of the nation’s best short tracks. 

The PGA Champions Tour senior golf 

tour was played in 2006 at the new Ross 

Bridge Golf Resort and Spa at Oxmoor. This 

event, formerly known as the Bruno’s 

Memorial Classic, was moved from the 

Greystone Golf & Country Club in Hoover. 

THE BIRMINGHAM BARONS 

The Birmingham Barons, an AA affiliate 

of the Chicago White Sox, is one of 

the most successful minor league teams 

in the country. Beginning play in 1885 

when known as the Coal Barons, the 

team competed in the various Southern 

Leagues in the early years of baseball. At 

the time leagues frequently changed but 

baseball in Birmingham survived. 

In 1901 the Southern Association was 

formed with teams in Birmingham, 

Selma, New Orleans, Shreveport, Little 

Rock, Memphis, Nashville, and 

Chattanooga. The modern Barons first 

Southern League title came in 1906 

when the team went 85-47 under manager 

Harry Vaughn. 

In 1887, the Birmingham Barons were 

playing at the Slag Pile (West End Park), 

located on Sixth Street between 1st 

Avenue North and the Alabama Great 

Southern Railroad tracks. Operators of 

the old Slag Pile grandstand would only 

grant one sixty-day lease at a time. Also 

during this period, the Barons played in 

East Lake. A.H. (Rick) Woodward, 

chairman of Woodward Iron Company, 

decided to buy the team in 1910 from J. 

William McQueen who had owned the 

Barons since 1901. Woodward’s first 

objective was to construct a new ballpark. 

In a short time, he produced plans 

for the first concrete-and-steel baseball 

stadium in the minor leagues. 

✧ 

Birmingham Barons, the 1914 

Southern League pennant winners. 

COURTESY OF THE HUNT COLLECTION, THE BIRMINGHAM 


CHAPTER 11 

163

Field for a new 10,800-seat facility, Hoover 

Metropolitan Stadium. The “Met” also 

serves as the home for the SEC baseball 

tournament as well as Hoover High School 

football games. Refurbished in 2007, it was 

renamed Regions Park. 

A long list of famous Barons included 

Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Catfish 

Hunter, Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, 

Vida Blue, and Bo Jackson. 

THE BLACK BARONS 

✧ 

The Birmingham Black Barons in 

1946. Two years later, the team was 

in the Negro League World Series. 

NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM PHOTOGRAPH, 


The $75,000 structure known as 

Rickwood Field was designed by 

Southeastern Engineering Company of 

Birmingham and completed during the 

summer of 1910. Woodward contacted 

Connie Mack, one of the greatest managers 

in major league baseball, for advice including 

the field dimensions. Woodward named 

the field after himself, using his nickname 

and the first part of his last name. 

The Barons defeated the visiting 

Montgomery Climbers 3-2 before an 

opening day crowd of over 10,000 on 

August 18, 1910. Birmingham won its 

first Southern Association pennant in 

1912 and again in 1928, 1929, 1931, 

and 1958. The team also won two Dixie 

Series titles defeating Dallas of the Texas 

League in 1929 and Ft. Worth in 1948. 

It joined the new Southern League in 

1964 and, with Charlie Finley as owner, 

won the SL title in 1967. It also won 

league pennants in 1983, 1987, 1989, 

1993, and 2002. 

Various industrial leagues also used 

Rickwood. Company teams in the 1930s 

through the 1950s included, among others, 

American Cast Iron Pipe Company 

(ACIPCO), Stockham Valves, Sloss, the 

Fairfield Sheet Mill, Grasselli Chemicals, 

Republic Steel, and Woodward Iron. 

In 1987 the Barons, under the ownership 

of Art Clarkson, left storied Rickwood 

The Birmingham Black Barons, which 

were a part of the Negro Leagues from 

1920 to 1960, featured such stars as 

Satchel Paige and Willie Mays. In 1943 

the Black Barons won the National 

American League pennant and championship 

with a team featuring Lorenzo 

“Piper” Davis, Lyman Bostock, Lester 

Lockett, Ed Steele, and Jesse Walker. 

Unfortunately, they lost the Negro 

League World Series to the Homestead 

Grays which played their home games in 

Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. 

The next year the Black Barons again 

lost to Homestead in the series. The 

Barons and Grays would not meet again 

until 1948, the year many claim to be the 

last real Negro League World Series. The 

Barons, with Willie Mays as a rookie, however, 

lost once again to Homestead. The 

Black Barons disbanded after the 1960 season 

when talented African American players 

moved to the major leagues. 

In 1954 country music singer Charley 

Pride played with the team as a pitcher 

and outfielder. 

Throughout its forty-year history, the 

Black Barons were considered one of the 

most successful Southern Negro League 

teams affiliated with the Negro National 

League. Team ownership changed over the 

years. In the 1930s the team was owned by 

Memphis funeral home director Tom 

Hayes. In the 1940s, the team owner was 

Abraham Saperstein, also owner of the 

famed Harlem Globetrotters. 

Satchel Paige, who went on to play 

for the Cleveland Indians as the first 


164

Negro pitcher in the American League 

in 1948, was reputed to be one of the 

best pitchers of all time. Not only was he 

a strike-out threat, Paige would warm 

up by throwing over a cigarette or a gum 

wrapper rather than home plate. 18 

Birmingham’s venture in professional 

basketball is more recent. The Birmingham 

Magicians, affiliated with the American 

Basketball Association, plays its games at 

the six-thousand-seat Fair Park Arena. The 

minor league ABA is a revival of the 

defunct American Basketball Association 

which merged with the NBA in 1976. 

MOVIES 

& SONGS 

A number of motion pictures have 

been filmed in Birmingham including 

Love Beat (1928), Cobb at Rickwood 

Field in 1994, Stay Hungry (1975), The 

Ravagers (1978), The River (1984), Rebel 

Love (1985), and Verne Miller (1986). It 

has also hosted world premiers of several 

motion pictures including Whispering 

City (Empire Theatre, 1947), Steel Town 

(Alabama Theatre, 1952), and Jeanie 

(Avon Theatre, 1953). 

The city also has seen two of its daughters 

marry Hollywood celebrities including 

Betty Jane Rase, Miss Alabama in 

1944, who married Mickey Rooney following 

his divorce from Ava Gardner. 

Rooney met Miss Rase while undergoing 

military training in Birmingham during 

World War II. They were introduced by 

Birmingham News entertainment writer 

Lily May Caldwell. The Rooneys were 

married at the Frank Nelson home and 

had two children born in Birmingham, 

Tim and Mickey, Jr. After divorcing 

Rooney in 1949, she became a singer and 

voiceover artist known as B. J. Baker and 

sang backup with various performers 

including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and 

Sam Cooke. She died in 2002. 

Actress Lili Gentle, who was featured in 

the 1962 film Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, 

grew up in Woodlawn and married movie 

producer Richard D. Zanuck in 1958. 

They were divorced in 1968. She was the 

second cousin of Tallulah Bankhead. 

Placing third in the 1954 Miss Alabama 

Pageant, Miss Gentle, with encouragement 

from Ms. Caldwell, won a screen test 

in New York and signed with Fox while 

still a sophomore at Woodlawn High 

School. She first appeared on “Playhouse 

90” in 1956 after moving to California. 

Interestingly, she first gained notice by 

appearing in a series of Red Diamond coffee 

commercials while in high school. 19 

Birmingham has also been the subject 

of several songs including “Birmingham 

Daddy” by Gene Autry; “Birmingham 

Sunday” by Joan Baez; “Birmingham, 

Alabama” by Harry Belafonte; “Postmarked 

Birmingham” by BlackHawk; 

“Birmingham Bus Station” by Charlie 

Daniels; “Birmingham Bounce” by 

Tommy Dorsey; “Birmingham Breakdown” 

by Duke Ellington; “Tuxedo 

Junction” by Erskine Hawkins; “Paint 

Me a Birmingham” by Tracy Lawrence; 

“Boulder to Birmingham” by Emmylou 

Harris; and “When Jesus Left 

Birmingham” by John Mellencamp. 

Others included “Birmingham Jail” by 

Bing Crosby; “Magic City Nights,” 

✧ 

Woco Pep advertisement in 

Illustrated Souvenir, Birmingham’s 

$3-million Fire, March 10, 1934. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM FIREMEN’S 

RELIEF ASSOCIATION. 

CHAPTER 11 

165

✧ 

The Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling 

Company, 1907. The plant was 

originally located on Second Avenue, 

South. Crawford Johnson, Sr., is 

shown fifth from left. 


which was written for the opening of the 

Vulcan statue on Red Mountain; “Way 

Down in Birmingham;” “Birmingham 

Bertha;” “Birmingham Papa;” and “If I 

Ever Get Back to Birmingham.” 

PRODUCTS 

Birmingham has been home to 

some interesting product lines including 

Woco Pep, a blend of gasoline and benzol 

developed by George T. Wofford. Opening 

an active market in the Southeast before 

being bought out by the Pure Oil 

Company in 1925, Wofford contracted for 

all the benzol Birmingham steel mills were 

producing as a by-product. The additive 

was designed to dissolve carbon that 

builds up on the internal components of 

auto-motive engines. 20 

During the 1920s, the Sloss-Sheffield 

company also manufactured and distributed 

gasoline made from local coke 

by-products called Sloss Special Benzol. 

It also produced coal tar used in roofing, 

creosote, a wood preservative, sulfate of 

ammonia, a fertilizer, and mothballs. 21 

Over thirty bottlers called 

Birmingham home. Among Birminghammade 

soft drinks was Rye-Ola, created by 

Jefferson J. Peek in 1905 and sold in the 

city until 1922. Peek, who had previously 

been involved with Nervola and 

Wiseola, had offices in the Watts 

Building but operated a bottling plant at 

2006 Third Avenue, North. When he 

sold his company to Ben Barbour and 

Harry Speaker in 1918, the new partners 

added Cheri-Chum and a ginger ale to 

their product line. 22 

Other local brands included Celery- 

Cola made by the J. C. Mayfield 

Manufacturing Company on Morris 

Avenue from 1899 to 1910; Dope, bottled 

by the Birmingham Bottling Works from 

1905 to 1909 and Queen Ginger Ale, a 

product of W. L. Dellheim from 1908- 

1909. The National Dope Company was 

another Birmingham bottler. 

Among major franchise beverages, 

Coca-Cola has been bottled in 

Birmingham since 1902, Pepsi since 1907. 

Crawford Johnson, III, grandson of 

the founder of Birmingham Coca-Cola, 

built the Birmingham franchise into 

the third-largest bottler of Coke 

products in North America. The third 

generation of his family to head the 

company, he served as chairman from 

1974 to 2002. 

Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling 

Company now is one of eighteen bottling 

operations owned by parent company 

Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, Inc. 

The two companies share a threehundred-thousand-square-foot 

facility on 

East Lake Boulevard. The Birmingham 

facility annually distributes more than 

250 million bottles and cans of Coca-Cola 

products to local retailers. 23 

James C. Lee, Jr., who added Dr. 

Pepper and 7-Up franchises to the 

Buffalo Rock Company in the 1960s, 

built the bottling plant in Homewood 

into the largest single-family owned, 

privately held Pepsi-Cola operation in 

the country, a status it still retains. 

The story of Buffalo Rock spans over 

100 years and four generations of the Lee 

family. Beginning in the late 1800s, with 


166

the founding of the wholesale Alabama 

Grocery Company by Sidney W. Lee, the 

firm moved into the soft drink business 

when Lee and a Selma chemist, Ashby 

Coleman, developed Buffalo Rock 

Ginger Ale. 

The popularity of the new drink grew 

rapidly and in 1927 became the sole business 

of the renamed Buffalo Rock 

Company. For the next thirty years, the 

company’s main products were Buffalo 

Rock Ginger Ale, Mission Orange, 

Mission Grape and B-1. The Pepsi line was 

added in 1951. The company acquired the 

worldwide rights to Grapico in 1981 and 

developed Dr. Wham in 2005. 24 

Lee’s company developed the 

three-liter bottle, now a staple of the beverage 

industry. 

BREWERIES 

Several breweries also called 

Birmingham home including the 

Birmingham Brewery founded by Philipp 

Schillinger which produced the city’s first 

beer in 1885. 

W. J. Rushton set up a competing 

brewery, the Birmingham Brewing 

Company, in 1889 at Twenty-second 

Street, South, and Avenue D, next door to 

Schillinger’s plant. 

When the Birmingham Brewery 

closed facing financial troubles, three 

investors from New Orleans, Isadore 

Newmann, Sr., Arthur Isnard and A. 

Cammack, bought out the plant in 1897 

and incorporated the Alabama Brewing 

Company with a capital investment of 

$60,000. Extensive improvements in the 

old plant were made, including new boilers, 

engines and filters, construction of a 

55-by-88-foot, two-story bottling house 

and a new 35-ton ice machine for ice 

sales to the public. Under the supervision 

of head brewmaster Valentin, the 

product was placed on the market in the 

summer of 1897. 25 

During this expansion phase, the company, 

while drilling for water, hit a gusher 

of natural gas. Plans were immediately 

made to utilize the gas in the brewery 

operation but more problems were ahead. 

The Alabama Legislature passed a bill 

on February 26, 1907, allowing counties 

to vote on whether or not that county 

should go “dry”. On October 28, 1907, 

Jefferson County voted to ban alcohol 

sales, effective January 1, 1908. Although 

the majority of Birmingham residents 

✧ 

Sidney Lee’s soft drink business began as a 

basement operation of Alabama Grocery on 

First Avenue North. Lee built an additional 

sign on the roof of his grocery business— 

”Home of Buffalo Rock”—because ginger ale 

sales soon eclipsed those of the wholesale 

grocery business. The six-truck fleet, with 

James C. Lee standing fourth from the left 

in 1920, delivered ginger ale only within a 

one-day driving radius of Birmingham 

because of returnable bottles. 


CHAPTER 11 

167

✧ 

Downtown Birmingham at night. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY ERIC MCFERRIN. 

voted to remain wet, those living in the 

rural areas outvoted them. The Jefferson 

County decision was a major victory of 

the prohibitionists as Birmingham 

became the only major city in the state to 

go dry. 

While the saloons were closed on 

January 1, breweries were given until May 

28 to dispose of their stock. Unable to 

deplete its supplies, the Alabama Brewing 

Company emptied three hundred barrels 

of beer into the street on that date, much 

to the dismay of the thirsty onlookers. 

The unpopular wet-dry decision, however, 

was short lived. On August 24, 1911, 

Jefferson County again voted wet. Despite 

the vote, the Alabama Brewing Company 

was unable to resume production. 

The Jack Daniel’s Distillery, however, 

moved to Birmingham after Tennessee 

voted in Prohibition in 1910. Lem Motlow 

operated the distillery at 1215 Third 

Avenue, South from 1913 to 1915. When 

Alabama went dry that year the operation 

moved again, this time to St. Louis. 

THE 

FUTURE 

On economic fronts, beginning in the 

early 2000s, revitalization of the downtown 

area took the form of converting 

long abandoned buildings to lofts and 

commercial ventures including the old 

Thomas Jefferson Hotel and the Comer 

Building (City Federal). The Birmingham 

Civic Center, frustrated in its attempts to 

add a domed stadium, announced a series 

of expansions to attract conventions. 

Assembly, supply and component facilities 

in support of the rapidly growing 

Alabama automobile industry were also 

located in the metropolitan area. 

Two of Alabama’s four major automotive 

makers built assembly plants in the 

Birmingham district, Mercedes Benz at 

Vance (1992) and Honda at Lincoln 

(1999) and a third international vehicle 

maker, Isuzu, announced it would locate a 

truck assembly plant at Pinson in 2007. A 

new plant to manufacture Confederate 

Motorcycles also went into production on 

the Southside in 2006 after Hurricane 

Katrina closed its facility in New Orleans. 

BANKS 

Birmingham’s reputation as a leading 

banking center began to fall victim to the 

nationwide merger movement as the 

city’s homegrown industry seemed to be 

ending its holdout status. SouthTrust 

was acquired by Wachovia in 2004, 

which maintains major operations in 

the city. In November 2006, Regions 

Financial merged with AmSouth 

Bancorporation, forming the eighth largest 

U.S. bank (by total assets). Compass 

Bancshares was purchased by a Spanish 

company, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria 

S.A., in 2007. 

Also in 2007, Alabama National 

Bancorp announced it was being acquired 

by RBC Centura Banks for $1.6 billion, the 

fourth major buyout involving a 

Birmingham bank in four years. RBC 

Centura is the U.S. arm of the Royal Bank 

of Canada. Alabama National operates 

First American Bank and ten other banks 

in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. 26 

More than half a dozen smaller banks 

are also headquartered in the Magic City 

including CapitalSouth which caters to 

Hispanic and business customers. 

GROWTH 

Industrial growth in Jefferson and 

Shelby Counties was slowed for over a 


168

decade by restrictions under the federal 

Clean Air Act due to failure to meet air 

pollution standards. 

Efforts geared toward improving the 

environment in 2006 included plans to 

develop additional parks and historic 

sites giving Birmingham the distinction 

of having more green space per capita 

than any city in the nation. 

Thanks to the largess of U.S. Steel 

Corporation, Red Mountain Park 

announced plans to develop a 1,108-acre 

mountain top recreational area where iron 

ore had previously been mined. The new 

20-acre Railroad Reservation Park 

unwrapped plans for a new facility in 

downtown Birmingham and Ruffner 

Mountain Nature Preserve began a drive 

to expand to over fifteen hundred acres. 

Although numerous structures in 

Jefferson County are listed on the National 

Register of Historic Places, Birmingham 

has two national historic landmarks, Sloss 

Furnace National Historic Site (1981) and 

the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church (2006). 

The central city population continued 

its decline from 265,968 in 1990 to 

242,820 in 2000 while its suburbs, particularly 

to the south, mushroomed. Hoover, 

site of the Riverchase Galleria, Alabama’s 

largest shopping center, saw its population 

grow by almost 57 percent over the 

decade, from 47,494 to 62,742. 27 

Jefferson County grew from 651,525 in 

1990 to 662,047 in 2000 while maintaining 

its position as Alabama’s largest county. 

Suburban counties in the metropolitan 

area, however, grew even faster. Shelby 

County was the state’s fastest growing 

county in the 1990s showing a 44 percent 

increase. St. Clair showed a 30 percent 

increase in the same period. In 2004, 

Shelby’s estimated population reached 

165,677 while St. Clair jumped to 69,841. 

In 2006, the Birmingham-Hoover metropolitan 

area (including Jefferson, Bibb, 

Blount, Chilton, St. Clair, Shelby and 

Walker Counties) had an estimated population 

of 1,100,019, the only Alabama 

metropolitan area to exceed one million 

in population. 28 That represented a 4.6 

percent increase from the 2000 Census 

ranking it thirty-first in growth among 

the nation’s largest urban areas. About 24 

percent of Alabama’s 4.6 million people 

lived in the Birmingham metro area. 

In terms of total population, Greater 

Birmingham ranked in the top 50 cities in 

size in the United States and among the 

15 largest in the Southeast. New jobs and 

housing starts also showed substantial 

growth. More than 62,000 people had 

jobs in education and health services, 

over 40,300 in banks and financial activities 

and 8,900 in primary metals. 29 

Partners for Livable Communities, a 

national non-profit organization whose 

goal it is to restore and renew America’s 

communities, named Birmingham one 

of America’s “most livable” mid-sized 

cities in 2004. Entrepreneur Magazine 

listed it among the top three mid-sized 

cities to start a new business in 2006 

and Southern Business and Development 

Magazine listed it among the top ten 

best locations to raise a family in 2007. 30 

For years, lettered in gold above the 

doorway to Birmingham’s City Council 

chambers, appeared the motto: “Cities 

are what men make them.” In 

Birmingham’s case, it has always been a 

self-fulfilling prophesy. 

✧ 

George Ward Park, Birmingham, designed 

by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1925. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY BETH MAYNOR YOUNG. 

CHAPTER 11 

169

A PARTIAL G ALLERY OF F AMOUS B IRMINGHAM F ACES 

Charles Barkley 

Athlete 

Kate Jackson 

Actress 

Condoleezza Rice 

U.S. Secretary of State 

Mother Angelica 

Religious Broadcaster 

Courteney Cox 

Actress 

Tammy Wynette 

Singer 

Bo Jackson 

Athlete 

Vulcan 

Roman God 

Bobby Bowden 

College Football Coach 

Diana Ross 

Singer 

Bo Bice 

Singer 

R. G. Armstrong 

Actor 


170

CHAPTER 12 

F AMOUS B IRMINGHAM F ACES 

Over the decades, the Birmingham metropolitan area has produced many famous people including government leaders, 

generals, movie stars, race car drivers, professional athletes, musicians, writers, businessmen, astronauts, doctors and 

even a few Miss Americas. Here are one hundred of them. 

1. Mel Allen, NY Yankees sportscaster; member, Baseball Hall of Fame, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. 

2. Bobby Allison, Hueytown, NASCAR legend with eighty-four victories including three victories at Daytona. 

3. Davey Allison, NASCAR, winner of the 1992 Daytona 500. 

4. Mary “Bebe” Anderson, actress (Gone With the Wind, Peyton Place, Perry Mason). 

5. Mother Angelica, EWTN Network founder, Irondale. 

6. R. G. Armstrong, actor (Dick Tracy, Children of the Corn, Heaven Can Wait); guest starred in virtually every TV 

Western produced in the 1950s and ’60s, including Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, Bonanza, and Zane Grey Theatre). 

7. Richard Arrington, Jr., former dean of Miles College, former city councilman; became first African-American 

mayor of Birmingham when elected in 1979 in which position he served for the next twenty years. 

8. Leah Rawls Atkins, Alabama historian and writer who gained fame earlier in her career as a three-time U.S. waterskiing 

champion; 1953 World Champion. 

9. U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, Birmingham congressman, Sixth District; elected in 1992, is the ranking member on 

the House Financial Services Committee. 

10. John Badham, movie director (Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, American Flyer). 

11. Mary Badham, actress (To Kill a Mocking Bird, Let's Kill Uncle, Twilight Zone). 

12. Charles Barkley, NBA, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets. 

13. Gene Bartow, basketball coach, UCLA, Memphis, UAB. 

14. Maxie Baughan, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins, former Georgia Tech 

standout. 

15. Amber Benson, actress (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). 

16. Bo Bice, American Idol runner-up, 2005 (Inside Your Heaven). 

17. Hugo Black, U.S. Supreme Court justice (1937-1971), U.S. Senator (1926-1937), former prosecuting attorney for 


18. Charley Boswell, winner of twenty-eight U.S. and international blind golf championships; state revenue commissioner 

from 1971-1979. 

19. Bobby Bowden, Florida State head football coach; most wins of any NCAA Division I coach; former head coach 

at Samford University and West Virginia. 

20. Happy Hal Burns, television entertainer, musician, song writer, co-wrote Cow Town and appeared in three cowboy 

movies in the 1930s. 

21. William J. Cabaniss, Jr., former ambassador to the Czech Republic, former state senator, Birmingham businessman. 

22. Bob Cain, band leader, Bob Cane and the Canebreakers, trumpet (Gaither Hour). 

23. Nell Carter, actress (Ain’t Misbehavin, Gimme a Brake, The Grass Harp). 

24. Jennifer Chandler, Auburn University, Gold Medal Winner, springboard, 1976 Summer Olympics; also won the 

three-meter spring-board gold medal at the Pan American Games in 1975. 

25. Ben Chapman, outfielder and manager who played for several major league teams, most notably the New York 

Yankees, from 1926 to 1943; recorded more stolen bases than any other player. 

26. Octavus Roy Cohen, novelist, magazine contributor (Florian Slappey Goes Abroad (1928) and Florian Slappey (1938). 

27. Bull Connor, former Birmingham public safety commissioner, 1960s. 

28. Courtney Cox, actress (Friends, Family Ties), former Mt. Brook HS cheerleader. 

29. Governor Russell M. Cunningham (1904-1905), former lieutenant governor who lived in Ensley. 

30. U. S. Representative Artur Davis, Birmingham congressman, Seventh District; elected in 2004, member House 

Ways and Means Committee. 

CHAPTER 12 

171

31. Angela Davis, activist, Black Panther Party. 

32. Sam Dees, singer and song writer, who wrote Am I Dreaming?, Send for Me and One in a Million You; also wrote for 

Gladys Knight and Whitney Houston. 

33. Diana DeGarmo, American Idol runner-up for 2004 (Don't Cry Out Loud); also appeared in 2007 in a starring role 

in the Tony Award-winning musical Hairspray in New York City. 

34. Larry DeLucas, former astronaut, Columbia Shuttle, 1992; now director of the Center for Biophysical Sciences and 

Engineering at UAB. 

35. Governor Frank Dixon (1939-1943), created merit system for state employees. 

36. Deidre Downs, Miss America, 2005, Samford University. 

37. Cleveland Eaton, double bass player, jazz, Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. 

38. Country Boy Eddie, syndicated television show entertainer, band leader, Grand Ole Opry; known for giving big 

name stars, including Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, their start. 

39. Fannie Flagg, screen and Broadway actress, author, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Daisy Fay and 

the Miracle Man; appeared in Five Easy Pieces, Grease and Crazy in Alabama. 

40. Louise Fletcher, actress (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Exorcist II), Oscar for Best Actress, 1975. 

41. Vonetta Flowers, Bobsledding, Gold Medalist, 2002 Winter Olympics. 

42. Charles Gaines, journalist, novelist and screenwriter (Stay Hungry). 

43. Lili Gentle, actress (Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?). 

44. Ann George, novelist (Southern Sisters Mysteries); also Dreamer, Dreaming Me, Wild Goose Chase, This One and 

Magic Life: A Novel of a Southern Family. 

45. Rebecca Gilman, award-winning playwright (The Glory of Living, Spinning Into Butter). 

46. Harry Gilmer, NFL, Detroit Lions, Washington Red Skins, former quarterback at the University of Alabama 

(1944); inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. 

47. Hubert Green, PGA, winner of 1985 PGA championship and 1977 U.S. Open. 

48. Lionel Hampton, band leader who got his start in the 1930s with Benny Goodman (Sunny Side of the Street, Hey! 

Ba-Ba-Re-Bop, Flying Home, Hamp’s Boogie). 

49. John M. Harbert, Birmingham businessman who built Harbert Management Company into a firm with $7.5 

billion in assets as of 2007. 

50. Emmylou Harris, singer (To Know Him is to Love Him, All the Roadrunning, Wild Montana Skies), Grammy Award 

for “Best Country Vocal Performance” in 1980. 

51. Erskine Hawkins, World War II era band leader (Tuxedo Junction, Gabriel's Heater). 

52. Taylor Hicks, American Idol winner, 2006 (Do I Make You Proud?). 

53. Virginia Hill from Lipscomb was a mob courier who was made famous for being the girlfriend of Hollywood gangster 

Bugsy Siegel. She was a subject of the Kefauver Hearings shown on national television in 1951. 

54. Frank (Pig) House, catcher, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, 1950-1961, former member 

Alabama House of Representatives. 

55. Bo Jackson, running back, 1985 Heisman Trophy winner, Oakland Raiders (NFL); Kansas City Royals (AL). 

56. Kate Jackson, actress (Charley’s Angels, Scarecrow and Mrs. King). 

57. Governor Joseph Forney Johnston, former president of the Alabama National Bank who became president of the 

Sloss Iron & Steel Company in 1887; Governor of Alabama, 1896-1900; elected to the United States Senate in 1909. 

58. Eddie Kendricks, Temptations (The Way You Do the Things You Do, Why You Wanna Make Me Blue, Get Ready). 

59. Baker Knight, songwriter, band leader (Lonesome Town, Don’t the Girls Get Prettier at Closing Time), wrote songs 

performed in the 1960s by Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, and Ricky Nelson; also hit the charts himself with Bring My 

Cadillac Back. 

60. Chuck Leavell, keyboardist, The Rolling Stones. 

61. Carl Lewis, track, winner of ten Olympic medals from 1984-1993. 

62. Don Logan, former chairman of Time Inc., named Adweek’s “Executive of the Year”, 2001. 

63. Rebecca Luker, Broadway entertainer (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins). 

64. Hugh Martin, songwriter (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, the Trolley Song). 

65. Willie Mays, Baseball Hall of Fame, New York Giants, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Birmingham Black 

Barons; career spanned the years 1947-1973. 


172

Jennifer Chandler 

Athlete 

Vonetta Flowers 

Athlete 

John Harbert 

Businessman 

Bobby Allison 

Automobile Racer 

Lionel Hampton 

Musician 

Deidre Downs 

Miss America 2005 

Emmylou Harris 

Singer 

Fannie Flagg 

Author, Actress 

Wayne Rogers 

Actor 

Willie Mays 

Athlete 

Ruben Studdard 

Singer 

Carl Lewis 

Athlete 

CHAPTER 12 

173

Lt. Gen. John R. Vines 

Military Commander 

Louise Fletcher 

Actress 

Erskine Hawkins 

Musician 

Taylor Hicks 

Singer 

Hubert Green 

Golfer 

Country Boy Eddie 

Musician 

Nell Carter 

Actress 

Mel Allen 

Sportscaster 

Marion Worth 

Singer 

Mary Badham 

Actress 

Amber Benson 

Actress 

Lili Gentle 

Actress 


174

66. Robert R. McCammon, novelist (Boy’s Life, The Queen of Bedlam). 

67. Loulie Jean Norman, studio singer (sang theme for Star Trek). 

68. Alan Ogg, Gardendale, NBA, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks and the Washington Bullets, 1990-1992, UAB . 

69. Satchel Paige, MLB, pitching star of the Negro Leagues who became a major league rookie in his forties; played 

for Birmingham Black Barons and Cleveland Indians; career spanned the years 1926-1948. 

70. Gail Patrick, actress, (My Man, Godfrey, Stage Door and Brewster’s Millions). 

71. Jo Ann Prentice, Alabama amateur champion, 1954, winner of six LPGA tournaments including the 1974 Dinah Shore. 

72. Charley Pride, country singer who played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the 1954 season as pitcher before turning 

to a music career. Major hits included Kiss An Angel Good Mornin' and Is There Anybody Goin' to San Antone? 

73. Howell Raines, author, former executive editor, NY Times; books include My Soul is Rested and Whiskey Man; former 

reporter, The Tuscaloosa News and The Birmingham News. 

74. Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State, former national security advisor to President Bush, former provost at 

Stanford University. 

75. Wayne Rogers, actor (MASH); now appears regularly on the Fox News Channel as a financial expert. 

76. Diana Ross, actress, singer, The Supremes. Born in Detroit, she moved to Bessemer in the mid-1950s to live with 

her grandparents (A’int No Mountain High Enough, Why Do Fools Fall in Love?). 

77. Dorothy Sebastian, Ziegfield Girl, silent movie star. 

78. Glenn Shadix, born in Bessemer, actor, featured as Otho in Beatlejuice; also appeared in The Nightmare Before 

Christmas and the Planet of the Apes. 

79. U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, former member U.S. House of Representatives; ranking member, Banking, Housing, 

and Urban Affairs Committee. 

80. Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, civil rights leader, minister, organized the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. 

81. Fred Sington, (AL)(NL), Washington Senators, Brooklyn Dodgers, University of Alabama All-American, 1930s. 

82. Bart Starr, quarterback, high school All-American, four year letterman at the University of Alabama, Green Bay 

Packers, 1956-1971, Birmingham businessman. 

83. Gail Strickland, actress (The Drowning Pool; also Star Trek, Providence, ER). 

84. Ruben Studdard, American Idol winner, 2003 (Flying Without Wings). 

85. Pat Sullivan, 1971 Heisman Trophy winner, head football coach, Samford University. 

86. Sun Ra, band leader, composer, artist, The Arkestra Ensemble. 

87. Andrew Toney, NBA, Philadelphia 76ers, first round draft pick in 1980. 

88. Virgil Trucks, Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, 1941-58, led AL in strikeouts in 1949. 

89. Margaret Tutwiler, former ambassador to Morocco, former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public 

Affairs at the U.S. State Department.(Affairs in Tutwiler). 

90. Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commandant, Fort Bragg and the 18th Airborne Corps. 

91. Dixie Walker, New York Yankees (1931, 1933-36), Chicago White Sox (1936-37), Detroit Tigers (1938-39), 

Brooklyn Dodgers (1939-47) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1948-49); 1944 National League batting champion. 

92. Harry (the Hat) Walker, 1947 NL batting champion with the Philadelphia Phillies; also played with the St. Louis 

Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Cincinnati Reds. Ended career as baseball coach at UAB. 

93. Margaret Walker, writer and poet, known for her works on the African American South; wrote numerous books 

including Julilee, For My People and October Journey. 

94. Heather Whitestone, Miss America, 1995, Jacksonville State University. 

95. Eric F. Wieschaus, Nobel Prize Winner, 1995, Princeton University (medicine). 

96. Andre Williams, R&B singer, song writer from Bessemer (Thank You For Loving Me). 

97. Paul Williams, a founding member of the Temptations along Eddie Kendricks whose hits in the 1960s included 

The Way You Do the Things You Do and My Girl. 

98. E. O. Wilson, former Harvard University biologist who became the world's leading authority on ants. His discoveries 

included the finding that ants communicate primarily through pheromones. 

99. Marion Worth, 1960s Grand Old Opry singer (Shake Me I Rattle, Crazy Arms, Think I Know). 

100. Tammy Wynette, singer, winner of two Grammy and three CMA “Vocalist of the Year” Awards (Stand By Your Man, 

D-I-V-O-R-C-E); during the late 1960s and early 1970s, she dominated the country charts. 

PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN THIS SECTION WERE TAKEN FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE BIRMINGHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY AND FROM FAMILY, MEDIA AND CORPORATE FILES. 

CHAPTER 12 

175

ENDNOTES 

P REFACE 

1 Will F. Franke, Jefferson County, Alabama, 1850, 1950, indexed re-print, Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, 2007, 13) contends 

the first European Americans to enter Jones Valley probably were probably a group of 100 or more Tories on horseback fleeing 

the Spanish at Natchez following the Revolution. Traveling through the Jones Valley wilderness, they headed toward the safety 

of British settlements along the Savannah River. 

2 John Witherspoon DuBose, Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama, Temple & Smith Publishing, Birmingham, 1887, 55. 

3 Amos J. Wright Jr., Historic Indian Towns in Alabama, 1540-1838, University of Alabama Press, 2003, 110, 165. 

C HAPTER 1 

1 Charles Hudson, The Southeastern Indians, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1976, 449. 

2 Donald Day and Harry H. Ullom, The Autobiography of Samuel Houston, 1954. Reprint, Greenwood Press, Westport Connecticut, 

1950, 13-14. 

3 James F. Dotson, “Letters Relating to the Tragedy at Fort Mims: August-September 1813”, The Alabama Review, XIV, October 

1961, 280. 

4 Gen. Andrew Jackson to Governor Willie Blount, November 14, 1813, Jackson Papers, Series 12, Library of Congress, Washington, 

D.C.; According to his diary, Davy Crockett served as a private in the Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Riflemen, Captain. Francis Jones’ 

Company, which marched from Huntsville to Tuscaloosa and other points in 1813-1814 while fighting in the Creek Indian War. 

5 James W. Holand, Andrew Jackson and the Creek War: Victory at the Horseshoe, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 

1968, 10. 

6 Letter from General Jackson to General John Coffee, Headquarters, 7th Military District, August 10, 1814, Jackson Papers, 2nd Series, 

Vol. 2, LOC. 

7 Chriss H. Doss, “Early Settlement of Bear Meat Cabin Frontier”, The Alabama Review, October 1969, Vol. 22, No. 4, 278. 

8 Charles Lowery, “The Great Migration to the Mississippi Territory, 1789-1819”, Journal of Mississippi History, Mississippi Historical 

Society, Jackson, Mississippi, August 1968, 177-179. 

9 DuBose, p. 43. 

10 Thomas McAdory Owen, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, originally printed in 1921, Reprint Company, 

Spartanburg, South Carolina., 1978, 808; Fields Family History in possession of Claudia Fields Kraemer. 

11 Mitylene Owen McDavid, John Smith, Esquire, His Ancestors and His Descendants, Birmingham Publishing Company, Birmingham, 

Alabama, 1948, 58, 122-123. 

12 Mitylene Owen McDavid, A History of Jones Valley, the Birmingham District, First Settlers and Old Elyton, Birmingham Age-Herald, semicentennial 

issue, October 26, 1921. Printed as a pull-out section, a copy of this special edition has been placed in the Birmingham 

Public Library Archives. 

13 Walker Papers, in possession of James H. Walker, Jr., McCalla, Alabama; Jane Ross, Little Journey in Jefferson County, Bessemer, Bessemer 

Advertiser, 1921. 

14 Bessemer Advertiser, “Hueytown, Alabama, From a Country Settlement to a City in 135 Years”, Simon J. Smith, November 11, 1962. 

15 James S. Childers, Erskine Ramsay: His Life and Achievements, Cartwright & Ewing, New York, 1942, 115-116. 

16 Wright, Historic Indian Towns of Alabama, 1540-1838, 110. 

17 Ethel Armes, The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama, The Book-Keepers Press, 1972 reprint edition of a 1910 book originally published 

by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, 41; Doss, “Early Settlement of Bear Meat Cabin Frontier”, 270. 

18 The Heritage of Blount County, Alabama, 3. 

19 Armes, The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama, 40-41. 

20 Joseph H. Woodward II, Alabama Blast Furnaces, Woodward Iron Company, Birmingham, 1940, 54-55. 

21 Letter from Penny Fraley Richardson, Marion, Ohio, to James R. Bennett, July 1, 2006. 

22 Byron and Samuel Sistler, Tennesseans in the War of 1812, Byron Sistler & Associates, Nashville, Tennessee, 1992, 200. 

23 David L. DeJarnette and Steve B. Wimberly, The Bessemer Site, Excavation of Three Mounds and Surrounding Village Areas near Bessemer, 


176 

ENDNOTES 

176

Alabama, Work Projects Administration, University of 

Alabama, 1941, 99, 101. 

24 Owen, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama 

Biography, 808. 

25 Carey B. Oakley, Jr, An Archaeological Investigation of Pinson 

Cave, thesis, University of Alabama, 1971, 87-89. 

26 Armes, 41. 

27 DuBose, 54. 

28 Mary Gordon Duffee, “Pioneer Days”, Birmingham Weekly Iron 

Age, August 15, 1909. 

29 Duffee, “Pioneer Days”, letter from Dr. Andrew Jones, Amity, 

Arkansas, December 18, 1886. 

30 1816 Census, Monroe County, Alabama. 

31 1816 Monroe County, Alabama Census. 

32 Richardson to Bennett, July 1, 2006. 

C HAPTER 2 

1 Acts of Alabama, December 30, 1822. 

2 Armes, 44; James H. Walker, Things Remembered, Stories About 

Western Jefferson County, Instant Heirloom Books, McCalla, 

Alabama, 2001, 268. 

3 Duffee, Sketches of Alabama, University of Alabama Press, 

Tuscaloosa, 1970, originally published in a series of articles 

appearing in the Birmingham Weekly Iron Age from 1885- 

1887, 24-25. 

4 Owen, Alabama Historical Society Transactions, “Diary of 

Richard Breckinridge”, 150. 

5 James H. Walker, Jr., Roupes Valley, A History of the Pioneer 

Settlement of Roupes Valley, Montezuma Press, McCalla, 

Alabama, 1971, 8. 

6 James R. Bennett, Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron 

Industry, Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission, McCalla, 

Alabama, 1999, 58. 

7 DuBose, Jefferson County and Birmingham, 54-55. 

8 Rockville was renamed Wood Station after the first railroad 

came through the valley in 1870. Woodlawn Academy was 

established here by the end of the decade to educate children 

of the community’s 89 residents. The city of Woodlawn was 

incorporated in 1891 here and Woodlawn High School built 

in 1922. 

9 Letter from Carolyn Smith, Wood Family Historian, to James 

R. Bennett, March 24, 2007. 

10 Smith to Bennett. 

11 Sarah E. Nabors, The Hawkins Family in Jefferson County, 

1903, 4 (family history in possession of Betty Hawkins Kent, 

Mountain Brook, Alabama); Florence Hawkins Wood Moss, 

Building Birmingham and Jefferson County, Birmingham 

Printing Company, Birmingham, Alabama, 1947, 25. 

12 Moss, Building Birmingham and Jefferson County, 25. 

13 Jones Valley Times, April 1, 1854. 

14 The headstones were moved in 1970 by Betty Jane McGowen 

and Mrs. A. J. Beavers after it was determined they were dangerously 

sinking on the site of Republic Steel Corporation; 

letter from Florence Dodge to author, March 24, 2007. 

15 Walker, Things Remembered, 239; Duffee, Sketches of 

Alabama, 82. 

16 U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Map Survey, 

Argo Quadrangle, Feature 115320. 

17 Franke, 24. 

18 Hagood Family History, 1650-2000, privately published history 

in possession of Dotte Crowder, San Francisco, California, 

2000, 1; also letter from Dotte Crowder to Jim Bennett, June 

10, 2007. 

19 Mary Gordon Duffee, The Weekly Iron Age, Birmingham, May 

6, 1886; also see Duffee, Sketches, 49. 

20 Moss, Building Birmingham and Jefferson County, 64. 

21 Duffee, 50. 

22 Massey, Earl and Massey, Carol, Trussville Through the Years, 

Valley Printing Company, Tarrant, Alabama, 1987, 4, 201- 

202. 

23 Leeds, Her Story, Leeds Bicentennial Commission, 

Higginbotham, Inc., Anniston, Alabama, 1979, 43-51. 

24 Cathy Borden Stone, The Early History of Warrior, Alabama, 

Warrior Historical Association, 1990, 6-7. 

25 Birmingham News, October 26, 1935; Thomas M. Owen, 

History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, S. J. 

Clarke, Chicago, Illinois, 1921, 1729. 

26 Marjorie L. White, The Birmingham District, An Industrial 

History and Guide, Birmingham Historical Society, 

Birmingham, Alabama, 1981, 15; Marilyn D. Barefield, A 

History of Mountain Brook, Alabama and Incidentally of Shades 

Valley, Southern University Press, Birmingham, Alabama, 

1989, 1-2. 

27 Barefield, A History of Mountain Brook, interview by the author 

with Felicia McLaughlin, a descendant, 2-3. 

28 Duffee, Sketches of Alabama, Vol. 1, 146. 

29 Armes, 44. 

30 DuBose, p. 55, Armes, 44- 45, White, 25. 

31 Robert R. Kracke, speech before the Birmingham Legal 

Administrators Association, April 3, 1997. 

32 James A. Shackford and Stanley J. Folmsbee, eds, David 

Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of 

Tennessee, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 

Tennessee, 1973, 127. 

33 Shackford and Folmsbee, David Crockett, A Narrative of the 

Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee, 197. 

34 Mary Gordon Duffee, “Pioneer Days”, Birmingham Age, 1886. 

Miss Duffee wrote a series of articles on early Jefferson 

County from May 20 to December 23, 1886 later copied in 

Sketches of Alabama, Jones Valley, Vol. 2, 219-222 published 

by the Works Products Administration and the Birmingham 

ENDNOTES 

177

Library Board in 1937. 

35 Publications of the Alabama Historical Society, Transactions, Vol. 

III, 1898-99, edited by Thomas McAdory Owen, Tuscaloosa, 

1899, Diary of Richard Breckenridge, 151-152. 

36 Franke, Jefferson County, 1850, 16. 

C HAPTER 3 

1 Acts of Alabama, 1819, December 18, 1819, 57. 

2 Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama, Heritage Publishing 

Consultants, Clanton, Alabama, 2002, 1. 

3 Acts of Alabama, 1819, December 15, 1819, 187. 

4 Willis Brewer, Alabama, Her History, Resources, War Record and 

Public Men, 1540-1872, republished by Willo Publishing Co., 

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1964, 293-294. 

5 Franke, 19-20. 

6 Charles G. Summersell, Alabama, History for Schools, Colonial 

Press, Birmingham, Alabama, 1957, 169. 

7 DuBose, Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama, 57-58. See 

specifically, article by B. E. Grace, entitled “Early History, 

Jefferson County as it was in By-Gone Days”. 

8 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Vol. 22, No. 3, May/June 

2000, 1-2. 

9 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, 3. 

10 Wayne Cline, Alabama Railroads, University of Alabama Press, 

Tuscaloosa, 1997, 10-13; DuBose, 120-122; old strap rails 

used on wood runners were uncovered in 2007 at the site of 

the old Tuscumbia depot at Water and Fifth Streets. 

11 Cline, Alabama Railroads, 18. 

12 Bennett, Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry, 

136. 

13 Advertisement of the Mineral Lands of the Red Mountain Iron 

& Coal Company of Alabama, New York, Sackett & Mackay, 

Printers, 1868, 11. 

14 Diary of Major S. V. Shipman, March 31, 1865, Wisconsin 

Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. 

15 William F. Scott, The Story of A Cavalry Regiment, The Career 

of the Fourth Iowa Veteran Volunteers, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New 

York, 1893, 432; Benjamin F. McGee, History of the 72nd 

Indiana Volunteer Infantry of the Mounted Lightning Brigade, 

Lafayette, Indiana, S. Vater, 1882. 

16 White, The Birmingham District, 218. 

17 Cline, 45. 

18 John T. Milner, Report to the Governor of Alabama on the 

Alabama Central Railroad, Montgomery, 1859, 2. This report 

is available at the Birmingham Public Library. 

19 Milner, Report to the Governor on the Alabama Central Railroad, 

7. 

20 Cline, 38. 

21 Cline, 80-81. 

22 DuBose, 128-129. 

23 Armes, 113. 

24 DuBose, 55. 

25 James F. Sulzby Jr., Birmingham Sketches, 1871-1921, 

Birmingham Printing Company, 1945, 129-130. 

26 Sulzby, Birmingham Sketches, 128, 130. 

27 Letter, Hayes Lowe to Alan Pitts, August 7, 2006. 

28 Leah Rawls Atkins, The Valley and the Hills, Windsor 

Publications, Woodland Hills, California, 1981, 24- 25. 

29 Adkins, 24; Duffee, 227. 

30 William B. Gresham, Jr., Southern Breezes, The Migrations of a 

Southern Family, privately published family history, 

Birmingham, Alabama, 2000, 336; On October 23, 1861, Dr. 

Prince was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the 18th 

Militia Regiment in Tuscaloosa County. Before this unit could 

be mustered into the Confederate Army, he received a commission 

by President Jefferson Davis as a surgeon. 

31 Walker, Roupes Valley, 100-101; Gresham, Southern Breezes, 

418. 

32 DuBose, 56-57. 

33 Ibid, 165. 

34 U.S. Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History, Las Vegas, Nevada, 

2006. 

35 Birmingham Age-Herald, March 24, 1890, Funeral of William 

A. Walker, an Elyton merchant, interview with James E. 

Hawkins; also see Robert B. Henchell: Information About 

Birmingham, Jefferson County, BPL (241). 

36 DuBose, 346-349. 

37 Letter from Jefferson County District Attorney Earl C. Morgan 

to Hon. Bill Baxley, Attorney General, May 1, 1974. 

C HAPTER 4 

1 Bennett, Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry, 

206. 

2 Armes, 35. 

3 Bennett, 388-389. 

4 Forge Inventory, Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama, Tannehill 

Ironworks Historical State Park, McCalla, Alabama. 

5 Armes, 45. 

6 Ibid, 45. 

7 Ibid, 46. 

8 H. H. Chapman, The Iron and Steel Industries of the South, 

University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1953, 99; also see 

Inventory of Early Bloomery Sites, Iron & Steel Museum of 

Alabama. 

9 John T. Milner, Birmingham Age-Herald, May 6, 1894, Henkle 

Papers, Item 251. 

10 Milner, Birmingham Age-Herald, 1894. 

11 Ibid. 

12 Woodward, 106-107. B. J. Jordan owned or operated the 

Buena Vista Iron Works, the Alleghany Furnace and the 


178

Westham Works near Richmond, Virginia before coming to 

Alabama during the Civil War and working at Oxmoor and 

Tannehill. 

13 John C. Hall, “Brief History of the Alabama Iron & Steel 

Industry”, Nature South Magazine, Number 4, Summer, 1995, 

12. 

14 Armes, 162. 

15 Daniel S. Troy, Watts & Troy Law Firm, Montgomery, 

Alabama: Advertisement of the Mineral Lands of the Red 

Mountain Iron & Coal Company of Alabama, printed by 

Sackett & Mackay Stationers, New York, 1868. Lehman 

Brothers moved to New York after the war and helped establish 

the Cotton Exchange. The firm today is one of the city’s 

leading international trading and investment banking houses. 

16 Troy, Advertisement of the Mineral Lands of the Red 

Mountain Iron & Coal Company, 14. 

17 Armes, 203-204. 

18 Woodward, 109-110. 

19 Armes, 165. 

20 Woodward, 83-84. 

21 William F. Scott, The Story of a Cavalry Regiment, Fourth Iowa 

Volunteers, 431-432. 

22 Armes, 197-198. 

23 Troy, 15. 

24 Armes, 164; Bennett, 133. 

25 Atkins, 39; Bennett, 169. 

26 Richard K. Anderson, Turkey Creek Mapping Project Final 

Report, Cahaba-Warrior Rivers Land Trust, 2002, 16-17; 

Letter, Anderson to Bennett, August 17, 2006. 

27 Josiah Gorgas Diary, Gorgas Collection, University of Alabama 

Library, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 246. 

28 James Harrison Wilson, Under the Old Flag, Vol. II, New York, 

D. Appleton & Company, 1912, 203-204. 

29 Charles D. Mitchell, “Field Notes of the Selma Campaign”, 

Sketches of War History, 1861-1865, Military Order of the 

Loyal Legion of the United States, Ohio, Vol. VI, Cincinnati, 

Ohio, Monfort & Company, 1908, 180. 

30 Atkins, 38. 

31 James Pickett Jones, Yankee Blitzrieg, University of Georgia 

Press, Athens, Georgia, 1976, 60. 

32 Nabors, Some Records of the Hawkins Family of Jefferson County, 

Alabama, 21-22. Captain Williamson M. (Wick) Hawkins was 

a doctor who first served in the 10th Regiment of Alabama 

Volunteers under Alburto Martin and later in Company H, 

28th Alabama Regiment in which service he was wounded in 

the Battle of Murphreesboro, Tennessee December 31, 1862 

and died three days later. His younger brother, Richard N. 

Hawkins, enrolled with a group of cadets from the University 

of Alabama in 1865 becoming a part of Roddey’s Alabama 

Brigade. Hawkins surrendered at the Battle of Selma, April 2, 

1865. 

33 Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 49, 

Part 2, 135. 

34 Wilma A. Dunaway, Slavery and Emancipation in the Mountain 

South: Sources, Evidence and Methods, Virginia Tech Library, 

Online Archives, Table 1.9. 

35 Duffee, Sketches, 83. 

36 S. V. Shipman Diary, March 29, 1865. 

37 Kathlene Davis, Such Are the Trials, The Civil War Diary of Jacob 

Gantz, March 28, 1865, Iowa State University Press, Ames, 

Iowa, 1991, 90. 

38 Ebenzer. N. Gilpin, “An Account of General James H. 

Wilson’s Cavalry Campaign in Alabama and Georgia, March 

1865”, Journal of the United States Cavalry Association, 1908, 

632. 

39 Shipman Diary, March 30, 1865. 

40 Geographical List of Southern Claims Commission Claimants, 

Records of the Commissioners of Claims, 1871-1880, National 

Archives Publication M87 – Roll 13. 

41 Petition of Williamson Hawkins, Jefferson County, Alabama, 

No. 14652, filed with the Southern Claims Commission May 

13, 1872 by Lewis & Fullerton, Solicitors, Washington, D.C. 

The petition, located in the National Archives, U. S. House of 

Representatives, 46th Congress, Record Group 233, was witnessed 

by Thomas Sanford, William S. Mudd, Josiah Hawkins 

and John C. Morrow and notarized by W. J. Mims. 

42 Hawkins, 18. 

43 Armes, 299, 353, 356. 

C HAPTER 5 

1 Sir Charles Lyell, A Second Visit to the United States of North 

America, Vol. II, John Murray, London, England, 1849, 81. 

2 Malcolm C. McMillan, Yesterday’s Birmingham, E. A. Seeman 

Publishing Inc., Miami, Florida, 1975. 12. 

3 H. M. Caldwell, History of the Elyton Land Company, 1892, 

3-4. 

4 Caldwell, History of the Elyton Land Company, 5. 

5 Caldwell, 5. 

6 Raymond Rowell Sr., “Andrew Marre Bought Birmingham’s 

First Lot—Twice”, Birmingham News, November 5, 1972, 6-A. 

7 1888 Sanborn Map. 

8 Jefferson County Deed Book, Vol. 17, William F. Nabers to Josiah 

Morris, March 6, 1871, 40. 

9 Sulzby, 28-30. 

10 Robert B. Henchell, Information About Birmingham, Jefferson 

County and Alabama, Vol. 2, Item 152, Birmingham Public 

Library. 

11 Hayes Lowe to Alan Pitts, August 7, 2006. 

12 Ibid, 6. 

13 Birmingham News, November 5, 1972, 6-A. 

14 Birmingham News, December 17, 1972, A-13. 

ENDNOTES 

179

15 Ella Cheek Hawkins, “Earliest Pioneer Days of Birmingham”, 

The Early Days of Birmingham, Southern University Press, 

Birmingham, 1968, 1-2; The Oak Hill Pioneer, “Ella Cheek 

Hawkins, 1859-1941”, Oak Hill Memorial Association, 

Birmingham, Alabama, 9. 

16 Hawkins, The Early Days of Birmingham, 2; The Oak Hill 

Pioneer, “Ella Cheek Hawkins”, 10. In 1921, Richard 

McAnnally, then a 50-year-old Birmingham attorney, served 

as guest of honor in the 50th Anniversary Parade held in 

downtown Birmingham and recalled playing in a hollow 

where the Tutwiler Hotel was later built and hunting rabbits 

in Highland Park. 

17 Birmingham Chronicle, September 19, 1885. 

18 Memorial Record of Alabama, Vol. 2, 305-306; DuBose, 

Birmingham and Jefferson County, Alabama, 315-316. 

19 Craig Allen, Jr., History of the Redstone Club, Notebook, 1908- 

1947, Redstone Club Archives, Birmingham, Alabama, 91. 

20 Birmingham News, November 5, 1972, 6-A. 

21 Ibid. 

22 Birmingham Age-Herald, October 26, 1921. 


24 Act No. 314, General Assembly of Alabama, March 23, 1873, 

approving the incorporation of Pioneer Fire Department No. 

1, Birmingham, Alabama, Acts of Alabama, 1873. 

25 Jerry W. McLaughlin, Luther P. Ludolf, Richard P. Custer, The 

Birmingham Fire Department Centennial, 1872-1972, Yearbooks 

by Taylor, Dallas, Texas, 1972, 17. 

26 Laughlin, Birmingham Fire Department Centennial 1872-1972, 

17. 

27 Birmingham News, “Three Major Fires Subject of Historical 

Speech”, April 29, 1977. 

28 Birmingham News, April 29, 1977. 

29 Ibid, 7. 

30 Ibid, 8. 

31 The Shelby Guide, Columbiana, Alabama, September 14, 

1871. 

32 DuBose, Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama, 170. 

33 First established as a neighborhood park by Birmingham 

industrialist Charles Linn in about 1873, the park was then 

known as Linn’s Park, later to be renamed Woodrow Wilson 

Park when it became an official part of the city. Pioneers were 

overly optimistic in 1885 when the park was part of a campaign 

to make Birmingham the capital of the state. They 

dubbed it Capitol Park, but it didn’t transpire and the Capitol 

remained in Montgomery. In 1986, having undergone several 

name changes and a major renovation, the park officially 

became Linn Park once more. It was the first park built in 


34 Sulzby, 6. 

35 Martha C. Mitchell, Birmingham: Biography of a City of the New 

South, dissertation, University of Chicago, 1946, 20-21. 

36 The Shelby Guide, May 8, 1873. 


38 Birmingham Age Herald, October 26, 1921. Mitylene Owen 

McDavid contributed to a special tabloid in the paper’s semicentennial 

edition on this date entitled “History of Jones 

Valley, the Birmingham District, First Settlers and Old 

Elyton”. 

39 Birmingham Age Herald, Funeral of William A. Walker, Elyton 

merchant, March 24, 1890. 

40 Speech given by John B. Grenier before the Alabama Chapter 

of the Newcomen Society, November 1, 2007. 

41 Sulzby, 13-14. 


43 Sulzby, 19-20. 

44 Ibid, 21, “First Schools”, Mrs. Ella Didlake Roden, Early Days 

of Birmingham, 65-67. 

45 Thomas M. Shelby, The John Herbert Phillips High School in 

Birmingham, Alabama, Assessment of Eligibility for the 

National Register of Historic Places, University of Alabama 

Museums, Moundville, Alabama, 2005, 9. 

46 Shelby, The John Herbert Phillips High School in 


47 The Mirror, Birmingham High School annuals, 1906-1917. 


49 Ibid, 15. 

50 John Garst, “Chasing John Henry in Alabama and Mississippi: 

A Personal Memoir of Work in Progress Tributaries”, Journal 

of the Alabama Folklife Association, Issue No. 5, 2002, 92-129. 

51 The Birmingham News, September 3, 2006, 11A. The town of 

Talcott, West Virginia also claims the John Henry legend 

started there at the Big Bend Tunnel on the Chesapeake & 

Ohio Railroad but historians say he could have been in both 

places. The ballad of John Henry states “he drove steel all 

over this land.” 

52 Birmingham News, February 13, 1978; Mary Bellis, About 

Inventors Website, Andrew Beard (1849-1921). 


54 Ibid, 18. 

55 Woodward, 160. 


57 Ibid, 25. 

58 Ibid, 26. 

59 Armes, 289-290; Woodward, 38, 75; Wiebel, 22. 

60 Wiebel, A. V., Biography of a Business, Tennessee Coal & Iron 

Division, U.S. Steel Corporation, Fairfield, Alabama, 1960, 22. 

61 Wiebel, Biography of a Business, 22. 

62 White, 91. 

63 Fidelity Investors Weekly, “Dow Jones Celebrates 110th 

Anniversary”, July 7, 2006. 

64 Armes, 385-389. 

65 Lewis, 47. 


180

66 Robert J. Norrell, James Bowron: The Autobiography of a New 

South Industrialist, The University of North Carolina Press, 

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1991, xxvii-xxviii. 

67 Norrell, James Bowron: The Autobiography of a New South 

Industrialist, 153. 

68 Ibid, 281. 

69 Ibid, 138; Wiebel, 18. 

70 Melton A. McLaurin, The Knights of Labor in the South, 

Greenwood Press, West Point, Connecticut, 1978, 126-127. 

71 McLaurin, The Knights of Labor in the South, 126-127. 

72 White, 49. 

73 Historial Marker, Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, 

2003. 

74 Historical Marker, Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, 

2003. 

75 Historical Marker, Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, 

2003. 

76 U.S. Census, 1900. 

77 White, 51. 

78 Elyton Land Company Minutes, June 4, 1891, Birmingham 

Public Library. 

79 Birmingham Age-Herald, March 18, 1891. 

80 Mitchell, Birmingham: Biography of a City, 57; also see the 

History of the Concordia Beneficial Society, 1886-1986, King and 

King, 2005. 

81 Mitchell, 57. 

82 Robert J. Norrell, The Italians From Bisacquino to 

Birmingham, Birmingfind (booklet), Birmingham-Southern 

College, 1981; also see Greeks: The New Patrida: The Story 

of Birmingham’s Greeks, Birmingfind (booklet), 1981. 

83 Birmingham Sun-Chronicle, April 17, 1887. 

84 Birmingham News, June 27, 1902. 

85 Alvin W. Hudson and Harold E. Cox, Street Railways of 

Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, 1976, 8. 

86 Hudson and Cox, Street Railways of Birmingham, 15-16. 

87 Ibid, 35-40. 

88 Street Railway Journal, May 1900, McGraw Publishing Co., 

New York. 

C HAPTER 6 

1 McMillan, 47. 

2 Allen, Jr., History of the Redstone Club Notebook, 1908- 

1947, 59, 60-61. 

3 Allen, 61. 

4 Ibid, 76. 

5 Ibid, 79. 

6 Atkins, 79-80. 

7 James L. Baggett, “Birmingham Timepiece”, Birmingham 

Magazine, February 2006. 

8 Instead of throwing Moon Pies, as is done in the Mobile 

Mardi Gras parades, the practice in Birmingham was to throw 

pretzels. 

9 Allen, 191. 

10 James F. Sulzby, Historic Alabama Hotels and Resorts, The 

University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1960, 

134. 

11 C. M. Stanley, Birmingham in 1901, Journal of the Birmingham 

Historical Society, January 1901, 14. 

12 1917 Birmingham City Directory, R. L. Polk & Company. 

13 Bessemer (Alabama) Weekly, July 4, 1896. 

14 Stanley, 15. 

15 Ibid, 14. 

16 Sulzby, 23. 


18 Sulzby, 31-34. 

19 Birmingham Age-Herald, February 23, 1893; also Alabama 

Historical Commission marker at site, 1987. 

20 Birmingham Age-Herald, November 12 and 13, 1892. In the 

early days of football, a touchdown counted for four points, 

an after touchdown conversion two points and a field goal 

five points. 

21 Martha C. Mitchell, Birmingham: Biography of a City of the New 

South, a dissertation for the History Department, University of 

Chicago, 1946, 273. 


23 A. G. Prince, Landmarks of Birmingham, The Magic City, Best 

Printing Service, Ensley, Alabama, 1986, 33. 

24 “Oak Hill Cemetery, Old as Birmingham”, Birmingham 

Magazine, November 11, 1962, 22. 

25 Birmingham Post-Herald, July 31, 1978, B-4. 

26 Prince, Landmarks of Birmingham, The Magic City, 25. 

27 Historical Marker, Birmingham Historical Society, 1948. 

28 Moss, 59. 

29 Birmingham News, Centennial Edition, December 19, 1971, 

“Churches Everywhere. Is it Religion? City Has it.”, C-66. 

30 Birmingham Historical Association marker, 1983. 

31 Wilson Fallin, Jr., The African American Church in Birmingham, 

Alabama, 1815-1963, A Shelter in the Storm, Garland 

Publishing Company, New York, 1997, 3-6. 

32 Birmingham News, Centennial Edition, December 19, 1971, 

“From Early Days Blacks Bound to the Church”, C-70. 

33 Fallin, The African American Churchy in Birmingham, Alabama, 

1815-1963, 10. 

34 Dallas Morning News, April 21, 1923. 

35 The Continental Gin Company was created in October 1899 

by merger of the Munger Companies in Birmingham and 

Dallas, Texas, the Daniel Pratt Gin Company of Prattville, the 

Winship Machine Company of Atlanta, Georgia and the Eagle 

Cotton Gin Company of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. 

36 Saks Incorporated Annual Report (Parisian), SEC Filing, 10 

April 2006; Encyclopedia of Company Histories, Anwsers.Com 

ENDNOTES 

181

web site. 

37 Marjorie Longenecker White, ed, Downtown Birmingham: 

Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide, first edition, 

Birmingham Historical Society, Birmingham, Alabama, 1977, 

47-51. 

38 Tim Hollis, Birmingham’s Theater and Retail District, Arcadia 

Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2005, 10-27. 

39 White, Downtown Birmingham, 50. 

40 Biographical Sketch of the Yielding Family written by Ralph 

H. Yielding, Birmingham, Alabama, 2006. 

41 The original Ideal Store/Standard Furniture was part of the 

block that was demolished along with Newberry’s to build the 

Imax Theater and other additions to the McWane Center. 

C HAPTER 7 

1 J. Morgan Smith, Birmingham’s Half Century, Birmingham- 

Jefferson Historical Society, 1975, 7. 

2 Robert S. Newbill, A Study of the Growth of the City of 

Birmingham’s Corporate Boundaries From 1971 to the Present, 

1980, 27. 

3 Newbill, A Study of the Growth of the City of Birmingham, 27. 

4 Senate Journal, State of Alabama, August 18, 1909, Special 

Session, 1909, 446-451; House Journal, August 18, 1909 

Special Session, 664-668. 

5 Birmingham Age-Herald, January 2, 1910, 2. 

6 1900 Map, S. E. Jones Company, Real Estate, Bessemer, 

Alabama, Alabama Department of Archives & History, 

Montgomery. A separate political subdivision of Jefferson 

County was created by legislative act in 1915 providing for a 

branch courthouse at Bessemer including its own set of judicial 

officers. 

7 Henry T. Burrass, “A Study of Birmingham’s Financial 

Situation”, Birmingham (Magazine), Birmingham Chamber of 

Commerce, March 1919, 2-3.) 

8 The Comer (City Federal) Building was converted into 100 

condominiums in 2007 representing a $20 million investment. 

The building lost its claim to being Birmingham’s tallest 

building when the 30-story AmSouth and BellSouth Towers 

were built in 1972. 

9 Don and Diane Cauwels, “Jack Daniel Distillery History and 

Memorabilia”, Bottles and Extra Magazine, Spring, 2003, 27- 

28; also the 1913 and 1915 Birmingham City Directories. 

During the three-year period Avenue B was renamed Third 

Avenue, South. 

10 Summersell, Alabama, A History for Schools, 358; William W. 

Rogers, Robert D. Ward, Alabama, the History of a Deep South 

State, “Politics, Education and the Splendid Little War”, 

University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1994, 338. 

11 Patrick McSherry, A Brief History of the First Alabama Volunteer 

Infantry, The Spanish American War Centennial Website; “A 

Bloody Pay Day”, Trenton Evening Times, Trenton, N.J., 

September 20, 1898, 1. 

12 McSherry. 

13 Roster, Third Alabama Volunteer Infantry. 

14 W. David Lewis, Sloss Furnaces and the Rise of the Birmingham 

District, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 

1994, 201. 

15 Lewis, Sloss Furnaces and the Rise of the Birmingham District, 

201; also see A. B. Feuer, “The Odyssey of the Battleship 

Oregon”, Battleships at War, 1991, 76-83. 

16 Sulzby, 41-42. 

17 In the early 1880s a cannon, mounted on the wheels of a tapping 

buggy, was cast from steel produced at the Henderson mill under 

the supervision of its superintendent, Ebenezer Robinson. For 

many years, the cannon stood at the home of John H. Adams, an 

Alabama iron and steel pioneer, in the Graymont area. 

18 C. Vann Woodward, Origins of the New South, 1877-1913, Vol. 

9 in the History of the South, LSU Press, Baton Rouge, 1951, 

127. 

19 Sulzby, 43. 

20 Wiebel, Biography of a Business, 29-30. 

21 Micha F. Lindemans, Vulcan, Encylcopedia Mythica, 1997. In 

mythology, Vulcan was known as the Roman god of fire, especially 

destructive fire, and craftsmanship. His forge was said 

to be located beneath Mount Etna. It is here that he, together 

with his helpers, forged weapons for gods and heroes. 

22 Katherine E. Billmeier, Philip A. Morris and J. Scott Howell, 

Vulcan and Vulcan Park, Vulcan Park Foundation, 

Birmingham, Alabama, 2004, 22. 

23 Billmeier, et al, Vulcan and Vulcan Park, 12-13. 

24 Bennett, 340. 

25 Brian Apelt, The Corporation, A Centennial Biography of United 

States Steel Corp., 1901-2001, Catherdral Publishing, 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2000, 88. 

26 Apelt, The Corporation, 86. 


28 Apelt, 75. 

29 Woodward, 67. 

30 Wiebel, 44-45. 

31 Ibid, 45. 

32 Henry Jeffers Noble, History of the Cast Iron Pressure Pipe 

Industry in the United States of America, from an address delivered 

to the Newcomen Society, April 26, 1940, in 

Birmingham, Alabama; also re-printed by the Birmingham 

Publishing Company, 1940, 79-80, 84-85. 

33 Glenn Feldman, “The Lynching of Willie Baird, Labor and 

Violence in 1921 Alabama”, Alabama Heritage Magazine, No. 

43, Winter, 1997, 22-33. 

34 Lewis, 294. 

35 Ibid, 294. 

36 Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor 


182

Recipients: 1863-1973, Washington, D.C., Government 

Printing Office, 1973. 

37 Eugene Ely’s Flight from USS Birmingham, 14 November 

1910, Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, On 

Line Library, Washington, D.C., 2007. The flag-draped caskets 

of the victims of the USS Maine explosion are brought 

ashore at the Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia, 

from USS Birmingham March 23, 1912. 

3/ Information obtained from the Alabama Department of 

Archives and History, Montgomery. 


40 Ibid, 79. 

41 U. S. Census, 1920. 

42 Speech by the Hon. Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and 

Human Services, Governor’s Bird Flu Pandemic Planning 

Summit, University of Alabama, Birmingham, February 

22, 2006. 

43 Allen, 81. 

44 Secretary Leavitt, February 22, 2006. 

45 Matthew L. Lawson and Virginia Pounds Brown (editors), Mr. 

Gillespy of Glen Iris Park: Journals of James McAdory Gillespy, 

1890-1910, Birmingham Public Library Press, Birmingham, 

Alabama, 2000, 408. 

46 Sheryl Spradling Summe, Homewood: The Life of a City, 

Friends of the Homewood Public Library, Homewood, 

Alabama, 2001, 37-38. 

47 Atkins, 112-113. 

48 Historical Marker, Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, 2003. 

49 Walker, Things Remembered, 240-241. 

50 1920-21 Birmingham City Directory, R. L. Polk Company, 


51 “Windshield Wiper Inventor, Miss Mary Anderson, Dies.” 

Birmingham Post-Herald. June 29, 1953. 

52 Birmingham Age-Herald, October 25, 1921, 1. 

53 Channel 13 began by carrying ABC and CBS programming 

along with a number of local shows before becoming an NBC 

affiliate. Cousin Cliff Holman hosted local children’s shows 

for fifteen years. His Tip-Top show lasted from 1954 to 1958 

and his Popeye show from 1958 until 1969. 

54 Birmingham News, November 1, 1923. 

55 Jefferson County Historical Commission, Birmingham and 

Jefferson County, Alabama, Images of America Series, Arcadia 

Publishing Company, Charleston, S.C., 1998, 56. 

56 Birmingham News, April 2, 2007, 1-B. 

57 Robert H. Tyler recalls seeing the same glow from the old 

Oxmoor Furnaces as viewed from Bluff Park around 1927 when 

a very young child. “It made a very vivid impression on me.” 

58 Thomas Mabson West, Sr., These Things I Remember, 1968, 

autobiography in possession of Thomas Mabson West, Jr., 

Birmingham, Alabama. 

59 Allen, 44. 

60 Allen, 218. 

61 Historical Marker, Alabama Historical Association, 1984. 

62 Allen, 191. 

63 Barefield, A History of Mountain Brook, Alabama, 152. 

64 Birmingham News, December 28, 1963. 

65 Birmingham News, March 12, 1972. 

66 Summe, Homewood, the Life of a City, 86-87. 

67 Alabama, the News Magazine of the Deep South, “The Club, 

Elegant”, July 13, 1951. 

68 Birmingham Post-Herald, November 1, 1963. 

69 For a short period of time following World War II, the 

Downtown Club also met at the Thomas Jefferson Hotel, later 

renamed the Cabana. 

70 Birmingham Post-Herald, February 8, 1966. 

71 Birmingham News, February 10, 1963. 


73 Allen, 19. 

74 Summe, 102. 


76 Birmingham News, November 30, 1969 and August 30, 1970. 

C HAPTER 8 

1 Lewis, 199. 

2 Flynt, Hard Times, Alabama, the History of a Deep South State, 

University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1994, 476. 

3 Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Banks, State of Alabama, 

to the Governor for 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, Wilson 

Printing Company and Paragon Press, Montgomery, Alabama. 

4 Wayne C. Curtis, Establishing and Preserving Confidence, the 

Role of Banking in Alabama 1816-1994, Troy State University, 

Troy, Alabama, 1994, 142. 

5 Original Subscriber’s Agreement, 1887, Birmingham Trust & 

Savings Company, Wachovia Bank Archives, Charlotte, North 

Carolina. 

6 Wayne Flynt, Mine, Mill and Microchip: A Chronicle of Alabama 

Enterprise, Windsor Press, Northridge, California, 1987, 157. 

7 Lewis, 418. 


9 Lewis, 148. 

10 Interview with Annie Laurie Burton of Homewood who lived 

at the Valley View Mine housing area from 1931-1940. The 

site had previously been a major iron ore property of B. F. 

Roden’s Central Iron & Coal Company which closed the 

mine in 1924. It operated the Holt Blast Furnace near 

Tuscaloosa. The Valley View Apartments, which were built by 

Ben F. Beckham, Sr., later along Valley Avenue, were also 

named for the old mines. 


12 Flynt, “From the 1920s to the 1990s”, Alabama, A History of a 

Deep South State, 523. 

ENDNOTES 

183

13 Lewis, 412. 

14 Charles F. DeBardeleben, son of Henry F. DeBardeleben, 

served as general manager of the Alabama Fuel and Iron 

Company which owned coal and iron lands in Jefferson, St. 

Clair, Shelby, Tuscaloosa, Bibb and DeKalb Counties as well 

as brown ore properties in Franklin County. 

15 Reports on Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson 

County Division, November 19, 1933-March 31, 1934, 23, 

103, 111, government document on file at the Birmingham 

Public Library. 

16 Donors Step in to Help Restore Mural, Birmingham News, 

March 25, 2007, 13-A. 

17 Engineering News Record, August 6, 1942. 

18 Letter from Joe P. Holley, Alabama Dept. of Transportation, 

retired, to Jim Bennett, January 26, 2007. 

19 Holley to Bennett, January 26, 2007. 

20 Atkins, 148. 


22 The Birmingham News, May 4, 2004. 

23 Speech by Joseph Chestnut, World War II Heroes from 

Birmingham and Jefferson County, Birmingham-Jefferson 

Historical Society, April 17, 2007. 

24 Chestnut, World War II Heroes from Birmingham and Jefferson 

County, April 17, 2007. 

25 Beverly D. Lewis, Memories of World War II in Roebuck Springs, 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society Newsletter, October 

2007, 1. 

26 Alabama Department of Archives and History, Alabama 

Moments in American History, Alabama and World War II 

Timeline, 1999. 

27 Allen Cronenberg, Forth to the Mighty Conflict, Alabama and 

World War II, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1995, 

83-84. 

28 The towns of Hollywood, Edgewood and Rosedale merged to 

form Homewood in 1926. 

29 Interview with Harrison (Hack) Lloyd, Homewood, February 

15, 2007. 

30 Don Dodd, “Birmingham Aviation: From Fairgrounds Air 

Shows to the Southern Museum of Flight”, Alabama Review, 

January 2004, 51. 

31 The debut of commercial passenger service at the new 

Birmingham Municipal Airport in 1931 came with a landing 

by American Airways along its Atlanta to Fort Worth route. 

32 Dodd, Birmingham Aviation, 51. 

33 Information from story boards, Southern Museum of Flight, 


34 Flynt et al, Alabama, the History of a Deep South State, 517. 

35 U.S. Census, 1950. 

C HAPTER 9 

1 Juan Williams, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 

1954-1965, Viking Penguin Inc., New York, 1987) 170-179. 

2 John Lewis, Walking With the Wind, A Memoir of the Movement, 

Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998, 195. 

3 Clayborne Carson, ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther 

King, Jr., New York: Warner Books, 1998, 174. 

4 King Papers, Birmingham Campaign, Stanford University, 

Palo Alto, California, 1963. 


6 Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 

1954-1963, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1988, 684. 

7 Interview with John Nixon, Jr., Birmingham, Alabama, May 

15, 2007. Nixon said unknown persons actually tried to bomb 

or burn his father’s house, then under construction, four times 

in 1954. Angela Davis, who later became an ardent civil rights 

activist, lived across from them on Center Street. The elder 

Nixon later served as president of both the Birmingham 

NAACP Chapter and the state chapter in the early 1960s. 

8 Flynt, 555. 

9 Birmingham Post-Herald, November 7, 1962. 


11 Remarks to an invited audience viewing the premier of the 

new Waterfront Pictures documentary, “John Patterson, In the 

Wake of Assassins”, State Archives Building, Montgomery, 

Alabama, May 21, 2007. Patterson felt betrayed by local 

police officials in Birmingham and Montgomery during the 

Freedom Rider incidents. While he took steps to provide 

highway protection, city police failed to provide the needed 

security within their jurisdictions. 

12 Howell Raines, My Soul is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep 

South Remembered, New York, Puttnam, 1977, 157-158, 162- 

166. 

13 Birmingham Post-Herald, September 4, 1963, 1. 

14 William A. Nunnelly, Bull Connor, Tuscaloosa, The University 

of Alabama Press, 1991, 61. 

15 Nunnelly, Bull Connor, 164. 

16 Susan Waters, “The General’s Lady-Colin Powell’s Wife, 

Alma”, Ebony, September 1991. 

17 Marvin W. Whiting, The Bearing Day Is Not Gone, 

Independent Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, 

1990, 34. The nationally publicized Scottsboro case involved 

charges against nine black youths accused of raping two 

white women. The trials, in which the accused were convicted 

and sentenced to death by all-white juries, are regarded as 

one of the failures of the justice system in the post- 

Reconstruction South. The death sentences, originally scheduled 

to be carried out quickly, were postponed pending 

appeals that took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme 

Court, where the sentences were overturned. Despite the fact 


184

that one of the women later recanted, the retrials resulted in 

convictions. All of the defendants were eventually acquitted, 

paroled, or pardoned, some after serving years in prison. The 

Scottsboro case later inspired Harper Lee’s famous work, To 

Kill a Mockingbird and the 2006 movie, Heaven’s Fall. 

C HAPTER 10 

1 U.S. Census, 1960, 1970. 

2 Dale Short, “Recreating the Magic, Birmingham’s City Center 

Revives”, UAB Magazine, Birmingham, Alabama, Fall, 2006, 20. 

3 Birmingham Post-Herald, May 1, 1958. 

4 Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society Marker, Alabama 

Theatre, 1998. 


6 Birmingham Post-Herald, July 17, 1984. 

7 Birmingham Post-Herald, January 10, 1980. 

8 Ibid. 

9 Allen, 11. 

10 Allen, 55. 

11 Allen, 157. 

12 Alabama Music Hall of Fame 1989 Inductee Program 

Information. 

13 Non-Agricultural Wage and Salary Employment for the 

Birmingham Metropolitan Area, Labor Market Information, 

Department of Industrial Relations, Montgomery, Alabama, 

2006; Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2006. 

C HAPTER 11 

1 Robert R. Kracke and William Gunter Kracke, The University 

of Alabama Medical Center, The Past, The Present, The Future, 

The Alabama Lawyer, 1966, 79-80. 

2 Kracke, The University of Alabama Medical Center, 79, 82. 

3 Sulzby, Birmingham Sketches, 86-91. 

4 Christopher M. Scribner, Renewing Birmingham: Federal 

Funding and the Promise of Change, 1929-1979, University of 

Georgia Press, Athens, 2002, 93. 

5 U.S. News & World Report, 17th annual “America’s Best 

Hospitals”, July 7, 2006. 

6 Gresham, 536-537. 

7 Ibid, 537. 

8 Ibid, 455-456. 

9 Annual Report of the Alabama Department of Public Health 

for 1941, Center for Health Statistics, Montgomery, Alabama. 

10 National Center for Health, Polio Fatality Reports, 1952. 

11 Interview with Lili Gentle Guerry, December 3, 2007. 

12 Newsweek, “The 100 Best High Schools in America”, May 16, 

2005; “What Makes a High School Great?”, May 8, 2006; 

“The Top of the Class”, May 28, 2007. 

13 U.S. News & World Report, “America’s Best Colleges”, 2007, 

August 28, 2006. 

14 Rick Crume, “Leaders of the Stacks”, Family Tree Magazine, 

October 2002. 

15 Allen, 20. 

16 Birmingham Historical Society Newsletter, “The Little Theatre”, 

February 2003, 2. 

17 Birmingham Historical Society Newsletter, February 2003, 3. 

18 “Friends of Rickwood Field Recall Past Glories,” Birmingham 

News, March 25, 2007. Satchel Paige also played for the St. 

Louis Browns. 

19 Interview with Lili Gentle Guerry, December 3, 2007. 

20 Pure Oil News, April 1945. 

21 White, 239. 

22 Dennis I. Smith, Birmingham Bottlers: 1883-1983, 

Birmingham, Alabama, 1983, 6. 

23 Birmingham Business Journal, March 15, 2002. 

24 History of the Buffalo Rock Company, Birmingham, Alabama, 

2005. 

25 Birmingham Beverage Company’s history files. 

26 Birmningham News, “Alabama National Nears Sale”, 

September 7, 2007, B-1. 

27 2000 U.S. Census. 

28 “Area’s Population Growth Trails”, Birmingham News, April 5, 

2007, 1-C; U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 Estimated Population, 

U.S. Metropolitan Areas. 

29 Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, Wage and 

Salary Employment, Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, 

2005. 

30 Southern Business and Development Magazine, Top Ten Great 

Locations to Raise a Family, May 2007, 30. 

ENDNOTES 

185

✧ 

A municipal map of Jefferson 

County. Many of the cities were 

formed as company towns. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS. 


186

APPENDIX 1 

CITIES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY (35) 

Name Year Incorporated 2000 Population Mayor in 2006 

Adamsville 1901 4,965 Terry Loggins 

Argo 1987 1,780 Louie Glenn, Jr. 

Bessemer 1887 29,672 Edward E. May 

Birmingham 1871 242,820 Bernard Kincaid 

Brighton 1901 3,640 Eddie Cooper 

Brookside 1896 1,393 Roger McCondichie 

Cardiff 1900 82 Joseph Country 

Center Point 2002 22,784 Tom Henderson 

Clay 2000 4,947 Charles Hart 

County Line 1957 257 Sue Blackmon 

Fairfield* 1918 12,381 Michael L. Johnson 

Fultondale 1947 6,595 Jim Lowery 

Gardendale 1955 11,626 Kenneth A. Clemmons 

Graysville 1945 2,344 Doug Brewer 

Homewood 1926 25,043 Barry R. McCulley 

Hoover 1967 62,742 Tony Petelos 

Hueytown 1959 15,364 Delor Baumann 

Irondale 1887 9,813 Tommy Joe Alexander 

Kimberly 1951 1,801 Sammie E. Maze 

Leeds 1887 10,455 James Whitfield 

Lipscomb 1910 2,458 Simon Speights 

Maytown 1956 435 Ann H. Goolsby 

Midfield 1953 5,626 Gary Richardson 

Morris 1885 1,827 Graig Drummonds 

Mountain Brook 1942 20,604 Terry Oden 

North Johns 1912 142 James Price, Sr. 

Pinson 2004 5,033 Hoyt Sanders 

Pleasant Grove 1933 9,983 Jerry Brasseale 

Sylvan Springs 1957 1,465 Stevan H. Parsons 

Tarrant 1918 7,022 Loxcil Tuck 

Trafford 1948 523 Randy K. Reid 

Trussville 1947 12,924 Eugene A. Melton 

Vestavia Hills 1950 24,476 Charles A. McCullum 

Warrior 1899 3,169 Rena Hudson 

West Jefferson 1964 344 Troy Ford 

*Originally called Corey. 

Note: Roosevelt City was merged into Birmingham in 1988 preceded by Brownsville in 1981. 

APPENDICES 

187

APPENDIX 2 

BIRMINGHAM 

1 Henley, Robert 1871-1873 

2 Powell, J. R. 1873-1875 

3 Morris, W. H. 1875-1878 

4 Caldwell, H. M. 1878 

5 Jeffers, Thomas 1878-1882 

6 Lane, A. O. 1882-1888, 1890-1892 

7 Thompson, B. A. 1888-1890 

8 Fox, David J. 1892-1894 

9 Van Hoose, J. A. 1894-1896 

10 Evans, F. V. 1896-1899 

11 Brennan, W. M. 1899-1905 

12 Ward, George B. 1905-1908, President of the 

Commission 1913-1917 

13 O'Brien, Frank P. 1908-1910 

14 Exum, Culpepper 1910-1913, President of the 

Commission 1913 

15 Barrett, D. H. A. President of the Commission 

1917-1921 

MAYORS 

16 McClendon, D. E. President of the Commission 

1921-1925 

17 Jones, J. M., Jr. President of the Commission 

1935-1940 

18 Green, Cooper President of the Commission 

1940-1953 

19 Morgan, J. W. President of the Commission 

1953-1961 

20 Hanes, Art President of the Commission 

1961-1963 

21 Boutwell, Albert 1963-1967 

22 Seibels, George G., Jr. 1967-1975 

23 Vann, David 1975-1979 

24 Arrington, Richard, Jr. 1979-1999 

25 Bell, William A. interim mayor 1999 

26 Kincaid, Bernard 1999-2007 

27 Larry Langford 2007-2011 

JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFFS 

1 Reid, Levi 1819-1822 

2 McWhorter, John 1822-1824 (resigned) 

3 Ayers John B. 1824 

4 Murray, James 1824-1826 

5 Ayers, John B. 1826-1829 

6 Scott, William A. 1829-1832 

7 Kelley, Moses, Jr. 1832-1835 

8 Anderson, Peter 1835-1838 

9 Kelley, Moses 1838-1841 


11 Grace, Baylis E. 1844-1847 


13 Killough, Abner 1850-1853 

14 Hudson, Richard 1853-1856 

15 Eubank, Wm. E. 1856-1859 

16 Hudson, Richard 1859-1862 

17 Killough, Abner 1862-1865 

18 Hanby, Wm. F. 1865-1868 

19 May, Marion A. 1868-1871 

20 Eubank, Jas. T. 1871-1874 

21 Hagood, R.H. 1874-1877 

22 Reed, John T. 1877-1880 

23 Anderson, Thos. A. 1880-1885 

24 Truss, Samuel R. 1885-1888 

25 Smith, Joseph S. 1888-1892 

26 Morrow, George 1892-1896 

27 O'Brien, Frank P. 1896-1900 

28 Burgin, Andrew W. 1900-1907 

29 Higdon, E.L. 1907-1911 

30 McAdory, Walter K. 1911-1915 

31 Batson, Thomas J. 1915-1919 

32 Hartsfield, J. Chris 1919-1923 

33 Shirley, T.J. 1923-1927 

34 Hartsfield, J. Chris 1927-1928 (died in office) 

35 Russum, J. D. 1928-1928 (Coroner) 

36 Downs, W. O. 1928-1931 

37 Hawkins, James F. 1931-1935 

38 McDuff, Fred H. 1935-1939 

39 Smith, Harry E. 1939-1940 

40 McDowell, Holt A. 1940-1963 

41 Bailey, "Mel" Melvin 1963-1996 

42 Brissie, Dr. Robert 1996 (medical examiner; 

interim sheriff.) 

43 Woodward, Jim 1996-1999 

44 Hale, "Mike" Michael 1999 

45 Woodard, Jim 1999-2003 

46 Hale, "Mike" Michael 2003-2010 


188

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Cronenberg, Allen, Forth to the Mighty Conflict, Alabama and World War II, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1995. 

Curtis, Wayne C., Establishing and Preserving Confidence, the Role of Banking in Alabama, 1816-1994, Troy State University, Troy, Alabama, 1994. 

Davis, Kathlene, Such are the Trials, The Civil War Diary of Jacob Gantz, March 28, 1865, Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa, 1991. 

Day, Donald and Ullom, Harry H., The Autobiography of Samuel Houston, Greenwood Press, Westpoint, Connecticut, 1950. 

DeJarnette, David L. and Wimberly, Steve B., The Bessemer Site, Excavation of Three Mounds and Surrounding Village near Bessemer, 

Alabama, Works Products Administration (WPA), University of Alabama, 1941. 

Diary of Maj. S. V. Shipman, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin, entry dated March 31, 1865. 

Dubose, John Witherspoon, Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama, Temple & Smith Publishing Company, Birmingham, Alabama, 1887. 

Fallin, Wilson, Jr., The African American Church in Birmingham, Alabama, 1815-1963, A Shelter in the Storm, Garland Publishing Company, 

New York, 1997. 

Forte, Jim, U. S. Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2006. 

Flynt, Wayne, Alabama, the History of a Deep South State: Hard Times; From the 1920s to the 1990s, University of Alabama Press, 

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1994. 

Flynt, Wayne, Mine, Mill & Microchip: A Chronicle of Alabama Enterprise, Windsor Publications, Northridge, California, 1987. 

Gresham, William B., Jr., Southern Breezes, The Migrations of a Southern Family, privately published family history, Birmingham, Alabama, 

2000. 

Hawkins, Ella Cheek, The Early Days of Birmingham, Southern University Press, Birmingham, Alabama, 1968. 

Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama, Heritage Publishing Consultants, Clanton, Alabama, 2002. 

Holand, James W., Andrew Jackson and the Creek War, Victory at the Horseshoe, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1868. 

Hollis, Tim, Birmingham’s Theatre and Retail District, Arcadia Publishing Company, Charleston, S.C., 2005. 

Hudson, Charles, The Southeastern Indians, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1976. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

189

Jones, James Pickett, Yankee Blitzrieg, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia, 1976. 

King, Kay Stapleton and King, Frank C., Jr., A History of the Concordia Beneficial Society, 1886-1986, privately published, Birmingham, 


Lawson, Matthew L. and Brown, Virginia Pounds, Mr. Gillespy of Glen Iris Park: Journals of James McAdory Gillespy, 1890-1910, Birmingham 

Public Library Press, Birmingham, Alabama, 2000. 

Leeds…Her Story, Leeds Bicentennial Commission, Higginbotham, Inc., Anniston, Alabama, 1979. 

Lewis, David L., Sloss Furnaces and the Rise of the Birmingham District, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1994. 

Lewis, John, Walking With the Wind, A Memoir of the Movement, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998. 

Lyell, Sir. Charles, A Second Visit to the United States of North America, Vol. II, John Murray, London, 1849. 

Massey, Carol and Earl, Trussville Through the Years, Valley Printing Company, Tarrant, Alabama, 1987. 

McDavid, Mitylene Owen, John Smith, Esquire, His Ancestors and His Descendants, Birmingham Publishing Company, Birmingham, 


McGee, Benjamin F., History of the 72nd Indiana Volunteer Infantry of the Mounted Lightning Brigade, S. Vader, Lafayette, Indiana, 1882. 

McLaurin, Melton A., The Knights of Labor in the South, Greenwood Press, West Point, Connecticut, 1978. 

McMillan, Malcolm C., Yesterday's Birmingham, E. A. Seemann Publishing, Inc., Miami, Florida, 1975. 

Mitchell, Charles D., “Field Notes of the Selma Campaign”, Sketches of War History, 1861-1865, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the 

United States, Ohio, Vol. VI, Monfort & Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1908. 

Moss, Florence Hawkins Wood, Building Birmingham and Jefferson County, Birmingham Printing Company, Birmingham, Alabama, 1947. 

Newbill, Robert S., A Study of the Growth of the City of Birmingham’s Corporate Boundaries From 1971 to the Present, Birmingham Public 

Library, Southern History Collection, 1980. 

Norrell, Robert J., James Bowron: The Autobiography of a New South Industrialist, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North 

Carolina, 1991. 

Nunnelly, William A., Bull Connor, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1991. 

Owen, Thomas McAdory, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, S. J. Clarke, Chicago, Illinois, 1921. Secretary, Diary of 

Richard Breckenridge, Alabama Historical Society Transactions, 1898-1899, Vol. III, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1899. 

Prince, A. G., Landmarks of Birmingham, The Magic City, Best Printing Service, Ensley, Alabama, 1986. 

Raines, Howell, My Soul is Rested, Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered, Putnam, New York, 1977. 

Rogers, William W. and Ward, Robert D. Alabama, The History of a Deep South State: Politics, Education and the Splendid Little War, University 

of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1994. 

Scribner, Christopher M., Renewing Birmingham, Federal Funding and the Promise of Change, 1929-1979, University of Georgia Press, Athens, 

Georgia, 2002. 

Scott, William F., The Story of a Cavalry Regiment, The Career of the Fourth Iowa Veteran Volunteers, G. P. Putnam and Sons, New York, 1893. 

Shelby, Thomas M., The John Herbert Phillips High School in Birmingham, Alabama, Assessment of Eligibility for the National Register of Historic 

Places, University of Alabama Museums, Moundville, Alabama, 2005. 

Sistler, Byron and Samuel, Tennesseans in the War of 1812, Byron Sistler & Associates, Nashville, Tennessee, 1992. 

Sloan, Cathy Borden, The Early History of Warrior, Alabama, Warrior Historical Association, Warrior, Alabama, 1990. 

Smith, Dennis I., Birmingham Bottlers, 1883-1983, privately published, 1983. 

Sulzby, James F., Jr., Birmingham Sketches, 1871-1921, Birmingham Printing Company, Birmingham, Alabama, 1945. 

Summe, Sheryl Spradling, Homewood: The Life of a City, Friends of the Homewood Public Library, Homewood, Alabama, 2001. 

Summersell, Charles G., Alabama, History for Schools, Colonial Press, Birmingham, Alabama, 1957. 

The Mirror, Birmingham High School Annual, 1906-1917. 

Walker, James H., Roupes Valley, A History of the Pioneer Settlement of Roupes Valley Which is Located in Tuscaloosa and Jefferson Counties, 

Alabama, Montezuma Press, McCalla, Alabama, 1971. 

Walker, James H., Things Remembered, Stories About Western Jefferson County, Instant Heirloom Press, McCalla, Alabama, 2001. 

White, Marjorie L., The Birmingham District, An Industrial History and Guide, Birmingham Historical Society, Birmingham, Alabama, 1981. 

White, Marjorie L., Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide, second edition, Birmingham Historical Society, 


Whiting, Marvin Y. The Bearing Day is Not Gone, Independent Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, Alabama, 1990. 

Wicker, Elmus, Banking Panics of the Great Depression, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2000. 

Wiebel, A. V., Biography of a Business, Tennessee Coal & Iron Division, U.S. Steel Corporation, Fairfield, Alabama, 1960. 

Williams, Juan, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, Viking Penguin, Inc., New York, 1987. 


190

Wilson, James Harrison, Under the Old Flag, Vol. II, D. Appleton & Company, New York, 1912. 

Woodward, C. Vann, Origins of the New South, 1877-1913, Vol. 9, History of the South, Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, 

Louisiana, 1951. 

Woodward, Joseph H. II, Alabama Blast Furnaces, Woodward Iron Company, 1940. 

Wright, Amos, Jr., Historic Indian Towns in Alabama, 1540-1838, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2003. 

JOURNALS, MAGAZINES 

& BOOKLETS 

America’s Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report, August 28, 2006. 

America’s Best Hospitals, U.S. News & World Report, July 7, 2006. 

Allen, Craig, Jr., History of the Redstone Club, Notebook, 1908-2008, Redstone Club Archives, 2008. 

Baggett, James L., “Birmingham’s Ill-Fated Mardi Gras”, Birmingham Magazine, February 2006. 

Birmingham Historical Society Newsletter, “The Little Theatre”, February, 2003. 

Cauwels, Don and Diane, “Jack Daniel Distillery History & Memorabilia”, Bottles & Extras Magazine, Spring, 2003. 

Crume, Rick, Leaders of the Stacks, Family Tree Magazine, October 2002. 

Dodd, Don, Birmingham Aviation: From Fairgrounds Air Shows to the Southern Museum of Flight, The Alabama Review, 2004. 

Doss, Chriss H., “Early Settlement of Bear Meat Cabin”, The Alabama Review, Vol. 22, No. 4, October 1969. 

Dotson, James F.,“Letters Relating to the Tragedy at Fort Mims”, August-September 1813”, The Alabama Review, XIV, October 1961. 

Hampton, Don, ”Ten Great Locations to Raise a Family”, Southern Business and Development Magazine, Birmingham, Alabama, May 2007. 

Engineering News-Record, McGraw-Hill, New York, August 6, 1942. 

Feldman, Glenn, The Lynching of Willie Baird, Labor and Violence in 1921 Alabama, Alabama Heritage Magazine, No. 43, Winter, 1997. 

Fidelity Investors Weekly, “Dow Jones Celebrates 110th Anniversary”, July 7, 2006. 

Garst, John, “Chasing John Henry in Alabama and Mississippi: A Personal Memoir”, Journal of the Alabama Folklife Association, Issue No. 

5, 2002. 

George T. Wolfford and Wolco Pep, Pure Oil News, April 1945. 

Gilpin, Ebenzer N., “An Account of General James H. Wilson’s Cavalry Campaign in Alabama and Georgia, March 1865”, Journal of the 

United States Cavalry Association, 1908. 

Hall, John C., “A Brief History of the Alabama Iron & Steel Industry,” New South Magazine, No. 4, Summer, 1995. 

Hawkins, Ella Cheek, “Early Days of Birmingham, 1851-1941”, The Oak Hill Pioneer, Oak Hill Memorial Association, Birmingham, 

Alabama, Vol. 3.1, Autumn, 2002. 

Kracke, Robert R. and Kracke, William G., The University of Alabama Medical Center, The Past, The Present, The Future, The Alabama Lawyer, 

Montgomery, Alabama, 1966. 

Josiah Gorgas Diary, Gorgas Papers, Special Collections, University of Alabama Library, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, entry dated October 10, 1865. 

Lowery, Charles, The Great Migration to the Mississippi Territory, 1789-1819, Journal of Mississippi History, Mississippi Historical Society, 

Jackson, Mississippi, August 1968. 

Norrell, Robert J., The Italians: From Bisacquino to Birmingham, Birmingfind, Birmingham-Southern College, 1981; also Greeks: The New 

Patrida: The Story of Birmingham’s Greeks, Birmingfind, 1981. 

“Oak Hll Cemetery, Old as Birmingham”, Birmingham Magazine, November 11, 1962. 

Short, Dale, Recreating the Magic, Birmingham’s City Center Revives, UAB Magazine, Birmingham, Alabama, Fall, 2006. 

Stanley, C. M., “Birmingham in 1901”, Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society, January 1901. 

Street Railway Journal, McGraw Publishing Co., New York, May 1900. 

“The 100 Best High Schools in America”, Newsweek, May 16, 2005. 

“What Makes a High School Great?”, Newsweek, May 8, 2006. 

“The Top of the Class”, Newsweek, May 28, 2007. 

Mobile, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vol. 22, No. 3, May-June 2000. 

Waters, Susan, The General’s Lady, Colin Powell’s Wife, Alma, Ebony, September 1991. 

Yeilding, Ralph H., Biographical Sketch of the Yeilding Family, November 2006. 

Bessemer Advertiser 

N EWSPAPERS 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

191

• Hueytown, Alabama, From a Country Settlement to a City in 135 Years, November 11, 1962. 

Bessemer Weekly 

• Montezuma University, July 4, 1896. 

Birmingham Age-Herald 

• Funeral of William A. Walker, March 24, 1890. 

• Josiah Morris obituary, March 18, 1891. 

• First Alabama-Auburn football game, February 23, 1893. 

• John T. Milner, May 6, 1894. 

• Russell M. Cunningham, January 2, 1910. 

• Birmingham Semi-Centennial Events, October 25, 1921. 

• A History of Jones Valley, the Birmingham District, Mitylene Owen McDavid, October 26, 1921. 

Birmingham Business Journal 

• Birmingham Coca Cola Turns 100, March 15, 2002. 

Birmingham Chronicle 

• Mary Ellen Morrow, September 19, 1885. 

Birmingham News 

• Immigrants, June 27, 1902. 

• Traffic Signals, November 1, 1923. 

• Daniel Watkins, October 26, 1935. 

• Hillcrest Clubhouse, February 23, 1959. 

• City Government Change Referendum, November 7, 1962. 

• Monday will see Very Elegant Relay House Begin to Rise, February 10, 1963. 

• Voter Turnout, Mayor’s Race, April 3, 1963. 

• Debs and Guests Smash Windows, Flee Flames in Mt. Brook Country Club Fire, December 28, 1963. 

• Hillcrest and Fairmont Clubs Merge to Form Pine Tree, November 30, 1969 and August 30, 1970. 

• Churches Everywhere. Is It Religion, City Has It, December 19, 1971. 

• From Early Days Blacks Bound to the Church, December 19, 1971. 

• Birmingham Golf Launched at Roebuck, March 12, 1972. 

• Andrew Marre Bought Birmingham’s First Lot—Twice, 6-A, November 5, 1972. 

• Three Major Birmingham Fires Subject of Historical Speech, April 29, 1977. 

• Black Inventor Never Acclaimed, February 13, 1978. 

• Capt. John A. Williamson, May 4, 2004. 

• John Henry, September 3, 2006. 

• Numbers to Love About Birmingham, November 26, 2006. 

• Out of MLK’s Shadow, Suttlesworth at Peace With Civil Rights Legacy, February 23, 2007. 

• Friends of Rickwood Field Recall Past Glories, March 25, 2007. 

• Donors Step in to Help Restore Mural, March 25, 2007. 

• Book Preserves History of Cook Springs, St. Clair County, April 2, 2007. 

• Area’s Population Growth Trails, April 5, 2007, 1-C. 

• Plans for Lyric Revamp Drafted, April 6, 2007, 1-B. 

• Alabama National Nears Sale, September 7, 2007, B-1 

Birmingham Post-Herald 

• Windshield Wiper Inventor, Miss Mary Anderson Dies, June 29, 1953. 

• Center Developers Spotted Trend Early, May 1, 1958. 

• Mayor-Council City Rule Wins, November 7, 1962. 

• School Integration, September 4, 1963. 

• The Club is the Place, November 1, 1963. 

• Plans Announced for Plush Club, March 11, 1964. 

• Louise Wooster, July 31, 1978. 

• Ritz Closed, January 10, 1980. 

• Empire Demolished, July 17, 1984. 


192

Birmingham Sun-Chronicle 

• April 17, 1887. 

Birmingham Weekly Iron Age 

• Pioneer Days, Mary Gordon Duffee, August 15, 1909. 

• James Cunningham, May 6, 1886. 

Dallas (Texas) Morning News 

• Robert S. Munger, April 21, 1923. 

Jones Valley Times 

• Williamson Hawkins, April 1, 1854. 

The Shelby Guide, Columbiana, Alabama 

• September 14, 1871; May 8, 1873. 

MANUSCRIPTS, PAPERS & FAMILY HISTORIES 

Advertisement of the Mineral Lands of the Red Mountain Iron & Coal Company, Sackett & Mackay, Printers, New York, 1868. 

Anderson, Richard K., Turkey Creek Mapping Project Final Report, Cahaba-Warrior Rivers Land Trust, 2002. 

Duffee, Mary Gordon, Sketches of Alabama, Jones Valley, Vols. 1-2, Copies of articles written for the Birmingham Age-Herald, May 20 to 

December 23, 1886, Works Products Administration, Birmingham Library Board, 1937. 

Fields Family History in possession of Claudia Fields Kraemer, Birmingham, Alabama, 1981. 

Franke, Will F., Jefferson County, 1850, (1950), Birmingham-Jefferson County Historical Society reprint, 2006. 

Hagood Family History, 1650-2000, in possession of Dotte Crowder, San Francisco, California, 2000. 

Henchell, Robert B., Information About Birmingham, Jefferson County, Birmingham Public Library, Southern History Department, 1960. 

Heritage of Blount County, Alabama, Heritage Publishing Consultants, Clanton, Alabama, 1999. 

Inventory of Early Forges and Bloomeries, Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama (I&SMA), Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, McCalla, 


Jackson Papers, Series 12, Letter from General Andrew Jackson to Governor Willie Blount, November 14, 1813; Series 2, Vol. 2, Letter 

from General Jackson to General John Coffee, August 10, 1814, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 

Lewis, Beverly Donalson, “Memories of World War II in Roebuck Springs,” Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society Newsletter, October 2007. 

Milner, John T., Report to the Governor of Alabama on the Alabama Central Railroad, Montgomery, Alabama, 1859 (on file at the 

Birmingham Public Library). 

Nabors, Lula Hawkins, Some Records of the Hawkins Family of Jefferson County, Alabama, (compiled from notes of Sarah Elizabeth 

Nabors and data gathered from other sources), 1954 (in possession of Betty Kent, Mountain Brook, Alabama). 

Ross, Jane, Little Journey in Jefferson County and Bessemer, Bessemer Advertiser, Bessemer, Alabama, 1921. 

Smith, J. Morgan, Birmingham’s Half Century, Birmingham Historical Society, 1975. 

West, Thomas Mabson, Sr., Things I Remember, autobiography in possession of Thomas M. West, Jr., Mountain Brook, Alabama, also at the 

Birmingham Public Library Archives. 

Walker Papers, James W. Walker, McCalla, Alabama. 

MAPS 

Bessemer County (Proposed), 1901. 

Elyton Town Limits, 1822. 

Jefferson County Municipalities, 2005. 

Knight Map of Alabama and Georgia, 1828. 

Sanborn Map, 1888. 

Schoel Map of Birmingham, 1888. 

S. E. Jones Company, Real Estate, Bessemer, Alabama, 1900. 

LETTERS 

Richard K. Anderson, Sumpter, South Carolina, to James R. Bennett, August 17, 2006. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

193

Dotte Crowder, San Francisco, California, to James R. Bennett, June 10, 2007. 

Florence Dodge, Birmingham, Alabama, to James R. Bennett, March 24, 2007. 

Joe P. Holley, Sumiton, Alabama, to James R. Bennett, January 26, 2007. 

Earl C. Morgan to Hon. Bill Baxley, Attorney General, May 1, 1974. 

Dr. Andrew Jones, Amity, Arkansas, to Mary Gordon Duffee, December 18, 1886. 

Hayes Lowe, Birmingham, Alabama, to Allen Pitts, August 7, 2006. 

Lisa S. McCown, Lexington, Virginia, to James R. Bennett, March 10, 2006. 

Penny Fraley Richardson, Marion, Ohio, to James R. Bennett, July 1, 2006. 

Carolyn Smith, Birmingham, Alabama, to James R. Bennett, March 24, 2007. 

THESES 

& DISSERTATIONS 

Mitchell, Martha C., Birmingham: Biography of a City of the New South, University of Chicago, 1946. 

Oakley, Carey B. Jr., An Archaeological Investigation of Pinson Cave, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1971. 

SPEECHES 

Chestnut, Joe, World War II Heroes from Birmingham and Jefferson County, speech before the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, 

April 17, 2007. 

Grenier, John B., History of the Bradley, Arant, Rose & White Law Firm, address before the Newcomen Society, Birmingham, Alabama, 

November 1, 2007. 

Kracke, Robert R. (mentioning Judge E. W. Peck) before the Birmingham Legal Administrators Association, April 3, 1997. 

Noble, Henry Jeffers, History of the Cast Iron Pressure Pipe Industry in the United States of America, address before the Newcomen 

Society, Birmingham, Alabama, April 26, 1940. 

Patterson, Governor John, opening remarks at the premier of the Waterfront Pictures documentary, John Patterson, “In the Wake of 

Assassins”, Montgomery, Alabama, May 21, 2007. 

GOVERNMENT 

RECORDS 

Acts of Alabama, December 15, 1819; December 18, 1819; December 30, 1822; March 23, 1873. 

Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Banks, State of Alabama, to the Governor for 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, Wilson Printing 

Company and Paragon Press, Montgomery, Alabama. 

Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, U.S. Senate, Medal of Honor Recipients: 1863-1973, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1973. 

Jefferson County Deed Book, Vol. 17, William F. Nabers to Josiah Morris, March 6, 1871. 

Monroe County, Alabama Census, 1816. 

Non-Agricultural Wage and Salary Employment for the Birmingham Metropolitan Area, Labor Market Information, Department of 

Industrial Relations, Montgomery, Alabama, 2006; Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C., 2006. 

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 49, Part 2, U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of 

the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 70 vols. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1880-1901. 

Population Demographics, Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, 2000 Census, Metropolitan Development Board, Birmingham, 

Alabama. 

Reports on Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, November 19, 1933-March 31, 1934, Birmingham Public 

Library. 

Saks Incorporated Annual Report (Parisian), Security Exchange Commission Filing, April 10, 2006. 

Senate Journal, Alabama Legislature, August 18, 1909, Special Session; House Journal, August 18, 1909, Special Session. 

U.S. Census, 1900, 1920, 1950, 1960, 1970, 2000; 2006 Estimated Population, U.S. Metropolitan Areas. 

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Map Survey, Argo Quadrangle, Feature 115320. 

ELECTRONIC 

ARCHIVES 

Alabama Department of Archives & History, Alabama Moments in American History, Alabama and World War II Timeline, 1999, 


194

(http://www.alabamamoments.state.al.us/). 

Bellis, Mary, About Inventions, Andrew Beard, 2006, (http://inventors.about.com). 

Birmingham Beverage Company’s history files, 2006, (http://www.alabev.com). 

Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, On Line Library, Eugene Ely's Flight from USS Birmingham, 14 November 1910, 

Washington, D.C., 2007, (http://www.history.navy.mil). 

Dunaway, Wilma A., Slavery and Emancipation in the Mountain South: Sources, Evidence and Methods, Virginia Tech Library Online 

Services, Table 1.9, 2003, (http://scholar.lib.vt.edu). 

Encyclopedia of Company Histories (Parisian), on line archives, Answers.Com, 2006, (http://www.answers.com/topic/parisian-wordnet). 

Laughlin, Jerry W., The Birmingham Fire Department, The First 100 Years, 1872-1972, International Association of Firefighters Local 117, 

Birmingham, Alabama, 2003, (http://local117brffa.org). 

King Encyclopedia, Birmingham Campaign, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 2006, (http://www.stanford.edu). 

Lindemans, Micha F., Vulcan, Encylcopedia Mythica, 1997, (http://www.pantheon.org). 

McSherry, Patrick, A Brief History of the First Alabama Volunteer Infantry, The Spanish-American War Centennial Website, 2006, 

(www.spanamwar.com). 

INTERVIEWS 

Dr. David Bishop, Huntsville, recalls life in Woodlawn and East Lake in the 1950s, October 15, 2007. 

Robert Ausman, Hueytown, great grandson of Moses Stroup, March 10, 2006. 

Grace Boggs, Mountain Brook, great granddaughter of William P. Barker, September 9, 2006. 

Annie Laurie Burton, Homewood, January 4, 2007. 

Lili Gentle Guerry, Dallas, Georgia, recalling her motion picture career, December 3, 2007. 

Betty Kent, Mountain Brook, great granddaughter of Williamson Hawkins, December 2, 2006. 

Harrison (Hack) Lloyd, Homewood, son of Clarence B. Lloyd, first and only mayor of Hollywood, Alabama, February 15, 2007. 

Earl Massey, Trussville, February 19, 2007. 

John W. Nixon, Jr., Birmingham, son of Alabama NAACP President John W. Nixon, May 15, 2007. 

Robert H. Tyler, Vestavia Hills, recalls Bluff Park at an early age, January 16, 2007. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

195

✧ 

The city’s gleaming skyline in 2007. Birmingham remains the state’s largest city and ranks in the top 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. 

COURTESY OF BETH MAYOR YOUNG. 


196

SHARING THE HERITAGE 

Historic profiles of businesses, 

organizations, and families that have 

contributed to the development and 

economic base of Birmingham 

Quality of Life..............................................................198 

The Marketplace ...........................................................232 

Building a Greater Birmingham .......................................262 

SHARING THE HERITAGE 

197

✧ 

Birmingham City Hall from Linn Park. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY BETH MAYNOR YOUNG. 


198

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

QUALITY OF LIFE 

Aramat Construction 

Healthcare providers, school districts, and 

universities, and other institutions that contribute 

to the quality of life in Birmingham 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society .........................................200 

Vulcan ® Park and Museum............................................................201 

City of Trussville ........................................................................202 

City of Vestavia Hills ..................................................................206 

Jimmie Hale Mission ...................................................................210 

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Inc. ..........................................214 

Children’s Health System .............................................................216 

City of Irondale..........................................................................218 

Jacksonville State University ........................................................220 

Planned Parenthood of Alabama ....................................................222 

City of Leeds .............................................................................224 

Melior-Delaware, Inc...................................................................226 

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park.......................................228 

Virginia Samford Theatre .............................................................229 

Greenbriar at the Altamont ..........................................................230 

Birmingham Public Library ..........................................................231 

Bama Tomato Company 

Best Western Carlton Suites 

Birmingham Beverage 

Company 

Birmingham Guaranty 

Realty, Inc. 

SHARING THE HERITAGE • QUALITY OF LIFE 

199

BIRMINGHAM- 

JEFFERSON 

HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY 

The founding and early history of the 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society was 

rather unusual. On October 6, 1975, in the 

fourth floor meeting room of the Birmingham 

Public Library, a group of interested parties 

met to discuss the reorganization of the original 

Birmingham Historical Society, which had 

been organized in 1942 but had been relatively 

dormant for several years. 

Thirteen individuals were present that day: 

Rucker Agee, Lane Carter, Elizabeth Cooper, 

Chriss H. Doss, Paul H. Earle, Robert M. 

Montgomery, Margaret Sizemore, J. Morgan 

Smith, George Stewart, Richard J. Stockham, 

James F. Sulzby, Jr., S. Vincent Townsend, Jr. 

and Henry Tuttle. 

Temporary officers elected at the organizational 

meeting were: Chairman Smith; Co- 

Chairman Stockham; Secretary Sizemore; and 

Treasurer Sulzby. 

On November 3, 1975, the group met again 

where a proposed constitution was ratified, a 

nominating committee was established, and a 

date of January 12, 1976, was set for an annual 

meeting. A membership drive was put into place 

and a representative of the Junior League of 

Birmingham came, announcing that the League 

would like to join forces with the Society, since 

their members were also interested in history and 

preservation and would like an opportunity to 

become active in this field. Some of the others 

attending this second meeting were Elizabeth 

Agee, Mrs. Claude Vardaman, Sara Nesbitt, Mrs. 

Biddle Worthington, William M. Spencer, Jr., 

Mrs. Lee Bradley, Jr., and Mortimer Jordan. 

By 1976 the Society had already grown to 

three hundred members, several active committees, 

and was moving toward involvement 

in projects of permanent historical significance, 

such as memorials, awards, and recognition of 

distinguished historians. By this time, both the 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society and 

the Birmingham Historical Society were meeting 

regularly. Proposals for merger of the two 

groups over the years have failed, and the consistent 

feeling had been that Birmingham, like 

some other large cities, could support two 

historical organizations, and the pair has coexisted 

ever since. 

In the early years, a Board of Trustees was 

established, consisting of Rucker Agee, Mrs. 

Charles Allison, Mrs. Pelham H. Anderson, Jr., S. 

R. Benedict, Jr., Thomas H. Benners, Mrs. Frank 

Bomberg, Jr., Dr. John E. Bryan, Lane Carter, 

Chriss H. Doss, Edward T. Douglass, Mrs. Eddie 

Hubert Gilmore, William H. Grimmer, Fred M. 

Jackson III, Mrs. Harry Lee Jackson, Jr., Mrs. 

William Jemison, Mortimer Jordan, Henry S. 

Lynn, Jr., Major General Stanhope Mason, 

Elizabeth May, Judge J. Paul Meeks, Robert M. 

Montgomery, Frederick W. Murray, Sarah L. 

Nesbitt, Richard Scruggs, Mrs. Henley Smith, 

George Stewart, James F. Sulzby, Jr., S. Vincent 

Townsend, Sr., Temple W. Tutwiler, James A. 

Vann, Jr. and Dr. Leslie S. Wright. 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society presidents 

have included J. Morgan Smith, Margaret 

D. Sizemore, Elmer C. Thuston, Jr., Chriss H. 

Doss, Betsy Bancroft, Tillman W. Pugh, William 

A. Price, Thomas M. West, Jr., Madge D. Jackson, 

Thad G. Long, Don G. Watkins, Fred M. Jackson 

III, Tom O. Caldwell, M.D., Charles A. Speir, 

Craig Allen, Jr., and Edward W. Stevenson, M.D. 

Society sponsored excursions included visits 

to Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park; 

the Alabama Theatre; Horseshoe Bend National 

Military Park; Cahaba; Anniston; Columbiana; 

Desoto Cavern; Tuscaloosa; Montgomery; 

Demopolis; Huntsville; Eutaw; Greensboro; 

Selma; Courtland; the Owen House Dinner; 

Union Springs; Belle Mina; Mooresville; 

Camden; Oak Hill Cemetery; Columbus. 

The Society Historical Marker Committee 

chaired by Thomas M. West, Jr. has erected 

eighteen historical markers throughout 


Society-sponsored publications include The 

Valley and the Hills by Leah Rawls Atkins; Old 

Tannehill, A History of the Pioneer Ironworks in 

Roupes Valley by James R. Bennett; Arlington 

Reminiscences by Catherine M. Lackmond; 

Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron 

Industry by James R. Bennett; Historic Sites of 

Jefferson County by Carolyn Green Satterfield; 

Birmingham’s Half Century by J. Morgan Smith; 

Crestline, A Timeless Neighborhood by Helen 

Snell; Historic Birmingham and Jefferson County, 

An Illustrated History by James R. Bennett; 

History of Jefferson County Before 1850 by Will 

Franke, edited by Thomas M. West, Jr.; The 

Elyton Land Company Minutes Books, edited by 

Thomas M. West, Jr. 


200

Sitting high atop Red Mountain, Vulcan® 

Park and Museum is a virtual time capsule of 

Birmingham’s rich history; a place where 

thousands of visitors come every year to 

experience for themselves the story of 

Birmingham’s past, present and promise for 

the future. 

Much more than a park and statue, 

Vulcan® Park and Museum is one of 

Birmingham’s most popular attractions with 

state-of-the-art facilities that provide visitors 

from all over the world with insightful history 

lessons about the region. 

It is home to Vulcan, the world’s largest 

cast iron statue and the largest metal statue 

ever created in the United States. Standing 

fifty-six-feet tall and made of 100,000-plus 

pounds of local iron, Vulcan stands atop the 

original 1938 stonework pedestal with an 

open air balcony providing breathtaking, 

panoramic views of the city. 

It is a beautifully landscaped ten-acre park 

with outdoor information stations that 

interpret Birmingham’s unique geology and 

natural environment and give insight into 

what visitors can see today as well as what 

they could have seen in decades past. 

The museum is brimming with interactive 

exhibits and displays that explain 

Birmingham’s history and the story of Vulcan’s 

conception and construction. There is even a 

life-size replica of Vulcan’s foot and the 

chance to light the legendary torch Vulcan 

held in his hand for over fifty years. 

The indoor and outdoor facilities are 

especially popular to those looking for the 

perfect venue for their most special occasions 

from weddings and reunions to business 

meetings and parties. 

Currently operated by Vulcan Park 

Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed 

to fund and oversee a $15 million restoration 

completed in 2004, Vulcan was conceived 

more than a century ago when city leaders 

devised a gallant plan to promote the young 

city’s industrial fortitude. The group 

commissioned sculptor Giuseppe Moretti to 

craft a colossal statue of Vulcan, the Roman 

god of fire and forge. Built as a way of 

introducing the young city of Birmingham to 

the world during the St. Louis World’s Fair in 

1904, Vulcan fires the imagination of all those 

who visit. 

“Vulcan is one of the most memorable 

works of civic art in the U.S.,” the president of 

the National Trust for Historic Preservation 

said in 2006 when announcing that the park 

had garnered his group’s most prestigious 

award. “The rehabilitated statue and park 

now serve as the gateway to the history and 

sites of Birmingham.” 

For information on park hours, admission, 

directions, membership opportunities, 

special events and facility usage, visit 

www.visitvulcan.com or call (205) 933-1409. 

✧ 

VULCAN ® 

PARK AND 

MUSEUM 

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROB LAGERSTROM. © 2004 VULCAN ® 

PARK AND MUSEUM. 


201

CITY OF 

TRUSSVILLE 

✧ 

Above: Both children and adults participate 

in team sports at Trussville’s nineteen field 

sports complex. 

COURTESY OF MONICA GOLSON. 

Below: Trussville Civic Center, opening 2008. 

COURTESY OF OF DAVIS ARCHITECTS, INC. 

As recently as the 1980s, Trussville was a 

sleepy little bedroom community fifteen miles 

from big-city Birmingham. But Trussville has 

come into its own, and east Jefferson County’s 

well-kept secret is a secret no more. 

The small city east of Birmingham began 

booming around the turn of this century 

with new retail stores, restaurants, other 

businesses, residential developments, a highly 

regarded school system and expanded city 

services. In 2005, it was named among 

CNN/Money’s “100 Best Places to Live.” 

Who are the people and what are the 

dynamics behind a city of such pride, 

prosperity and progress—a city that has those 

qualities but somehow also retains its smalltown 

charm? 

Native Americans had hunted, fished and 

lived along the banks of the Cahaba River for 

centuries when white settlers began pouring 

into Alabama during the early 1800s. One of 

those was Warren Truss, who built a grist mill 

along the river around 1825. From that mill 

grew a community called “Truss” and from 

that community the present city of Trussville. 

North Central Alabama’s pioneers were 

vigorous, hard-working yeoman farmers, not 

owners of large plantations. Farmers around 

Truss raised corn, oats, wheat, livestock and 

vegetables for food; cotton for cash; and 

distilled moonshine whiskey for enjoyment. 

By 1860 almost seventy percent of the 

residents were landowners. When the Civil 

War started, many left to fight for the 

Confederacy—not so much to support slavery 

as to protect their land. The town’s sole brush 

with Union soldiers was in 1865, when 

raiders pillaged and burned a Confederate 

storehouse. Without wartime destruction, 

postwar recovery was rapid. Railroads 

brought passenger, freight and mail service in 

the 1870s. Trussville grew during the 1880s 

as new industries came into Jefferson County. 

One industry, located near the present high 

school stadium, housed “The Furnace,” which 

at one time produced 70,000 tons of pig iron 

annually. Company houses sprang up, local 

merchants prospered and iron manufacturing 

continued on an intermittent basis until after 

World War I. But there was insufficient iron 

ore locally, and production stopped. 

Over the years, Trussville residents were 

leaders in Jefferson County’s development. 

Among these were Doctors John Daniel Sinkler 

Davis and William Elias Brownlee Davis, who 

established Birmingham Medical College, 

forerunner of the internationally renowned 

University of Alabama Medical Center. 

Trussville citizens, like those throughout 

the area, suffered economic and physical 

hardships during the bleakness of the Great 

Depression of the 1930s. But, ironically, it was 

that Depression that helped change the town 

from a backwoods village to the distinctive 

city it is today. 

The key to that distinction is a U. S. 

Government-funded, planned suburban 


202

community built in the late 1930s. Initially, 

planners called it “Slag Heap Village,” after the 

slag pile left by the Furnace. This name was 

soon discarded for a more idyllic-sounding 

name, “Cahaba Village.” Ultimately, it would 

be known as “The Project.” 

Planners designed The Project with 287 

attractive one- or two-story residential units 

(some apartments) featuring spacious lots, 

metal roofs, running water, electricity, 

bathrooms, sidewalks and other amenities not 

universally available in the deep South at that 

time. Families rented their homes at rates 

ranging from $14 monthly for a three-room 

apartment to $22.50 for a two-story brick 

home. Fostering the sense of community were 

a cooperative store, a wash house and spacious 

park and mall areas. “We get a picture of a 

strong community spirit, a sense of pride at 

being part of Cahaba, and a determination to 

live a quality life with one’s family,” wrote local 

historians Earl and Carol Massey. “A family 

who did not become a part of the strong 

community spirit and ideals would soon feel 

like outsiders and ultimately move on.” 

Today, although Trussville has far outgrown 

the boundaries of The Project, that area 

remains the heart of the city. In 2006 the U. S. 

Department of the Interior added The Project 

to the National Register of Historic Places. The 

Project’s parks, playgrounds, community 

center, library, tennis courts and swimming 

pool attract all ages. Young families pay 

premium prices for the neat, well-maintained 

project homes and turn out in droves to push 

baby strollers, walk their dogs or play softball 

on the mall. The old high school, built in the 

1930s, has become a middle school, and the 

adjacent cooperative store is now home to the 

Chamber of Commerce, historical archives, 

and a flourishing Little Theater group. 

In June 1947 the old village and the new 

Cahaba Project became the town of Trussville. 

About a fifth of the town’s estimated 

population of 1,443 turned out for the 

swearing in of Mayor Horace Norrell and a 

four-man, one-woman group of aldermen. In 

✧ 

Above: The Trussville Public Library, one of 

the busiest libraries in the county, offers a 

variety of programs for readers of all ages. 

COURTESY OF JUNE MATHEWS. 

Below: The Cahaba River is a constant 

aspect of the community, cutting sometimes 

gently and sometimes ferociously through 

the center of Trussville. The stone bridge is a 

landmark structure from the 1930s. 

COURTESY OF JUNE MATHEWS. 


203

✧ 

Above: To accommodate a growing 

enrollment, Trussville’s school system is 

constructing a new Hewitt-Trussville High 

School. This architectural drawing shows 

the facility, built for future growth and 

expected to open in early 2009. 

COURTESY OF OF DAVIS ARCHITECTS, INC. 

Below: Trussville shopping centers like The 

Pinnacle are attracting customers with a 

wide variety of retail offerings. 

COURTESY OF COLONIAL PROPERTIES. 

1948 the U.S. Government deeded all park 

property to the town for the sum of $1. 

That same year, the town bought 

the co-op store for use as a community 

center. The government also sold project 

homes to occupants, giving the town a core 

group of property owners with established 

community ties. 

Although many Trussville residents 

worked in downtown Birmingham, the city 

was off the beaten track until the late 1970s 

and early 1980s, when completion of I-59 in 

the early 1970s and I-459 in the 1980s made 

the town more accessible to commuters and 

visitors. Trussville was still distinctive, but not 

as remote as it had been. It was obvious that 

growth was in Trussville’s future so, during 

the mid-1980s, the city actively sought to 

bring contiguous desirable property into the 

city. Between 1985 and 1987, the city tripled 

its land mass and doubled its population. As a 

result of this growth, local leaders searched 

for a broader tax base to support expanded 

city services. 

The first retail center, outside of traditional 

mom-and-pop businesses, was the Trussville 

Shopping Center on Chalkville Mountain 

Road, which opened in the early 1990s. In the 

early 2000s, Colonial Promenade and 

Colonial Tutwiler Farm brought large chain 

stores, discount stores and specialty shops to 

the city. In the fall of 2006, Colonial 

Properties completed its Pinnacle at Tutwiler 

Farm, a center with shops appealing to 

increasingly upscale suburban tastes. 

In addition the downtown area features a 

number of quaint boutiques, specialty shops 

and stores, where browsers can find one-of-akind 

clothing, gifts, antiques and furniture. 

Fueling this retail boom is an overall 

increase in the population of communities 

in eastern Jefferson and adjoining Blount 

and St. Clair Counties, many of whom shop 

in Trussville. The population growth also 

is evident in the growing number of 

subdivisions within the city limits. During the 

early 2000s, Trussville was averaging 400 new 

housing starts annually. By the end of 2006, 

the city’s estimated population was about 

18,500—a forty-three percent increase over 

the 2000 census count. 

Although Trussville has a strong retail base 

and many residents commute to jobs outside 

the city, the city itself has numerous 

manufacturing businesses, including Amerex, 

M & J Materials, Fleming Industries, Progress 

Industries, G R Manufacturing, Bell Company 

and Voigt-Abernathy. Established in the 

1970s, Amerex is the nation’s largest maker of 

fire extinguishers. 

Schools are the hubs of many interests and 

activities in the community, for Trussville is a 

young city, with a median age of 38.5 years 

and a growing school population. The city 

formed its own school system in 2005, 

assuming responsibility for four schools 

previously in the Jefferson County System. By 


204

2007 a new high school, planned to initially 

accommodate 1,600 students, was under 

construction and scheduled for occupancy by 

2009. The high school built in the 1980s will 

become a middle school. 

Trussville schools rank among the 

highest in Alabama on Stanford Achievement 

Test (SAT) scores. Besides strong city 

funding and community support, a 

foundation has been established to raise funds 

for technology, professional development and 

other enhancements. 

Residents also make use of the city’s 

spacious park and recreation areas, including 

malls, city parks and a nineteen-field sports 

complex for soccer, football, cheerleading, 

softball and baseball, plus six tennis courts. 

About 2,500 children and adults participate 

annually in these team sports. The complex 

features two miles of paved walking and bike 

trails as well as 3.5 miles of nature trails along 

the Cahaba River. 

Also on the drawing board is a $2.2 million 

Greenways Project, a lighted walking-biking 

trail which will thread its way along the banks 

of the Cahaba from the sports complex 

through the downtown area. 

The city swimming pool has been 

renovated and upgraded, now including a 

splash park, and the community center offers 

various classes and accommodations for 

receptions, private parties and meetings. A 

handsome riverside senior citizens’ center also 

provides exercise, games, lunches, trips and 

fellowship for the fifty-five plus residents. 

To meet the needs of a young and growing 

community, the city began construction of a 

new community center during the summer of 

2007. The center features an exhibition hall, 

two indoor basketball courts, a fitness area, 

kitchen, meeting rooms and provisions for a 

future indoor pool. 

Religion plays an important role in the 

lives of many who live in Trussville, and some 

of the Birmingham area’s fastest-growing 

churches are located in or near Trussville. 

In addition to the entertainment and 

artistic attractions of nearby Birmingham, 

Trussville has several jewels in its own 

cultural crown. One is ACTA (Arts Council of 

the Trussville Area), whose home base is a 

small theater in Heritage Hall, the old co-op 

building. Established in the early 1980s, 

ACTA has blossomed into a popular venue for 

dedicated actors, dancers and singers from 

throughout the Birmingham area. 

Another asset is the Trussville Public 

Library, which has one of the largest 

circulations in the county library cooperative. 

More than 1,000 children annually register 

for its summer reading programs. Although 

the original library was built in 1965, it has 

undergone two renovations since then, 

doubling its size. 

Other opportunities for creative 

development and community service are 

available through civic, literary and artists’ 

organizations in the city. The Chamber of 

Commerce also sponsors numerous events, 

including the annual Dog Daze Festival. 

For the “100 Best Places to Live” honor, 

Trussville competed against 40,000 other 

small cities in the U. S., earning a ranking 

of fifty-sixth. To narrow the search, 

researchers for the magazine and news 

network culled data on such factors as 

education, environment, affordable housing, 

taxes, low crime rates, commute times and 

job markets. 

“We appreciate the ranking, but it’s no 

surprise to me,” said Trussville Mayor Gene 

Melton. “Those of us who know Trussville 

well are familiar with its family-friendly, 

exceptional quality of life.” 

✧ 

Project homes like this one, surrounded by 

stately trees and close to schools, parks and 

recreational facilities, have attracted 

families to Trussville for seventy years. 

COURTESY OF SCOTT BUTTRAM. 


205

✧ 

Above: The Temple of Sibyl sits high on a 

mound of Shades Mountain at the corner of 

Montgomery Highway (US31) and Shades 

Crest Road. This northern gateway to the 

city was built in 1929 on George Ward's 

estate and moved to the present location 

in 1975. 

COURTESY OF FRANCES POOR. 

CITY OF 

VESTAVIA 

HILLS 

Below: Beginning with the first Mayor's 

Prayer Breakfast in 1991, this annual 

Chamber of Commerce sponsored event 

draws capacity attendance. Keynote 

participants in 2006, Left to Right: State 

Senator Jabo Waggoner, Chamber Executive 

Director Karen Odle, Governor Bob Riley, 

Mayor Scotty McCallum, Event Chair 

Martha Cook, and Chamber President 

Chip McCallum. 

OURTESY OF VESTAVIA HILLS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 

The origins of Vestavia Hills date 

from the early 1920s when a few 

hardy souls began to build homes 

along the narrow, steep road that led 

to the summit of the wild and 

beautiful Shades Mountain. Most of 

the smaller homes were built along 

the road that connected Birmingham 

with Montgomery, but a few elaborate 

estates were constructed on the 

mountain crest or in areas secluded 

and screened from the highway. 

One of the early settlers was a 

former mayor of Birmingham, George 

Battey Ward, who purchased twenty 

acres on the crest of Shades Mountain 

and built a home modeled after 

the Temple of Vesta in Rome. He 

named his home Vestavia, or “home 

by the way.” The ornately landscaped 

estate included a garden gazebo 

inspired by the Temple of Sibyl at 

Tivoli, situated on a peak overlooking the 

valley below. 

Ward died in 1940 and, following World 

War II, his estate was purchased by 

Charles Byrd. He began to build a planned 

community on the mountainside. Byrd had 

named the new community Vestavia Hills, 

capitalizing on the fame and grandeur of the 

unique Roman temple home and its legendary 

owner, George Ward. 

The isolated community was incorporated 

as the Town of Vestavia Hills by 607 residents 

on November 8, 1950. Booming growth soon 

followed as a result of the post-war housing 

shortage, the building of an elementary school 

and the four-laning of the Montgomery 

Highway. The early growth was driven by the 

energy of young families who founded 

churches, organized Scout and Little League 

programs, chartered civic clubs, formed 

garden clubs, volunteered in the school and 

worked diligently with fundraising projects to 

support school needs. Because of this growth, 

in 1957 a special census was taken reflecting 


206

a population of 2,995 that achieved city status 

for the municipality. 

In 1970, the 8,300 residents elected to 

establish their own school system. With only 

two school buildings to house nearly 3,000 

students, and several hundred additional 

students expected the second year, space and 

land for building was one of the more 

pressing challenges. The fledgling system 

became the fortunate recipient of a gift of land 

for a high school from the estate of an early 

settler Louis Pizitz, well known merchant and 

philanthropist. Earlier, one of the two 

inherited schools had been built on 

property donated to the City from the vast 

Pizitz landholdings. 

The school system is a source of pride for 

the City with an approximate enrollment of 

6,000 in seven schools and a new middle 

school under construction. Several of the 

schools have been recognized as National 

Blue Ribbon Schools and student academic 

teams consistently receive national honors. In 

2007, the system produced twenty national 

merit finalists; ninety-two percent of 

graduates are enrolled in four-year 

colleges, sixty-two percent of them 

remain in-state; and more than $13 

million in scholarships are offered to 

its graduates annually. 

For four decades land growth 

of the City generally paralleled the 

Montgomery Highway, bordering US 

280 on the east and Columbiana 

Road/Tyler Road on the west. In 1992 

by legislative act, Liberty Park was 

annexed to the City. Development 

and continued growth have exceeded 

expectations, attracting active, 

energetic residents who enhance the 

life and spirit of the community. 

Again in 2002 the City 

experienced phenomenal growth 

when the community of Cahaba 

Heights elected to annex, closing the 

land gap between early Vestavia Hills 

and Liberty Park. The prevailing 

sentiment is that although the 

community is very spread out— 

twenty-two miles from tip to tip—it 

is still one community. 

The population had reached 25,000 when 

the City celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 

2000 and published the City’s history, Vestavia 

Hills, Alabama: A Place Apart. 1 Today the 

population is estimated to be 32,000 and 

✧ 

Left: The "Avenue of Flags" along 

Montgomery Highway in Vestavia Hills is a 

national holiday project of the Boy Scouts 

that spans five decades. Eagle Scouts 

Patrick Strozier and Warren Hawkins of 

Troop 4 assist in continuing the tradition. 

COURTESY OF STEVE ODLE. 

Below: On May 14, 2002, the community of 

Cahaba Heights voted 1618 to 862 to 

become a part of Vestavia Hills, adding 

5,000 to 6,000 new residents. This made 

Vestavia Hills the third largest city in 

Jefferson County with a population over 

31,000. Celebrating the annexation are 

Left to Right: Teresa Lucas; Susan Jones; Joe 

Lorino; Della Fancher, president of the 

Cahaba Heights Citizens Association; 

Angela Acton; Deanna Benefield; and 

Kristi Mathews. 

COURTESY OF THE VESAVIA HILLS LIBRARY 

NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE. 


207

✧ 

Above: New Faces, New Voices, New 

Century. Elected to lead the City 2000-2004 

are Council Members Left to Right: David 

Belcher, Jim Sharp, Tom Greene, Greg 

Canfield, Mayor Charles (Scotty) 

McCallum, and Council Member Bill 

Visintainer. New Council Members 2004- 

2008—Inset Left: David Carrington, Inset 

Right: Mary Lee Rice. 

COURTESY OF ALLIANCE PUBLISHING. 

growing, making Vestavia Hills the third 

largest municipality in Jefferson County and 

the eleventh largest in Alabama. The real 

estate market remains strong. There are an 

estimated 12,250 single-family homes with 

prices ranging from approximately $150,000 

to more than $2 million. 

Seven distinct business districts offer a 

wide variety of retail, service, and professional 

companies. The shopping districts include 

Cahaba Heights, Columbiana Crossings, 

Dolly Creek Station, Liberty Park, Rocky 

Ridge, Lower US-31 at I-65 intersection, and 

the Vestavia City Center. A dynamic Chamber 

of Commerce, incorporated in 1981, provides 

strong leadership, beneficial services and 

information to 750 members, in addition to 

sponsoring multiple activities and 

opportunities for interaction with the public. 

Residents and visitors have many 

opportunities to enjoy colorful festivals and 

celebrations, including the Dogwood Festival 

in the spring with its many events, the Rocky 

Ridge Fall Festival, the Mayor’s Prayer 

Breakfast, and Viva Vestavia. One of the most 

popular events is the Chamber of Commerce 

sponsored I LOVE AMERICA celebration that 

evolved over twenty-five years from a Fourth 

of July festival to a summer celebration series 

in various locations throughout the City. 

Twenty-eight churches of all denominations 

are located in the City. In addition to serving 

the community’s spiritual needs, many are 

actively involved sponsoring scout troops, 

intramural sports, programs that welcome all 

senior citizens, and generous sharing of 

facilities for community occasions. 

Citizen involvement has been the 

cornerstone of Vestavia Hills from its 

beginning with residents, business owners, 

and city government working together. 

Vestavia Hills is known as a city of volunteers. 

For instance, volunteers built two state-ofthe-art 

community playgrounds, tend to 

public gardens, work with programs for 

seniors, serve as coaches for youth sports 

programs, tutor in the schools, and work in 

PTA. More than 300 residents currently serve 

on volunteer committees that Mayor Scotty 

McCallum has established to help set and 

accomplish City goals. 

From the City’s beginning, play and 

recreation opportunities were family 

priorities. Parents built the first ball fields. 

Development of recreation facilities began in 

Wald Park in the 1960s on land purchased 

from sisters Edna and Mildred Wald. A new 

civic center complex opened that included the 

public library and recreational center. Today 

children in Vestavia Hills have year-round 

recreational sport programs, including 

football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, 

softball, wrestling, swimming, tennis, and 

many other activities. The Parks and 

Recreation Department maintains twenty-five 

playing fields located throughout the City, 


208

✧ 

Opposite, bottom: Four High School 

teachers, who at retirement in 2007, have 

given collectively 128 years to the Vestavia 

Hills School System, established in 1970. 

As teachers and academic coaches they have 

built nationally acclaimed programs and 

academic teams that have repeatedly 

achieved top national honors and first 

placements. Shown are (from left to right) 

Beverly Brasell, theater and drama; Marilee 

Dukes, debate; Dianne Teer, geometry math 

team; and Kay Tipton, algebra and calculus 

math teams, manager and coordinator. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY LIZ YOUNG © 2007. 

with the seventy-five acre Vestavia Sports 

Complex in Liberty Park being one of the 

largest in the state. Nine additional fields are 

planned on sixty acres adjoining this facility. 

Parks and Recreation administrators readily 

admit they could never afford to do all these 

programs without dedicated volunteers. 

Volunteerism reached an even higher level 

after Leadership Vestavia Hills was introduced 

in 1996. The outgrowth of this program for 

training adults for personal and community 

leadership has been the genesis for many 

projects that have moved the community 

forward, including a junior leadership 

program that is now a part of the high 

school curriculum. 

Invigorated and organized citizens were 

instrumental in electing a new municipal 

government in 2000. Priorities for the 

new administration included more parks and 

trails, community playgrounds, playing fields, 

a new library and sidewalks. In only six years, 

155 acres have been acquired for new parks 

and playgrounds (with sixty-one acres already 

developed); ten miles of sidewalks have 

been built; and four more areas have been 

awarded funding. 

Vestavia Hills has been listed twice in the 

publication Fifty Fabulous Places to Raise Your 

Family, was a 2002 All-America City award 

finalist, and a recipient of the Freedoms 

Foundation of Valley Forge award among 

other awards too numerous to list. 

“The greatest compliment a community 

can have is for people who grew up there to 

want to come back and raise their families 

there; and that’s exemplified here in Vestavia 

Hills,” says Dr. McCallum, the retired 

President of the University of Alabama at 

Birmingham, who has been Mayor of Vestavia 

Hills since 2000. 

1 Vestavia Hills, Alabama: A Place Apart, a complete 

history of Vestavia Hills, is available at the Vestavia 

Hills Library. 

Left: The Vestavia Hills Beautification Board 

organized and began sponsoring the 

Vestavia Belles in 1979. These high school 

students serve as Junior hostesses for city 

sponsored activities. Belles shown at Sibyl 

Temple are seated Left to Right: Rebecca 

Crisler, and Lauren Lockhart. Standing Left 

to Right: Tiffany Myers, Emily McKibben, 

and Jordan Walker. 

COURTESY OF JULIE BLUMENTHAL. 

Below: Vestavia, the home of George B. 

Ward, was modeled after the Temple of 

Vesta in Rome and built on his 20 acre 

estate on the crest of Shades Mountain in 

1924-25. Today the site is the location of 

Vestavia Hills Baptist Church. 

COURTESY OF THE VESTAVIA HILLS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 


209

JIMMIE HALE 

MISSION 

✧ 

Above: An early picture of Jimmie Hale 

Mission cross. 

Below: Jimmie Hale worked as a soda jerk 

in his early years and returned later to 

avoid the temptations of alcohol. 

The story of Jimmie Hale and his mission is 

nothing less than a modern-day miracle. 

Once an out-of-control alcoholic with a 

reputation as the ‘town drunk,’ Jimmie Hale 

turned his life around through faith in God 

and founded the organization that has 

brought hope and salvation to thousands of 

men, women and children. 

James William Hale was born in Calera, 

Alabama, in 1905, but his family moved to 

Birmingham when he was still a child. He had 

less than two years of formal education and 

could read only a few words. His writing 

ability was so poor that he made an X for 

his signature. 

Despite his poverty-ridden background 

and lack of education, Jimmie had ambition 

and started working at a soda fountain as a 

youngster, quickly becoming an expert soda 

jerk. He then learned bartending and 

became one of the city’s most talented—and 

entertaining—bartenders, dancing a jig for 

customers as he mixed their drinks. The 

problem was that Jimmie was often too 

intoxicated to do his job. 

By his own admission, Jimmie was a 

confirmed drunk by the time he was 

seventeen and a hopeless alcoholic during his 

bartending days. He would come to work 

drunk and often pass out during his shift. He 

claimed there was a four-year period when he 

never drew a sober breath. 

Jimmie was a colorful personality and 

achieved certain notoriety with his antics. He 

earned a reputation as a ‘character’ but also as 

‘the worst drunk’ in Birmingham. 

Despite his dependence on alcohol, Jimmie 

had a strong desire to sober up and reform his 

life. He even gave up bartending and returned 

to his job as a soda jerk in an effort to stay 

away from the temptations of alcohol. He 

joined several churches during his attempts at 

reform, but each time his drunken antics led 

to his eviction from church services. 

While still a young man, his destructive 

lifestyle and dependence on alcohol took its 

toll on Jimmie’s health, and he began to 

experience severe stomach pains. Seeking 

relief, he visited a doctor who informed 

him that unless he quit drinking and 

changed his ways he might not live to the 

age of thirty. 

Filled with despair and believing no 

one really cared for him or his desperate 

situation, Jimmie decided to end his life. 

He went to the roof of one of Birmingham’s 

tallest buildings, intending to jump. He tried 

to jump several times but each time the face of 

his praying mother appeared before him, and 

an unseen hand seemed to pull him back. 

“I was not afraid to jump,” Jimmie said 

later. “I was more afraid not to. Like many in 

the world today, I was driven to desperation.” 


210

Jimmie came down from the rooftop, aware 

that he had been providentially prevented 

from committing suicide, and determined to 

change his life. His life, however, continued to 

be controlled by alcohol. 

A group of concerned Christians invited 

him to attend services at the Birmingham 

Gospel Tabernacle (the Christian and 

Missionary Alliance Church), and he started 

attending regularly, although he usually arrived 

drunk. Jimmie responded often to the altar 

call, but his conversion never really ‘took.’ 

One night Jimmie returned to the 

Tabernacle to hear Dr. Glen V. Tingley preach. 

At the close of the service, the choir sang: 

Jimmie started distributing gospel tracts 

throughout Birmingham, leaving them on 

streetcars, buses, trains and other locations. 

He even began to preach, giving his testimony 

on the streets, in parks, at the Farmer’s 

Market, in jails, and on the radio. 

In 1943, Jimmie met Jessie Davis, a pretty, 

young school teacher from Moundville, 

Alabama. Jessie was raised on her family’s 

farm and received her teaching certificate 

from Livingston State Teacher’s College. 

✧ 

Above: An early mission truck. 

Below: Jimmie and Jessie Hale. 

At the heart’s door, the Savior’s waiting, 

At the heart’s door, fast closed by sin. 

Don’t you hear Him gently knocking? 

Draw the bolt and let Him in. 

Touched by the words, Jimmie left his seat 

and fell at the altar. But he had been there many 

times before, and most in the congregation 

scoffed at his latest conversion. This time, 

however, the issue was suddenly clear in 

Jimmie’s heart and mind. He was truly born 

again that night and became a new man in 

Christ. From that moment on, he never 

touched a drop of alcohol. 

Dr. Tingley took Jimmie under his wing 

and helped him understand the Bible. After a 

few months, Jimmie even learned to read. He 

returned to the bars where he had worked as 

a bartender and urged his old friends to 

repent and accept Jesus. 


211

✧ 

Above: Leo Shepura, co-director for thirtysix 

years. 

Below: Preacher of Gospel Tabernacle, Dr. 

Glen Tingley (second from left with glasses) 

preached the night Jimmie was saved. 

Jimmie and Jessie were drawn to each other, 

but Jessie had to return to her teaching job in 

York. “Jimmie assured me that if I felt led of the 

Lord to return to Birmingham, I could come 

back and get a job somewhere,” she recalled. “I 

prayed to find God’s will, and borrowed money 

to return to Birmingham.” She found a job on 

her return, and continued to see Jimmie. They 

were married on September 25, 1943. 

Shortly after their marriage, Jimmie shared 

with Jessie the desire he was certain God had 

placed in his heart. He felt he had been called 

to start a mission “to minister to the spiritual 

and physical needs of the poor and hurting in 

Jesus’ name.” 

Jimmie could empathize with those who 

were struggling to overcome the same 

problems he had grappled with. More 

importantly, he wanted to share what had 

changed his life and how it could change 

their life. 

In March 1944, Jimmie and Jessie opened 

their first mission at 2117 Second Avenue 

North. It was the same building where Jimmie 

had sold his last drink as a bartender. 

Despite their meager resources, the work 

of the mission went well, and Jimmie’s 

powerful message of redemption and hope 

reached hundreds of people. 

Soon, however, Jimmie became sick, and 

his health failed rapidly during the summer of 

1944. His years as an alcoholic had ruined his 

health, and his stomach and other major 

organs were riddled with disease. Just eight 

months after founding the mission, Jimmie 

died in November 1944 at the age of thirtynine, 

leaving behind his pregnant, twentyseven 

year-old wife, Jessie. 

Left with no financial resources, Jessie was 

taken in by a friend. Two months later, she 

gave birth to her daughter, Kate, but while she 

was in the hospital her friend was in a serious 

accident, and Jessie found herself homeless. 

Fortunately, a young couple who had been 

affected by Jimmie’s testimony offered her and 

the baby a place to stay. 

Determined to carry on her husband’s 

work, Jessie provided leadership for the 

Jimmie Hale Mission. As a single, working 


212

mother, she refused to give in to any obstacle. 

She served as executive director for forty-six 

years until 1990 and, until recently, continued 

to travel to church groups and civic meetings 

to share the vision and ministry of the Jimmie 

Hale Mission. Now ninety years old, Jessie 

lives in Birmingham and is a faithful member 

of Liberty Park Baptist Church. 

In 1954, Leo Shepura, who was working 

for the railroad and attending Southeastern 

Bible College, was led to the ministry. He 

eventually came on staff full-time, and for the 

next thirty-six years, he and Jessie worked 

alongside in the mission ministry. 

Tony Cooper, a graduate of Toccoa Falls 

Bible College and Troy State University and a 

Baptist minister, became executive director of 

the Jimmie Hale Mission in 1990. “I have 

often said there is no way I could ever replace 

Sister Jessie or Brother Leo,” he says. “I can 

only work hard to follow them.” 

What started as a modest storefront chapel in 

1944 has grown to include a shelter for men, 

addiction recovery programs, fundraising 

thrift stores, learning centers for education 

remediation and employment readiness, and a 

shelter for women and children named in honor 

of Jessie Hale Downs. Shepura Men’s Center, a 

175-bed men’s shelter and recovery program, is 

located in downtown Birmingham; Royal Pines 

Recovery Center, a men’s substance abuse 

recovery program, is located in Blount County; 

and Jessie’s Place, an intermediate shelter for 

women and children, is located in downtown 

Birmingham. In addition, Stewart Learning 

Centers, which provide education remediation 

and job readiness programs, have locations in 

downtown Birmingham and Blount County. The 

mission’s fundraising thrift stores, Mission 

Possible Bargain Centers, are located in Pinson, 

Eastwood, Hanceville, and Forestdale. A new 

Men’s Center is under construction and 

scheduled for completion in 2008. 

Although the success of the Jimmie Hale 

Mission cannot be measured by statistics alone, 

the number of people helped in just one year 

alone is impressive. During 2006, the mission 

served nearly 173,000 meals, provided more 

than 52,000 beds for the homeless, and 

supplied nearly 11,500 items of clothing. One 

hundred thirty-five individuals graduated from 

the recovery programs, and sixty-three men 

and women found jobs as a result of mission 

programs. Most important in the eyes of the 

Jimmie Hale staff and volunteers, there were 

more than 1,000 professions of faith. 

The Downtown Jimmie Hale Mission, Inc. 

is a faith-based, 501(c)3 nonprofit, Christian 

ministry. The mission has 140 employees and 

operates with an annual budget of $7 million. 

While Jimmie Hale envisioned the 

ministry, Jessie Hale Downs saw it to fruition, 

and Tony Cooper provides leadership for the 

mission’s expansion. He often refers to Mrs. 

Downs as Birmingham’s Mother Teresa and 

says, “She is truly the heartbeat of the Jimmie 

Hale Mission. Her courage to persevere 

in the midst of hardship has challenged 

and empowered countless numbers of 

Birmingham’s former homeless to get back on 

their feet and back to life.” 

✧ 

Above: Jessie Hale Downs, co-founder of 

Jimmie Hale Mission. 

Below: Tony and Dale Cooper at the new 

men’s center. 


213

BIRMINGHAM 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

INSTITUTE, 

INC. 

✧ 

Top: The statue of Reverend Fred L. 

Shuttlesworth by John Rhoden. 

COURTESY OF COLIN PETERSON. 

Middle: Former Mayor Richard Arrington, Jr. 

COURTESY OF CHRIS MCNAIR STUDIOS. 

Bottom: Former Mayor David J. Vann. 

COURTESY OF CHRIS MCNAIR STUDIOS. 

The struggles of the Civil Rights Movement 

of the 1950s and ’60s are displayed and 

interpreted at the Birmingham Civil Rights 

Institute (BCRI), founded in 1990 to 

promote civil and human rights worldwide 

through education. 

Much more than a museum, BCRI is 

an educational and research facility with 

archives that house a one-of-a-kind oral 

history collection of more than 465 

interviews with civil rights leaders and 

ordinary citizens. The educational component 

includes special exhibitions, programs, 

symposia, publications, teacher workshops 

and outreach. 

The Institute, which opened in 1992, is 

located in Birmingham’s Civil Rights 

District, which includes the historic Sixteenth 

Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, 

Fourth Avenue Business District, and the 

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame located in the 

Carver Theater. The Sixteenth Street Baptist 

Church is where four girls were killed 

when a Klan bomb exploded in 1963; 

Kelly Ingram Park is where demonstrators 

faced police dogs and water hoses during 

the struggle for civil rights. The National 

Trust honored the Institute and the 

District in 1993. A statue of Reverend 

Fred L. Shuttlesworth, president of the 

Alabama Christian Movement for Human 

Rights and leader of the Birmingham 

Movement, stands at the main entrance 

to BCRI. 

The impetus for BCRI began in 1979 when 

Birmingham Mayor David J. Vann proposed 

that the City of Birmingham erect a facility to 

commemorate the city’s unique role in the 

nation’s struggle for racial equality, and to 

help understand that history in relation to the 

present and future development of human 

rights and democratic institutions throughout 

the world. This concept was implemented by 

Vann’s successor, Richard Arrington, Jr., Ph.D. 

In 1982 a study group, chaired by historian 

Horace Huntley, Ph.D., proposed that the City 

Council establish a civil rights museum. 

In 1986, Mayor Arrington appointed a 

Civil Rights Museum Task Force with the 

specific charge to propose a mission 

statement, thematic program and funding 

plan for such a facility. The Task Force was cochaired 

by Odessa Woolfolk, director of the 

University of Alabama at Birmingham Center 

for Urban Affairs; and attorney Frank Young, 

president of the Birmingham Chamber of 

Commerce. The Task Force oversaw the work 

of architects, historians and designers. 

Subsequently, members of the Task Force 

were appointed by the City Council to a 

newly created nonprofit corporation named 

the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Inc. 

The Council resolution named Woolfolk 

president of the fifteen-member Board of 

Directors and Interim Chief Executive of 

the Institute. 

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the 

Institute were conducted on February 22, 

1991, after City Council approved annual 

appropriations for operations. The Board of 

Directors recruited six prominent business 

leaders with Herbert A. Sklenar of Vulcan 

Materials as chair to lead its initial corporate 

capital campaign. The effort yielded pledges 

of $4 million for a five-year period. 

The Institute opened in November 1992 

with more than 25,000 visitors during its first 

week, demonstrating Birmingham’s awareness 

of its history and its dedication to progress 

and unity for the future. At the time of its 


214

completion, BCRI was the largest 

newly constructed civil/human 

rights-themed facility in the 

country with 58,000 square feet, 

including 26,000 square feet of 

permanent exhibition space. 

BCRI achieved accreditation 

by the American Association of 

Museums in 2005, and is one of 

only two African Americanthemed 

nonprofit museums with 

full accreditation. 

The Institute’s archives serve as 

a national resource for educators 

and researchers and are a 

repository for the collection and 

preservation of civil rights 

documents and artifacts. 

BCRI is also a community 

resource for meetings, seminars 

and workshops, with meeting 

space available for use by 

local organizations. 

BCRI’s President and Chief 

Executive Officer Lawrence J. 

Pijeaux, Jr., Ed.D., joined the organization in 

1995. He oversees a staff of thirty full-time 

employees, more than forty-five regular 

volunteers, and a newly formed docent group 

that greets visitors and leads guided tours of 

the facility. The Institute has an average 

annual operating budget of $2.5 million and 

an expanded Board of Directors of twentythree 

members. In addition to Woolfolk, 

the following civic leaders have chaired 

the BCRI Board of Directors: Edward 

S. LaMonte, Ph.D., Ethel Hall, DSW, 

Kirkwood R. Balton, Neal Berte, Ed.D., 

and Robert Holmes, Jr. 

More than 140,000 individuals visit the 

BCRI facility each year, including an average 

of 70,000 school-aged children. Visitors come 

from throughout the world, and an economic 

impact survey in 2004 indicated that BCRI 

has an enormous positive impact on the local 

and statewide economy. 

A strategic plan completed in 2006 

outlines the organizations goals through 

2010. These include a renovation of the 

permanent exhibition, complete changes to 

the Human Rights Gallery and stabilization of 

the Gaston property, a historic motel located 

in the same block as BCRI. 

For more information about the 

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, visit its 

Web site at www.bcri.org. 

✧ 

Above: Founding President Odessa Woolfolk 

at BCRI Main Entrance. 

COURTESY OF THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS. 

Below: BCRI President & CEO 

Lawrence J. Pijeaux, Jr., Ed.D. 

COURTESY OF COLIN PETERSON. 


215

CHILDREN’S 

HEALTH 

SYSTEM 

Children’s Health System of Alabama 

began in 1911 when three members of the 

Episcopal Church, concerned by the plight of 

Birmingham’s many sick and needy children, 

founded the Holy Innocents Hospital. 

The All Saints Parish House served as the 

first hospital until a small frame house was 

converted into a twelve bed hospital to serve 

as a “charity institution for children alone.” 

That small twelve bed charity hospital 

became Children’s Hospital a few years later 

and today has evolved into a statewide 

network of thirteen primary and specialty 

pediatric healthcare centers with more than 

600,000 annual outpatient visits and more 

than 13,000 in-patient discharges. 

Throughout its history, Children’s has 

worked to ensure that the best care and latest 

technology is available for all Alabama 

youngsters at a moment’s notice. Children’s 

believes there should be only one class of 

care for kids—the best available care, and 

that is why the institution keeps children at 

the center of everything it does. 

The nucleus of Children’s Health System is 

the four primary buildings in the heart of the 

medical center on Birmingham’s Southside. 

They include the 275-bed Children’s Hospital, 

the Children’s Harbor building, the Children’s 

Midtown Center, and Children’s Park Place. 

Children’s Health System is now the 

twelfth largest (based on admissions) 

pediatric medical center in the country. The 

facility is home to a diagnostic center, 

emergency department, kidney dialysis 

center, and one of the largest outpatient 

pediatric centers in the U.S. In addition, the 

hospital has the largest hematology/oncology 

center, and operates the largest pediatric burn 

unit in the Southeast. 

Children’s Hospital also serves as the 

primary teaching facility for the University of 

Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of 

Pediatrics, and boasts a renowned medical 

research facility. The Children’s Center for 

Research and Innovation houses some of 

the most sophisticated research laboratories 

in the nation searching for breakthroughs 

in the diagnosis, treatment, and 

prevention of pediatric diseases 

and illnesses. 

Children’s South, off I-459 at Acton 

Road, provides outpatient surgery, 

specialty care clinics, after-hours 

services and a pediatric imaging 

center. The System operates eight 

other pediatric healthcare facilities 

conveniently located throughout the 

Birmingham metropolitan area, as 

well as primary and specialty care 

practices in Montgomery, Huntsville, 

and Talladega. 

Children’s Health System provides 

an integrated approach to healthcare, 

offering the services of pediatricians, 

pediatric sub-specialists, family 

physicians, nurses, educators, and 

child advocates from across the state. 

The approach begins with an 

emphasis on overall wellness and 

prevention programs and extends to 

hospitalization, rehabilitation, and 

continuing care. The result is 

excellence and cost-effectiveness in 

caring for children. 


216

Children’s Health System also acts as an 

advocate for children in Alabama. This focus 

is on raising visibility in the community of 

such children’s issues as teen pregnancy, child 

abuse, physical fitness, child passenger safety, 

and others. Through an electronic newsletter, 

a twenty-four hour regional poison control 

hotline, health fairs, parenting seminars, 

community events, and other strategic 

initiatives, Children’s advocacy programs help 

to provide training and build partnerships 

and infrastructure within the community. 

This, in turn, has improved the quality of life 

for Alabama children. 

The strength of Children’s Health System 

lies in the skill, commitment and compassion 

of its more than 3,000 employees and 225 

physicians. All are committed to the vision of 

providing the finest pediatric health services 

to all children in an environment that fosters 

excellence in research and medical education. 

“Children’s Hospital has been a lifeline for 

Alabama children for more than ninety-five 

years,” notes Margaret Porter, Board of 

Trustees member and past chair for Children’s 

Health System. “We are a family that is 

committed to providing quality care and 

compassion for patients and their families. All 

of our efforts, from cutting-edge research to 

hugs from our nurses, reinforce our belief that 

children are at the center of our lives. How 

blessed is this state to be able to call its own 

one of the nation’s top pediatric hospitals. 

Our children’s futures will be stronger and 

healthier because of the wonderful investment 

generations of Alabamians have made in 

Children’s Hospital.” 


217

CITY OF 

IRONDALE 

✧ 

Above: Twentieth Street South, looking south 

from the top of the hill, 1905-1906.. 

Below: Southern railroad F-7 locomotive, 

Irondale Depot and Whistle Stop Café. 

The City of Irondale, Alabama has 

a rich and colorful history and 

looks forward to a bright and 

prosperous future. 

Irondale sits in a valley with Red 

Mountain to the north and Cahaba (or 

Shades) Mountain to its south and 

southeast. Native Americans and early 

pioneers were present in the area long 

before the town was incorporated. The 

red rock in the area was used as face 

paint by the Indians and to dye clothes 

by the pioneers. The area includes 

large deposits of iron ore, coal, and 

limestone and has an abundance of streams 

and clear streams. 

The first post office was established in 

what is now Irondale in 1872, but was 

discontinued three years later. The post office 

was re-established as Brevard in 1883 and 

renamed Irondale in 1887, just a few months 

before incorporation. 

On October 5, 1887, twenty-nine residents 

of the small mining and railroad community 

petitioned for incorporation as the Town of 

Irondale. The corporate limits extended onehalf 

mile in each direction from the town’s 

center, north of what is now the corner of 

Twentieth Street and First Avenue South. 

The new four-block town boasted 

six stores; a meat market, three family 

stores, a general merchandise store, and a 

lumber company. 

The town’s name came from an iron 

furnace located just west of the town. The 

Irondale Furnace, originally known as 

Cahaba Iron Works, was used to make pig 

iron, which was hauled by oxcart to 

Montevallo and then delivered by railroad to 

the arsenal at Selma to be fashioned into 

munitions for the Confederate Army. The ore 

used in the furnace came from Red Mountain 


The furnace was one of several in the area 

to be destroyed by Wilson’s Raiders during the 

latter part of the War Between the States. In 

November 1865, W.S. McElwain and H.D. 

Merrill secured capital from the North to 

reconstruct the iron works and produce 

agricultural implements and equipment for 

the railroads being constructed in the area. 

However, the panic of 1873 and the resulting 

economic depression forced the furnace to 

shut down. 

The coming of the railroads contributed 

to the growth of Irondale. In 1883 the 

Georgia/Pacific Railway completed its 

tracks through Red Gap and, in 1905, the 

Seaboard Railroad began to run through 

Irondale into Birmingham. The Norfolk 

Southern Railroad’s Norris Yard, one of the 

first automatic switching yards, was built in 

Irondale in 1951. 

Other factors contributing to the town’s 

growth were the opening of Ruffner Mines in 

1887, establishment of telephone service in 

the early 1900s, streetcar service in 1913, and 

the electrification of homes around 1919. 

The new town grew steadily and by 

1888 there were about fifty residents, some 


218

twelve businesses, and a post office. J.C. 

McCain, A.B. Moore, and J.C. Windham were 

operating general merchandise stores and, in 

the early 1900s, eight small family grocery 

stores, an additional general merchandise 

store, and the Hood Lumber Company 

opened for business. 

Four churches were established in the 

1800s; Cumberland Presbyterian in 1885-86, 

United Methodist in 1887, Mount Hebron 

Baptist in 1891, and Irondale First Baptist 

in 1892. 

Irondale is home of the Irondale Café, 

made famous by the book and movie Fried 

Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg. The Irondale 

Café was first opened by Emmett 

Montgomery in 1928 as a hot dog stand. 

Maggie Prentice came along shortly thereafter 

and added hamburgers, barbeque, and a 

variety of sandwiches to the menu. The 

legendary business was purchased by Bess 

Fortenberry in 1932, and the name was 

changed to Irondale Café. 

Irondale is also famous as home of the 

Golden Rule Barbeque, which first opened 

in 1891 as a roadside stop for travelers 

making the journey from Birmingham to 

Atlanta. Golden Rule Barbeque served pork, 

beer, and cigarettes and, when the automobile 

came along, did occasional auto repairs. 

The Golden Rule Barbeque also served as a 

local gathering place and remained in 

the Williams family for nearly forty years. 

The restaurant has been franchised in recent 

years and now has locations throughout 

the Southeast. 

Irondale is also the home of pro stock 

motorcycle racer Steve Johnson, whose 

numerous victories include the 2005 NHRA 

U.S. Nationals. 

Irondale achieved city status in 1955 when 

the population reached 2,800. Irondale’s 

population is now 12,065, and the city has 

grown to 15.55 square miles. The city 

supports a respected police department with 

thirty-two officers, and a well-trained fire 

department with forty-two fire fighters. The 

school system includes Grantswood 

Elementary for grades K-2, Irondale 

Community for grades 3-5, Irondale Middle 

School for grades 6-8, and Shades Valley High 

School, including the nationally acclaimed 

International Baccalaureate School, for 

grades 9-12. 

The City of Irondale anticipates a 

bright future. New residential neighborhoods 

are under construction and Trinity 

Hospital has committed to build a 

$316 million, 454-bed hospital near 

the Grantsmill Road and I-459 intersection. 

Construction of the hospital at this busy 

intersection is expected to spur additional 

commercial development. 

✧ 

Above: Monroe Avenue looking west 

between 1900 and 1908. Today, this 

location is known as First Avenue South. 

Below: J.W. Fortenberry Store, 304 

Twentieth Street South was purchased by 

J.T. Ramsey in 1914 or 1915. 


219

JACKSONVILLE 

STATE 

UNIVERSITY 

Cradled in the foothills of the Appalachian 

Mountains in northeast Alabama, Jacksonville 

State University’s roots go deep into the red 

clay that provides the foundation for the 

school’s picturesque campus. 

Jacksonville State began in 1883 when the 

Alabama legislature created a state Normal 

School to be housed in a two-story brick 

building on twelve acres. The Normal School 

grew rapidly and became Jacksonville State 

Teacher’s College in 1929. As a teacher’s 

college, the school offered a four-year degree 

that reflected an increasing higher education 

role for the institution. 

Politics threatened the college during the 

1930s when the Great Depression severely 

reduced school funding and legislators began 

to think of higher education as a luxury the 

state could not afford. It took a concerted 

effort by local leaders and legislators to keep 

the college open and independent. 

Leading this effort was the school’s 

President, Dr. Clarence William Daugette, 

who guided the institution into the twentieth 

century, overcame the challenges of World 

War I, oversaw the expansion during the 

1920s, and helped Jacksonville State survive 

the economic and political problems brought 

on by the depression of the 1930s. 

Dr. Daugette died in 1942 but left behind a 

vibrant institution that was already in the 

process of preparing itself for the rigors of 

World War II. Dr. Houston Cole succeeded 

Dr. Daugette, and the institution entered a 

new era of growth that included an expansion 

of its offerings, the addition of a graduate 

program, and the influx of veterans who 

attended school under the GI Bill following 

World War II. 

Positively promoting the college through a 

new technology called television, Cole was 

the moderator on the popular television show 

What’s Your Problem? This national caliber 

panel format program aired on Sunday 

afternoons for twelve years from 1948 to 

1960 on Birmingham’s Channel 6 and 13. In 

1953 Dr. Cole was appointed chairman of the 

Crusade for Freedom in Alabama by Henry 

Ford II and given the mission to raise funds 

for Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia in 

hopes of halting the spread of Communism. 

The school became Jacksonville State 

College in 1957 when the first graduate 

program, a master’s degree in elementary 

education, was created. In 1966 Dr. Cole 

addressed members of the student body from 

the steps of Bibb Graves Hall, informing them 

that the college had been elevated to 

university status, and one year later, the 

legislature established an independent Board 

of Trustees for JSU. 

Enrollment at JSU’s 459-acre campus has 

grown from 1,318 students in 1955 to more 

than 9,000 today. Students come from 


220

throughout Alabama, from forty-seven states 

and seventy foreign countries. The university 

conferred 1,773 degrees during the 2006-07 

school year. 

Jacksonville State University also serves the 

region with educational opportunities via JSU 

McClellan, JSU Gadsden, the Little River 

Canyon Center, and sites across Northeast 

Alabama and Northwest Georgia. From single 

courses to complete programs, JSU offers a 

growing number of educational opportunities 

through distance learning. 

Jacksonville State University is also 

recognized as one of the best “band 

universities” in the nation. JSU is home to 

two elite organizations—the nationally 

known Southerners, which have been 

defining the future of marching bands for 

more than fifty years; and Spirit from 

Jacksonville State University drum and bugle 

corps, which thrills audiences annually 

throughout the nation. 

Jacksonville State University’s College of 

Commerce and Business Administration is 

included in the 2006 and 2007 Princeton 

Review of “The Best Business Schools,” placing 

it among the top ten percent of all business 

schools in the nation. 

The Small Business Development Center 

at JSU assists more than 1,600 small 

businesses and individuals each year for 

counseling and training. 

Towering twelve stories above the campus, 

JSU’s Houston Cole Library is the state’s tallest 

academic library and houses 694,365 

volumes. The library logged almost half a 

million visitors during 2006 and 2007. 

A few notable alums of JSU are Rick Bragg, 

Pulitzer Prize-winner author of All Over but 

the Shoutin’; Randy Owen, lead singer with the 

country music group Alabama; Heather 

Whitestone McCallum, the 1995 Miss 

America; and Catherine Callaway, CNN 

Headline News anchor. 

Under the direction of JSU’s president, Dr. 

William A. Meehan, the university is 

committed to service, in the community and 

on a global scale. The university family 

supports large philanthropic endeavors 

such as the United Way, American Cancer 

Society Relay for Life, the American Heart 

Association’s Heart Walk, and in 2003 was 

home for the Jimmy Carter Work 

Project/Habitat for Humanity in Anniston, 

Alabama. They are equally committed to local 

service, including participation in dozens of 

civic and religious organizations. 

While Jacksonville State University is 

proud of its rich heritage, the vision for 

continued success as a student-centered, 

comprehensive university is future-driven. 

Beautiful historic buildings are plentiful on 

the campus, and traditional methods of 

instruction are very much in place, yet the 

school embraces the opportunity to move 

beyond plaster and post to offer the newest 

technologies and teaching methods to a 

growing non-traditional student population. 

In so doing, Jacksonville State University will 

prepare its students for unbridled success and 

offer opportunities for lifelong learning. 


221

PLANNED 

PARENTHOOD 

OF ALABAMA 

✧ 

Above: Dr. Lee F. Turlington. 

Below: Dr. Clifford L. Lamar. 

“It was in the early thirties when everyone 

was so blue about everything.” So begins a 

letter by Dr. Lee F. Turlington telling of the 

early days of Planned Parenthood. His passion 

for improving the lives of women and babies 

in Alabama led him to gather a small group of 

local citizens to form the “Maternal Welfare 

Association of Jefferson County.” Now known 

as Planned Parenthood of Alabama, Inc. 

(PPA), it strives to improve the health of 

women and families by providing affordable 

reproductive healthcare services to all who 

need them; advocating public policies which 

guarantee each individual’s access to services 

and privacy; providing sexuality education; 

and promoting research. 

In the thirties, Alabama had the sixth 

highest birth rate in the USA and the eleventh 

highest death rate. Its maternal death rate was 

higher than any other state, save two. 

Childbearing in Alabama was taking the lives 

of more women between 15 and 34 than any 

cause other than tuberculosis. One out of 

every four babies in Alabama was born 

without its mother being under the care of a 

physician. Concerned physicians and citizens 

began to sense a great need for contraception 

and spacing of children to improve the quality 

of life, and in many cases, to save the life of 

the mother or infant. 

Dr. Turlington, an OB/GYN, began a 

conversation with Dr. Clifford Lamar, a 

pediatrician, about a new contraceptive 

device. Dr. Lamar described one of his 

patients at the Free Clinic at Children’s 

Hospital: “She was a bedraggled young 

woman with a sick baby in her arms; 

clutching to her skirts was a baby of two 

years; and to make it worse, it was quite 

evident that she was going to have another 

one right soon.” 

Dr. Turlington told Dr. Lamar to send 

the young woman to him after the third 

child was born. This was PPA’s first patient. 

Shortly after, Dr. Lamar ran into a Harvard 

classmate at a reunion, Dr. Clarence Gamble. 

Dr. Gamble was passionate about making 

a case for family planning. He donated 

$50.00 for materials to start a clinic in 


The first organizational meeting was held 

in 1930 at the Cathedral Church of the 

Advent with approximately twenty in 

attendance. Among the attendees were three 

prominent churchmen, Dr. Henry Edmonds, 

Rabbi Morris Newfield, and the Right 

Reverend Charles Clingman. Others included 

Dr. Lee Turlington, Mr. and Mrs. Charles 

Zukoski, Jr., Dr. and Mrs. Clifford Lamar, and 

Elizabeth LaForge. The first President was 

Mrs. Murray Brown. This became the 

Maternal Welfare Association of Jefferson 


222

County (incorporated in 1935), one of the 

oldest in the country, which would provide 

family planning to indigent mothers. An 

advisory committee enlisted the aid of a 

nurse, and a clinic was opened at Hillman 

Charity Hospital. 

In 1938, due to religious opposition, the 

clinic was moved first to Dr. Turlington’s 

office until Elizabeth LaForge, head nurse 

to the Jefferson County Health Officer, 

found the new clinic a home in the 

building occupied by the Anti-Tuberculosis 

Association. Work continued there for 

years with Dr. Turlington, Dr. Louise 

Branscomb, and Dr. Claire Barclift 

volunteering their services. Expenses were 

paid by modest funds solicited by mail and 

help from the Junior League, Council of 

Jewish Women, and the American Association 

of University Women. 

Clinics were held three times a week, 

but there remained the dilemma of 

reaching patients in need. A clinic was 

opened in Bessemer under segregated 

facilities. Between 1933 and 1939, clinics 

were set up in Walker, Shelby, Montgomery, 

and Fayette counties. 

In the early 1940s a large monetary 

gift brought with it the charge and 

opportunity to expand family planning 

services statewide. The Alabama Department 

of Health started a program for “child 

spacing,” the third state in the nation to 

undertake a statewide program as an official 

part of the State Health Department. The 

group then reorganized as the Planned 

Parenthood League of Alabama. 

The Birmingham clinic operation came full 

circle in the 1950s, when the University of 

Alabama Medical School took over Hillman 

Hospital and invited Planned Parenthood 

League of Alabama to conduct its family 

planning clinics there. 

In the 1960s, in an effort to reach 

more patients, Dr. Thomas Bolding and 

Mrs. Berney Rogers developed a mobile 

clinic in a bus called “Health on Wheels” 

which traveled to Walker and Winston 

counties, rural areas where many 

patients had never consulted a doctor. 

One woman had given birth to twenty-six 

children and another had ten at only age 

twenty-nine. 

As demand spread, Planned Parenthood 

sought to develop chapters throughout 

Alabama, and at present also provides services 

in Southeastern Mississippi and the greater 

Pensacola area. In 1986, Esther Kreider of 

Birmingham gave money to purchase the 

present home of PPA through her father, 

Joseph Sunnen’s Foundation in St. Louis. The 

Sunnen Foundation has continued to fund 

PPA up to the present time. 

Another important aspect was sexuality 

education, including establishing a statewide 

800 number for the “Facts of Life Line,” 

mother/daughter workshops, and a 

speakers bureau. 

In the mid 1990s, under the leadership 

of Executive Director Larry Rodick, the 

affiliate received numerous awards for 

excellence from the Planned Parenthood 

Federation of America, including the 

Fairchild Award for exemplary conformity 

with the national standards of affiliation, 

clinical and social research, and clinical 

service expansion. 

The current budget for PPA is $1.8 million, 

serving 6,000 patients a year. The 

organization, originally all volunteer until the 

early 1960s, has grown to six clinics in three 

states by 2006. PPA is nonprofit and provides 

services free or at reduced cost to its clientele. 

It has improved the lives of women and 

children for seventy-seven years. 

✧ 

Above: Health on Wheels, aka, "The Bus," 

c. 1970. 

Below: Mr. and Mrs. Charles Zukoski, Jr. 


223

CITY OF LEEDS 

✧ 

Below: Matinee at the Arts Council Old 

Town Downtown Leeds. 

Opposite, top: Rowan House at Rowan Oaks 

at Leeds, c. 1904. 

Opposite, middle: Jonathan Bass House 

Museum, c. 1863. 

Opposite, bottom: Little Cahaba River, 

119 Leeds. 

Geography, geology and the War of 1812 

brought pioneers to Leeds, and those same 

intrinsic assets are promising to the pioneers 

of Leeds’ future. 

Most Alabamians think of Indian Wars 

when they hear 1812. Throughout the Little 

Cahaba watershed, this war and its politics 

were largely responsible for pioneer 

settlement along the Cahaba Road. The 

fighting brought people from three cultures to 

pursue a common interest. They came to 

Leeds by path, by road and by railroad, and 

formed one city from three cultures. 

Cherokees came on the Cahaba Trail, an 

Indian path. One of the first settlements, in 

the southern end of St. Clair County east of 

downtown Leeds, was Ohanafeefee, where 

John Stewart, a Cherokee, settled before the 

Trail of Tears. 

John’s son, Jeremiah, came home from the 

Seminole war with a bride, a Seminole 

princess. They made their log home on landgrant 

property near Stewart’s Crossroads and 

brought up a family. 

Their son, Dave, was a Methodist circuit 

rider who served churches along and west of 

State Highway 119 in Jefferson County. Dave 

preached a 1928 revival that resulted in the 

building of the Little Rock Church, now 

Century Church on Highway 119 in Leeds. 

The Stewarts left some Leeds residents with 

legitimate claims to Cherokee royalty. 

By 1820 the Indian path became a road 

that brought more pioneers. Andrew Jackson 

and his Tennessee Volunteers came during the 

War of 1812. His supply wagons needed 

roads to accommodate their width. The 

Cahaba Road was formed out of a wilderness 

path to facilitate mule-drawn wagons and lay 

the means for Europeans to settle Leeds. 

Early European settlers included the 

first sheriff of Shelby County and some of 

his contemporaries. In 1821, James Hamilton 

lived in Cedar Grove, Shelby County. Before he 

died, Hamilton’s land was in Jefferson County. 

One of Hamilton’s neighbors, William 

Cameron, was the second postmaster of 

Cedar Grove. Cameron, however, was a 

nearer neighbor to Henry Little; whose log home 

still fronts Highway 119. Across the road to the 

southwest is the Mitchell Pool Century farm. 

Pool’s great, great grandfather John Witherspoon 

signed the Declaration of Independence. 

Colonel James Hamilton and his 

contemporaries were among the first of the 

first-generation Americans born to parents 

who had declared independence in the first 

decade of America’s history as a sovereign 

nation. They were Presbyterians from 

Scotland and Ireland. 

By 1874 former African American slaves 

freed by the Scott, Rowan, Little and McDanal 

families started a farming community at Scott 

City and built Mount Pleasant Baptist Church 

on land given by the former slave owners. 

Early members were Stafford Scott, Peter 

Little, Sandy Little, Dinah Jones, Mary 

Herring and Ruben Vann. 

The railroad pioneers came in the 1880s 

and brought hard-working African-American 


224

ailroad men, and these two groups joined 

others to build the little city of Leeds. Cicero 

Davis brought his family. The Marburys, 

Williamses, Polks, Jeralds, Harrises and 

Beasons are Davis’ descendents. 

In 1907 the Industrial Revolution was a 

phenomenon in Leeds. The original cement 

plant in Leeds, the Georgia Pacific Railroad, 

and the Central of Georgia Railroad brought a 

new population. The principal survey of 

Leeds was entered into Jefferson County Map 

Book 10, page 21 in 1908. Leeds was on the 

map for the first time because geography and 

geology brought the Industrial Revolution to a 

farming community. 

Almost 200 years later, in 2005, the 

National Scenic Byways program announced 

the stagecoach route at Leeds as Alabama’s 

newest scenic byway. Alabama Scenic Byways 

Commission and Alabama announced in 

2007 that Leeds again was on the map—the 

Roadmaps of America, featured for its 

Stagecoach Route that remains as it was in 

1812, a crossroads to Alabama. 

In the new millennium, more than thirtythree 

historic homes, businesses, churches 

and cemeteries appear on the eight-mile 

byway through Leeds. They display county, 

state and national markers. Leeds Historical 

Society opens to the public, by appointment, 

Rowan House Stagecoach Stop at state 

Highway 119 and Elliott Lane. The Leeds 

Historical Society’s Bass House Museum 

(circa1863-1865) at Highway 119 and Leslie 

Street is now open to the public on 

Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on 

Sundays from 1:30 to 4 p.m. 

The stagecoach road through Leeds travels 

beside the Little Cahaba River when not 

crossing it. Among the Cahaba Valley’s 

historic treasures are American Indian 

archives and horse and cattle farms. Historic 

homes, churches, businesses, and cemeteries 

cluster to form the city of Leeds. 

Ultimately, Leeds, with its history and 

scenic beauty, is “Central Park” to largely 

urban Jefferson County. It is a getaway 

for those who love nature and a smalltown 

atmosphere but also like the cultural 

and social events of a large city with 

arts, a zoo, theater and more. The scenic 

byway threads itself through the landscape, 

knitting a promising tourism package for the 

Leeds area. 


225

MELIOR- 

DELAWARE, 

INC. 

Melior-Delaware, Inc. (aka 

Melior, Inc. in Alabama) was 

originally incorporated in 1994 as 

the International Automotive 

Service Institute (IASI). It was 

organized by a group of community 

colleges that were members of the 

International Association of General 

Motors Automotive Service Educational 

Program (IAGMASEP or ASEP). This group of 

fifty-six colleges provided a cooperative 

education program with General Motors that 

trained and placed students specializing in 

automotive technology with dealerships. 

Bessemer Tech was one of these colleges. 

The founding Board of Directors included 

representatives from GM, Bessemer Tech 

(Bessemer, Alabama), Delta College (Saginaw, 

Michigan), Brookhaven College (Farmer’s 

Branch, Texas), and the College of Southern 

Idaho (Twin Falls, Idaho). The purpose of the 

new corporation was to market the 

capabilities of “GM trained” college 

instructors to vehicle fleets, thereby enabling 

colleges to access another source of funds. 

Shortly after incorporating, IASI received a 

request from GM to provide contracted 

automotive technology instructors at GM 

Training Centers and subsequently for 

aftermarket training in the field. 

In 1998, IASI changed its name to Melior 

Institute. In 1998, Melior attempted to 

diversify by implementing a nontraditional 

Associates Degree Program in Automotive 

Technology. This was an online program that 

included experiential credit for documented 

course-related experience designed by a 

representative of the Council for Adult and 

Experiential Learning. The online format was 

similar to that used by the University of 

Phoenix. Several automotive courses were 

licensed from General Motors and pre-tested 

by potential students in several countries. The 

response was positive. Based on the increase 

in automotive technology, it seemed logical 

that working technicians would endorse a 

self-paced program that provided material on 

a 24/7 basis and earn a degree in the process. 

Advertising in an automotive journal 

launched the new program and nearly 2,800 

inquiries were received. The program was 

launched in September 1999, and the 

enrollment totaled seven. Based on this low 

enrollment, the tuitions were returned and 

the program closed. Melior Institute 

continued the online training as a customerdriven, 

non-credit activity. Snap-on 

Corporation sponsored Melior development 

of online training for several of the Snap-on 

diagnostic tools. Melior also developed and 

hosted a website for Snap-on for this purpose. 

Given the failure in the online adult 

education market, staff noted that the 

younger generation was more responsive to 

computer based “interactive” training, and a 

decision was made to target this market. 

However, to develop the material and 

infrastructure, funds were needed. Since the 

tax-exempt status of Melior Institute could 

not result in investment-based funding, the 

IRS was asked to withdraw tax-exempt status 

and convert the organization to a “for profit” 

tax-paying entity. In this way, the corporation 

could raise money from investors. 

The IRS refused to withdraw tax-exempt 

status, so a new taxable entity was created 

called Melior-Delaware, Inc. (aka Melior, Inc. 


226

in Alabama). Melior Institute was renamed 

Professional College of Melior Institute 

(PCMI). In 2002, Melior-Delaware raised 

funds and purchased the assets of PCMI. 

In view of PCMI’s assets, the new Board of 

PCMI requested a letter ruling from the IRS 

that would designate PCMI as a “foundation” 

so that it could make contributions to 

charitable organizations. (The IRS has not 

responded to this request in three and onehalf 

years—the request is still pending). 

The GM contract instructor headcount of 

MD reached seventy-five staff members in 

October 2005. In December the activities of 

twenty-three staff members were moved to 

Raytheon, resulting in a drop of revenue. 

Meanwhile, the online component was 

expanding by building courses for high school 

and community college career-focused students. 

These courses were based in automotive 

technology and supported by a sophisticated 

Learning Management System on a new site, 

www.todaysclass.com. Unlike the earlier 

approach, the new material was developed in 

Adobe Flash so as to be “gamelike” and 

interesting to students. The LMS enabled 

instructors to control enrollment, track student 

progress, and require students to print 

embedded lab sheets and course summaries. 

In the 2004-05 school year, 80 schools and 

2,800 students participated. In the 2005-06 

school year, 220 schools, 6,800 students 

participated and students were enrolled in 

over 28,000 modules. By November 2006 

over 500 schools and 11,000 students were 

active in nearly 30,000 online modules. MD 

has offered free access through the State 

Department of Education in Alabama, but no 

action has been taken. MD has involved 

several Alabama schools directly. The 

exploding growth in this market is changing 

the nature of the corporation. Expansion of 

online material has been planned in several 

areas: culinary, cosmetology, healthcare, and 

sixth to twelfth grade remedial math. 

The president of Melior is Dr. Rod L. Boyes. 

The core team includes David Mitchell, vice 

president of operations for the GM 

contract; Michael Joachim, vice president 

of operations/technical support; Bryon McCool, 

vice president of information technology; Tom 

Richardson, vice president of marketing; Emily 

Skelton, human resources manager; and Karen 

Burnham, controller. 

Melior’s headquarters are located at One 

Perimeter Park South, Suite 450 North in 

Birmingham, Alabama, on the Internet 

at www.melioronline.com or by calling 

205-298-8300. 


227

TANNEHILL 

IRONWORKS 

HISTORICAL 

STATE PARK 

✧ 

Above: Tannehill Ironworks ruins, from the 

American Chemical Society Convention 

Program, Birmingham, Alabama, 1920. 

Bottom, left: Iron & Steel Museum of 

Alabama. In addition to its own extensive 

collection, the museum features exhibits on 

loan from the Henry Ford Museum and the 

Washington Navy Yard. 

Bottom, right: A historical marker placed by 

the Alabama Historical Association. 

As one of Alabama’s earliest industrial sites, 

history reverberates through the ore rich 

Appalachian hills and mountain ridges of 

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. 

Reminders of the past are everywhere, along 

still-visible tramways leading to long 

abandoned ore mines and beside the rushing 

waters of scenic creeks where iron workers 

cooled their feet on a hot summer’s day. 

Rock heaps remaining from Civil War era 

factories and houses of the workers who 

labored in them dot the countryside begging 

archaeologists to uncover their secrets. 

When cotton was king and Andrew 

Jackson was president, Daniel Hillman built a 

bloomery at this place in 1830. Its twin stacks 

marked the beginning of the Birmingham Iron 

and Steel District. In the late 1850s, Hillman’s 

Forge was expanded by Moses Stroup into the 

first of three tall stone blast furnaces, which 

produced tons of pig iron for Confederate 

shot, shell and military needs. 

A major producer of Confederate iron, the 

works at Tannehill invited federal attack. Three 

companies of the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, a part of 

Wilson’s Raid into the state, torched the works 

on March 31, 1865, just nine days before 

Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. 

It remained an industrial ruin until 

transformed into a state historical park by the 

Alabama Legislature in 1969. Today, it spans 

1,500 acres at the corners of Jefferson, 

Tuscaloosa and Bibb Counties and attracts over 

450,000 visitors a year. The Tannehill Furnaces 

are among the best preserved Civil War-era 

ironworks in the United States and are listed on 

the National Register of Historic Places. 

In 1976, as part of the National 

Bicentennial celebration, Furnace No. 1 was 

re-fired for an actual run of iron. The 

Smithsonian Institution said it was the first 

time an iron furnace, out of blast for over a 

century, had ever been recharged. 

The Tannehill site is also home to the Iron 

& Steel Museum of Alabama, a southeastern 

regional interpretive center on iron making in 

the 1800s, the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill, the 

May Plantation Cotton Gin House, and more 

than forty-five other historical buildings of 

nineteenth and early twentieth century origin. 

Find it just below Bessemer off I-59/20 at 

Exit 100 (Bucksville). The Tannehill Parkway 

leads travelers into one of Alabama’s largest 

Civil War historical sites. 


228

VIRGINIA 

SAMFORD 

THEATRE 

Since 1927, a Romanesque playhouse on 

South Twenty-Sixth Street at Caldwell Park 

has been the center of theatrical life in 

Birmingham. The playhouse began as The 

Little Theatre, later became known as The 

Clark Memorial Theatre and Town & Gown 

Theatre, and is still alive and stronger than 

ever as the Virginia Samford Theatre. 

From 1927, through the Depression, and 

on into the early days of World War II, the 

Birmingham Little Theatre presented 

hundreds of first-rate performances and 

played a starring role in the cultural life of 

Birmingham. People from every part of the 

city and every walk of life worked side-byside 

as actors, costumers, and stagehands. 

The theatre became so popular that, in 1940, 

a New York newspaper declared it one of “the 

ten leading Little Theatres in the nation.” 

The theatre was forced to close during the 

cut-backs of World War II, and the lights 

stayed dark until 1950, when a group of 

theatre lovers connected with the University 

of Alabama at Birmingham began looking for 

a place to perform. James Hatcher, a speech 

instructor at UAB, led the effort to revive 

community theatre under the auspices of the 

university. These efforts led to development of 

the Town & Gown Theatre. 

The theatre was purchased by the 

C. Powell Noland family in the mid-fifties and 

donated to UAB. The Little Theatre was 

renamed Clark Memorial Theatre in memory 

of Mrs. Noland’s father, General Louis V. 

Clark, who was instrumental in construction 

of the original theatre in 1927. 

Over the next forty-five years, Town & Gown 

Theatre presented plays to enthusiastic 

Birmingham audiences in Clark Theatre. The 

theatre helped launch the careers of such 

notables as Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green 

Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café, Philip Alford, 

who starred in the movie To Kill a Mockingbird, 

and current Broadway actress Rebecca Luker. 

In 1999, UAB announced plans to close the 

theatre, and it appeared a beloved Birmingham 

landmark was about to be destroyed. However, 

the Metropolitan Arts Council stepped forward 

to restore the landmark building, and the 

theatre was given a new name, Virginia Samford 

Theatre. The name honors Virginia Samford 

Donovan, the generous supporter who 

provided the funds to MAC for the purchase. 

The Virginia Samford Theatre now presents 

a full schedule of theatre, music, and dance 

events each season. In 2006 a new addition to 

the theatre became reality with the Martha 

Moore Sykes Studio, an intimate ninetyseat 

performance space, rehearsal room, and 

event facility. 

For additional information, check the 

website at www.virginasamfordtheatre.org. 


229

GREENBRIAR AT 

THE ALTAMONT 

✧ 

Greenbriar at the Altamont is located 

at 2831 Highlands Avenue in 


Greenbriar at the Altamont, located in the 

heart of one of Birmingham’s most beautiful, 

historic areas, offers a unique approach to 

retirement living. Unlike other senior living 

communities, Greenbriar provides a true 

neighborhood experience with leisurely 

sidewalks, charming streetlights, quiet parks 

and gently restored historic homes only a 

short stroll away. 

Under the ownership of Noland Health 

Services, Greenbriar at the Altamont has been 

preserved and completely renovated, and 

continues its heritage as a long-cherished 

Birmingham tradition. 

The history of Greenbriar at the Altamont 

began in 1925 when the Altamont 

Apartment/Hotel was opened in a classy new 

building on Highland Avenue. Developers of 

the Altamont sought to attract those who 

desired luxury, comfort, privacy, a wholesome 

environment, and accessibility to the city’s 

commercial district. 

Built in the Classical Revival style, The 

Altamont is an impressive structure; a sevenstory, 

brick and limestone building arranged 

in an H-plan around a central front courtyard. 

The first two stories are faced in limestone, 

which flank the front courtyard and include 

two storefront bays. 

The classic design, state-of-the-art 

construction, and one of the most fashionable 

addresses in town all but guaranteed the 

Altamont’s success. Within eight months of its 

opening, ninety-four percent of its 121 units 

were occupied. 

The economic depression of the 1930s, 

however, hit the Altamont hard, and the 

owners were forced to declare bankruptcy in 

1931. The apartment/hotel remained open, 

but operated under reduced circumstances 

over the next several years. 

New owners acquired the building following 

World War II, and the structure was completely 

remodeled in 1947 and flourished for the next 

fifteen years. By the 1960s, however, the 

neighborhood was in decline as residents 

moved from the central city to the suburbs. 

The Altamont’s resurgence began in 1989, 

when the facility was again renovated, became 

certified as a healthcare facility, and began 

operation as a retirement center. The 

Altamont’s purchase by Noland Health Services 

in 2002 gave new life to the distinguished 

structure, which now provides a fresh 

approach to complete retirement living that is 

not only exquisite, but surprisingly affordable. 

Greenbriar at the Altamont offers spacious, 

private apartments for independent living 

residents. In addition, assisted living 

accommodations allow residents to enjoy the 

independence of their own apartment, while 

knowing they have special assistance from a 

caring staff when needed. The skilled nursing 

area provides short term rehabilitation 

services, as well as experienced, caring, 

around-the-clock nursing care for residents. 

Under the ownership of Noland Health 

Services, a tradition of good living continues. 

Greenbriar at the Altamont invites you to visit 

its exciting, newly energized community. 

Open the door to Greenbriar at the Altamont, 

and you will know you are part of something 

truly special. 


230

In 1886, Dr. John Herbert Phillips, 

superintendent of schools, saw the need to 

provide books to the Birmingham community 

and established the city’s first library. This 

original collection contained 300 books 

donated from private libraries and was located 

in a renovated reception room of the Wright 

Building in downtown Birmingham for the 

use of high school students and their teachers. 

The idea of a public library, where ordinary 

citizens could borrow a book for a few days, 

took root, and, by 1890, the library’s 

collection had grown to 2,000 volumes. At 

this point the library was moved to the Enslen 

Building, where the books were made 

available to the public for a small yearly fee. 

The library moved to the fourth floor of 

Birmingham City Hall in 1907, and the first 

professionally-trained librarian, Lila May 

Chapman, was hired. Chapman was hired 

initially for a six-month period but ended up 

staying for thirty-eight years. 

The library continued to grow in resources 

and popularity, but disaster struck when 

City Hall caught fire in 1925 and the library 

was destroyed. 

Birmingham citizens responded to the 

tragedy with a mammoth fundraising drive 

for a new library, which was reestablished in a 

limestone building decorated with the murals 

of artist Ezra Winter. 

In 1984 a modern building was 

constructed across the street and connected 

by a crosswalk over Twenty-first Street. The 

older building was renovated to house 

the library’s special collections and renamed 

the Linn-Henley Research Library. The Linn- 

Henley building was added to the National 

Register of Historic Places in 2002. 

Today, the Birmingham Public Library 

operates nineteen branches within the City of 

Birmingham and provides a wide array of 

research services, special collections and 

computer-based resources, in addition to 

hundreds of thousands of books on almost 

any topic imaginable. 

Researchers have published more than 200 

books based on the library’s extensive archival 

and manuscript collection. Books, films, 

television, and radio programs researched in 

the archives have won four Pulitzer Prizes, a 

Peabody Award, an Emmy Award, and an 

Academy Award. Others have been nominated 

for three Pulitzer Prizes, two Academy 

Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a 

National Book Award. 

The Birmingham Public Library is noted 

for its special collections, which include 

Southern history and literature with an 

emphasis on genealogical research and local 

history. There is an extensive map collection; 

rare book collections containing the unique, 

scarce, and valuable; and a collection of 

newspapers on film dating from the 1880s, 

including the complete run of the 

Birmingham News. 

The Birmingham Public Library provides a 

website at www.bplonline.org with an online 

catalog, BPL blog, and digital content from 

the archives and Southern history, and 

downloadable audio books. Free WiFi and 

public computers are also available at all 

Birmingham Public Library locations. 

BIRMINGHAM 

PUBLIC 

LIBRARY 

✧ 

Birmingham Public Library, exploring the 

future, preserving the past. 


231

✧ 

The Birmingham Financial District, 2007. 

Shown are (from left to right) Regions Plaza 

(built 1976), Regions Center (1989), 

AmSouth Harbert Plaza (1989) and the 

Financial Center (1982). 

COURTESY OF JOHN MORSE, BHAMWIKI. 


232

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

THE MARKETPLACE 

Birmingham’s financial institutions, 

Daniel Metals, Inc. 

service industries, and retail and 

commercial establishments provide the 

economic foundation of the region 

CapitalSouth Bank ......................................................................234 

Edwards Chevrolet Company.........................................................236 

Tutwiler Hotel............................................................................238 

Dunn Investment Company ...........................................................240 

Microtel Inn & Suites ..................................................................242 

Mitchell Brothers ........................................................................244 

Eastern Valley Drugs...................................................................246 

Dandy RV Sales..........................................................................248 

Comfort Inn & Suites - Trussville ..................................................249 

Cassady & Self Glass Co., Inc. .....................................................250 

Latta Plumbing Company .............................................................251 

Bruce Office Supply, Inc. .............................................................252 

Shaw Warehouse Company............................................................253 

F&S Equipment and Supplies, Inc..................................................254 

Forstman & Cutchen, LLP ............................................................255 

PPX Imaging, Inc........................................................................256 

Myers Auto Collision Repair, Inc. ..................................................257 

Hampton Inn–Bessemer................................................................258 

Complete Benefit Alliance, LLC.....................................................259 

Bresco.......................................................................................260 

IMS ..........................................................................................261 

Hampton Inn 

Homestead Suites- 

Studio Plus 

Lewis Investment 

Company 

Lindsey Office 

Furnishings 

SHARING THE HERITAGE • THE MARKETPLACE 

233

CAPITALSOUTH 

BANK 

✧ 

Above: CapitalSouth Bank and 

corporate offices. 

Below: The CapitalSouth Bank management 

team. Back row (from left to right): Richard 

T. Perdue, Huntsville city president; W. 

Flake Oakley, CapitalSouth Bancorp 

president; William D. Puckett, II, 

Birmingham city president. Front row (from 

left to right): Carol W. Marsh, chief 

financial officer; W. Dan Puckett, chairman 

and chief executive officer; John E. 

Bentley, president and chief operating 

officer of CapitalSouth Bank; John P. 

Ronan, Montgomery city president; 

Daniel W. Gibson, Chief Credit Officer. 

Not pictured:Fred Coble, Jacksonville 

city president. 

The current history of the bank began in 

1992 when Bank of Alabama was acquired by 

Financial Investors of the South, Inc., a group 

of investors led by W. Dan Puckett, former 

president of Compass Bank. The bank 

holding company’s name was changed in 

2005 to CapitalSouth Bancorp and the bank 

itself to CapitalSouth Bank. 

Begun as a community bank in Fultondale 

in 1975 known as Bank of Alabama, 

CapitalSouth Bank has grown into one of the 

South’s fastest growing business-oriented 

banks with ten locations in two states and 

over $700 million in assets. 

The company currently has four banking 

offices in Birmingham, one in Huntsville, two 

in Montgomery and three in Jacksonville, 

Florida. Two additional banking offices are 

under construction, one in Huntsville and 

another in Jacksonville. 

Primarily a business bank, CapitalSouth 

focuses on metropolitan markets. Long range 

plans call for expansion to other southeastern 

cities, likely through acquisitions. In 

September 2007, the company acquired 

Monticello Bank, a $230 million thrift located 

in Jacksonville, Florida. 

Traditionally, CapitalSouth has been active 

in real estate and business lending. Its lending 

history includes residential and commercial 

construction, term lending on owneroccupied 

and income producing property, 

and lending for most commercial purposes. It 

is also active in church lending, loans 

to municipalities, and other political 

subdivisions, as well as originating 

commercial loans for investors. 

While focused on commercial projects, the 

bank recently gained an important niche in 

the Birmingham market by reaching out to 

the city’s rapidly growing Hispanic 

population. It became the first bank in the 

state to open a branch catering directly to the 

needs of Hispanics. 

Largely without banking services, this 

segment of the population had historically 

made use of high cost alternatives such 

as check cashing stores and high cost 

money transfers. 

“We felt,” said Puckett, “there was a long 

term opportunity to learn from this 

experience and provide more normal banking 

services to this community. As result, we have 

been rewarded with thousands of clients.” 

In 2004 the bank opened a new branch in 

the heart of the Hispanic community, called 

Banco Hispano, staffed with bilingual 

bankers. All of its regular services are offered 

plus a few especially designed for use of 

newly-arrived workers. All bank documents, 

advertisements, and instructions are written 

in Spanish. 

“From the beginning,” Puckett said, “we 

made the commitment to teach those that 

were un-banked how to bank. We visited the 

workplace, churches, schools, and soccer 

fields to carry the message of safety and 

money management.” 

The bank also advertised on Hispanic 

radio and in local Hispanic newspapers 

and scheduled outreach sessions to 

teach interested clients about the entire 

banking process. 


234

Greater Birmingham’s Hispanic population 

continues to grow, expanding from 4,144 in 

1990 to 18,657 in 2000 and to an estimated 

25,343 in 2007. 

CapitalSouth’s headquarters building is 

located over-the-mountain just off the Red 

Mountain Expressway in Birmingham. The bank 

has been a tenant in the building located next to 

the Embassy Suites Hotel at 2340 Woodcrest 

Place since 1994. It acquired the building in 

2005. The 25,000 square foot building 

underwent extensive renovation in 2007. 

This banking center houses both a separate 

branch and offices for corporate functions. 

While Puckett serves as its Chairman of the 

Board and Chief Executive Officer, founding 

directors for the holding company selected in 

1991 also included H. Bradford Dunn, 

Stanley L. Graves, Charles K. McPherson and 

David W. Wood, II. Joining the holding 

company board later were W. Flake Oakley 

and James Bowen. 

In addition to Puckett, Dunn, Graves, 

McPherson and Wood on the bank board are 

Dr. Robert L. Baldwin, Fred D. Clark, Jr., Felix 

M. Drennen, III, Mark A. Froehlich, Palmer 

W. Norris, Fred G. Nunnelley, Foy H. Tatum 

and Irby J. Thompson. Norris was one of 

the founding directors of the original bank 

in Fultondale. 

Puckett spent most of his career prior to 

CapitalSouth at Compass Bank. After almost 

twenty years there and rising to the position 

of president, he left to form CapitalSouth 

Bancorp. Like Puckett, all of the senior 

officers of the bank have received their 

training at large banks. Although not 

required, management feels this kind of 

background is constructive for its plan to 

operate as a large bank in the future. 

Joining Puckett in key leadership roles are 

W. Flake Oakley, president, CapitalSouth 

Bancorp; John E. Bentley, president, 

CapitalSouth Bank; H. Fred Coble, Jr., City 

president, Jacksonville; Daniel W. Gibson, 

senior vice president and chief credit officer; 

Carol W. Marsh, senior vice president and 

chief financial officer; Richard T. Perdue, city 

president, Huntsville; William D. Puckett, II, 

city pesident, Birmingham; and John P. 

Ronan, city president, Montgomery. 

When the bank was acquired in 1992, the 

market in Birmingham was dominated by the 

large regional banks headquartered there: 

AmSouth, Regions, SouthTrust and Compass. 

The founders of CapitalSouth felt an opportunity 

existed to offer more personalized service, 

especially to the small business community. 

Further, the economy was just coming out 

of a real estate recession, and the tight lending 

environment made it difficult to borrow 

money in Birmingham on real estate. This 

offered CapitalSouth an opportunity to grow 

loans. From that point on, loan growth has 

been key to the bank’s success. 

CapitalSouth has successfully competed 

against the large banks. Over the years, it has 

also added new products and expertise, such 

as on-line banking and remote deposit 

capture. Of the bank holding companies 

headquartered in Birmingham, CapitalSouth 

now ranks in the top six. 

✧ 

Above: The CapitalSouth Bank Board of 

Directors. Back row (from left to right): 

Fred D. Clark, Jr., H. Bradford Dunn, Felix 

M. Drennen, III; Dr. Robert L. Baldwin. 

Front row (from left to right): David W. 

Wood, II; W. Dan Puckett, Stanley L. 

Graves, Irby J. Thompson, Mark A. 

Froehlich and Fred G. Nunnelley, III. Not 

pictured: Charles K. McPherson, Foy H. 

Tatum, Palmer W. Norris, James C. Bowen, 

and W. Flake Oakley. 

Below: CapitalSouth Bank’s founding 

directors in 1991 (from left to right): 

H. Bradford Dunn, David W. Wood, II, 

Stanley L. Graves, W. Dan Puckett, and 

Charles K. McPherson. 


235

EDWARDS 

CHEVROLET 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: Edwards Chevrolet’s third location 

at Sixteenth Street and Third Avenue North 

(1928-1944). 

Below: Lee (III), Lee, and Leon Edwards. 

Automobile history can be 

told in the story of William 

Sterling Edwards, Jr., who set out 

to find his own American dream 

nearly a century ago. 

Edwards came to Birmingham 

in 1911, riding a motorcycle 

from Gadsden, a motorcycle he 

purchased and rebuilt himself 

because he could not afford a 

car. The young man left home 

without finishing high school, 

hitting the road to find a job so 

he could support his ailing parents. 

His journey is a uniquely American tale, as 

Edwards found his dream in Birmingham, 

with some help from Louis Chevrolet himself. 

When Edwards arrived in town, he found 

work at a local bank and attended Massey 

Business School at night to further his 

prospects. He slept at the local YMCA. 

From the start, Edwards wanted to sell 

cars. He got his chance in the auto business 

in 1912 when he was hired by Brownell 

Ford. Edwards sold Fords successfully in 

Ensley from 1912 to 1915 and operated his 

own Ford dealership in Gadsden from 1914 

to 1916. 

Edwards managed to save $6,000 in four 

years—a kingly sum for the time. With that 

amount in hand, Edwards started his own 

Chevrolet dealership on August 5, 1916, in a 

small building on Birmingham’s bustling 

Twenty-First Street. The dealership was small, 

and the three employees included Edwards, a 

mechanic, and a janitor. 

From this humble beginning grew a 

business that has sustained itself for 

more than ninety years, with the promise 

of a fourth generation in the children of 

Lee Edwards, the son of present owner 

Leon Edwards. 

“My father lived the American dream,” 

said Leon of the company’s founder. “He 

started with nothing, but made something 

of nothing with hard work and an 

entrepreneurial spirit.” 

Returning in 1919 from service in World 

War I, Edwards found an increased demand 

for new Chevrolets. Edwards’ response was to 

open two sales branches—one in Ensley, 


236

another in Bessemer—and moved the service 

operations to a three-story building at 120 

Third Avenue North. The western area 

branches closed amid a depressed economy in 

the early 1920s, leaving the Edwards’ business 

concentrated downtown, where it still 

operates today. 

As the economy began to improve, the 

company moved in 1928 to Sixteenth Street 

and Third Avenue North, a larger building 

with 65,000 square feet of floor space. Here it 

continued to weather economic storms, 

including the Great Depression, and the 

temporary halt to production of new vehicles 

when the U.S. entered World War II. Used car 

sales and service, gas and tires were the breadand-butter 

of the business at that time, 

according to Leon. 

Edwards continued to build toward the 

future, starting construction in 1944 on a new 

building at 1400 Third Avenue North. 

Economic challenges continued, including 

another recession in the early 1960s, but the 

most devastating setback was to come March 

4, 1966, when a fire broke out in a storage 

room in the main building. The fire left 

extensive damage to the building, especially 

in the office and showroom. 

Edwards turned the disaster into a positive 

situation by rebuilding and making the 

facility state-of-the-art. 

The Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s 

and the recession of the early 1980s, marked 

by high interest rates and high 

unemployment, forced many dealerships 

around the country to close, but Edwards 

continued to grow and prosper. In 1988 the 

company bought more land across the street, 

expanded the used car sales lot, and built a 

new truck and used car sales building. 

Expansion goes on at Edwards Chevrolet, 

as the company has opened a second 

location on Highway 280, across from the 

Lee Branch Shopping Center at the foot of 

Double Oak Mountain. 

This year, Edwards reaches another 

milestone, celebrating ninety years in 

business in downtown Birmingham. The 

company remains one of the oldest familyowned 

Chevrolet dealerships in the United 

States and one of the few still located 

downtown, at Fourteenth Street and Third 

Avenue North. 

✧ 

Above: Edwards Chevrolet’s first location at 

Twenty-first Street South. 

Below: Sterling Edwards and Louis 

Chevrolet (founder), c. 1916. 


237

TUTWILER 

HOTEL 

The year was 1913, and Birmingham was 

growing in importance. However, George Gordon 

Crawford, president of Tennessee Coal, Iron and 

Railroad Company, complained to businessman 

Robert Jemison, Jr., that when friends and officers 

from U.S. Steel came to town there were no 

suitable accommodations available. 

“I have difficulty getting favorable 

consideration from U.S. Steel members because 

they spend most of their time complaining 

about inadequate hotel facilities,” Crawford said. 

Soon afterward, Jemison learned that Harvey 

G. Woodward was hoping to sell a lot on the 

southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and Twentieth 

Street; a lot bought for the sole purpose of 

preventing construction of a new office building 

that threatened to compete with Woodward’s 

other downtown properties. Jemison hallenged 

Crawford to join him in making the dream of a 

luxury hotel in Birmingham a reality and 

building the hotel on his property. “I believe 

you have called my bluff,” Crawford replied. 

Crawford assumed the duties of president 

of the new company while Jemison and 

W.P.G. Harding, president of First National 

Bank, were assigned to secure a mortgage for 

the hotel. They approached Major Edward 

Magruder Tutwiler, who had just sold his 

interest in the Tutwiler Coal and Coke 

Company. Major Tutwiler agreed to 

underwrite the mortgage bonds and asked 

that the hotel be called The Tutwiler. 

The Tutwiler opened its doors with great 

ceremony on June 15, 1914. Easter lilies filled 

the lobbies as Alabama’s leading citizens 

turned out in formal attire to see the new 

hotel, which was proclaimed the “Grand 

Dame of Southern Hotels.” 

From the beginning, the hotel was 

intended to be not only the best in 

Birmingham, but to compete with the best 

hotels in the country. Promotional brochures 

proclaimed that The Tutwiler, “Embodies 

every advanced thought that architectural 

ingenuity, aided by skilled labor, has so far 

devised.” The main lobby was large and 

elegant, and balconies overlooked the lobby 

from two mezzanine levels. The hotel’s 325 

rooms were equipped with bath or shower, 

fire alarms and telephones. Rates ranged from 

$1.50 for a single room without bath to $6.00 

for a double room with bath. 

✧ 

The Tutwiler Hotel opened in the summer of 

1914 as one of the grandest apartment 

buildings in the south. 


238

The hotel included a fabulous Grand 

Ballroom that could accommodate 1,200 

people, a feature which made Birmingham a 

center for meetings and conventions in the 

South. Among the organizations attracted to 

the elegant new hotel was the American Iron 

and Steel Institute, which agreed to hold its 

annual convention in Birmingham soon after 

the hotel opened. 

The Tutwiler soon became the hub of 

Birmingham business, social and political 

circles. Hundreds of celebrities, politicians 

and dignitaries walked through the doors 

of The Tutwiler, and history was often 

made there. Charles Lindbergh held a 1927 

press conference in the Louis XIV Suite; 

Tallulah Bankhead threw a rousing postwedding 

party in its Continental Rooms; and 

President Warren G. Harding slept at The 

Tutwiler the night before he helped celebrate 

Birmingham’s Semicentennial. A reviewing 

stand for the largest annual Veterans’ Day 

parade in the country was erected just outside 

The Tutwiler. 

Other distinguished guests over the years 

have included Will Rogers, First Lady Eleanor 

Roosevelt, opera star Mary Garden, Jeanette 

McDonald, Nelson Eddy, Walter Pigeon, Dr. 

Norman Vincent Peale, and Vice President 

Hubert Humphrey. More recently, Secretary 

of State Condoleeza Rice and former British 

Prime Minister Tony Blair have been guests at 

the hotel. 

The Tutwiler went through several 

major renovations during its first seven 

decades, including a move of several blocks 

to its current City Center location. However, 

the grand old hotel did not see major 

improvements until 1986, when new owners 

decided it was time to restore The Tutwiler to 

its status as the best hotel in Birmingham and 

one of the best in the country. 

In 2006, under the direction of Integral 

Hospitality Solutions President and Founder 

Bill Murray, restoration of the hotel to its 

rightful place as the city’s centerpiece for 

business and commerce began. 

The Tutwiler underwent a total 

transformation and preservation in 2007 and 

is now restored to its original grandeur. The 

historic architecture, including the building’s 

exterior, along with the polished marble 

floors, vaulted ceilings and soaring limestone 

columns all remain as reminders of The 

Tutwiler’s glorious days gone by. 

With its sweeping circular drive and 

exterior balconies, The Tutwiler—now a 

Hampton Inn & Suites Historic Hotel—is 

the perfect place for elegant guests 

and exciting events. A showplace in the heart 

of Birmingham’s business and financial 

district, The Tutwiler is only minutes away 

from the city’s cultural center and the Civil 

Rights Institute. 

For additional information about The 

Tutwiler, visit www.thetutwilerhotel.com on 

the Internet. 

✧ 

Tutwiler Hotel is located at 2120 Park Place 

North in Birmingham. 


239

DUNN INVESTMENT COMPANY 

The Dunn Companies began nearly 130 

years ago—in 1878—and are now in the fifth 

generation of continuous operation as a 

family owned and managed business. 

The story of the Dunn Companies is the story 

of hard work, values, perseverance, place and 

family. The organization began in 1878 when 

three brothers—Thomas, Evans, and Frederick 

Dunn—came together as construction engineers 

to assist in building the Richmond-Danville 

Railroad in Southwest Virginia. 

This job led the brothers farther south, first 

to North Carolina and then Columbus, 

Mississippi, where they were hired as the general 

contractors to build a portion of the Columbus 

& Greenville Railroad across central Mississippi 

in the early 1880s. The Dunn brothers moved 

their business to Birmingham about 1895 to be 

closer to a railroad project near Anniston and to 

begin work in Birmingham. 

When Thomas and Frederick left the region 

in the mid-1890s, Dunn Brothers Construction 

Company became simply Dunn Construction 

Company and was headed by Evans Johnson 

Dunn, who led the company until his death in 

1927. In that year he was succeeded by his son, 

William Ransom Johnson Dunn. Also in that 

year, Mississippi Materials Company was 

begun in Jackson as a producer of ready-mix 

concrete, and since that time it has developed 

into Mississippi’s largest concrete company and 

Dunn’s largest subsidiary. 

Today, Dunn’s lines of business include 

extensive ready-mix concrete operations, 

asphalt production and paving and related 

civil construction, industrial and commercial 

building construction, real estate, and 

securities investments. 

Its principal offices are in Birmingham 

and Jackson and Laurel, Mississippi, with 

other offices throughout Mississippi and 

also in Mobile, Alabama, and near 

Memphis, Tennessee. 

Currently, subsidiaries of Dunn Investment 

Company include Dunn Construction Company, 

Dunn Roadbuilders, Dunn Building Company, 

MMC Materials, Gulf Concrete, Reynolds Ready- 

Mix, and Dunn Real Estate. The Dunn 

Companies employ about 1,200 individuals. 

From its inception in 1878, Dunn 

Companies have succeeded by being smart, 

adaptable and diligent. The company has 

endured through two world wars, the worst 

economic depression of modern times in the 

1930s, the Cold War, and numerous recessions. 

Perhaps the most consistent line of business 

throughout Dunn’s history has been its expertise 

in building city and state roads and highways in 

the Southeast. When the nation made the 

transition from train travel to automobile travel 

in the early part of the twentieth century, Dunn 

also made the transition by erecting an asphalt 

plant in Birmingham in 1915. 

The South’s ‘reconstruction’ and 

modernization also required the construction of 


240

industrial, commercial, and municipal buildings, 

and Dunn Construction has been in that 

business since the mid-twentieth century. From 

Alabama Power’s power plant near Gadsden, 

Alabama, to many other industrial and 

commercial projects, the company has pursued 

multiple general contracting opportunities. 

During World War II, Dunn completed several 

large military projects, including the Millington 

Naval Airbase near Memphis. This $30 million 

project was completed in 1942, employed 7,500 

people at maximum, and earned the prestigious 

Army/Navy E Award. 

In 1948, W.R.J. Dunn died after twentyone 

years of leadership of the Dunn 

Companies, and he was succeeded by his son, 

W.R.J. Dunn, Jr. Billy Dunn continued to lead 

the business along the paths of concrete, 

asphalt, and building construction. In 1968, 

Billy’s son-in-law, James S. M. French, joined 

Dunn, and the two worked together along 

Dunn’s traditional business paths until Billy’s 

untimely death in 1977 at age fifty-nine. 

In the late 1970s, Dunn Investment 

Company was formed to serve as a holding 

company for the various operating 

subsidiaries and also to manage a growing 

portfolio of securities investments. During the 

1980s and 1990s, all the lines of business 

grew significantly except that in the late 

nineties a large portion of Dunn’s building 

business was sold to make the remaining 

building organization a better fit with Dunn’s 

other lines of business. In 2004, Dunn Real 

Estate was founded. 

In 2006, Jamie French stepped aside as 

chairman and CEO and was succeeded by 

James S. Overstreet, with Daniel L. Rodgers as 

president and COO. Jim and Danny are very 

ably supported by subsidiary presidents Craig 

Fleming at Dunn Construction, Rodney 

Grogan at MMC, Pepper Beckman at Dunn 

Roadbuilders, Andrew Edwards at Dunn 

Buildings, Mike Pepper at Gulf Concrete, and 

Chris Hoyt at Dunn Real Estate. In Dunn 

Investment, Will French serves as vicepresident 

and CFO, and Jamie French serves 

as vice chairman. While so many other 

businesses, public and private, family 

managed and non-family managed, continue 

to falter each year, the history of the Dunn 

Companies stands out as an exemplary story 

of successful generational transition. 

The Dunn Companies are proud of their 

construction heritage, employees, and 

collective accomplishments. With a tradition 

of quality work, high caliber personnel, and 

competitive costs, Dunn looks to the future 

with confidence. 

Dunn’s Statement of Values proclaims that: 

“Service to our customers, employees, 

communities and shareholders is the reason 

our businesses exist. In this service we deeply 

value honesty, excellence, and continuous 

improvement. We commit to work together 

fairly and safely, holding these values for the 

common good.” 


241

✧ 

MICROTEL INN 

& SUITES 

Bottom, Left: The breakfast area. 

Bottom, Right: The lobby. 

Microtel Inn & Suites, 850 

Odum Road in Gardendale, offers 

travelers a pleasant, comfortable 

home-away-from-home at an 

attractive rate. Conveniently 

located near Exit 271 (Fieldstown 

Road) on I-65, Microtel Inn & 

Suites is only ten miles from 

downtown Birmingham and near 

all types of restaurants and a Wal- 

Mart Super Center. 

Microtel Inn & Suites is 

operated by Jackson Hospitality 

Services, Inc. (JHS), a leading 

hotel development and management 

company based in Birmingham. JHS 

manages properties throughout the United 

States, ranging in size from limited service 

properties to full-service hotels. 

With more than twenty-five years in the 

hospitality business, JHS provides clients with 

exceptional experience based on an 

established reputation. At the core of the 

company, from its inception, has been a 

conscious purpose to provide service through 

integrity. It is this resounding mission by 

which JHS continues to operate today. 

At Microtel Inn & Suites the guests’ 

safety is first by offering interior access 

and electronic door locks as well as ADA 

compliant accessible rooms. Guests of 

Microtel Inn & Suites enjoy such features 

as free local and long distance telephone 

as well as free wireless high-speed 

Internet service. All suites and some 

doubles are equipped with microwaves, 

refrigerators, hairdryers, irons, and ironing 

boards, and coffeemakers. For entertainment, 

Microtel Inn & Suites offers full cable 

television with seventy channels, plus HBO 

and ESPN. A spacious outdoor pool provides 

a great place to relax and exercise. 

Microtel Inn & Suites also offers a 

Continental breakfast each morning in the 

spacious breakfast area and a meeting room 

with seating capacity for forty people. 

Microtel Inn & Suites is located near such 

popular attractions as Gardendale Soccer 

complex, Gardendale Civic Center and Mount 

Lassister Dragway. Located within just a short 

drive are McWane Center, BJCC Convention 

Center, Civil Rights Museum, University of 

Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama Sports Hall 

of Fame, Barber Motorsports Park, and City 

Stages. The famous Talladega Superspeedway, 

home of one of NASCAR’s most exciting races, 

is only forty miles away. 

Nearby restaurants include Jim & Nick’s 

Bar-B-Q, Fire Mountain, Subway, Ryan’s 

Steakhouse, Cracker Barrel and Zaxby’s, as 

well as McDonald’s. 


242

The success of JHS and the popularity 

of Microtel Inn & Suites lies in part 

with its seasoned management. Led by 

founder and Chairman Cory Jackson, Sr., 

and supported by sons Cory, Jr., and Neal, 

JHS is a team of experienced hotel 

professionals dedicated to providing 

excellent management for the properties 

it services. 

JHS was founded by Cory Jackson, Sr., in 

1977 as Jackson Motel Management 

Company. The roots of hospitality run 

deep in the Jackson family. Immediately 

after the Korean War, Jackson’s father had 

the vision to develop a new motor hotel 

along busy Highway 78 on Birmingham’s 

eastern side. The neat, white motel soon 

developed a reputation for cleanliness and 

service that turned Motel Birmingham into an 

Alabama landmark. 

Having worked in all aspects of the family 

operation, Cory Sr. had his first taste of hotel 

management at the Motel Birmingham. A 

mortgage banker by profession, Jackson 

founded Jackson Motel Management when 

the family’s mortgage banking business was 

sold in the late 1970s. 

Jackson went on to develop and manage 

several Sheraton and Holiday Inn properties 

in the Birmingham area during the 1970s, 

including the very successful Sheraton 

Mountain Brook Inn. 

Jackson Motel Management grew steadily 

through the 1980s, developing and operating 

many successful properties, including 

the landmark Sheraton Perimeter Park South 

in Birmingham and the Sheraton Capstone 

in Tuscaloosa. 

Jackson became involved in franchising 

during the mid-1980s, seeing the need for 

smaller hotels in niche markets around the 

Southeast. The chain, Key West Inns, has 

developed into a solid regional chain under 

Jackson’s leadership. 

In 1991, Jackson Motel Management 

Company became Jackson Hospitality 

Services, better representing the 

company’s general focus as it 

developed into a major national 

hotel management company. 

Now in its fourth decade, JHS’ 

growth and opportunities 

continue, allowing the company 

to marshal an ever-increasing 

resource of talent and experience 

to service its current and 

expanding portfolio. 

For additional information 

about Microtel Inn & Suites, please 

call 205-631-6320 or visit 

www.microtelinn.com. 

✧ 

Top, Left: A meeting room. 

Top, Right: The pool. 

Bottom: A double suite. 


243

MITCHELL 

BROTHERS 

✧ 

Gene and Una Mitchell family, August 

1963. Shown are (from left to right): 

Gene, Una, Boots, Jackie, Rosanell, 

Bob, Johnny, Jimmy, and Jerry. 

The family real estate enterprise known as 

‘Mitchell Brothers’ has been responsible for 

much of the new home construction and real 

estate development in the northwestern 

section of Birmingham since World War II. 

Through a number of business partnerships 

and company names, Boots, Bob, and Jim 

Mitchell have developed many well-known 

subdivisions and commercial ventures 

throughout the Birmingham area. 

The story of Mitchell Brothers actually 

began before World War II with the marriage 

of Gene and Una Mitchell. Gene, wanting a 

life outside the local coal mines or tin mill, 

purchased six acres on the then unpaved 

Highway 78 and built the Star Tourist Court. 

As the family got larger, the little business 

grew as well, soon expanding to consist of 

twenty cabins and a small café. Everyone in 

the family was expected to lend a hand; Dad 

worked on the cabins, Mom cooked; brothers 

William B. “Boots” and Robert R. “Bob” ran 

the counter and closed up nightly; two sisters 

served the customers and cleaned, while those 

too young to contribute sat in a crib in the 

corner, entertaining the customers. 

Having served in the Army during World 

War II, Boots returned to Birmingham with 

his young bride. After operating several 

businesses, including a hot dog stand and 

fireworks stand, Boots quickly realized he 

wanted something larger and conceived the 

idea for the “78 Motel.” With Bob’s help, Boots 

built the motel in 1948, using land and 

financing provided by his parents. In 1949, 

Bob graduated from high school and came to 

work full time at the tourist court, café and 

motel. This allowed Gene, Una, and the three 

youngest sons to move to Florida, leaving 

Boots and Bob to run the business. 

The Mitchell Brothers moved into real 

estate development in 1954 when Boots sold 

the motel and started the homebuilding 

business that he and Bob had long dreamed 

of. They laid out Chickasaw Drive and Apple 

Street on land owned by their father and built 

the company’s first house. Their fourth house 

was built for a veteran and financed with a VA 

loan. This experience, plus Jim’s later 

involvement in governmental affairs, proved 

invaluable on two later occasions, allowing 

the brothers to continue building using 

government financing in the 1960s when 

market interest rates exceeded the six percent 

usury rate, and again in the 1970s when rates 

reached double digits. 

As the Mitchells’ business grew, they built 

a service station on Forestdale Boulevard and, 

in 1958, Boots and Bob built the first of more 


244

than 750 rental apartments, a triplex in 

Ensley on a lot they had traded in on the sale 

of a new house. Trading became a routine way 

of making a deal work, and odd trades and 

deals became a joke around the company. 

Everything from beehives to motorcycles to 

other houses was traded. One sale was 

contingent upon the customer’s cat having 

kittens that could be sold to provide money 

for the down payment. 

The Mitchells formed Mitchell Real Estate 

Development Company in 1962 and began to 

buy real estate and develop subdivisions and 

commercial property. Among the projects 

developed during the sixties and seventies were 

Green Valley, Merrywood Estates, Forestdale 

Square Shopping Center, Tomahawk Estates, 

Longview Estates, Westwood Heights, Holiday 

Hills, Forestdale by the Brook, and Forestdale 

Mobile Home Community. In more recent 

years, Mitchell Brothers has been involved 

in manufacturing modular homes and has 

developed several shopping centers and home 

developments including Heather Ridge, 

Bagley Farms, Willow Bend, 100 Oaks and 

Westchester Estates. 

The third Mitchell brother, Jim, joined the 

family business in 1964; later they were joined 

by younger brother Jerry; then by Boot’s sons, 

Butch and Mike; Jim’s son, Jimbo; and Bob’s 

youngest son, Alan. Various other family 

members have worked in the company, 

including uncles, cousins, another brother, 

Johnny, and sister, Jacklyn. Despite what many 

refer to as “all those Mitchells,” the tenure of nonfamily 

employees is long, and turnover is low. 

Members of the Mitchell family have been 

deeply involved in civic and professional 

organizations in the 

Birmingham area, such 

as Lions Club, Jaycees, 

Home Builders Association, 

and Apartment Council. 

They have assisted the 

community in many ways, 

from the formation of the 

Jefferson County Inspection 

Department to local 

Forestdale and Merrywood 

Swim Clubs. They were 

involved in passage of a 

statewide Homebuilders License Law in 1992, 

and in recognition of their contributions to the 

building industry Mitchell Brothers Contractors, 

Inc. was awarded Alabama Homebuilder 

License #2. 

Currently, the three builder members 

of the organization—Mike Mitchell, Jimbo 

Mitchell and Alan Mitchell—build about sixty 

homes per year and employ about twenty 

people full time, with annual revenues of 

about $14 million. Butch has nine real estate 

agents, including his sons Jason and Josh, and 

annual sales of about $8 million. The 

investment and development companies 

employ eighteen persons and generate gross 

revenue of about $8 million per year. 

After having provided homes for more than 

3,000 families during an exciting forty-year 

period, the Mitchell Brothers have passed the 

hammers and saws to their sons, and plans are 

for the sons to pass the homebuilding tradition 

on to the fourth generation of Mitchells. 

✧ 

Above: Bob, Boots and Jim Mitchell, c. 1982. 

Below: John and Jim Mitchell at the Star 

Tourist Court Café in 1943. 


245

EASTERN 

VALLEY DRUGS 

✧ 

Above: Eastern Valley Drugs’ original 

location with new tenants. 

Below: Eastern Valley Drugs twenty years 

ago prior to additions. 

Charles Prickett worked for several 

Jefferson County pharmacies after graduation 

from Auburn University School of Pharmacy. 

However, Charles and his wife, Shirley 

Boutwell Prickett, always had a dream of 

owning their own pharmacy. After Shirley 

gave birth to twin sons, Kerry and Kenneth, 

and a daughter, Cheryl, looking for a 

pharmacy they could afford to buy became a 

family goal. 

After considering pharmacies for sale 

throughout central and northern Alabama, 

the Pricketts settled on Landers Pharmacy in 

the Eastern Valley area of Bessemer. The 

pharmacy building had been constructed in 

1954 and, after the owner died, the Pricketts 

were able to purchase the business from 

Landers’ sister, May Landers Adams. 

”Not having been raised in the Bessemer 

area and not being related to the Landers 

family, local people were curious as to how we 

ended up in this location,” says Shirley 

Prickett. The reasons were twofold; one, it 

was all we could afford, and, two, it was a 

very clean pharmacy.” 

Eastern Valley Drugs was organized in 

January 1967. This was followed by Medical 

Center Pharmacy at UAB West Hospital in 

1985 and Home Health Equipment in 1997. 

The Pricketts credit W.W. Walker, owner of 

Walker Wholesale Drug Co., along with his 

two sons, Bill and Jim, with helping get the 

new business established. 

Doc Prickett recalls that he would park his 

car at the front door in the early days to let 

customers know they were open for business. 

The Pricketts also had an unusual problem 

to contend with when they purchased the 

pharmacy. The former owner, for some 

unknown reason, refused to provide change 

for $20 bills. Since their previous experience 

had been with high-volume pharmacies, the 

Pricketts made sure they opened with 

plenty of change. Nevertheless, long-time 

customers were surprised when $20 bills were 

no longer refused. 

The pharmacy included an eight-foot long 

soda fountain where milk shakes, ice cream, 

and snow cones were dispensed, and many 

customers were attracted by the free coffee 

and conversation. This “free PR” helped 

establish Eastern Valley Drugs as a friendly 

place to meet friends and do business. 

As a family-owned pharmacy, many 

Prickett family celebrations were held in the 

drug store, including daughter Cheryl’s first 

birthday, which was celebrated under an old 

Arcola ceiling heater in the back of the store. 

Several years passed before the Pricketts 

were able to purchase the pharmacy building 

and five commercial lots from Adams, 

who was reluctant to sell. The store was 

remodeled twice, and, in 1985, the Pricketts 

purchased another lot adjoining the other 

five and constructed the building the 

business now occupies. The old building 

became rental property, and the basement was 

used for storage. 

A fire in March 1991 destroyed the old 

building, putting two tenants out of business 

and destroying the medical equipment stored 


246

in the basement. Instead of rebuilding the old 

building, the Pricketts added 2,400 square 

feet to the existing 5,000 square feet. This 

provided two rental units plus a strip mall for 

five tenants. 

Both Prickett sons, Kerry and Kenneth, are 

registered pharmacists and active in the 

family business. Kerry works at the Medical 

Center location and Kenneth at Eastern Valley. 

“This has been a family operation from 

the beginning,” says Shirley. “My daughter 

is the only one who does not participate in 

the operation of the business.” She is in the 

medical profession, however, serving as a nurse 

with Cullman Regional Medical Center, where 

she is Vice President for Patient Care Services. 

Terry Adams came with Eastern Valley 

Home Health Equipment as a partner and 

manager when the firm was incorporated in 

1997. The business has grown from a 

husband-and-wife operation in 1967 to 

twenty-four full-time and three part-time 

employees today. 

Eastern Valley Home Health provides a full 

range of home medical supplies and 

equipment and is an accredited organization. 

Both pharmacies offer prescriptions and 

health and beauty aids. The Medical Center, 

located in the professional office building lobby 

of UAB West Hospital, offers a wide selection of 

gifts, as well as prescriptions, and is the official 

hospital gift shop. Eastern Valley Drugs 

provides for special compounded prescriptions. 

The Prickett family has been very involved 

in professional and community activities over 

the years: Charles is a past president of the 

Jefferson County Pharmacy Association, 

Alabama Pharmacy Association, and 

American Pharmacy Cooperative, Inc.; Kerry 

is past president of the Alabama Pharmacy 

Association; Kenneth is past president of the 

Jefferson County Pharmacy Association, and 

Shirley is past president of the Jefferson 

County Pharmacy Auxiliary and the Alabama 

Pharmacy Association Auxiliary. The Prickett 

family, including the grandchildren, is a 

member of Shades Mountain Baptist Church. 

Eastern Valley Drugs, Medical Center 

Pharmacy, and Eastern Valley Home Medical 

Equipment work diligently to exemplify the 

standards set forth in the firm’s mission 

statement: “To meet the pharmacy needs 

of our patients in a professional and 

compassionate manner. Our patients are 

provided with the best service possible, 

along with offering quality products at 

fair market price. Patients are treated 

with respect. Every effort is made to 

provide assistance and answer questions. 

Communication is the foundation for the 

quality care and services we provide for all of 

our patients.” 

Eastern Valley Drugs is located at 1310 

Eastern Valley Road in Bessemer, and Eastern 

Valley Home Medical Equipment is located at 

1308 Eastern Valley Road. 

✧ 

Eastern Valley Drugs & Home Health 

Equipment’s current location at 1310 

Eastern Valley Road. 


247

DANDY RV 

SUPERSTORE 

✧ 

The new Dandy RV Superstore in 

Oxford, Alabama. 

When it comes to recreational vehicles, the 

name Jim Dandy is so well known and 

respected that few realize Jim Dandy’s real 

name is Jim Cooley. 

Jim earned the nickname when he made a 

spectacular tackle while playing football in the 

fifth grade, and the coach exclaimed that it 

was a “dandy tackle.” The name stuck, and Jim 

Cooley became better known as Jim Dandy. 

Jim is living proof that success is possible 

for anyone with a dream, determination, and 

passion to work hard and make the dream 

come true. Jim started selling RVs soon after 

graduating from high school and recently 

opened Dandy RV Superstore in Oxford. The 

new Superstore is considered one of the top 

five RV sales and service facilities in America. 

Jim grew up in mobile home parks and RV 

campgrounds and eventually started selling 

RVs from his front yard. He got started when 

a neighbor offered him a commission if he 

would sell his RV for him. “I made about $600 

on the deal and took that money and bought 

another RV to sell,” Jim explains. “Pretty soon 

I had a business going.” 

Jim credits the owner of a McDonald’s 

franchise and his Leeds High School football 

coach with helping him become successful. 

He was an “All-American Hamburger Flipper” 

for Levins’ McDonald’s at Eastwood Mall. 

Levin taught him the importance of 

cleanliness, neatness, and taking care of a 

customer’s needs. 

His high school football coach, Joe 

Campbell, convinced Jim he could become 

successful if he went to work with the same 

enthusiasm he had for football. “I didn’t 

have a lot of talent, but I played with 

passion,” Jim explains. 

In 1980, Jim moved his business from his 

front yard to a lot next door to Wal-Mart on 

Centerpoint Parkway. The site did not have 

running water, so Jim rented a Porta-John for 

a bathroom and pumped water out of a creek 

to wash the RVs. He later moved to a 20,000 

square foot location at 7834 First Avenue 

North, next to Eastlake Park, where the 

dealership grew to became one of the top 

twenty-five in the nation. 

Then, in March 2007, he opened the new 

Dandy RV Superstore, located at 2772 US 

Highway 78 East in Oxford. The 82,000 

square foot Superstore includes a Camping 

World parts store, forty service bays, state-ofthe-art 

customer lounge with Wi-Fi access, 

and one of the only RV paint booths in a fivestate 

area. The inventory includes more than 

300 motor homes, travel trailers, and fifthwheels 

in all price ranges from such leading 

manufacturers as Four Winds, Damon, 

Keystone, and Tiffin. The facility is located on 

fifty-one acres, with a goal of adding a KOA 

Campground within the near future. 

Dandy RV Superstore now has over fifty 

employees, and Jim credits the dealership’s 

success to a committed sales staff, service 

department, and office personnel. “We believe 

in doing whatever it takes to satisfy our 

customers and treating them the way we 

would like to be treated,” he says. 

“I owe everything to God, and the support 

of my wife and children,” he says. 


248

Comfort Inn & Suites was built by Kailash 

Investment Group in 2002 and was only the 

third hotel in Trussville at the time. The sixtysix 

room facility is located at 4740 Norell 

Drive, off I-599 South Exit 141. 

The Comfort Inn & Suites is conveniently 

located near such popular attractions as the 

Birmingham Race Course, Barber Vintage 

Motorsports Museum, McWane Center, and 

the University of Alabama. For the shopper in 

you, just a short distance away is the Galleria 

Mall and Summit Shopping. Young and old 

alike will enjoy the Birmingham Zoo and 

Alabama Adventure, which is a theme park as 

well as a water park. The Birmingham 

International Airport is just ten miles from 

the hotel. 

Guests enjoy staying at the Comfort Inn 

& Suites during April and October for 

the NASCAR races at Talledega Super 

Speedway and during August for the Dog 

Daze Festival. 

Amenities available at the Comfort Inn & 

Suites in Trussville include continental 

breakfast, in-room coffeemakers, electronic 

door locks, high-speed Internet access, inroom 

movies, free newspaper, and cable 

television. Hair dryers, irons and ironing 

boards, microwaves, and safe deposit boxes 

are also available at the hotel. 

Also available to our guests is our large 

outdoor swimming pool. A must-have after a 

long day of sightseeing or working. 

With a mission statement that insures 100 

percent guarantee, it is no wonder why 

Comfort Inn & Suites is a popular home away 

from home. 

For additional information about the 

Comfort Inn & Suites–Trussville, visit 

www.choicehotels.com on the Internet. 

COMFORT INN 

& SUITES– 

TRUSSVILLE 


249

CASSADY & 

SELF GLASS 

CO., INC. 

✧ 

Above: Johnny and Carolyn Self at first 

location, 1706 Fourth Avenue South. 

Below: Johnny Self at new location, 1200 

Fourth Avenue South. 

Johnny Self and Paul Cassady 

started Cassady & Self Glass Co. in 

1977 with little more than a few 

dollars and a hope and a prayer. 

Self recalls that he and Cassady 

put up their “house, furniture, and 

tires” to borrow $5,000 from a 

local bank, with an additional 

credit line of $10,000. In addition, 

Self and Cassady each invested 

$2,500 of their own money. 

“We opened with the bank’s five 

and our five and never had to 

borrow another penny,” Self says. 

But he remembers that the young 

banker who made the loan was 

nervous about the new business 

and called each Friday to see how things 

were going. 

Thirty years later, the company installs 

more than 1,500 windshields a month, plus 

side and back windows for vehicles. Another 

ten percent of the company business comes 

from installing glass in homes and businesses. 

Self explains the company’s success by 

saying, “We surrounded ourselves with good 

people and worked very hard.” 

Self learned the glass installation business 

by working for his brother-in-law at Magic 

City Glass Company while still in high school. 

After he graduated, he went to work for the 

company. “When I went to work there I didn’t 

know what a Phillips screwdriver was,” Self 

admits. “But it goes to show how you can get 

hooked on something.” 

Self later worked at Nelson Glass, which 

led to a management position with National 

Glass Company in 1972. That is where he met 

and worked with Cassady, who was an outside 

salesman for the company. 

Cassady & Self Glass Company opened in 

June 1977 at 1704 Fourth Avenue South and 

moved to its present address at 1200 Fourth 

Avenue South in October 2005. Eighty-five 

percent of auto glass installation is attributed 

to the mobile service the company offers. 

Cassady & Self was one of the first auto 

glass firms to go to customer’s homes or 

places of business via the company’s nine 

trucks. “If you’re at the golf course, we can 

come out and fix the windshield there,” he 

says. “We’ve gone to beauty shops and 

replaced windows while our customers get 

their hair fixed.” 

The company started with only two 

employees and has grown to twenty-six, 

including five front-office personnel. Some of 

the employees have been with the company 

more than twenty-five years. 

Cassady died on June 20, 1977, twentythree 

years from the day the company opened 

for business. The company is now owned by 

Johnny Self, who says he will eventually turn 

the business over to his son, Johnny, Jr., who 

has been with the firm more than twenty years. 


250

Latta Plumbing began in May 1981 with 

two brothers, one truck, and a location in a 

one-room, 200-square foot building. Today, 

Latta Plumbing employees forty-two people, 

operates twenty-four trucks and produces 

annual sales volume of $7-10 million. 

This American success story began with 

the determination and hard work of brothers 

Rex and Randy Latta. Rex worked for a 

plumbing company while in high school and 

became a plumber’s helper at an Army base 

in Anniston, Alabama while attending 

Jacksonville State University. He then moved 

back to Birmingham and took a job as a 

plumber with Whetstone Plumbing. 

Meanwhile, Randy left his coaching job at 

the University of Tennessee-Martin and joined 

his brother as a plumber at Whetstone. A 

couple of years later, the two brothers decided 

to go into business for themselves. 

Rex and Randy started Latta Plumbing with 

capital of only $1,000 and paid themselves the 

minimum wage for four years to help get the 

business going. First year’s revenues were 

$100,000, but the firm grew steadily at a rate 

of five to ten percent per year. 

Latta Plumbing concentrates on residential 

service, commercial design, and institutional 

projects and has built a solid reputation based 

on honesty and professional work. 

In 2007 the company moved from a 4,000 

square foot building to a 10,000 square foot 

building with new offices at 2605 Decatur 

Highway in Gardendale. 

The company believes strongly in 

community involvement and contributes to 

every sport in the local parks and high 

schools, including baseball, football and 

soccer. These programs serve youngsters from 

five to eighteen years old. “We are located in a 

very striving, growing community, and we 

want to be part of it and let our customers and 

neighbors know that we appreciate all of 

them,” says Randy. “We are very proud to be a 

part of Gardendale.” 

Latta Plumbing prides itself on being on 

top of the newest equipment and devices and 

hopes to continue its growth through ongoing 

education and training for its staff and 

better job management. 

LATTA 

PLUMBING 

COMPANY 


251

BRUCE OFFICE 

SUPPLY, INC. 

✧ 

Above: First location of Bruce Office 

Supplies, 1985. 

Below: Realization of Bob’s dream—his own 

building. 

One man’s dream became reality on April 

3, 1983 when Bob Bruce opened his own 

office supply business from a small storefront 

on Seventh Avenue South, in Birmingham. 

After working for another office supply dealer 

for twenty-six years, he felt certain he 

could be the best office supplier in 

Birmingham by emphasizing caring customer 

service. This is the way he had always 

treated his customers, and he had ideas for 

providing even better service. With this in 

mind, he and his daughter, Susan, went 

to work. In a few months his son, Scott, 

also joined the company. His wife, June, 

continued her job at an independent school 

for several months and then came on board 

as well. Even the family dog, Misty, came 

to work most days! It was an exciting 

and rewarding time as Bob’s loyal customers 

wanted to see this one man’s dream become 

a reality. 

Another aspect of Bob’s dream was fulfilled 

in 1988 when his own new building was 

completed at the present location, 2805 Third 

Avenue South. He had expanded and opened 

a small showroom in the first location but felt 

there was need for a larger space. 

The new building opened the same 

year Birmingham area office suppliers 

faced superstore competition as never before. 

But the competition provided another 

opportunity for Bob to “dig in” and make his 

dream work. 

Bruce Office Supply continues to be 

involved in many civic and charitable 

organizations, having been affiliated with the 

Better Business Bureau from the beginning. 

Bob had a special interest in United Cerebral 

Palsy and participated in many ways over the 

years. The company has also supported the 

Alabama Symphony, United Way, Boy Scouts 

of America, Sav-A-Life, Crisis Center, plus 

many donations for customer-sponsored 

charitable events. Recently Scott was awarded 

the Small Businessman Award for 

Birmingham, which was quite an honor. 

Bob retired in 2000 and sold Bruce Office 

Supply to his son, Scott. Daughter Susan 

had finished college, married, and now had 

a family. Bob and June now had time for 

travel, and Scott had sole responsibility for 

the company. 

The determination of father and son 

has proven that a successful locally owned 

company can have an impact in the office 

products industry even with the superstores 

pulling out all the stops to make small office 

supply dealers a thing of the past. Bruce 

Office Supply prospered under Bob’s 

leadership, and continues to prosper and 

grow under the leadership of Scott. 


252

The motto of Shaw Warehouse Company 

has remained the same for eighty years: To 

provide the best service in the industry. This 

simple motto has enabled the company to 

thrive and prosper despite numerous changes 

in the industry. 

Shaw Warehouse Company was founded by 

J.G. Shaw in 1927 as a holding warehouse for 

small grocery stores. Located at 115 South 

Thirty-fifth Street in Birmingham, the company 

handled mainly fresh meat and produce, 

receiving the products at night and shipping 

out to grocery stores the following day. 

In the 1950s—under the leadership of 

second-generation owners Sam and Jack 

Shaw—Shaw Warehouse Company began to 

position itself into the company it has become 

today. As small neighborhood independent 

grocery stores evolved into large chain groups 

and achieved self-sufficiency, Sam and Jack 

directed their business into the third party 

logistics industry. At that time the logistics 

business was in its infancy, but it has grown 

worldwide into a billion-dollar industry. 

In the late 1970s, the third generation of 

Shaw family members—Gates and Dorothy 

Shaw—assumed leadership of the company. 

Under their guidance, Shaw Warehouse 

continued to diversify and began warehousing 

a wide range of manufactured goods. 

Shaw Warehouse Company was purchased 

by WBC Investment Company in 1986 and 

has continued to thrive and grow. 

WBC Investment Group began in 1942 as 

a U.S. Tire dealership in Birmingham. From 

its location on the corner of Morris Avenue 

and Twentieth Street, WBC grew to become 

the largest U.S. Tire dealer in Alabama. 

In 1960, U.S. Tire became UniRoyal and 

purchased the dealership from the Crow 

family. The Investment Group then moved 

into the land and timber industry, where it 

remains today. WBC has diversified through 

the years with the purchase of commercial 

property, its largest accomplishment being the 

ownership and continued growth of Shaw 

Warehouse Company. 

The same personal care and service shown 

in 1927 is still reflected in the quality work 

performed each day by the employees of 

Shaw Warehouse Company. 

SHAW WAREHOUSE COMPANY 


253

F&S 

EQUIPMENT 

AND SUPPLIES, 

INC. 

F&S Equipment and Supplies, Inc., formerly 

known as F&S Abrasives Company, was 

founded in 1961 by two friends, Thornton 

Skaggs and R.B. Fox, and purchased in 1995 by 

Donice Key. The firm is an industrial distributor 

of surface preparation and surface finishing 

equipment and supplies, personal safety 

equipment, and all types of abrasive grains. In 

addition, F&S has an in-house facility to repair 

and maintain the equipment it sells. 

Among the quality products available 

through F&S Equipment are sandblasting, 

spraying and pumping equipment and 

accessories; abrasives, operator safety 

equipment, industrial spray booths, couplings 

and powder coating. F&S represents such 

firms as Graco, Defelsko, Wagner, Bullard, 

Zero, Binks, CLEMCO, Empire, DeVilbiss 

and BORIDE. 

When the firm began, Fox was an auditor 

for U.S. Pipe & Foundry Company and only a 

couple of years from retirement. Skaggs was 

an energetic young man with a vision for his 

new company. Skaggs had the sales and 

product knowledge, and Fox was a 

professional auditor. The plan was for Fox to 

keep the company books after his retirement. 

Skaggs decided to postpone retirement and 

came in to run the company. Unfortunately, 

Skaggs developed leukemia and died in 1964. 

Meanwhile, Key had joined the company 

in 1965 as a secretary. She was the only 

woman in the office, and her duties included 

everything from answering the phone to 

billing, paying bills, and signing checks. By 

1971, Fox was semi-retired and working only 

part-time, and Key took on more of the 

managerial duties. She purchased the 

company in 1995 and became president. 

When Key purchased the firm, F&S 

Abrasives Company was dissolved, and two 

new companies—F&S Equipment and 

Supplies and F&S Sand, Inc.—were organized. 

F&S Equipment is now a certified womanowned 

business through Women’s Business 

Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and 

employs eighteen people. The company’s 

annual sales have continued to grow 

throughout the years. In 2007, F&S 

Equipment sales were $8 million. 

One of the key individuals in the growth of 

F&S Equipment has been Jim Crim, who 

joined the firm as a salesman. Crim left in 

1995 to pursue other interests only to return 

nine years later. 

F&S Equipment has had several office and 

warehouse locations since it was founded, but 

all have been located within a five-mile 

radius. The original location was 3606 Sixth 

Avenue, South. The next move was to 2917 

Third Avenue, North, followed by a move to 

517 Thirty-fifth Street, North. After leasing 

space until 1989, the company bought 

property and built an office and warehouse at 

its present location, 3221 Second Avenue, 

South in Birmingham’s historical Southside. 


254

FORSTMAN & 

CUTCHEN, LLP 

The firm of Forstman & Cutchen was 

originally started as a solo practice by James 

D. Forstman in 1967. Forstman fondly recalls 

buying furniture and setting up his first law 

office—even before learning he had passed 

the state bar exam. He initially handled 

criminal cases before gradually developing a 

general practice with a focus on personal 

injury plaintiffs’ litigation. “I enjoyed helping 

people,” explains the elder Forstman, who 

serves as a minority partner and Of Counsel at 

the firm he sold to his son, B. Keith Forstman, 

and David Cutchen in 1997. He proudly 

boasts that he still has former clients who ask 

him to handle cases for them. 

The firm, now known as Forstman & 

Cutchen, LLP, is located in Homewood. It 

includes three partners—James D. Forstman, 

his son, B. Keith Forstman, and David N. 

Cutchen—as well as associates Maxwell D. 

Carter and Jason C. Johnston. A civil litigation 

firm with an emphasis on personal injury, 

Forstman & Cutchen serves a wide range of 

clients. “Our clients come from a variety of 

backgrounds and income and education 

levels,” Cutchen explains. “The majority of our 

cases originate in Jefferson and surrounding 

counties, but we represent individuals all over 

the state, from Huntsville to Mobile. We also 

occasionally serve out-of-state clients in places 

such as Missouri and Texas.” 

Keith Forstman explains, “We’ve tried to 

remain a small firm that gives exceptional 

personal contact. We make a point of 

returning calls promptly and being there for 

our clients.” Adds Cutchen, “Our goal is to 

have an impact on our client’s lives, not 

merely to represent them or to resolve their 

cases and then forget the relationships. We 

often represent children and other family 

members of former clients. We also do pro 

bono work by choice and necessity.” 

The firm’s members are involved in 

numerous professional organizations, including 

the American Bar Association, the Alabama State 

Bar, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association, and 

the Birmingham Bar Association. 

Says Cutchen, “James Forstman’s vision of 

serving people was in effect when I clerked for 

him in law school. His manner of treating 

clients as individuals was consistent with what 

I wanted to do. He showed me the way, and I 

feel that his vision of compassion has carried 

over and hopefully will be extended in the 

future by what our firm leaves behind.” “My 

father built a prominent practice and has always 

been respected in the legal community. I saw 

his clients’ appreciation and the lives that were 

changed because of his hard work,” adds Keith 

Forstman, who lists having worked with his 

father as one of his proudest accomplishments. 

To this day, the firm of Forstman & 

Cutchen, LLP, strives to serve its clients as 

originally envisioned by their founder, James 

Forstman, when he started the practice of law 

forty years ago. 

✧ 

Maxwell D. Carter, David N. Cutchen, 

James D. Forstman, B. Keith Forstman, 

and Jason C. Johnston. 


255

PPX IMAGING, 

INC. 

✧ 

Above: 16-Slice CT Scanner. 

Below: PPX Imaging Inc. is located at 130 

South Crest Drive, Suite 120 in 


PPX Imaging, Inc. (PPX) of 

Birmingham was formed in the 

summer of 1988 by Daniel W. Parten 

and his father, Johnny F. Parten. 

Both men had been employed by a 

leading manufacturer of medical 

imaging equipment. 

In the early days, the business was 

operated out of Danny’s home. Sales 

and service quotes as well as other 

documents were generated on a 

manual typewriter by Danny’s wife, 

Sue. When Danny’s family began to 

grow, PPX was moved to a small rental 

office building, Danny’s brother David was 

hired to manage the office, and Johnny and 

Danny performed equipment service and 

installations from Nashville to south Alabama 

and Georgia. As the business continued to 

grow and the need for an additional 

experienced service engineer grew, Danny 

reached out to his brother-in-law Dale Carlisle 

to fill the position. 

Danny learned the value of saving for a 

rainy day from his mother, Mary Parten, 

who had a genuine sense for business. With 

her guidance, PPX Imagining was able to 

weather the turbulent healthcare reform in 

the early 1990s. 

In the mid 1990s, PPX was incorporated, 

and Danny was named as its president and 

CEO. Johnny retired in 1995, and Danny 

became the sole owner of PPX. David moved 

to a newly created sales position, which 

allowed the company to focus on new 

equipment sales while maintaining its service 

position in the marketplace. David 

maintained this position with great success 

and eventually left the company to accept a 

sales position with one of the leading 

equipment manufacturers. 

In 2001, due to increased growth, PPX added 

David Atkinson to the sales staff. With David’s 

unlimited knowledge of medical imagining that 

he had gained as director of radiology at the 

Kirklin Clinic, he was able to service as a 

consultant as well as sales executive to our 

customers. As equipment sales escalated, an 

additional need for an experienced service 

engineer arose, and Scott Deason filled the 

position. Scott came to PPX with the unique 

ability to service most modalities of medical 

imagining equipment. Since that time, additional 

service positions have become available and been 

filled by experienced personnel. 

Danny had always wanted to build his own 

office building. Land for the building was 

purchased in 2002, and PPX moved into the 

new headquarters at 130 South Crest Drive in 

March 2005. About the same time, John 

Stringer was added to the sales force. 

PPX customers range from independent 

medical practices to clinics and large medical 

centers. PPX is a forward-thinking company 

that stays on the cutting edge of today’s 

technologies and has become very 

competitive in the Radiology/Cardiology 

market in Alabama. PPX was one of the first to 

sell a 16-slice CT scan in Alabama and was the 

first to install a digital radiographic imaging 

system in the state at Kirklin Clinic. Major 

x-ray manufacturers rely on PPX for support 

to their multi-vendor services in Alabama. 

For additional information about PPX 

Imaging, visit www.ppximaging.com. 


256

MYERS AUTO 

COLLISION 

REPAIR, INC. 

Willie Myers, Jr., had worked seventeen 

years as head painter for several auto 

dealerships before deciding to open his own 

firm in July 1988. At the time, he and his wife, 

Darlene, had two young children, and it was a 

tough decision to leave the security of a regular 

job for the uncertainty of his own business. 

However, Willie was dissatisfied working for 

dealerships that did not always provide the 

high quality of workmanship he believed in. 

To help make the transition, Darlene 

obtained a full-time job and worked part-time 

and weekends for the family firm, Myers Auto 

Collision Repair. The new business did so well 

that she was able to join the firm full-time after 

a year. Willie’s duties included making 

estimates, managing shop production, and 

dealing with insurance companies. Darlene 

managed the office, looked after human 

resources, and handled the finances. 

Myers Auto Collision Repair’s original 

location was in downtown Trussville, but after 

years of growth the business began to run out 

of space in their 5,500 square foot building. 

Employees had little room to work and 

wreckers unloading vehicles were blocking 

nearby streets. The Myers purchased land 

from the city in the Trussville Industrial Park 

and erected a 15,000 square foot facility in 

1996. The new location, 4870 Commerce 

Drive in Trussville, allowed the Myers to add 

more employees and expand their business. 

The staff at Myers Auto Collision Repair 

now totals eighteen, including several longterm 

employees. Ken Spivey started with the 

company in 1992 and is currently the paint 

manager; Darrin White, with the company 

since 1993, is the head painter; and Gene 

Childers, the lead body technician, started in 

1993. Carter Ross, formerly an auto body 

vocational teacher, started as a part-time 

summer employee and now works full-time 

as an estimator after retiring from the 

school system. 

The Myers’ children are also involved in the 

business. Willie Myers, III, started working in the 

office part-time while in high school and is now 

parts manager. Daughter Ashley also worked in 

the office during her high school years. 

Willie and Darlene believe their business 

has been successful because they deliver 

dependable, high quality comprehensive 

collision repair services, have an especially 

well-trained and professional staff, wellorganized 

operating procedures, and vendors 

who understand their commitment to their 

customers. Another major asset is the 

company’s highly talented and experienced 

management team. 

Myers Auto Collision Repair participates in 

the local high schools Work to School 

programs where students spend several hours 

each week learning about the collision repair 

industry. The firm also participates with the 

vocational schools on various programs. The 

employees also participate in the American 

Heart Association, Lions Scholarship Fund, 

Trussville Fireman Projects, Boy’s and Girl’s 

Home projects and other organizations. Willie 

Myers, Jr., serves on the Alabama Collision 

Repair Industries Association (ACRIA) Board 

as head of the Education Committee. 

✧ 

Above: Myers Auto Collision’s paint booth 

inside the shop. 

Below: The Myers family (from left to 

right); Ashley, Willie, Jr., Darlene, and 

Willie Myers, III. 


257

HAMPTON INN– 

BESSEMER 

Hampton Inn–Bessemer opened on 

June 15, 2000, with the goal of 

becoming “the first choice of the 

world’s travelers.” 

The hotel was developed by Rupesh 

Patel and Jack Patel, who selected the 

location in Bessemer because the area 

is developing and there is a good mix 

of corporate and leisure business. 

Vision Land Amusement Park 

closed soon after the hotel opened 

and, the following year, business was 

impacted by 9/11. But the owners say 

they made it through the tough times 

as a result of a strong franchise name 

and good management. 

The Hampton Inn–Bessemer is 

located at Highway 11 North (Exit 108 

off I-20/59), across from the Bessemer 

Civic Center and five miles from the 

Bessemer Airport. 

Located near the hotel are the 

University of Alabama at Birmingham, 

outlet shopping, a state park, and golf 

courses. A variety of great restaurants, 

including Applebee’s, Cracker Barrel, and 

the Santa Fe Cattle Company, are located 

within a mile of the Hampton Inn. 

The facility features eighty-four 

rooms, with microwave and refrigerator. 

A meeting room used for a number of 

civic functions, a business center, 

exercise room, and outdoor pool. King 

suites, two-room suites with a 

microwave and refrigerator, and whirlpool suites 

are also available. Guests enjoy a complimentary 

continental breakfast and newspaper, wireless 

high-speed Internet access, as well as wireless 

printing. Each room at the Hampton Inn 

includes coffeemaker and cable television and 

complimentary local calls and voice mail. Irons, 

safe deposit boxes, hair dryers, connecting 

rooms, and cribs are also available. 

The Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce 

utilizes the Hampton Inn’s meeting room for a 

variety of functions, including a reception for 

Lieutenant General John Vines, commanding 

officer of the XVIII Airborne Corps. General 

Vines wrote the hotel to say, “Your beautiful 

Inn is expertly run and it made my visit even 

more special. The staff was warm, 

professional, and knowledgeable and the 

facility was so clean it sparkled.” 

Hampton Inn–Bessemer is committed to 

offering the best value in the marketplace 

today. At the Hampton Inn, you will be 

welcomed to a hotel where gentleness and 

tradition are entwined each day. You will find 

all the modern amenities you expect, and the 

staff promises to deliver meticulously clean 

and attractively decorated surroundings every 

time you stay at the hotel. You can relax, 

knowing your stay will be a pleasant one. 

And, as always, your stay is backed by the 100 

percent Hampton Guarantee. 

For additional information, visit 

Hampton Inn–Bessemer on the Internet at 

www.bessemer.hamptoninn.com. 


258

Complete Benefit Alliance, LLC, organized 

in 1999, is an independent, privately owned 

company that works jointly with agents and 

brokers in the financial marketplace. CBA 

serves as a marketing and enrollment 

company specializing in both large and small, 

public and private sector employer groups. 

CBA has clients in all fifty states with 

employer locations in forty-eight states. These 

companies represent a wide range of industries, 

from manufacturing to construction, to airlines 

to municipalities. The experience and creativity 

of CBA’s employees provides the expertise 

needed to solve client’s benefit enrollment 

and/or communication concerns. 

Complete Benefit Alliance sets itself apart 

from the competition by the quality of service 

provided for each client. Specific benefit 

counselors whose backgrounds and 

experience levels best match the client’s 

corporate atmosphere are selected for each 

challenge. Their benefit enrollment 

counselors are professional salaried 

employees, which means employees will not 

be subject to high pressure sales. 

Understanding and selecting the right benefit 

package can be complicated and confusing. The 

CBA team works individually with the client’s 

employees, spending the time necessary to make 

the best financial decisions for themselves 

and/or their families. The counselor’s 

responsibility and focus is to educate and 

communicate each available benefit option in a 

thorough and personal manner. 

CBA is committed to achieving excellence 

through reliability and superior service. The 

firm’s proven competencies include: 

• Educating, communicating, and enrolling 

employees’ core and/or voluntary benefits 

in a face-to-face setting and/or through our 

Internet Enrollment System and state-ofthe-art 

call center. 

• Achieving seamless enrollments by 

becoming an extension of the Human 

Resources Team. 

• Creating a comfortable environment by 

using our salaried benefit counselors to 

ensure the absence of pressure sales tactics 

in the workplace. 

• Streamlining the implementation of new 

programs and changes to existing ones by 

utilizing electronic interfaces and ongoing 

administrative procedures. 

CBA was founded by Steven R. Griffin, 

who had previously enjoyed great success 

with USABLE Life, a national company owned 

by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. After gaining 

extensive knowledge and experience in the 

field, Griffin began his entrepreneurial 

enterprise by consulting and partnering with 

successful producers in the financial services 

industry. He provided face-to-face 

communication and enrollments of voluntary 

benefits to large corporations in the 

Southeast. While serving two years in this 

capacity, the wide-ranging and nationwide 

need for this type service became evident. 

Complete Benefit Alliance, LLC was 

incorporated in 1999 to completely focus on 

servicing large, private and publicly traded 

companies through brokers and agents on a 

national level. 

CBA has grown to an organization of 

sixteen full-time employees and maintains a 

national database of more than 800 benefit 

enrollers for contract enrollment. 

The firm has enjoyed annual growth of 

thirty to fifty percent since it was founded, 

and their goal is to continue to be the region’s 

largest privately held enrollment and 

communications firm, as well as being ranked 

in the top ten nationally in this category. 

Complete Benefit Alliance is located in the 

John Hand Building at 2000 Morris Avenue, 

Suite 1400, Birmingham. 

✧ 

CBA team members. 

COMPLETE 

BENEFIT 

ALLIANCE, 

LLC 


259

BRESCO 

Birmingham Restaurant Supply, Inc., aka 

Bresco, is one of the nation’s largest food 

service dealers. The company was founded in 

1974 with $2,000 of borrowed money. George 

Tobia, who started the business with a partner 

and bought him out in 1980, recalls that “we 

handed out business cards and told customers 

that if they ordered by noon, we would 

deliver the same day.” 

Customers were impressed by the 

quick service, and orders started coming 

in immediately. 

Bresco soon moved into its first location, a 

1,500-square-foot office/warehouse. Inventory 

was provided with a $10,000 direct loan from 

the Small Business Administration. Within a 

few months, the company was able to obtain a 

second direct loan from the SBA for $25,000. 

Future loans were obtained from banks with 

the help of SBA. “I am a big fan of the SBA,” 

comments Tobia. 

When Bresco outgrew its original location, 

a warehouse was rented downtown on Morris 

Avenue. This location also was soon 

outgrown, and the company signed a lease for 

a 5,000 square foot building on Fifth Avenue 

North. At one time, the company maintained 

inventory in three separate locations, making 

operation very difficult. 

“I remember getting a call from Little 

Bombers Bar one night at 10:00 p.m.,” Tobia 

relates. “They were in a panic because they 

were out of beer mugs. I told them ‘no 

problem,’ got in my car and drove to all three 

warehouses looking for the beer mugs they 

purchased. Remember, this was before 

computerized inventory. I finally found the 

mugs in our warehouse on Morris Avenue and 

delivered them to the customer.” 

This is an example of the type of service 

Bresco provides for its customers each day. 

“We know that customers will continue to do 

business with us if we take good care of 

them,” Tobia says. 

Bresco rented a 19,000 square foot 

building at Sixth Avenue South and 

Twenty-Fifth Street in 1978. In 1983, with 

the help of the SBA 504 Loan Program, 

the company purchased the building at 

2428 Sixth Avenue South, where it operates 

today. More recently, Bresco purchased 

the old Unitog building across the alley and 

now operates in a total space of 130,000 

square feet. 

Bresco considers its employees its best 

asset and provide them with such benefits as 

flex hours, above-average salaries, healthcare 

benefits, and the latest technology. 

The company is very involved in the 

community and supports such organizations 

as the Ronald McDonald House, First Light, 

American Cancer Society, United Way, 

Leukemia Society of America (Alabama 

Chapter), and the Arc of Jefferson County. 

Today, Bresco generates sales of $23 

million annually and is currently ranked 46th 

among the more than 4,000 food service 

dealers in the nation. 


260

In 1990, Gene Robinson spent many hours 

in operating rooms as an orthopaedic sales 

representative. During one visit, a frustrated 

nurse shoved a broken drill in his face and 

asked, “Can you please repair this?” 

Robinson’s answer launched IMS®. 

When the drill was repaired and returned 

to the hospital (at no charge), Gene realized 

he had a new business and his first customer. 

It was a turning point in the way instruments 

and equipment were repaired. At the time, 

‘third-party’ repair did not exist. Gene saw an 

opportunity. Taking a calculated risk, he 

decided to pioneer third-party repair. 

While IMS started as a local surgical 

instrument repair company, it has grown 

far beyond that scope and now has 

representatives and facilities nationwide. IMS 

provides programs for instrument care and 

education, minimally invasive surgical support 

and central sterile department processes. The 

IMS InstrumentReady approach addresses the 

readiness and the flow of surgical instruments 

from the central sterile department through 

the operating room suite, helping to build a 

bridge between the two. IMS teams work on 

location with the hospital staff to assess central 

sterile processes, provide education, and 

ensure that surgical trays are complete, 

accurate, and ready for every procedure. 

For the rapidly growing area of minimally 

invasive surgery, IMS provides highly trained 

surgical technicians who specialize in 

minimally invasive instruments and video 

equipment. Their expertise enables hospital 

operating rooms to run more efficiently, by 

allowing the staff to focus on patient care and 

safety instead of instruments and equipment. 

IMS also provides repair services and 

education across a broad range of surgical 

instrument categories, including rigid and 

flexible endoscopes, power equipment, 

laparoscopic and specialty instruments, and 

video equipment. 

Because this equipment must be ready, not 

just repaired, IMS representatives provide 

process improvement strategies and staff 

education on instrument care and handling. 

Services such as inventory assessment, and IMS 

Proactive Maintenance® are used in conjunction 

with web-based account information that 

enables healthcare facilities to instantly view 

equipment repair history. Together, these services 

help hospitals ensure that instruments are ready 

when the surgical team is ready. 

Since 1990, IMS has grown rapidly and now 

has over 600 employees and sales 

representatives, including nearly 300 in the 

Birmingham area. The culture of IMS, however, 

has remained true to its origin of helping 

healthcare facilities operate at their best...because 

it’s always someone’s loved one on the table. 

For more information about IMS, visit the 

website at www.imsready.com. 

IMS 

✧ 

Above: Gene Robinson, CEO of Integrated 

Medical Systems International, Inc. (IMS). 

Below: The IMS surgical instrument repair 

lab is located near downtown Birmingham, 

next to historic Sloss Furnaces. 


261

✧ 

Construction workers on the framework of 

the unfinished Tutwiler Hotel, 1913. Under 

construction behind them is the Jefferson 

County Savings Bank Building, later known 

as the City Federal or Comer Building. 



262

BUILDING A GREATER BIRMINGHAM 

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

Birmingham’s real estate developers, 

construction companies, heavy 

industries, and manufacturers provide 

the economic foundation of the region 

United States Steel Corporation ....................................................264 

USS Real Estate..........................................................................266 

Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds ...........................................................268 

Watts Realty Company, Inc...........................................................270 

Morrow Railroad Builders, Inc. .....................................................272 

INKANA Development .................................................................274 

Valmont-Newmark.......................................................................276 

Alvah Votelle Barron, Jr. ..............................................................278 

Mason Corporation .....................................................................280 

Sloss Industries Corporation.........................................................282 

Precision Grinding, Inc................................................................284 

Altec Industries, Inc....................................................................286 

General Machinery Company, Inc. .................................................288 

Birmingham Electric Battery Company ...........................................290 

Veterans Oil, Inc. .......................................................................292 

Brasfield & Gorrie ......................................................................294 

Moore Coal Company, Inc.............................................................295 

FPS Technologies ........................................................................296 

Alabama Power Company .............................................................297 

Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Company........................................298 

Kent Corporation........................................................................299 

American Cast Iron Pipe Company.................................................300 

Brownlee-Morrow Engineering Company, Inc. ..................................301 

All-South Subcontractors, Inc. ......................................................302 

Red Diamond, Inc. ......................................................................303 

AllSouth Appliance Group, Inc. .....................................................304 

Parker Building 

Maintenance, Inc. 

Powermotion Incorporated 

Rime Garden Inn & Suites 

Rozar’s Auto Paint Supply 

SHARING THE HERITAGE • BUILDING A GREATER BIRMINGHAM 

263

UNITED STATES 

STEEL 

CORPORATION 

✧ 

Above: Dual Line Coating facility. 

Below: Construction of Fairfield Works 

in 1917. 

With a century of steelmaking excellence in 

the Birmingham region, United States Steel 

Corporation has long played the leading role in 

the “Magic City’s” rich legacy as the iron and 

steel capitol of the South. That industry and 

community leadership role continues today at 

U. S. Steel Fairfield Works, a world-class 

producer of flat rolled and tubular products for 

construction, energy and other key markets. 

The only integrated steel operation in the 

southern United States—one that starts its 

operating process by reducing raw materials into 

molten iron in a blast furnace—Fairfield Works 

directly provides more than 2,000 skilled jobs 

and more than 800 additional jobs in support 

service functions. U. S. Steel’s economic 

contributions to Birmingham and Alabama 

approach $500 million annually. The company 

and its employees have been proud contributors 

through the decades, not only to Birmingham’s 

steelmaking heritage but also to the region’s 

charitable, cultural and educational institutions. 

U. S. Steel recently celebrated its 

centennial in the Birmingham region, 

marking the one-hundredth anniversary of 

the company’s acquisition in November 1907 

of the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad 

Company (TCI). The story, and the company’s 

roots in Alabama, goes back even further to 

the mid- and late nineteenth century and the 

discovery of the rich coal and iron ore 

deposits in the Birmingham region. 

Formed in 1852, TCI began mining and basic 

iron production in Jefferson County, Alabama, in 

the 1880s. The company ushered in Alabama’s 

ongoing era of mass steel production on 

Thanksgiving Day, 1899, with the first heat of 

steel from the former Ensley Works. 

By 1907, TCI had become an industrial 

giant with vast coal, iron and timber reserves 

in the Birmingham district. However, a 

national financial panic threatened the 

company’s existence and the economic and 

job base of the Birmingham region. Financial 

disaster was averted with purchase of TCI by 

U. S. Steel, which had been formed five years 

earlier through mergers engineered by some 

of America’s most legendary business figures, 

including Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, 

Charles Schwab, and Elbert Gary. 

U. S. Steel began construction of the 

Fairfield Works in 1917 in response to the 

nation’s need for steel in support of the defense 

effort during World War I. Since then, the plant 

has been expanded and continually 

modernized through the years. Major 

investments of more than $1 billion in the early 

and mid-1980s converted the plant from ingot 

to continuous casting technology and added the 

Fairfield Works seamless pipe mill that is one of 

the most modern and efficient producers of 

tubular products anywhere in the world. 

From its beginning in Birmingham, U. S. 

Steel has also been a pioneer in establishing 

modern work hours, safe working conditions, 


264

healthcare and education for employees and 

their families. The company established a 

Health Department in 1913 under the 

direction of Dr. Lloyd Noland, who had 

overseen critical healthcare and disease 

control operations during construction of the 

Panama Canal. Under Noland’s supervision, a 

company hospital was completed in Fairfield 

in 1919 that established many of the health 

and safety practices that would become 

standards for American industry. From 

then through today, U. S. Steel has been a 

leader in employee safety and industrial 

hygiene—committed to carrying out its 

company slogan, “Safety First.” 

More than a century after its appearance as 

a cornerstone in Alabama’s industrial, 

economic and job base, U. S. Steel and 

Fairfield Works continue as a global leader 

in high-quality steel sheet and pipe 

products—manufactured at high-tech, 

environmentally friendly, energy efficient 

processing facilities. 

The process begins with molten iron 

produced from iron ore pellets, coke (baked 

coal) and limestone in Fairfield’s computercontrolled 

blast furnace. The molten iron is 

mixed with steel scrap and converted into 

molten steel in the plant’s Q-BOP steelmaking 

shop. The modern continuous casting facility 

then transforms the molten steel into semifinished 

solid slabs or rounds. 

Slabs go on to Fairfield’s hot strip mill 

where they are rolled into coils for finishing 

into more than a million tons annually of 

high-quality flat-rolled steel products. 

Fairfield is a leader in production of coated 

galvanized sheet for construction applications 

such as standing seam steel roofs, steel 

framing and steel siding, and of electrical 

sheet steel for production of motors. 

Rounds from the caster go to the Fairfield 

Tubular Operations, where they are converted 

through highly sophisticated technology into 

oil country tubular goods, casing, and 

standard and line pipe used to meet the 

world’s increasing demand for energy. Strong, 

high quality seamless pipe from Fairfield 

allows energy producers to obtain oil and 

natural gas in harsh and remote onshore and 

deep offshore locations around the globe. 

Excellence and consistency in Fairfield’s 

steel products are maintained though 

the company’s internal APEX (All 

People/Process/Product Excellence) System 

and Fairfield’s ISO-certified international 

production, quality, and environmental 

standards. That commitment to excellence 

extends—as it has for a century—beyond the 

plant and into the Birmingham/Jefferson 

County community with financial and 

hands-on support of a number of 

charitable, cultural, educational and historical 

entities. These include organizations such as 

United Way, Habitat for Humanity, various 

healthcare agencies, community festivals, 

symphony and theater productions, and 

Tannehill Ironworks Museum and Vulcan 

Park that are helping to preserve the region’s 

industrial heritage. 

After a century of leadership, U. S. Steel’s 

Fairfield Works looks back with pride and 

ahead with eager anticipation, focused on its 

key role as an integral part of Birmingham’s 

past, present and future. 

✧ 

Above: Fairfield Works Blast Furnace. 

Below: Q-Bop steelmaking shop. 


265

USS REAL 

ESTATE 

✧ 

Above: Ross Bridge Resort and 

Conference Center. 

Below: Ross Bridge entrance and 

welcome center. 

For more than a century, United States 

Steel Corporation’s activities in the 

Birmingham Region have included not just 

iron and steel production, but also the 

beneficial use and development of land. For 

almost four decades, that land development 

function has come under the auspices of the 

company’s USS Real Estate Division. 

When U. S. Steel purchased Tennessee 

Coal & Iron Company in 1907, it became one 

of the largest landowners in Alabama, 

assuming control of the vast timber and 

mineral assets TCI had acquired for its steel 

and mining operations. Many of these land 

assets were located in and directly around 

Jefferson County, where rich deposits of coal 

and iron ore led TCI to operate key iron and 

steel production facilities. 

For much of the last century, the land was 

held in reserve for mineral and timber 

development in support of U. S. Steel’s 

manufacturing operations. However, in more 

recent decades, the growth of the Birmingham 

region and the evolving nature of the steel 

industry brought new priorities and strategies 

for the most beneficial use of property to 

serve not only the corporation, but Jefferson 

County and surrounding areas as well. 

U. S. Steel, which recently observed its onehundredth 

anniversary in Birmingham, still 

owns more than 175,000 acres in the 

metropolitan area. The company moves 

forward from its centennial celebration toward 

the future known for its real estate 

development expertise as well as its status as a 

world-class steelmaker. 

USS Real Estate was formed in 1969 with 

two primary purposes: to optimize the use of 

undeveloped land no longer needed to 

support U. S. Steel’s manufacturing operations 

and to reclaim former industrial or 

“brownfield” sites. Carrying out that mission, 

USS Real Estate has left an indelible mark, 

contributing to a number of landmark 

residential, recreational, environmental, 

educational and economic development 

projects in the Birmingham region. The 

company’s role has included not just providing 

the land—some sold and some donated—but 

also active involvement in planning, 

development, and management in many cases. 

The long list of these projects includes: 

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (now known as 

Regions Park), the Oxmoor Valley Robert Trent 

Jones Golf Trail Complex, Visionland (now 

Alabama Adventure) amusement park, the 250- 

acre Moss Rock Preserve, Barber Motorsports 

Park, Ross Bridge Resort & Conference Center, 

the 1,100-acre Red Mountain Park, Oxmoor 

Industrial Park and Oxmoor Corporate Park. 

Planned residential communities developed, or 

under development, by USS Real Estate include 

Trace Crossings, Oxmoor, The Preserve, Ross 

Bridge, Hillsboro, Trussville Crossings and 

Grand River. 

The company is also proud of its role in 

residential communities that offer 

opportunities for first-time lower-income 


266

esidents. USS Real Estate recently donated 

thirteen acres to Habitat for Humanity in the 

Wylam area of Birmingham that will be used 

to construct more than thirty homes. 

These projects all reflect a common vision 

shared by USS Real Estate and the private and 

public sector partners with whom the 

company works—to develop land in the most 

beneficial manner for all stakeholders in a 

way that takes advantage of and maintains the 

beautiful topography of the Birmingham 

region and protects watersheds, endangered 

species, and other precious natural resources. 

Typical of this vision was the sale of land by 

the company to the Red Mountain Greenway 

and Recreation Commission to create Red 

Mountain Park. The 1,100-acre tract appraised 

at $16.5 million and was sold for $7 million, 

with U. S. Steel pledging another $1 million in 

cash for development of the park. The discount 

on the land represents the largest single 

corporate gift in U. S. Steel’s history anywhere 

in the country, and will give the people of 

metropolitan Birmingham a green space 

treasure larger than either New York’s Central 

Park or San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. 

Red Mountain Park will connect the 

community via a sixty-four mile network of 

greenways that preserve the environment and 

enhance the quality of life for all of the 

region’s citizens. 

USS Real Estate also has been a major 

player in the last twenty years in economic 

development projects contributing to the 

Birmingham region’s growth. The company 

led the opening of the Oxmoor Valley to new 

development and investment by cooperating 

in land sales and exchanges with the City of 

Birmingham for Oxmoor Industrial Park and 

the UAB Research Center at Oxmoor. 

U. S. Steel’s donation of right-of-way for 

Lakeshore Parkway made thousands of acres in 

the Oxmoor Valley accessible for development. 

In addition to such beneficial conversion of 

previously undeveloped land, USS Real Estate 

is working with public sector officials toward 

creative re-use of brownfield sites such as the 

four-hundred-acre Ensley Works. 

The company’s real estate and land 

development activities have been instrumental 

in shaping a positive national and international 

image not just for Birmingham, but for 

Alabama and its statewide tourism trade. The 

U. S. Steel donation of 500 acres to the 

Retirement System of Alabama resulted in 

development of the very first 54-hole 

destination of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail 

and the subsequent donation of 300 additional 

acres for the Ross Bridge complex. The Robert 

Trent Jones Golf Trail today spans the state and 

brings thousands of out-of-state visitors and 

millions of out-of-state dollars to the area and 

its economy annually. 

From major economic development projects 

to quiet neighborhoods where Alabamians can 

rear families, USS Real Estate will continue to 

apply its mission, its vision and its expertise to 

help the Birmingham region continue to grow 

and prosper through beneficial land use for the 

company and for the community. 

✧ 

Above: The Preserve. 

Below: Oxmoor Corporate Park. 


267

COHEN 

CARNAGGIO 

REYNOLDS 

✧ 

Top: Homewood City Hall, Soho Square. 

PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Middle: The Lamb Firm, Seaboard Yard. 


Bottom: Soho Retail & Flats, Soho Square. 


The firm of Cohen & Company 

was formed by Tammy Cohen in 

1996 after she had worked 

fourteen years with other 

architectural firms. She started her 

firm in an historic structure on 

Second Avenue North, which was 

built in 1905 and renovated by 

Tammy and her husband, Richard 

Carnaggio. Early projects included 

Pediatrics East-Deerfoot, Oak 

Mountain Presbyterian Church, 

King & Warren, an historic renovation in 

Jasper, and several custom residences. Recent 

projects include Soho Flats and Retail, 

Broadway Park Condominiums, Offices for 

Burr & Forman, Maynard Cooper & Gale, 

and Overton Village, a condominium and 

retail development. 

Karen Reynolds joined Cohen in 1997. 

Karen’s projects have included many historic 

renovations in Birmingham’s City Center 

such as the Hardin Lofts, Legg Lofts, the 

Kress Building for Wiggins Childs Quinn 

and Pantazis, the Kessler Building for the 

Taylor Family, and the major conversion of 

City Federal, a twenty-eight story office 

building being rehabilitated to eighty-four 

condominiums. Her recent projects include 

The Lamb Firm, a two-story office building 

with an apartment and green rooftop on the 

third floor, and Hope VI multifamily housing 

for The Tuscaloosa Housing Authority. 

Richard Carnaggio joined the firm in 2002 

and has headed The Memorial Park 

Natatorium in Jasper, Homewood City Hall 

and Parking Deck, Soho Flats and Retail, Café 

DuPont, the YMCA Youth Center, many 

Commercial Tenants for EGS and Brookmont, 

and custom residences. His recent projects 

include Liv on Fifth loft condominium and 

Grand Clearwater Resort; condominiums, 

cottages, and water amenities at Smith Lake. 

In 2005, Richard and Karen became 

partners in the corporation; the name was 

changed to Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds, and 

the firm relocated to a new building designed 

by the firm on First Avenue South. The 

concrete and steel tilt-up Live/Work building 

is located on the former Seaboard Yard, a 

railroad stockyard, with wonderful views to 

Sloss Furnaces and the Birmingham 

Downtown skyline. The open, lofty plan 

accommodates a design studio for Architects 

and Interior Designers with outdoor spaces 

and a pool courtyard. Tammy and Richard 

live upstairs with their son, Francisco. 

Wishing to remain a small, boutique 

firm emphasizing good design, Cohen 

Carnaggio Reynolds grew slowly from one 


268

original employee to its current staff of 

thirteen. The partners foster a truly 

collaborative design studio focusing on 

Architecture and Interior Design, allowing 

everyone’s input. The company’s talented staff 

includes Stan Corson, Lissy Frese, Roman 

Gary, Michael Hallisey, Fran Harwell, Sonya 

Lamb, Jennifer Lombard, Jacklyn Loquidis, 

Jeff Moore, and Ken Rubsamen. 

Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds is committed 

to quality designs and innovative projects for 

its clients. Architects, designers, clients, 

contractors, and consultants are included in 

the Design Review Process for every project. 

The firm’s projects include commercial office 

buildings, healthcare projects, ecclesiastical 

buildings, retail developments, restaurants, 

educational facilities, historical renovations, 

condominium and apartment developments, 

mixed-use projects, and custom residences. 

Other firm projects include: Liberty Park 

Animal Hospital, Mt. Laurel Townhouses 

and Live/Works, Builder’s Millwork, US 

Print, Restaurant G at One Federal Place, 

Grey House Grille, Tria Market, Soho Sweets, 

Rialto Theater offices and lofts, Taylor 

Carriage for the Ballard Law Firm and 

apartments, Sumo Japanese Steakhouse, the 

Dewberry and Phenix Building renovations, 

Jefferson County Schools, and Seaboard 

Yard Townhomes. 

Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds has won 

American Institute of Architects Design 

Awards for Pediatrics East-Deerfoot, King 

& Warren, 2210 Second Avenue North, 

Soho Flats Condominiums and Homewood 

City Hall, and the YMCA Youth Center. 

The firm has won Birmingham Historic 

Preservation Awards for Dewberry and 

Phenix Buildings, Café DuPont, Taylor 

Carriage Company, Kress Building, and the 

Rialto Theater. Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds was 

also named Architect of the Year by the 

American Subcontractor’s Association of 

Alabama in 2005. 

Although design is important to every 

project from Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds, 

function and construction costs take the 

highest priority during the design process. 

Above all, achieving their client’s vision is the 

ultimate goal. 

For more information about the Cohen 

Carnaggio Reynolds architectual firm, please 

visit www.ccrarchitects.net on the Internet. 

✧ 

Top: Tammy Cohen, Karen Reynolds and 

Richard Carnaggio. 


Below: YMCA Youth Center exterior. 


Bottom: YMCA Youth Center interior. 



269

WATTS REALTY 

COMPANY, INC. 

✧ 

The Watts family. 

Watts Realty Co., Inc., one of Birmingham’s 

oldest family-owned and operated real estate 

firms, has played an essential role in 

Birmingham since 1906. From its beginning 

developing residential homes to its current 

involvement as a full-service commercial real 

estate company providing development, 

management, leasing and sales services, Watts 

Realty has impacted the Birmingham area for 

more than a century. 

Watts Realty Company, Inc. began more 

than a century ago when W. A. Watts 

organized Cement Block and Manufacturing 

in 1906. The firm constructed cement block 

homes for rental investments which Watts 

managed for clients. These were probably the 

first of what are now called ‘split face’ block 

style buildings. 

In 1907 the Oliver-Watts Construction 

Company expanded in addition to its 

construction work to the purchase and sale of 

properties, and the Hillman-Watts Land 

Company, organized in 1908, specialized in 

buying, selling, and owning real estate. 

When Hillman died in 1918, the 

resulting business became known as W. A. 

Watts, Realtor ® . 

Watts helped organize the Birmingham 

Building and Loan Association, later 

federalized to become the Birmingham 

Federal Savings and Loan Association. 

Watts served as president of the Birmingham 

Board of Realtors®, beginning the family’s 

long association with local and state 

Realtors® Associations. 

Bill Watts, Jr. joined his father at Watts 

Realty® in 1946, following five years as a 

pilot during World War II. Bill, Jr. served as 

president of both the Birmingham Board of 

Realtors® and the Alabama Association of 

Realtors. In addition he was a National 

Director of the National Association of Real 

Estate Boards. 

Bill, Jr., was recognized as Birmingham’s 

Realtor of the Year in 1963 and was recipient 

of the 1986 President’s Cup Award. He was 

also very active in a number of other civic and 

professional organizations. 

Bill Watts, III, joined the firm in 1970 after 

graduating from Auburn University and 

serving an active duty tour with the Air Force. 

During his time with the firm, Bill served as 

president of the Birmingham Association of 

Realtors and the Alabama Association of 

Realtors. He was named Commercial Member 

of the Year in 1989, Realtor of the Year in 1990, 

and Alabama’s Realtor of the Year in 1991. 

Bill III’s commercial specialization helped 

Watts Realty grow into the sixth largest 

commercial property management firm in 

1999. Bill currently serves as the Congressional 

District Six Real Estate Commissioner for the 

State of Alabama. 

W.A. Watts, IV, known as Chip became the 

fourth generation of the family to join the firm 

in 1998. A graduate of Auburn University, 

Chip served as the 2004 president of the local 

Commercial Real Estate Club and is a charter 

board member of the Birmingham 

Commercial Realtors® Council. Chip is also 

deeply involved in industry organizations 

and is the 2008 President for the Alabama 

Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate 

Management and the 2009 President of the 

Alabama CCIM Chapter. 

Both Bill III and Chip are heavily involved 

in the YMCA. Chip is Chairman of the Board 

of Management for the YMCA’s Camp Cosby, a 

position Bill III held some years ago. Bill III 

has been active with the Birmingham YMCA 

through Camp Cosby and Hargis Retreat and 

is currently a member of the Board of 

Directors for the regional YMCA Blue Ridge 

Assembly in Black Mountain, North Carolina. 


270

Bill, Jr. was a Trustee for the boards 

as well. 

The firm’s more than a hundred 

years of service to the community 

was recently recognized by the 

Birmingham Regional Chamber 

of Commerce, which presented 

the firm with the coveted 

Centennial Award. 

The first generation of Watts 

Realty focused on construction 

and sales of residential 

units. The second generation 

included residential and 

commercial development as well as 

residential property management. 

The third generation expanded and 

enhanced commercial development 

and management, also starting 

a residential sales firm, Watts 

Residential Sales, Inc. 

Bill III’s wife, Jan, operated the 

newer firm, which was listed in 

1999 as the tenth largest residential 

firm in Birmingham by the 

Birmingham Business Journal. Jan was also 

the third Watts to receive Birmingham’s 

Realtor of the Year award in 1999. Watts 

Residential Sales affiliated with Coldwell 

Banker and, in 2001, became Coldwell 

Banker Preferred Properties. This firm was 

sold in 2003. 

The fourth generation of Realtors® is now 

working in commercial leasing and management. 

Watts Realty Company, Inc., now in its fourth 

generation and specializing in the areas of 

commercial leasing, investment sales and 

management services, continues to be a 

committed, conservative, ethical management 

and sales team serving the 

Birmingham real estate market, our 

community, and our state. No other 

real estate company in Birmingham 

has been owned and operated by the 

founding family for so long. This is 

one of the many reasons Watts Realty 

has the real estate edge: pride, 

professionalism, service, competition, 

understanding and the advantage of 

real estate support services. 

Through the use of cutting-edge 

technology, traditional customer 

service, and the building blocks of 

life learned through the 

Birmingham YMCA, the Watts 

family of real estate services will 

continue to serve the Birmingham 

market for years to come. 

✧ 

Above: Chip Watts. 

Below: Bill Watts. 


271

MORROW 

RAILROAD 

BUILDERS, INC. 

Morrow Railroad Builders, Inc. specializes 

in the rehabilitation, maintenance, and 

construction of industrial plant railroads, the 

rail systems used to keep material and goods 

moving in steel companies, assembly plants, 

rock quarries, and other plants. 

The unique business was founded by J.R. 

Morrow, an engineer who has spent a lifetime 

learning the complexities of industrial plant 

rail systems. 

Morrow grew up in Pickens County, 

Alabama, during the Great Depression. His 

father had been a quarry manager in 

Ketona, but the family moved to his 

grandfather’s farm when the quarry was 

forced to close because of the depression. 

Morrow and his five siblings grew up in an 

old 1860s home with no electricity, running 

water, or indoor plumbing. Heat was 

provided by fireplaces in two of the rooms. It 

was a tough time, but Morrow recalls that, 

“My mother taught me love, the surrounding 

people taught me to trust, care for, and have 

concern for other people. Later, my wife 

would enhance this philosophy and push me 

a notch or two beyond.” 

Morrow became interested in engineering as 

a teenager while watching road construction 

with old Cat and wheel-controlled road 

graders. After high school and a stint in the 

U.S. Navy, he entered the University of 

Alabama to study civil and mechanical 

engineering, working for 

a construction company to help pay for 

his education. 

During his senior year at the University of 

Alabama, Morrow met and married Jeanenne 

Stanley, who after graduation worked in 

cancer research at the Southern Research 

Institute. She later acquired her PhD in 


272

women’s health services and has traveled 

extensively throughout the world practicing 

her profession. 

Jim and Jeanenne have two sons. Robert 

Stanley Morrow worked as a corporation 

lawyer and later founded his own business. 

James Russell Morrow, Jr., was a homebuilder 

for several years and now works in the track 

business with his father. 

Following graduation, Morrow decided to 

pursue railroad construction rather than 

highway work and took a job with U.S. Steel. 

During a thirty-three year career with U.S. 

Steel, Morrow supervised 200 miles of 

railroad track, 40 diesel locomotives, and 

more than 2,000 railroad cars from the 

drawing board to maintenance. 

Later, Morrow was asked to upgrade 

the railroad track at Camp Lejeune in 

North Carolina, a project that included 

removing the entire facility down to the 

culverts and a wooden trestle and replacing it 

with new roadbed. This experience, 

followed by an additional twenty mile 

add-on to the Cherry Point Marine Station, 

convinced Morrow that he wanted to 

build railroad. 

Morrow also realized there had been 

drastic changes in corporation track 

maintenance. “When I started with U.S. Steel 

there was practically no maintenance 

equipment for tracks owned by corporations,” 

he explains. “At first, rails were handled by 

tongs requiring twelve or more men to handle 

a rail. Equipment changed over the next 

twenty-thirty years, and the crews were 

reduced to a foreman, one or two operators 

and three laborers. But the equipment sat idle 

a large percentage of the time.” 

Morrow realized that with enough 

equipment, he could take care of the rail 

needs of sixty to seventy companies. He also 

realized that track maintenance requires 

closer observation of how the track works 

than mere assembling or putting it together. 

Following the experience at Camp 

Lejeune, Morrow spent several years starting 

and operating a company under the name of 

Ajax. He was joined by two track foremen 

who had worked with him at Camp Lejeune, 

Ralph Wright and Don Cales, who joined 

Morrow, his wife, Jeanenne, and son, Russell, 

in establishing a new company. 

“We met one afternoon in Ralph’s 

carport and mapped out a program which 

has become a very successful endeavor,” 

Morrow says. “Jeanenne and I agreed to put up 

the money for the new venture. I felt confident 

about my forty years experience and the timing 

was right. Fortunately, it worked out, and we 

were debt free in a few years.” 

Today, Morrow Railroad Builders, Inc., 

operates from a well equipped office and shop 

in the Dolomite area of Birmingham. The firm 

has grown to about thirty-five employees and 

a yard full of trucks, tampers, ballast 

regulators, spike drivers, bolt tighteners, back 

hoes, front end loaders, tractor trailers, fork 

lifts, and numerous rail-mounted vehicles and 

equipment. Morrow Railroad Builders now 

looks after more than seventy customers 


273

INKANA 

DEVELOPMENT 

✧ 

Top, Right: Simon Williamson Clinic at 

Princeton Baptist Birmingham, Alabama. 

Below: Medical Office Building, III, 


Founded in 1997 and based in 

Birmingham, INKANA Development is a 

real estate firm specializing in providing 

real estate services for complex projects, 

partnerships, and joint ventures. 

The firm takes its name from the 

Cherokee word Inkana, which means “I 

am a friend of his; he is a friend of mine.” 

This is the cornerstone on which the 

company was established. 

As a fully integrated real estate company, 

INKANA provides a wide variety of services. 

INKANA is not ‘all things to all people,’ but a 

full-service real estate company whose primary 

focus is serving the healthcare industry. 

INKANA projects include hospitals, 

medical office buildings, long-term care 

facilities, surgery centers, wellness facilities, 

parking decks, corporate offices, special 

projects, and built-to-suit facilities. 

Among the many INKANA projects: On 

campus of Shelby Baptist, Medical Center 

East, Princeton Baptist, Huntsville Hospital, 

Decatur General, Clay County Hospital, 

Parkway Medical Center, and Huntsville 

Hospital-Madison. 

INKANA was founded on the principles of 

providing exceptional value, building longterm 

customer relationships, and delivering 

quality services. “We strive to develop longterm 

relations based on honesty and integrity, 

while maintaining the financial and budgetary 

goals of our clients,” comments Slade 

Blackwell, partner in INKANA. 

The expertise of INKANA includes project 

finance, strategic planning, conceptual 

budgeting, design, construction, regulatory 

compliance, property management, and 

tenant representation services. Services are 

customer tailored with the client maintaining 

as much control as desired throughout the 

development process. 

The INKANA development team is 

knowledgeable in both healthcare and real 

estate development to give healthcare 

providers a new perspective on how to better 

develop, manage and own their real estate. 

Clients depend on INKANA to understand 

their specific goals and tailor a solution that 

will achieve their business goals. 

INKANA’s facility solutions are customized 

to meet the unique needs of the owners and 

operators of each healthcare facility. 

Providing the highest level of client 

satisfaction is essential to INKANA’s long-term 

success. This commitment allows the firm to 

partner with local and national experts best 

suited to address the client’s needs. INKANA 

assembles a team of consultants that include 

not only healthcare design and construction 

talent, but also specialists in healthcare, 

finance, and experts that understand the 

intricate complexities that are critical to 

healthcare planning. 

Each project is guided by the expertise of 

professionals who have firsthand knowledge 

of critical healthcare issues. This approach 

uniquely positions INKANA to address the 

challenges its healthcare clients face on a dayin, 

day-out basis. 

“I’m proud of the fact that our team is 

empowered with the wisdom of experience 

and has a vision of the future,” notes John 

Blackwell, INKANA partner. 


274

INKANA’s proven experience is invaluable to 

healthcare providers faced with current and 

future financial challenges. One of the most 

significant challenges facing healthcare 

providers today is the ‘capital’ decision involving 

primary and ancillary real estate assets. INKANA 

is a flexible organization known for its creative 

and innovative project ownership and financing 

strategies. INKANA works with the healthcare 

providers to create an ownership strategy that 

ensures long-term success. 

“We are the provider of comprehensive 

healthcare real estate solutions so that 

hospitals and physicians can remain focused 

on the delivery of the highest quality 

healthcare for their patients,” concludes 

David Fowler, INKANA partner 

While INKANA’s primary focus is on 

servicing the healthcare industry, the breadth 

and depth of its real estate experience 

uniquely qualifies them to assist clients with 

special projects in a variety of service areas. 

From project management to development 

and advisory services, INKANA offers 

innovative strategies to achieve the client’s 

long-term goals of growth and profitability. 

Special projects and services provided by 

INKANA include development, acquisition, 

tenant representation, project management, 

owner’s representation, brokerage, property 

management, leasing, portfolio valuation, and 

feasibility analysis. 

The countless details and distractions 

involved in administering and planning 

development projects can be overwhelming, 

which is why INKANA provides a single 

source of accountability and finance 

solutions. For example, many projects require 

unique joint ventures or innovative leases, 

while most include careful coordination and 

approval among various local agencies and 

departments such as planning, zoning, traffic 

engineering, inspection, utilities and city 

councils. INKANA excels at building critical 

consensus among all of the stakeholders 

through the entire development process, 

providing a single source of accountability, 

managing the entire development process 

from start to finish. This allows clients to 

continue focusing on their core competences. 

For more information about INKANA 

Development, check their website at 

www.inkana.net. 

✧ 

Above: Colonial Bank, Hunstville, Alabama. 

Bottom, left: Shelby Baptist Parking Deck, 

Alabaster, Alabama. 

Bottom, right: INKANA Development 

Austin Blackwell, Slade Blackwell, David 

Fowke, and John Blackwell. 


275

VALMONT- 

NEWMARK 

✧ 

Above: Valmont-Newmark’s tubular steel 

500 kv transmission structures helping to 

deliver reliable power across the nation. 

Below: Earl Foust discusses transmission 

infrastructure solutions with host General 

Alexander Haig. 

Valmont-Newmark, the Utility Division 

of global Valmont Industries, Inc. is 

America’s leading provider of the spun 

concrete, tubular steel, and hybrid poles used 

in electrical transmission, distribution and 

substations systems. 

Headquartered in Birmingham, Valmont- 

Newmark is a $300 million business with an 

important role in creating the nation’s power 

grids, utilizing eleven plants and a workforce 

of 1,000. 

Valmont-Newmark is helping to 

revolutionize the way engineers plan and 

execute transmission, distribution, and 

substation projects by providing a seamless 

blend of custom solutions for diverse 

applications in power delivery projects. 

Valmont-Newmark has become a key 

alliance supplier to the majority of utilities 

throughout the United States from coast to 

coast. These alliances witness to the 

company’s standards of precise engineering 

and promises kept. 

Earl R. Foust, president of Valmont- 

Newmark is dedicated to publishing, 

patenting, and researching new products, as 

well as managing growth and profitability. 

A Cullman native, Foust received his 

undergraduate degree in Mechanical 

Engineering from Auburn University and 

his master’s degree in Mechanical 

Engineering from the University of Alabama. 

His management skills were further 

honed at Northwestern University and 

Vanderbilt University. 

Newmark was organized in 1983 as a joint 

venture between a German company Pfleiderer 

and Sherman Industries, Inc., and the joint 

venture was called Sherman Utility Structures, 

Inc. The first production plant was located in 

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with additional plants 

opened later in Claxton, Georgia; Bellville, 

Texas; Bartow, Florida; Bay Minette, Alabama; 

Dallas, Texas; and Barstow, California. 

Newmark became a subsidiary of 

Pfleiderer AG in 1995. A year later Newmark 

purchased Baldwin Utilities of Bay Minette, 

Alabama. Two years later it purchased North 

American Pole of Dallas, Texas. In 2004, 

Valmont Industries purchased Newmark. 

The acquisition brought together two 

names synonymous with innovation. As the 

companies have evolved since their founding, 

one thing has remained constant—the firm’s 

commitment to researching and developing 

processes and products that facilitate 

innovative solutions for customers. Just as 

this commitment is built into the company’s 

history, it is the foundation for its future. 

Valmont-Newmark boasts the industry’s 

most complete product line. A 2005 Frost and 

Sullivan Product Line Strategy Award saluted 

the company for its “diverse product 

portfolio” that is “highly advantageous in 

today’s utility structure industry.” 

The product line also provides solutions to 

Environmental Protection Agency regulations 

and deforestation issues. The nontoxic products 

reduce disposal costs and can be reused or 

recycled. Environmental responsibility, 

aesthetics, durability, and value are achieved 

through Valmont-Newmark’s capacity to custom 

build structures required by utility engineers. 


276

Valmont-Newmark delivers structures 

meeting needs beyond power grids, including 

lighting poles, architectural columns, 

communication poles, and golf netting. The 

company has designed and built some 

of the most difficult projects ever attempted 

in their field, and its steel pole operations 

merit the coveted AISC quality fabricator 

certification. The firm is a recipient of the 

Alabama Governor’s New Product Award and 

the Birmingham Venture Club’s Jemison 

Venture Award. 

The business values that guide Valmont- 

Newmark include honesty with the customer, 

integrity in designing and producing to fulfill 

the customer’s expectations, creditable 

projected delivery, and best quality, service 

and economical price. 

At Valmont-Newmark, there is a difference 

between making promises and living 

up to them. That is why customers have 

trusted the company over the years to 

deliver innovative solutions for their most 

demanding projects. 

✧ 

Above: Valmont-Newmark’s concrete 

transmission and distribution poles deliver 

power to homes, hospitals, businesses, and 

emergency services. 

Below: Earl Foust signs alliance agreement 

with major utility customers. 


277

✧ 

ALVAH 

VOTELLE 

BARRON, JR. 

Alvah V. Barron, Jr. 

Alvah Votelle Barron, Jr., a distinguished 

Birmingham businessman and noted 

engineer, was born in Thomaston, Georgia on 

January 3, 1927, the son of Alvah Votelle 

Barron and Ruby Ellington Barron. 

Al Barron’s talents surfaced early, and, 

because of his superior grades in school and 

an aptitude for chemistry and other vital 

subjects, he was approached and interviewed 

by the U.S. Army prior to his graduation from 

Robert E. Lee High School. 

Al enlisted at the age of seventeen, and the 

Army arranged for him to study at the 

University of Florida, North Carolina State 

University and New York University, during 

which time he spent his days working 

on formulas provided by the Army. Many 

years later Al learned that the formulas 

and calculations were utilized by the Manhattan 

Project in the development of the atom bomb. 

Shortly after the bombings of Hiroshima 

and Nagasaki, Al was redeployed to 

Anchorage, Alaska and, subsequently, to the 

Aleutian Islands. 

Following his discharge from the Army, Al 

attended Georgia Institute of Technology, 

where he graduated with a Bachelor of 

Science degree in Electrical Engineering. 

While at Georgia Tech, Al met and began 

courting Barbara Jean “Bobbie” Mann, the 

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur P. Mann of 

Newnan, Georgia. After graduation from 

Georgia Tech, Al proposed to Bobbie, and 

they were married the following summer. 

Al and Bobbie moved to Atlanta, where he 

went to work for Davidson-Kennedy Company. 

Shortly thereafter, Al was approached by Louis- 

Allis Company, which offered him a job in 

Birmingham. He accepted the job but 

promised Bobbie they would eventually return 

to Atlanta. It did not take them long, however, 

to fall in love with Birmingham. 

After a few years in Birmingham, Al was 

transferred back to Atlanta as the Southern 

District Manager of Louis Allis Company. By 

this time, Al and Bobbie had two children, 

with another on the way. In 1957, after only 

three months in Atlanta, Al and Bobbie 

packed up and moved back to Birmingham, 

where he took a position as Developmental 

Engineer with Fly Ash Arrestor Corporation. 

Al and Bobbie’s two children, Sally and Betsy, 

were soon followed by Alvah V. “Buddy” 

Barron, III, and daughter Connie. 

In 1964, Al took a job as Assistant Vice 

President of Marketing with Industrial 

Nucleonics, and the family moved to Ohio. 

Two years later, the Barron family returned to 

Birmingham for good when Al became 

Executive Vice President with the Fly Ash 

Arrestor Corporation. This position proved to 

be the true beginning of Al’s illustrious 

professional career. He was named Engineer 

of the Year for the State of Alabama in 1972 


278

and became known as the “air pollution 

control expert.” He traveled extensively giving 

speeches and presentations. 

In 1973, following the buyout of Fly Ash 

by Zurn Industries, Al left the company and 

started his own firm, Barron Industries. 

Within a four-year period, Barron Industries 

grew to be one of the foremost leaders in the 

air pollution control industry. 

Al sold Barron Industries to Allis-Chalmers 

Corporation in 1978 and continued to work 

for and consult with the company until the 

mid-1980s. 

Following his tenure with Allis Chalmers/ 

Barron Industries, Al partnered with a former 

employee, Jack Cornelius, to establish Barron 

Flo-Tech, which grew and evolved into an 

industry leader, eventually changing its name to 

Barron Fan Technology. Al sold his remaining 

interest in Barron Fan in 2003. 

Following the sale of Barron Industries and 

the subsequent start of Barron Flo-Tech, Al 

established Vance Tool & Die in 1979 and 

Barron Machine and Fabrication in 1984. 

Barron Machine and Fabrication, located at 

3901 Commerce Avenue in Fairfield, 

Alabama, provides repair and maintenance 

services for local industry as well as new parts 

and complete mechanical assemblies for 

industry throughout the world. 

From its inception as a three-man 

operation in 1984, Barron Machine and 

Fabrication now runs two shifts, thus 

resulting in a $1.5 million expansion 

including new shop and office facilities. 

Al currently maintains full control and 

interest in Barron Machine & Fabrication and, 

at the age of eighty, still visits Barron Machine 

on a weekly basis to stay apprised of current 

operations and management. 

Vance Tool & Die was sold to Al’s youngest 

daughter, Connie Sherrod, in 1998. 

Occupying more than 30,000 square feet of 

production space on Vanderbilt Road in 

Birmingham, the firm employs an average of 

thirty people and maintains a multimillion 

dollar sales volume by serving a multitude of 

industries in the areas of metal stamping, 

fabrication, and tool and die. 

Al and Bobbie, who passed away in 1993, 

have nine grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. 

Remarried in 1998, Al and 

Beth Barron currently reside in Birmingham. 


279

MASON 

CORPORATION 

✧ 

Above: Original rented basement. 

Below: Southeastern Tool & Die Co., Inc. 

Powderly, Alabama. 

Mason Corporation was founded 

by Samuel L. Mason in 1948 in 

Birmingham, Alabama. The company 

began as Southeastern Tool and Die, a 

tool and die shop with a four-man crew 

working in a leased basement. Sam saw 

that there was a need in the marketplace 

for window screen components, and 

began manufacturing three items: a 

screen frame, aluminum spline, and 

corner insert. From that modest start, 

Mason Corporation has grown today to 

include 170 employees and nine 

facilities across the United States. 

Sam found that the screen frame business 

was a prosperous one, and the company 

quickly outgrew its rented basement quarters. 

In order to accommodate their growth, 

Southeastern Tool and Die moved to a larger 

facility in the Birmingham suburb of 

Powderly, Alabama. 

Sam managed the business through its 

initial development. In 1959, Sam’s son, 

Frank L. Mason took over as president of 

Southeastern Tool and Die. Frank had worked 

with the company since its inception, and 

would lead the company through a time of 

great expansion. That same year, the company 

first expanded outside Alabama when it 

established a distribution center in Dallas, 

Texas. This distribution center would later 

become a manufacturing facility involved in 

roll forming aluminum and steel store front 

facing panels, galvanized steel ‘C’ channels, 

screen frame and glass mold. 

The business continued to expand and 

grow, and, after nine additions to the 

Powderly, Alabama location, Southeastern 

Tool and Die moved into a new office on West 

Oxmoor Road. In 1969, Frank changed the 

company’s name to Mason Corporation to 

honor company founder, Sam Mason. Mason 

Corporation also acquired Southern Roofing 

and Metals Company of Raleigh, North 

Carolina that same year. The acquisition 

further expanded Mason Corporation’s 

product lines and distribution area. The 

Raleigh location offered aluminum and vinyl 

siding as well as the capacity to manufacture a 

thirty-one-inch awning sheet. 

The energy crisis of the 1970s brought 

further growth for Mason Corporation. One of 

the popular products that the company offered 

was affordable storm windows that allowed 

homeowners to reduce their energy costs. The 

company expanded to service customers 

throughout the Midwest by opening a Kansas 

City distribution center in 1975. 

By 1979 the company was in dire need of 

additional manufacturing space in its 

Birmingham facility. Fortunately, a 122,000 

square foot building was located about one 

block away from their current location on 

West Oxmoor Road. A 60,000 square foot 

warehouse addition brought the headquarters 

and main plant building to a total of 182,000 

square feet on sixteen acres of land, providing 

room for continued growth in the future. 

In 1991, Frank retired from Mason 

Corporation and passed the leadership of the 

company on to his son-in-law, Russell W. 

Chambliss. Russ has continued the company’s 

growth by expanding into commercial 


280

construction products. Under his direction, 

the company has added divisions for 

restaurant materials, as well as commercial 

walkway covers. 

Today, Mason Corporation operates 

distribution branches in Raleigh, North 

Carolina, Kansas City, Missouri, North Little 

Rock, Arkansas, Dallas, Texas, Knoxville, 

Tennessee, and Columbia, South Carolina. 

The company also has manufacturing 

locations in Jemison, Alabama and Leesburg, 

Florida in addition to its Birmingham, 

Alabama facility. 

The firm now offers more than 5,000 items, 

providing a broad range of products for the 

construction industry. Some of Mason 

Corporation’s residential products include 

carports, patio covers, insulated roof panels, 

deck drainage systems, lattice shade systems, 

screen and glass enclosures, awning 

components, insulating doors and windows, 

screen frame, screen doors, sliding patio screen 

doors, replacement windows, and products for 

the manufactured and mobile home industry. 

Commercial products include walkway covers, 

overhead dock canopies, carwash and service 

station decking, mansard panels, smoking 

shelters, dumpster covers, and various 

commercial materials for the restaurant industry. 

The art of roll forming is very demanding 

and Mason has nearly sixty years experience. 

The company is equipped with multipurpose 

roll-forming machines capable of forming 

hundreds of different shapes. The physical 

capabilities are matched by the dedicated 

personnel committed to the highest quality 

control and inspection standards. 

Mason Corporation started as a tool and 

die company and continues to make all the 

rolls for its roll-forming mills and practically 

all the tooling required in the fabrication of 

Mason products. The company is totally 

equipped to mill, plane, shape, grind, weld, 

tap, and saw metal to specific needs. 

In a message to employees and customers 

on the firm’s fortieth anniversary, thenpresident 

Frank Mason said: “It is our belief 

that such human traits as honesty, integrity, 

and individual responsibility will be as 

important to our country’s growth in the 

future as they have been in the past. 

We at Mason Corporation know that we 

are extremely fortunate to live in the United 

States of America, and enjoy all of the 

opportunities and individual freedoms that 

are available to us here. Our own company’s 

growth has been possible only because of 

these opportunities and freedoms.” 

The company’s core beliefs are 

incorporated in its mission statement, which 

reads: “Mason Corporation, a manufacturer 

and distributor of quality building products, 

is committed to serving the needs of our 

customers, employees, communities, and 

shareholders through aggressive marketing, 

and ethical and sound business practices, in 

order that we profit and grow together. In all 

arenas in which we participate, Mason 

Corporation will strive to become the 

standard by which all others are judged.” 

For more information about Mason 

Corporation, visit the company website at 

www.masoncorp.com. 

✧ 

Above: First West Oxmoor Road location. 

Below: Current corporate headquarters, 



281

SLOSS 

INDUSTRIES 

CORPORATION 

✧ 

Above: Production of slag fiber at the 

Birmingham Fiber Plant. Molten slag is 

spun into fiber. 

Following the devastation caused by the 

Civil War, a number of far-sighted Alabama 

business leaders began to realize that the state 

needed to move away from its reliance on 

agriculture and focus more on industrial 

development. Several of these Alabamians 

helped organize the city of Birmingham in 

1871 with the explicit goal of developing the 

rich mineral resources of north-central 

Alabama. They realized that every ingredient 

necessary for making iron could be found 

within a thirty mile radius of the new city. 

Among these business leaders was James 

Withers Sloss, founder of Sloss Industries, one of 

the oldest industrial companies in Birmingham. 

Sloss became an apprentice bookkeeper for 

a butcher at age fifteen. He later married a 

local girl, Mary Bigger, and used his savings to 

buy a small store in Athens, Alabama. By the 

late 1850s, Sloss had expanded his mercantile 

interests throughout northern Alabama and 

eventually became one of the wealthiest 

merchant and plantation owners in the state. 

Realizing the need for expansion of 

southern rail lines, Sloss became active in 

railroad construction in the 1860s and 

eventually became president of the Nashville & 

Decatur Railroad, which consolidated all the 

rail lines between Nashville and the Tennessee 

River. He also became associated with the 

strongest railroad in the South, the Louisville 

& Nashville, better known as the L&N. 

Through his activities with the railroads, 

Sloss became familiar with the vast mineral 

wealth of the Birmingham area. Aware of the 

growing demand for iron, and seeing the 

tremendous possibilities of the mineral-rich 

area, he organized the Sloss Furnace Company 

in 1881. Two blast furnaces, now known as 

the City Furnaces, were constructed, and 

production of iron began. Combined daily 

output for the furnaces was 360 to 400 tons of 

Sloss brand pig iron. 

Two additional furnaces were put into blast 

in 1889 and the two blast furnaces put into 

operation in 1882 and 1883 still exist today 

as National Historic Landmarks. 

Sloss was an aggressive manager and used 

his extensive business contacts throughout 

the state to seek markets and purchase an 

additional 30,000 acres of mineral lands, 

including the rich ore lands on Red Mountain. 

These lands quickly became one of the 

region’s largest ore mines. 

Sloss’ two sons served as officers in the 

company; Fred Sloss as secretary-treasurer 

and Machin Sloss as general manager. 

In 1886, at age sixty-six, Sloss sold his 

furnace company to a group of Virginia and New 

York capitalists headed by John W. Johnston, 

president of the Alabama National Bank and later 

Governor of Alabama and a U.S. Senator. 

By 1887, with $3 million in northern 

capital raised by Wall Street financier John 

Campbell Maben, the newly reorganized Sloss 

Iron and Steel Company acquired the 

Coalburg Coal and Coke Company, which 

operated mines along the Georgia Pacific 

tracks at Coalburg, Brookside, and Blossburg. 

The company aggressively pursued 

markets throughout the U.S. and abroad, and, 


282

in 1894, Sloss began export trade with 

Europe, Australia, Japan, and South America. 

In 1899 the company was reorganized as 

Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company, and the 

company became the district’s second largest 

producer of pig iron. Company assets 

included seven blast furnaces with a daily 

capacity of 1,400 tons, 1,500 beehive coke 

ovens, 94,500 acres of mineral lands, and five 

coal mines in Jefferson County. 

Sloss production boomed during World War I. 

From 1918 to 1920, the company built a 

modern coke by-products plant at its North 

Birmingham site, where 600 Semet-Solvay ovens 

replaced 1,380 beehives at the City Furnace site. 

Sloss remained a major producer of 

merchant pig iron throughout the 1920s, and, 

in 1924, the company expanded with the 

purchase of the Sheffield Iron Corporation 

and the Alabama Corporation. 

U.S. Pipe, a large consumer of pig iron and 

Sloss’ largest customer, acquired majority 

control of Sloss in 1942 and, during the 

1950s, capacity of the North Birmingham 

coke works doubled. 

U.S. Pipe and Foundry was acquired by Jim 

Walter Corporation (now Walter Industries) in 

1969. As large as the Sloss Company was in 

the late nineteenth century and most of the 

twentieth century, the only plants operating 

today are the coke plant and fiber plant, which 

became operational in 1947. 

Today, Sloss is a manufacturing operation 

in Birmingham with three major product 

lines; furnace coke, foundry coke, and slag 

fiber. Furnace coke is sold primarily to the 

domestic steel industry for producing steel in 

blast furnaces; foundry coke is marketed to 

ductile iron pipe plants and foundries 

producing castings such as those used in the 

automotive and agricultural equipment 

industries. Slag fiber is an insulating fiber 

utilized principally as a raw material by 

acoustical ceiling tile manufacturers. 

Today, Sloss has 370 employees at its 

North Birmingham location and continues to 

play a vital role in the region’s economy. 

Sloss is involved with several of the 

communities surrounding its plant and 

routinely contributes to help support the efforts 

of the Collegeville Neighborhood Association, 

Fairmont Neighborhood Association, and 

Harriman Park Neighborhood Association. 

Sloss also assists with the efforts of The 

Opportunity Academy at Riggins, an alternative 

school for students who need a second chance. 

✧ 

Above: Current coke producing ovens. 

Below: Sloss Marching band, 1921. 


283

PRECISION 

GRINDING, 

INC. 

Precision Grinding, Inc. was 

founded in 1969 by J.T. Sudduth to 

recondition and regrind metal cutting 

knives for the steel manufacturing 

industry. William J. Cabaniss 

purchased the company in 1971 as the 

majority owner. Walter McCullers, 

who had been working for the 

previous owner, became a minority 

partner. In 2006, Andrew and Miles 

Cunningham purchased Precision 

Grinding. The company has become 

one of the largest custom steel plate 

processors in the Southeast, providing 

custom cut steel plate, Blanchard 

grinding, surface grinding, stress 

relieving, annealing, CNC machining 

and steel plate fabrication all under one roof. 

In the early days, Precision Grinding was a 

small company with only a few employees, 

but Cabaniss’ objective was to grow the firm 

into a subcontract grinding service for other 

companies using high horsepower surface 

grinding machines. 

To help achieve this vision, Cabaniss 

built a new 13,000 square foot plant in the 

Oxmoor Valley southwest of Birmingham. 

The facility was completed in 1974 and 

expanded to nearly 16,000 square feet 

in 1976. 

The Precision Grinding operation is 

located within two miles of the legendary 

Oxmoor Iron Furnaces, which were in 

operation more than a century ago, and 

within two miles of some of the original 

iron ore mines which supplied the booming 

steel industry. 

Along with the plant expansion, Cabaniss 

continued to add large surface grinding 

machines from Mattison Machine Works and 

Blanchard Machine Works. This helped the 

company grow market share from customers 

who needed a company to grind large plates. 

Precision Grinding struggled in the early 

1980s when a major downturn in the U.S. 

economy led to the closing of steel plants in 

Birmingham. At this time, Cabaniss realized 

that if the company were to survive, he would 

have to reevaluate its customer base, as well as 

the industry it served. Cabaniss traveled 

throughout the Southeast, visiting plywood 

mills, appliance and automotive stamping 

facilities, machines shops, and special 

machine builders, making them aware of 

Precision Grinding’s capabilities. This change 

of emphasis enabled the company to survive 

the recession in the steel industry. 

Cabaniss was active in politics and ran for 

the U.S. Senate against Howell Heflin in 1990. 

Banners were hung from the plant rafters, and 

Precision Grinding became the location for 

the official kick-off rally. 

Walter retired in 1994, and Miles 

Cunningham joined the company as a 


284

minority partner. Andrew Cunningham joined 

the company as a minority partner in 1998. At 

this time, Precision Grinding was beginning to 

expand into other value added services. 

The owners realized the company needed 

to continue to expand its service offerings and 

improve speed of delivery to meet the 

industry’s demands. Over the next several 

years, the company’s expansion led to such 

value-added plate services as CNC oxy-fuel 

plate cutting, plasma cutting, CNC 

machining, stress relieving, annealing, and 

fabrication. The plant facility was enlarged to 

60,000 square feet. 

Through this expansion, Precision Grinding 

became a full-service plate processing company 

and a ‘one-stop shop’ for customers interested 

in fully machined, precision ground, or 

fabricated custom steel parts. 

Miles and Andrew purchased the 

remaining stock in the company from 

Cabaniss in August 2006. 

Today, Precision Grinding has forty-eight 

employees and annual revenues of more than 

$8 million. Although the firm’s predominant 

market is the Southeast, it serves customers 

throughout the country. Industries served by 

Precision Grinding include special machine 

builders, automotive, appliance, tool and die, 

stamping, timber, and others who need 

precision ground or machined steel plate. The 

company is headquartered at 2101 Wenonah- 

Oxmoor Road in Birmingham. 

The company’s current focus and plan for the 

future is to be the best one-stop shop for custommade 

steel parts by offering a variety of services 

under one roof, including plate cutting, stress 

relieving, annealing, Blanchard Grinding, large 

surface grinding, fabrication, and machining. 

Precision Grinding is a member of the 

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the 

National Tooling and Machining Association 

(NTMA), and the National Safety Council. 

The firm and its employees are active in such 

local organizations as King’s Ranch/Hannah 

Home, and others. 

For more information about Precision 

Grinding, Inc., visit the company website at 

www.precisiongrinding.com. 


285

ALTEC 

INDUSTRIES, 

INC. 

Altec Industries, Inc., founded in 

Birmingham in 1929 by Lee Styslinger, is a 

privately-held company led today by the 

family’s third generation. With 2,500 associates 

worldwide—800 of whom are employed 

locally—Altec specializes in the manufacture, 

sale, and service of aerial devices, digger 

derricks, and specialty equipment for the 

electric utility, telecommunications, tree care, 

and light and sign maintenance industries in 

more than 120 countries. 

At Altec, advanced technology efforts 

are aimed, without exception, at helping 

customers work “Safer & Smarter.” Smarter 

in the sense that Altec believes in 

the productivity business—enhancing 

productivity for customers. This translates 

into developing technologies that dramatically 

increase uptime and dramatically 

decrease lifecycle costs. Altec invests more 

resources than any other manufacturer in 

advancements for reliability, uptime, and low 

cost of ownership. Safer translates into the 

rugged construction of its equipment as 

well as training for all customers to ensure 

safe and effective work practices using 

Altec equipment. 

In addition to the design, manufacture 

and sale of highly specialized mobile 

equipment, Altec works directly with its 

customers to create solutions to meet their 

ever-changing needs. The New Product 

Development Center meets a customer’s 

needs for a totally customized product; from 

chassis, to body, to aerial device requirements. 

If used equipment is more suitable, Altec also 

offers a used equipment solution (National 

Utility Equipment Company) providing 

previously owned units. A financing 

department (Altec Capital) is available to 

assist in custom tailoring financing 

options designed to help customers 

acquire their equipment. If a customer 

is not prepared to add additional units to their 

fleets permanently, but could use extra 

equipment for a specific job or while another 

piece of equipment is being serviced, Altec 

provides a rental option, Global Rental 

Company, Inc. 

The values on which the present owner’s 

grandfather founded Altec more than 

seven decades ago remain at the heart 

of the company’s core philosophy. “My 

grandfather started the company with the 

idea that the customer comes first, and that 

people are our greatest strength,” says 

President and CEO Lee Styslinger, III. “My 

father ran the company using the same basic 

principles and, over the years, the initial ideas 

my grandfather had have helped us earn the 

trust and confidence of our customers 

worldwide. Listening to our customers and 

creating solutions is key to our commitment 

to total customer satisfaction in all that 

we do.” 

Altec’s vision is to be recognized by 

its customers as the preferred supplier 

in all the markets it serves. The company’s 

values play an important role in sustaining 

that vision and achieving its goal of total 

customer satisfaction. Every Team Altec 

associate strives toward the values (in 

alphabetical order) of Customer First, 

Enjoyment at Work, Family, Financial 

Stability, Integrity, People Are Our Greatest 

Strength, Quality, Spiritual Development, 

and Teamwork. 

Altec’s long-term stability allows for 

resources to invest in research and 

development. The company remains at the 

forefront of providing solutions and 

innovations in information support services, 

allowing is customers to fully integrate their 

businesses and streamline processes for 

increased efficiency and cost savings. The 

latest manufacturing techniques and rigorous 

prototype testing guarantees every piece of 

Altec equipment meets the standards of 

quality its customers have come to expect. 

This commitment to quality and safety has led 

to an unsurpassed warranty in the industry. In 

addition, the company has both ISO 9001 

and Class A certifications. 

From its headquarters in Birmingham to 

service and manufacturing divisions in 

Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, 

Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Texas, 

Colorado, California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, 

Massachusetts; and Ontario, Manitoba, and 

British Columbia in Canada, Altec offers: 

• most complete line of equipment; 

• lowest cost of ownership; 


286

• financial services, rental; 

• used, direct channels of distribution; 

• most comprehensive after-the-sale support; 

• most comprehensive road service network, 

tools and accessories. 

In short, Altec invests in making crews’ lives 

easier through safe, reliable equipment. Altec is 

not simply a vendor, but, rather, a business 

partner and consultant to assist its customers 

and ensure their crews work “Safer & Smarter.” 


287

GENERAL 

MACHINERY 

COMPANY, INC. 

✧ 

General Machinery's original location at 

1600 Second Avenue South as seen in 1932. 

For the past century, General Machinery 

Company has supplied electrical and 

mechanical equipment to the industry and 

has become an important part of 

Birmingham’s industrial service industry. 

General Machinery Company grew out of 

the efforts of Crocker Wheeler Company of 

New Jersey to take advantage of Birmingham’s 

rapid growth in the early 1900s. Crocker 

Wheeler, a national manufacturer of electrical 

equipment, sent B.A. Schroder from New 

Orleans to Birmingham to open an office to 

serve the rapidly electrifying industries in the 

Magic City. 

Schroder was impressed by the potential in 

Birmingham and soon concluded that the city 

offered unlimited opportunities for a 

businessman who could meet the needs of the 

expanding industries. In 1908, Schroder left 

his former employer and founded General 

Machinery Company. 

From the company’s first headquarters in 

the Brown-Marx Building in downtown 

Birmingham, Schroder carefully studied the 

Birmingham market through the years, 

making adjustments to his product line as 

necessary. The firm dealt originally in 

electrical mining machinery, but during a 

slump in coal mining, Schroder broadened 

the firm’s scope and began handling pumps. 

After Schroder’s death in 1954, his son-inlaw, 

Ed Wilkinson, operated the company 

successfully until his death in 1972. At that 

point, the company was purchased by Francis 

Crockard, Jr., and later that year Michael 

Balliet and Jerry Hope became stockholders. 

Francis moved to chairman in 2001, and his 

son, Frank Crockard, took over as president. 

In 2005, a second son, Paul Crockard, became 

vice president. 

Under new ownership in 1972, General 

Machinery expanded its scope by entering the 

compressed air market with the acquisition of 

Airmatco in 1974. In 1976, Morrow Perry 

Hoist Company was acquired for expansion 

into the hoist market. In 1989, after Gardner 

Denver Compressors, Inc. acquired Joy 

Compressors, Fred Chenowith Company was 

purchased by General Machinery for further 

expansion into the compressor market. 

General Machinery now has four branches 

in Alabama specializing in electrical 

components and systems, pumps of all sizes 

and applications, and compressed air systems 

for all plant air needs. General Machinery 

operates each branch with four divisions: Air 

Products, Electrical/Automation, Pumps and 

Service. The headquarters is located at 921 

First Avenue North in Birmingham, and 

branches are located in Madison, Mobile, 

and Montgomery. 

After being Cutler Hammer distributors 

for nearly seventy-five years, the 

Electrical/Automation Division changed to 

Square D/Schneider Electric distributors in 

1995. Square D and Telemecanique products 

distributed by General Machinery include 

transformers and line conditioners, wire and 

cable, motor controls, capacitors, circuit 

breakers, and hundreds of other products. 

The electrical division also handles variable 

speed drives, and DC crane and motor 

controls, as well as the MODICON 

programmable controllers that are used 

extensively in plant floor automation. General 

Machinery is one of the largest, stocking 

Square D distributors in Alabama and this 

allows the company to be the leader not only 

in industrial controls, but in automation as 

well. In 2006, General Machinery expanded 

into the contractor market, adding more than 

fifteen manufacturers and a completely new 

city sales team targeting this marker. 


288

The Pump Group offers products servicing 

heavy industries including coal slurry, paper, 

iron and steel, chemicals and automotives. 

General Machinery is a distributor for 

Grundfos, GIW, Crane Deming, Wilo-EMU, 

and Peerless equipment. 

The Air Products Division services many 

industries and is the distributor for Gardner 

Denver Compressors and dryers, Zeks dryers 

and other major manufacturers, such as 

Sutorbilt and DuroFlo blowers and vacuum 

pumps and Traviani and Becker liquid ring 

vacuum pumps. 

Integrating the products of these three 

groups is the Service Division, which not only 

does repair work for almost all the products 

sold at General Machinery, but also fabricates 

mechanical packages for air and pump 

systems. As part of its commitment to twentyfour 

hour, seven-day service, General 

Machinery maintains a group of technicians 

and servicemen on call at all times to assist 

customers when problems do occur. 

General Machinery now has more than 

sixty-five employees, including licensed 

engineers, application specialists, and inside 

and outside sales people on staff. The 

company’s ability to deliver a total package of 

products has kept it in the forefront of 

delivering supplies and service to heavy 

industry for 100 years. 

For additional information about 

General Machinery Company, Inc., visit 

www.generalmachinery.com on the Internet. 

✧ 

Above: In 1979, after seventy-one years on 

Second Avenue, General Machinery moved to 

its current location at 921 First Avenue North. 

Below: City sales, Birmingham Office. 


289

BIRMINGHAM 

ELECTRIC 

BATTERY 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: A BEBCO company photopraph, 

c. 1930. 

Below: E.D. Henley, BEBCO founder, at his 

desk in 1932. 

Birmingham Electric Battery Company, 

located in the Historic Automotive District on 

the Southside, is one of the city’s oldest 

companies in terms of continuous years in 

operation and customer service. 

Founded by E. D. Henley in 1913 on $200 

borrowed from the president of the 

Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Company, 

the new business was planned to service 

electric trucks and other automotive needs. 

BEBCO soon branched out into the general 

warehousing and distribution business. 

Henley, who moved to Birmingham in 

1907 from his father’s farm in Noxubee 

County, Mississippi, attended Mississippi 

State University until he withdrew in his 

third year suffering from pneumonia. 

Mechanically inclined, he started out at age 

twenty-one offering repair services door to 

door including such items as clocks, watches 

and doorbells. 

Landing a job with the power and light 

company, he rose through promotions to be put 

in charge of its fleet of electric service trucks. 

When he began receiving offers from other 

companies to repair their trucks, he decided to 

go into business for himself with the money he 

borrowed from the power company president. 

Henley paid back the loan within six months. 

He located the business at 2018 Avenue B (later 

renamed Second Avenue, South), which he 

named the Birmingham Electric Garage. The 

company, which also rebuilt batteries, was 

incorporated March 11, 1914 with two other 

stockholders, S. C. Harrell and S. L. Sinnott. In 

1916 the company changed its name to the 

Birmingham Electric Battery Company. 

When gasoline engines became popular, 

Henley shifted his company’s repair and 

maintenance service to cover their needs and 

added a parts warehouse, becoming a 

distribution center for many brand name 

products. In 1926 the company moved to a 

new and larger location at 2230 Second 

Avenue, South where it remains today. Here 

Henley expanded his business to become one 

of the largest automotive wholesale 

warehouses in the Southeast. 

Just before World War II, BEBCO expanded 

its business to include outdoor air-cooled 

gasoline engines used to power equipment, 

largely in rural areas where electric power was 

not available. They became a common source 

of power for washing machines. 

The service expansion followed a chance 

meeting with Fred Stratton, one of the founders 

of the Briggs & Stratton Corporation, which 

later became the world’s largest producer of aircooled 

gasoline engines. As a young man, 


290

Stratton came through Birmingham on his 

honeymoon, and his car broke down. It was 

taken to the Henley garage, and the two men 

established a business relationship. 

In the mid to late-1940s, Henley also took 

on other lines not associated with 

automobiles or gasoline engines including 

Norge appliances, Atwater Kent radios, and 

DuMont televisions. In the early 1950s, the 

company also moved into carpeting and floor 

coverings distributing products from the 

Mohawk and Armstrong companies. 

Henley’s son in law, Daniel J. (Jack) Duffee, 

Jr. joined the firm in 1955 and, when Henley 

died in 1960, became president. Jack, who 

grew up in Birmingham, was born in 1918 

and graduated from Birmingham-Southern 

College where he worked his way through 

school during the latter part of the 

Depression. When World War II broke out, he 

joined the Navy and served in the Seabees, 

first in Bermuda building anti-submarine 

bases and later in San Diego. While in the San 

Diego, he was charged with implementing a 

new payroll system for the Navy. 

Following the war, Jack received an MBA 

from Harvard and went to work for the 

Williams Company, headquartered at 

Rockefeller Center in New York. He married 

Francis Marie Henley in 1953, returning to 

Birmingham to work for her father’s company. 

At BEBCO, Jack was instrumental in 

expanding the company’s floor covering division 

and closed out its involvement in appliances. He 

built a new warehouse at Fifth Avenue and 

Twelfth Street, South to accommodate the large 

rolls of carpeting. The business rapidly grew, as 

did sales of air-cooled engines. It also kept its 

truck and automobile servicing department. 

In 1963, Jack left the company to join 

Southern Fly Ash Company, which supplied a 

component of concrete, and his brother-inlaw, 

Ed Henley, became the BEBCO president. 

In 1980 the floor covering division was spun 

off as a separate company under Henley’s 

management. Jack returned to BEBCO as vice 

president in 1980, the same year as the spinoff, 

while another brother-in-law, Tom Henley, 

became president. Tom died in 1999, a year 

after his son, Mark Henley, stepped up as 

president. Jack’s son, David Duffee, became 

vice president at BEBCO in 1998 and in 2003, 

after a buy-out of the company, became 

president. (David Duffee’s great, great aunt 

was the noted Birmingham historical writer 

Mary Gordon Duffee.) 

Mark Henley pursued his interest in World 

War II vintage air planes which he and his 

brother Alan fly in air shows across the country. 

While BEBCO still operates its automotive 

service facility, its newest concentration is real 

estate development including the renovation 

of the historic 25,000-square-foot BEBCO 

Building on Second Avenue, South. The 

structure is being preserved and leased for 

other business uses including Davis 

Architects, successor to Warren, Knight & 

Davis. That firm, which dates to 1912, is 

Birmingham’s oldest architecture business. 

The Alabama Historical Commission 

awarded David Duffee its Roy Swayzee Award 

in 2007 for renovation of the Moorish-style 

BEBCO Building, built by his grandfather in 

the 1926. The building’s original architect, 

William Leslie Welton, was also the architect 

on a number of important Birmingham 

residences and buildings, including the ornate 

Massey Building downtown. 

✧ 

Above: Early shop bay photo, late 1920s. 

Below: Remodeled BEBCO Building on 

Second Avenue, South at night, Davis 

Architects entrance, 2007. 


291

VETERANS OIL, 

INC. 

Like many World War II veterans, James 

Hillary Musgrove returned home determined 

to start his own business. Hillary obtained an 

old fuel truck and began a heating oil delivery 

service in 1945, assisted by his wife, Laura, 

who handled the bookkeeping. He called his 

business Veterans Oil Delivery in honor of his 

fellow WW II veterans. In 1986 the company 

incorporated. and the name was changed to 

Veterans Oil, Inc. 

When Hillary Musgrove died in 1976, his 

son, John, became president and continued to 

operate the firm. 

In the early days, Veterans Oil provided the 

diesel and kerosene heating oil used to heat 

homes in the Birmingham area. As the use of 

heating oil in the Birmingham area faded, 

John Musgrove decided to grow the business 

by diversifying his customer base and selling 

diesel fuel and motor oil to local building 

contractors. Word soon spread among 

contractors that Veterans Oil provided the 

timely service they needed to keep their 

equipment running. When they called 

Veterans Oil, the delivery was swift, and they 

never had to worry about running out of fuel. 

Veterans Oil has serviced many construction 

efforts that have assisted in the growth of the 

Birmingham area through the years. 

Eventually, the business grew and 

spread into other markets such as railroad 

engines and refrigerated cars, major utility 

companies, hospitals, and radio/television 

stations, all of which needed diesel fuel for 

their generators 

For a while, John was the company’s only 

employee but, in 1979, his wife, Glenda, 

began working in the business as vice 

president and CFO, keeping the books and 

mailing out statements typed on a very old 

manual typewriter. When needed, Glenda 

even helped John deliver drums of oil to job 

sites in the back of a pick-up truck. 

At the time, the Veterans Oil office was 

in the bedroom of the small, twobedroom 

trailer the Musgroves called home. 

As the business grew and more space was 

needed, John rented a 200 square foot 

office/warehouse space in the back of an 

automotive shop where he and Glenda could 

work, as well as store cases of motor oil, antifreeze, 

and other oil-related products. The 

company also rented two additional storage 

units next door to store fifty-five gallon drums 

of motor oil. 

During these early years, Veterans Oil sold 

mostly Chevron lubes and greases, and then 

moved on to become an oil distributor for 

Texaco. When Texaco was purchased by 

Chevron, Veterans became a distributor for 

Shell Oil. 

In 1986, John and Glenda purchased 

property on Highway 150 in Bessemer and 

built what has become known as the 

corporate headquarters of Veterans Oil, Inc. 

The company has since expanded several 

times as it continued to grow. 

Eventually, John’s brother, James Musgrove, 

began working for the family business as a 

sales representative. In addition, John and 

✧ 

Hillary Musgrove, Founder of Veterans 

Oil Delivery. 


292

Glenda’s children became heavily involved 

with the business, making Veterans Oil a true 

third-generation owned-and-operated family 

business. Jason Musgrove has worked in the 

business full-time since 1994 and currently 

runs the day-to-day operations at the firm’s 

Atlanta division, in addition to serving as 

secretary of Veterans Oil. Laura Musgrove is 

currently executive assistant to the controller, 

as well as treasurer of Veterans Oil. 

Veterans Oil has grown tremendously 

during the years and the one-man operation 

now employs thirty-five people at locations in 

Bessemer, Alabama, Austell, Georgia (1995), 

and a Gulf Coast office in New Orleans, 

Louisiana (2006). 

Veterans Oil is deeply involved in 

community affairs in the Birmingham area, 

and the owners give thanks to God for their 

success. Veterans Oil has been involved in 

many community programs that benefit local 

families in the area. The company has 

partnered with Texaco Xpress Lubes and local 

radio stations to sponsor the “Feed the 

Children” program for local children. 

Veterans Oil also contributes to local 

charities such as the Alabama Youth Home, 

Big Oak Ranch, and the Children’s Hospital 


Veterans Oil has also sponsored the “World 

Classic” at the Birmingham International 

Racetrack for several years. During this event, 

Veterans Oil provides food, T-shirts and hats, 

and free admission to the races for such 

groups as the Alabama Youth Home and 

local veterans. 

Another event that is an annual favorite is 

the Oasis of Praise golf tournament, which 

benefits local families who need clothing, 

food, and toys at Christmastime. 

Most recently, Veterans Oil sponsored “The 

Field of Dreams” at the Birmingham Barons 

baseball games. This project allows local 

youth softball and baseball teams to 

participate at the beginning of each Barons 

game. Each of the players is assigned to one of 

the Barons baseball players and is allowed to 

go out on the field prior to the game and be 

introduced along with the professional player. 

This becomes a special memory for each of 

these children. The children are also given 

free admission to the game, as well as ice 

cream, hats, and other treats. 

The Musgroves believe the personal touch 

of being involved in the day-to-day activities 

of the business is part of what makes Veterans 

Oil “the oil company of choice” in their 

marketing areas. “As owners and operators 

who concentrate on good customer relations, 

we can make sure our customers are truly 

satisfied with the products and service they 

receive,” comments Jason. 

“God has always been our strength and 

source,” adds Glenda. “He has always 

provided and is the reason for the success 

of our business. All we have done is work 

as God has sent us the work. He has given 

the increase and we give God the glory for 

our success.” 

✧ 

Above: Left to Right; Jason Musgrove 

(Secretary), Glenda Musgrove (Vice 

President and CFO), John Musgrove 

(President), Laura Musgrove (Treasurer and 

Executive Assistant). 

Below: John and Glenda Musgrove. Awards 

trip to Monte Carlo, 1997. 


293

BRASFIELD & 

GORRIE 

✧ 

Above: James Harbison, Miller Gorrie, Jim 

Anthony, and John Darnall overlook 

drawings on an early project. 

Below: St. Vincent’s North Tower, 

St. Vincent’s Hospital 


In 1964, Miller Gorrie purchased the 

construction assets of the Thomas C. Brasfield 

Company, which had been in operation since 

1921. In its forty-four year history, Brasfield & 

Gorrie has grown into one of the largest and 

most reputable construction companies in the 

country with a wide array of construction 

experience in the healthcare, office, retail, 

industrial, education, condominium and water 

and wastewater treatment markets. 

While Birmingham serves as the 

headquarters of Brasfield & Gorrie, the 

company also operates full-service offices in 

Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando, Nashville, and 

Raleigh. Brasfield & Gorrie currently employs 

more than 3,300 people company-wide with 

over 1,300 employed through the 

Birmingham office. Some of Brasfield & 

Gorrie’s best-known projects in Birmingham 

include the Birmingham Public Library, the 

Hugo L. Black Federal Courthouse, the 

McWane Science Center, St. Vincent’s 

Hospital, UAB North Pavilion Hospital and 

the Regions Harbert Plaza. 

Brasfield & Gorrie’s customer-centric 

focus has played an integral role in the 

company’s success. Adhering to the values 

of the company’s original founders, Brasfield 

& Gorrie has built a reputation on 

timely, efficient work that exceeds client 

expectations. The company strives to 

provide a safe, rewarding work atmosphere 

for its employees and is an active partner 

in the community, supporting numerous 

charitable causes. 

Brasfield & Gorrie is a self-perform general 

contractor, as well as a construction 

management and design-build company. In 

2007 the company completed more than $2 

billion in projects and was ranked twenty-eighth 

in the nation’s “Top 400 Contractors” by 

Engineering News-Record. For the second year in 

a row, Brasfield & Gorrie was ranked the top 

healthcare construction company in the nation 

by Modern Healthcare Magazine. 

Brasfield & Gorrie is licensed to operate in 

forty-three states and has completed projects 

in twenty-seven. The company continues to 

develop its vast portfolio by expanding into 

new construction markets, including interstate 

and bridge construction. 

Miller Gorrie’s significant contribution to 

the construction industry was honored in 

2006, when Auburn University named its 

new Building Science facility in his honor. 

The dedication of the M. Miller Gorrie Center 

marked a milestone in Gorrie’s career, as well 

as in the history of his company. Gorrie’s 

impact on his family, employees, community, 

and the construction industry as a whole, is 

truly remarkable. 

While Gorrie remains heavily involved in 

the operation of the company, his son, Jim, is 

taking on more leadership responsibility. Jim 

is committed to guiding Brasfield & Gorrie 

into the future while continuing to abide by 

the principles that have made the company a 

leader in the construction industry. 

Brasfield & Gorrie is building success 

stories every day. 


294

Moore Coal Company was established 

by James E. Moore, Sr., better known 

as “Ernest” on January 1, 1929, as a 

retail/wholesale coal company. 

The Great Depression of the 1930s 

began only a few months after the 

company opened, but Ernest provided 

his customers with good prices and 

services and did business on a 

handshake. This approach helped the 

firm survive the uncertainties of the 

depression years. 

In the early years, MCC delivered 

coal to residences, churches, and 

businesses in the Bessemer area. You 

can still purchase coal by the sack or by 

the ton at MCC, but the firm’s main 

focus now is on garbage and rubbish 

removal and recycling. 

This change in direction for the firm 

began when James E. “Big Jim” Moore, 

Jr.,, returned to the family business from 

World War II and realized the demand 

for coal was declining. Residents in the area 

had been recycling for the war effort, so MCC 

started buying and processing scrap metals, 

later adding newspapers and cardboard to the 

list of items recycled. 

When the City of Bessemer limited garbage 

services for local businesses in the late 1960s, 

MCC had the necessary equipment to step in 

and provide the service. Today, the company 

provides dumpsters at businesses for regular 

garbage service and recycling. The company 

also sets out roll off pans to remove debris 

from construction sites and from residential 

clean-up projects. In addition, MCC provides 

pans and boxes for scrap metal recycling. 

James E. “Jimmy” Moore, III, and Judy 

Moore Mathis, representing the third 

generation of the family, now operate MCC. 

Today, the company’s main areas of operations 

are garbage and rubbish removal throughout 

Jefferson County and surrounding areas; and 

recycling of iron, copper, brass, aluminum, 

and other metals, as well as cardboard and 

newspapers. The firm also hauls scrap for 

recycling within the U.S. Steel Fairfield Works. 

MCC attributes its years of success to 

putting God first. “He helps us with what we 

do, and provides what we cannot do,” says 

Jimmy. “Moore Coal Company has been 

blessed with quality employees through our 

many years of doing business, and the 

customers who have trusted MCC with the 

opportunity to provide service help to 

complete the circle of long service.” 

“We still do business with a handshake,” 

adds Judy. “It’s our only contract.” 

Moore Coal Company is located at 129 

Fourth Street North in Bessemer. 

MOORE COAL 

COMPANY, INC. 

✧ 

Above: James E. “Big Jim” Moore, Jr. 

Below: Original office of Moore Coal Company. 


295

FPS 

TECHNOLOGIES 

✧ 

Above: Bill and Lynnette Morrow. 

Below: FPS Technologies is located at 1417 

Forestdale Boulevard in Birmingham. 

Fluid Power Systems, Inc. was founded in 

1975 by Bill and Lynnette Morrow as a fullservice 

stocking distributor of quality 

hydraulic and pneumatic components and 

systems. Fluid Power Systems began in 

Birmingham and has now expanded into 

Mississippi and northwest Florida, with 

branch offices in Jackson, Mississippi and 

Montgomery, Alabama. 

Fluid Power Systems became FPS 

Technologies in January 2003 with the 

diversification into electronic and electrical 

motion control capabilities. 

It is the mission of FPS Technologies to 

provide its customers with innovative 

solutions to their drive and control 

applications, using world-class products and 

technology, engineered and serviced by highly 

trained technical personnel. 

Since FPS Technologies was founded, 

technology has seen unprecedented growth 

worldwide in many different industries. FPS 

has kept up with these evolving changes in 

order to continue meeting the needs of its 

customers. From comprehensive hydraulic 

and pneumatic systems to servo and variable 

frequency drives and controls, FPS offers a 

complete diversified line of fluid power and 

automation products to meet customer needs. 

FPS relies on its years of experience to 

select the finest products available from 

world-class manufacturers. We insist that 

every item we carry meets our tough 

performance standards for quality, durability, 

and dependability. 

The team of technical specialists at FPS can 

create and design complete state-of-the-art 

drive and control systems using the best 

electrical and fluid power components 

available. FPS can also assist its customers in 

selecting components and accessories to help 

them get more out of their existing systems. 

FPS’s extensive warehouse and inventory 

system enables us to assure fast, efficient 

shipment of thousands of available items to 

any of our customers. FPS also offers repair 

and in-field technical services of most 

hydraulic components. 

FPS Technologies is committed to 

remaining at the cutting-edge of technology. 

With continuous education and training 

through our manufacturers and suppliers, we 

offer the best possible value to our customers 

in product knowledge and technical support. 

In-house and factory training offers clients a 

better understanding of the application and 

use of products from FPS. 

Our constant goal is to be the motion 

control distributor that exemplifies quality 

service, technical support and product 

offerings while maintaining a low cost for 

our customers. 

The main office of FPS Technologies is 

located at 1417 Forestdale Boulevard in 

Birmingham, Alabama and on the Internet at 

www.fpstechnologies.com. 


296

Alabama Power Company was incorporated 

in Gadsden in 1906, but because no 

investment capital could be found, it was not 

able to begin full development. In 1912, James 

Mitchell acquired control of the company and 

began construction of a dam and powerhouse 

on the Coosa River and transmission lines to 

the Birmingham industrial district, Anniston, 

and Gadsden. 

In 1913, Mitchell established the company’s 

office in Birmingham in the Brown-Marx 

Building, and the next year began supplying 

wholesale power to the Birmingham Railway, 

Light and Power Company, which later 

became the Birmingham Electric Company. In 

1920, Thomas W. Martin became president of 

the company and served until 1949, when he 

became chairman of the board, a title he held 

until his death in 1964. 

In 1923, Alabama Power was providing 

retail power to many areas of Jefferson County 

not served by Birmingham Electric, including 

Shades Mountain. By the next year the 

company was serving Gardendale, New Merkle 

(Cahaba Heights), Morris, Trafford, Fulton 

Springs, Lewisburg, Oak Grove, Hueytown, 

and Edgewood Lake. In 1950, Alabama Power 

Company acquired the Birmingham Electric 

Company and began providing retail service to 

all of Birmingham and Jefferson County, except 

for Tarrant and Bessemer, which had their own 

municipal systems. 

Alabama Power’s art deco corporate 

headquarters, built in 1924-25, is 

known for its gold statue of Electra 

perched on top of the red tile roof. 

Alabama Power also established the first 

radio station in Alabama, WSY in 

Birmingham, in 1922. The following 

year the equipment was given to 

Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now 

Auburn University. Auburn used the 

equipment to launch WAPI, a station 

that was later moved to Birmingham and 

is still on the air. 

Today, in addition to providing reliable, 

affordable electric service, the company 

remains integrally involved in supporting 

communities in the Birmingham area and 

across the state. Alabama Power is a leader 

in environmental stewardship through its 

nationally recognized Renew Our Rivers 

campaign and other projects designed to 

protect and enhance Alabama’s natural 

resources. Since its establishment nearly twenty 

years ago, the Birmingham-based Alabama 

Power Foundation has provided more than 

$100 million in grants to schools, arts and 

cultural organizations, nonprofit groups and 

other community institutions in Birmingham 

and across Alabama. The company is also 

closely involved in economic development, 

helping attract quality industries and jobs 

to the Birmingham area and other regions of 

the state. 

ALABAMA 

POWER 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: A view of the newly completed 

Alabama Power corporate office from 

Eighteenth Street looking north, 1926. 

Below: Alabama Power’s radio station WSY 

located at Loveman, Joseph & Loeb 

department store, 1923. 


297

BIRMINGHAM 

RAIL & 

LOCOMOTIVE 

COMPANY 

Railroads were king when Haskins 

Williams founded Birmingham Rail & 

Locomotive Company in 1899. It was 

the era before modern-day trucking, 

and everything from lumber and 

steel to cattle and wheat was shipped 

to market by rail. It was a time 

when thousands of miles of short 

line railroads were active throughout 

the South. 

The primary focus of Williams’ new 

business was the repair and rebuilding 

of steam locomotives used by coal, 

iron, and steel companies. Today, 

Birmingham Rail is a fourth generation, 

family-owned company with more than a 

century of history and is a complete supplier 

to the railroad and industrial community. 

The founder of Birmingham Rail brought 

his brother, R.J. Williams, into the business as 

a partner after World War I, and R.J.’s two 

sons, Haskins, II, and Robert, Jr., joined the 

company in the early 1930s. Carlisle Jones 

came on board in the 1950s after marrying 

the daughter of Haskins, II. Martin Williams, 

son of Robert, Jr., served as vice president 

from 1967 until 2007. Carlisle bought out the 

remaining family interests and later brought 

two of his sons into the business. Monroe 

Jones now serves as president and Carlisle 

Jones, Jr., as vice president. 

Rebuilding locomotives was the company’s 

main business for the first half of its 

existence, but the rail portion of the business 

surpassed the locomotive business in the 

1950s. The company now has three major 

lines of business: rail and track material, 

track spike manufacturing, and locomotive 

repair and servicing. 

The Rail Division buys and fabricates 

overhead crane rail and railroad products, 

then resells them to contractors and 

industrial end-users. The Spike Division 

manufactures railroad track spikes from 

carbon steel bars. These spikes are sold to 

Class I railroads as well as smaller railroads 

and industrial accounts. 

The Locomotive Division buys new 

and used locomotive parts, refurbishes the 

used parts, and sells them to industrial 

customers. The division also buys used 

locomotives and rebuilds them for sale 

or lease. In addition, the division performs 

on-site servicing, maintenance, and repairs 

on locomotives. 

All Birmingham Rail products are subject 

to a rigorous quality certification procedure. 

In recognition of the high standards observed 

by the company, the firm has been awarded 

the BNSF Outstanding Quality Service Award. 

The firm’s Quality Assurance program was 

initially certified by the CSX in 1991, and the 

company’s program is also recognized by 

the National Association of Purchasing 

Management (NAPM) Rail Industry Forum. 

Birmingham Rail was originally located in 

north Birmingham but moved to a new plant 

on forty-five acres near Bessemer in 1982. The 

firm also operates branches in Houston, Texas 

and Bessemer, Alabama. 


298

The Kent Corporation 

was founded in 1958 with 

the mission of supplying a 

superior line of shelving 

and checkout counters for 

the grocery, drug, and 

related businesses. 

The owner of Kent 

Corporation, M.A. Oztekin, 

has been recognized as the 

“Father of His Industry.” 

During the past fifty 

years, Oztekin has founded 

two extremely successful 

corporations and created 

jobs for thousands of Alabama residents. He 

has demonstrated engineering creativity in 

product and process design and is the holder 

of twelve patents; six U.S. patents and six 

foreign patents. 

A native of Turkey, Oztekin studied 

engineering in Turkey, Michigan, and the 

University of Alabama. He became a U.S. 

citizen in 1951 and began his career with 

the nation’s first and largest modern store 

fixture company in Detroit, Michigan. It 

was here that Oztekin realized the need 

for flexible, sturdy, attractive, and durable 

display units. 

Returning to Alabama in 1956, Oztekin 

created the Dixie Craft Manufacturing 

Company in Goodwater to manufacture steel 

shelving and belt driven, automatic checkout 

counters for retail merchandising. Dixie Craft 

grew into Madix Corporation, a national 

leader in retail merchandising. 

Oztekin patented the world’s first unitized 

single-piece adjustable steel shelves and 

uprights with integrated roll formed parts, 

still used today as engineered display 

solutions for food and other retail products. 

The Kent Corporation originally occupied 

a location in the Southside area of Avondale 

but quickly outgrew that facility. In 1962 

a new custom-built facility was built in 

Pinson Valley. Steady growth has required 

numerous additions to the facility, which 

today occupies approximately 300,000 square 

feet of space. 

Kent manufactures in excess of 20,000 

parts for the shelving needs of a wide 

spectrum of businesses under the patents 

held by Oztekin. Their unique design 

allows for almost tool-free installation at 

the customer’s site. They are produced in a 

highly automated factory that features the 

first, and only four, 15,000 gallon tanks 

electro-coat system in the store fixture 

industry. The company also offers state-ofthe-art 

powder coat painting to allow for 

numerous color combinations. 

Oztekin’s love of the University of Alabama 

has resulted in establishment of The Oztekin 

Family Endowed Scholarship for students 

enrolled in the College of Engineering. 

The Kent Corporation is located at Kent 

Road and Pinson Highway in Birmingham. 

For more information about the company, 

visit www.kentcorp.com on the Internet. 

KENT 

CORPORATION 

✧ 

Above: Kent Corporation is located at 4446 

Pinson Valley Parkway and Kent Road in 


Below: Aerial view of Kent Corporation’s 

300,000 square foot facility. 


299

AMERICAN 

CAST IRON 

PIPE COMPANY 

✧ 

Founder John Joseph Eagan. 

John Joseph Eagan, founder of the 

American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO), 

was unique among early twentieth century 

industrialists. In an era when labor was viewed 

with contempt, Eagan regarded labor with 

respect. To Eagan, life was to be lived by the 

Golden Rule, and business was no exception. 

Before his death in 1924, Eagan willed the 

ownership of his company in trust to its 

employees, so that everyone, including labor, 

would have a voice in its management. This 

concept was considered radical at the time, and 

Eagan’s widow, Susan Young Eagan, was forced 

into court to secure the transfer of his assets to 

ACIPCO employees and ensure his dream. 

Founded in 1905, Birmingham-based 

ACIPCO is one of the world’s largest 

manufacturers of ductile iron pipe, fire 

hydrants and valves for the waterworks 

industry, and steel pipe for the oil and gas 

industry. ACIPCO’s diversified product line 

also includes spiral-welded steel pipe, fire 

pumps, centrifugally cast steel tubes, static 

castings and fabricated assemblies. 

ACIPCO’s domestic and international 

subsidiaries help serve customers worldwide. 

They include American Castings, Pryor Creek, 

Oklahoma; American SpiralWeld Pipe 

Company, Columbia, South Carolina; 

American Valve & Hydrant Manufacturing 

Company, Beaumont, Texas; Intercast SA, 

Itauna, Brazil; Specification Rubber Products, 

Inc., Alabaster, Alabama; Pneumax of Peoria, 

Arizona; and Waterous Company, South Saint 

Paul, Minnesota. Stocking depots and sales 

offices are located throughout the country. 

ACIPCO enjoys a reputation for quality 

products and high business integrity and is a 

leader in developments in the industrial fields 

it serves. 

The company has a long tradition of good 

employee relations and participation and was 

selected one of Fortune magazines “100 Best 

Companies to Work for in America” eight 

times in a row. ACIPCO employees enjoy 

exceptional benefits, including profit sharing, 

apprenticeship training in crafts and trades 

used at the company, on-site professional 

development classes, and a renowned 

wellness program. 

Many second- and third-generation 

families work for the company, as well as 

husbands, wives, siblings, and other relatives. 

Because of the firm’s family atmosphere, the 

employee turnover rate among the more than 

3,000 employees is a miniscule one percent. 

A major reason ACIPCO still exists after 

more than a century is its strong relationship 

with its customers. Employees commit to 

customers by producing quality products at a 

competitive price, delivered on time, and 

supported with a smile. At the heart of 

ACIPCO’s Golden Rule relationship with 

customers is the business ideals of founder 

John Eagan: Treat each customer the way you 

would want to be treated. 

For more information on American Cast 

Iron Pipe Company, visit the Internet at 

www.acipco.com. 


300

Brownlee-Morrow Engineering Company, 

Inc. was founded in 1952 to meet Alabama’s 

growing demand for professional salesengineering 

support in the design and 

application of air handling, ventilation and air 

pollution control equipment. Brownlee- 

Morrow later added a full range of 

process pumping equipment to its product 

line while expanding its service area 

to include southern Mississippi and the 

Florida Panhandle. 

The company was founded by Lawrence 

Brownlee P.E. and Gordon Morrow, Sr. P.E. 

and the firm is still family-owned today 

by Gordon and Malcolm Morrow. In March 

of 1952, Gordon asked his future father-inlaw 

Walter Miller if he could have office space 

in his foundry to start a new company. 

Miller, being a generous father-in-law, 

gave him the space and a thousand dollars to 

start the company. Today Brownlee-Morrow 

ranks among the leaders in the air and fluid 

equipment industry, thanks in large part to 

the continued focus on the founder’s original 

concept: A full-service sales-engineering firm 

specializing exclusively in the industrial 

customer’s needs. 

Today, Brownlee-Morrow 

is a full-line pump and 

fan distributor offering 

repair, system design, and 

field services. 

With offices in Birmingham 

and Mobile, Brownlee-Morrow 

offers hands-on sales and 

service throughout the region, 

specializing in a range of 

industries that include pulp 

and paper, mining, utilities, 

primary metals, chemical, 

and automotive. In recent 

years, Brownlee-Morrow has 

expanded its capabilities by 

purchasing several other 

related firms. Repair services 

now include one of the largest 

pump repair shops in the 

Southeast, focusing on power 

generation, mining, and steel 

markets. Brownlee-Morrow 

purchased the Milton Seiler 

Company of New Orleans in 2001 to service 

the growing oil refining and marine markets 

in Louisiana. In 2006 the company purchased 

Graves Service Company, a 100-year-old 

municipal well drilling and water management 

company in Childersberg, Alabama; and 

in 2001, Brownlee-Morrow partnered with 

Polaris Pumps to develop a pump distributor 

network in North and South America. 

For more information about Brownlee- 

Morrow Engineering Company, visit 

www.bmeco.com on the Internet. 

BROWNLEE- 

MORROW 

ENGINEERING 

COMPANY, INC. 

✧ 

Above: L. Brownlee and G. Morrow. 

Below: Brownlee-Morrow factory. 


301

✧ 

Hunter J. Price, Jr. 

ALL-SOUTH SUBCONTRACTORS, INC. 

All-South Subcontractors, one of the 

largest family-owned roofing and fireproofing 

contractors in the nation, began in 1957 as 

the Bonitz Company. The company was 

founded by John Bonitz, Hunter J. Price, Jr., 

Bill Rogers and Tom Meredith. As the years 

passed, Hunter J. Price acquired complete 

ownership of the company. 

In 1977, Bonitz Company changed its 

name to All-South Subcontractors and began 

operating under that name. 

Hunter J. Price, Jr., served as president and 

CEO of the company through 1996. His son, 

Hunter Price, III, became president in 1996. 

Oscar Price became president in 2000 after the 

untimely death of Hunter Price, III, and in 2004, 

John F. Stewart became president. Hunter Price, 

Jr., currently serves as CEO of the company. 

The business began originally as a drywall 

and acoustical ceiling firm and soon 

expanded into other areas. In 1976 the 

company installed the first single-ply roof 

in Alabama and since that time has installed 

more than 90 million square feet of warranted 

commercial roofing for both new and 

existing buildings. 

All-South Subcontractors is also a leading 

contractor for cellular lightweight insulating 

concrete roof decks, metal roof coatings, 

spray applied insulation, and fireproofing. 

All-South Subcontractors Roofing Service 

and Maintenance Department is second to 

none in providing service, maintenance, 

inspection, and repair with emergency 

response twenty-four hours a day, seven days 

a week. The company operates a branch office 

in Spanish Fort, Alabama, in addition to the 

corporate office in Birmingham. All-South 

customers include general contractors, 

building owners, and property managers in 

Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, 

and Florida. 

All-South has spent half-a-century trying 

always to do “the right thing,” and this 

has resulted in a reputation for quality 

workmanship and timely performance by 

some of the best crews in the business. 

All-South’s employment now totals more 

than 250 and includes some of the most 

experienced crews in the business. Rather 

than recruiting labor on-site, the company 

trains its own personnel, many of whom have 

been with the company over thirty years. The 

company foremen have worked with the 

company an average of more than thirteen 

years, and the project managers and 

estimators have been with the company for an 

average of sixteen years. 

Everyone at All-South Subcontractors, 

from the ownership and management to the 

field crews, is committed to providing the 

highest quality workmanship and timely 

performance while personally satisfying the 

needs of each customer. 

All-South Subcontractors is proud of 

the fact that, with thousands of projects 

representing millions of dollars, they 

have always satisfactorily completed each 

and every project started. The company 

and all its employees look forward to expanding 

into other market areas and perpetuating All- 

South Subcontractors for another fifty years. 

All-South Subcontractors is located at 

2678 Queenstown Road in Birmingham, 

Alabama, with a branch office at 11118 

Highway 31 in Spanish Fort, Alabama, and on 

the Internet at www.allsouthsub.com. 


302

Since 1906, Red Diamond has produced 

the finest coffees and teas available anywhere. 

With twenty-one tea and twenty-three 

coffee products, Red Diamond produces 

the perfect blend for every preference and 

every occasion. 

Red Diamond was founded in 1906 by 

William Fitz Donovan, who called his firm 

Donovan Provision Company. The company 

supplied Birmingham families with eggs, 

meat, poultry, and butter bearing the Red 

Diamond brand, a brand that became 

synonymous with quality and freshness. 

The first pound of Red Diamond Coffee 

was ground and roasted in 1909 at the 

company’s initial location, 2130 Morris 

Avenue. The company name was changed to 

Donovan Coffee Company, Inc., in 1930 and 

the firm concentrated on blending, roasting, 

packaging, and distributing coffee to local 

wholesale customers. 

The company moved to 1601 First Avenue 

North following World War I. Modern delivery 

trucks soon replaced horse-drawn vans and 

modern packaging replaced “slipcovered cans.” 

The First Avenue plant was destroyed by 

fire in 1955, and the company then moved to 

1701 Vanderbilt Road, where it occupied one 

of the most modern coffee/tea processing 

plants in the nation. 

The company’s name was changed to Red 

Diamond, Inc., in 1991 in recognition of the 

brand’s strength and consumer acceptance. 

Through four generations of family 

leadership, Red Diamond has led the industry 

in both product and packaging innovations. 

Red Diamond was the first in the nation to 

introduce gallon-size tea bags, decaffeinated 

tea, and a complete Goglio “brick” 

packaging system for roasted coffee. 

It was also the first in the South to 

produce quart-size tea bags. 

Red Diamond Coffee Service, 

established in 1962, provides hotels, 

hospitals, restaurants and offices with 

coffee, tea, and related products. The 

company further expanded in 1979 

with the organization of the Red 

Diamond Foodservice Division, 

which serves institutions with a full 

line of beverages, frozen foods, 

canned and dry foods, fresh produce, and 

bakery items. 

William A. Bowron and Shila Donovan 

Bowron continued the family ownership of 

Red Diamond. Their son, William A. Bowron, 

Jr., a former bank executive, became the 

fourth generation to continue the family 

tradition when he joined the company in 

1991. He became president in 1992 and was 

elected chief executive officer in 2006. 

Red Diamond plans to move into 

new headquarters in Moody, Alabama, in 

January 2009. 

With a strong legacy of quality and customer 

service, Red Diamond takes pride in its history 

of integrity, competitive pricing, and exceptional 

products. The company has built successful 

relations based on this philosophy for more than 

a hundred years and will continue to follow this 

legacy of high standards into the future. 

RED DIAMOND, 

INC. 

✧ 

Above: Red Diamond’s offices from 1919 

to 1955. 

Below: Red Diamond’s offices from 1956 

to 2008. 

Bottom: The new Red Diamond corporate 

office to open in 2009. 


303

ALLSOUTH 

APPLIANCE 

GROUP, INC. 

✧ 

Sample showrooms provide friendly 

atmosphere and no-pressure sales. 

AllSouth Appliance Group, Inc. was 

started in Tyler Hillman’s basement in 1997. 

The company, owned by Tyler and his brother 

Josh, began as a resource to area home 

builders, remodelers and their clients. 

As a new business with a fresh approach to 

selling both builder packages and high-end 

kitchens, the company faced many of the 

same challenges of any young business. 

“One of the toughest parts of any business 

is people, both employees and customers,” 

says Tyler. “We were blessed with some 

excellent employees to start our business, one 

being Dane Ratliff, a childhood buddy of 

mine, who helped us start the business. We 

were also fortunate to have built some good 

relationships with good building companies 

in the Birmingham area.” 

After only twelve months in business, 

AllSouth Appliance suffered a total fire loss at 

their showroom and warehouse location in 

Hueytown. Under-insured and beat-up, the 

company pulled up its bootstraps and basically 

started over. “Life was a little dim at that point, 

but we had some customers who helped us 

pull through. Our employees banded together, 

instead of leaving, and we started rebuilding 

the business,” Tyler explains. 

Throughout its years in business, the 

company’s goal has been to build lifelong 

customers and, to achieve this, AllSouth 

employees research and familiarize 

themselves with today’s products so they can 

recommend kitchen products that fit the 

client’s lifestyle and needs. 

Providing homeowners a showroom with a 

friendly atmosphere and no-pressure sales, 

along with live demonstration kitchens, is an 

important part of AllSouth’s commitment to 

the customer’s buying experience. As a fullline 

dealer, AllSouth carries a complete line of 

kitchen appliances from such manufacturers 

as AGA, Amana, Frigidaire, GE, Jenn-Air, 

Kitchen-Aid, Maytag, Viking, Subzero, 

Whirlpool, Wolfe and many others. 

In 2006, AllSouth was awarded the first 

SubZero-Wolf Living Kitchen in the Southeast, 

the largest collection of luxury brand 

appliances in any showroom in more than five 

states. AllSouth is very proud to be able to 

offer Central Alabama and its neighbors such a 

showroom, where customers can make 

informed purchases. The 12,000 square foot 

showroom is located at 4 West Oxmoor Road 

and offers quick access from the Interstate. 

AllSouth provides full service delivery, 

installation, and in-home appliance service for 

its customers. After a customer has selected from 

AllSouth’s wide variety of major name brand and 

specialty appliances, the professional sales staff 

coordinates with the builder and subcontractors 

to help eliminate installation problems. For 

service, AllSouth offers Central Alabama’s best 

factory-trained service technicians. 

In addition to the more than thirty brands 

of appliances, AllSouth offers several brands 

of outdoor grills and patio products. 

“AllSouth is proud to have served 

Birmingham area builders and homeowners 

since 1997, and is excited about the future. 

AllSouth will continue to offer both value and 

service in the family tradition that makes 

Birmingham the great city that it is,” says Tyler. 

For additional information about AllSouth 

Appliance Group, call 205-942-0408, or visit 

www.allsouthappliance.net on the Internet. 


304

SPONSORS 

Alabama Power Company ......................................................297 

All-South Subcontractors, Inc. ...............................................302 

AllSouth Appliance Group, Inc. .............................................304 

Altec Industries, Inc. ..............................................................286 

American Cast Iron Pipe Company.........................................300 

Alvah Votelle Barron, Jr. .........................................................278 

Aramat Construction..............................................................199 

Bama Tomato Company .........................................................199 

Best Western Carlton Suites....................................................199 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society.................................200 

Birmingham Beverage Company.............................................199 

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Inc. ..................................214 

Birmingham Electric Battery Company...................................290 

Birmingham Guaranty Realty, Inc. ..........................................199 

Birmingham Public Library ....................................................231 

Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Company .............................298 

Brasfield & Gorrie..................................................................294 

Bresco ....................................................................................260 

Brownlee-Morrow Engineering Company, Inc.........................301 

Bruce Office Supply, Inc.........................................................252 

CapitalSouth Bank .................................................................234 

Cassady & Self Glass Co., Inc. ...............................................250 

Children’s Health System........................................................216 

City of Irondale......................................................................218 

City of Leeds..........................................................................224 

City of Trussville ....................................................................202 

City of Vestavia Hills ..............................................................206 

Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds ....................................................268 

Comfort Inn & Suites - Trussville...........................................249 

Complete Benefit Alliance, LLC..............................................259 

Dandy RV Sales......................................................................248 

Daniel Metals, Inc. .................................................................233 

Dunn Investment Company ...................................................240 

Eastern Valley Drugs ..............................................................246 

Edwards Chevrolet Company .................................................236 

F&S Equipment and Supplies, Inc. ........................................254 

Forstman & Cutchen, LLP .....................................................255 

FPS Technologies ...................................................................296 

General Machinery Company, Inc...........................................288 

Greenbriar at the Altamont.....................................................230 

Hampton Inn-Bessemer..........................................................258 

Hampton Inn .........................................................................233 

Homestead Suites-Studio Plus ................................................233 

IMS........................................................................................261 

INKANA Development ...........................................................274 

Jacksonville State University...................................................220 

Jimmie Hale Mission ..............................................................210 

Kent Corporation ...................................................................299 

Latta Plumbing Company.......................................................251 

Lewis Investment Company ...................................................233 

Lindsey Office Furnishings.....................................................233 

Mason Corporation ................................................................280 

Melior-Delaware, Inc..............................................................226 

Microtel Inn & Suites.............................................................242 

Mitchell Brothers....................................................................244 

Moore Coal Company, Inc......................................................295 

Morrow Railroad Builders, Inc................................................272 

Myers Auto Collision Repair, Inc............................................257 

Parker Building Maintenance, Inc...........................................263 

Planned Parenthood of Alabama.............................................222 

Powermotion Incorporated.....................................................263 

PPX Imaging, Inc. ..................................................................256 

Precision Grinding, Inc. .........................................................284 

Red Diamond, Inc..................................................................303 

Rime Garden Inn & Suites .....................................................263 

Rozar’s Auto Paint Supply ......................................................263 

Shaw Warehouse Company ....................................................253 

Sloss Industries Corporation ..................................................282 

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park...............................228 

Tutwiler Hotel ........................................................................238 

United States Steel Corporation..............................................264 

USS Real Estate ......................................................................266 

Valmont-Newmark .................................................................276 

Veterans Oil, Inc. ...................................................................292 

Virginia Samford Theatre........................................................229 

Vulcan ® Park and Museum .....................................................201 

Watts Realty Company, Inc.....................................................270 

SPONSORS 

305

INDEX 

A 

Abernethy, Rev. Ralph David, 131, 

133, 136 

Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church, 87 

Acker, Amos, 14 

Acker, Steadham, 128 

Acmar Coal Mine No. 1, 120-121 

Adams Saloon, 87 

Adams, John, 14, 29 

Adams, Judge Oscar W., Jr., 139 

Adamsville, 187 

African Methodist Episcopal Church, 90 

Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad, 17, 

20, 35, 37, 55-58, 60 

Alabama & Florida Railroad, 35, 37 

Alabama & Mississippi Rivers 

Railroad, 37 

Alabama & Tennessee Rivers Railroad, 

33-34, 37 

Alabama Adventure Theme Park, 16 

Alabama Ballet, 161 

Alabama Brewing Company, 167-168 

Alabama Central Railroad, 35, 38, 45 

Alabama Christian Movement for 

Human Rights, 131, 134, 175 

Alabama Club, 77 

Alabama Commission on Interracial 

Cooperation, 138 

Alabama Department of Health, 103 

Alabama Equal Suffrage Association, 79 

Alabama Farm Bureau, 142 

Alabama Federation of Business and 

Professional Women’s Clubs, 79 

Alabama Fuel & Iron Company, 

119-121, 156 

Alabama Great Southern Railroad, 17, 

20, 37, 70-71, 128, 163 

Alabama Grocery Company, 167 

Alabama Highway Department, 123 

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, 146 

Alabama Museum of Health Sciences, 160 

Alabama National Bancorp, 168 

Alabama National Bank, 172 

Alabama National Guard, 98, 104, 105 

Alabama Phonograph and Graphophone 

Company, 77 

Alabama Power Company, 109 

Alabama Press Association, 60 

Alabama River, 11, 30-32, 35 

Alabama School of Fine Arts, 158 

Alabama State Medical Association, 40 

Alabama State University, 150 

Alabama Steel & Shipbuilding Company, 

69, 101 

Alabama Symphony Orchestra, 160 

Alabama Theatre, 92, 144-145, 165 

Alamo, 17, 27 

Aland Family, 93 

Alands, 143 

Alcazar Theatre, 146 

Alice Furnace, 58, 65, 67-69, 72, 85, 100 

All Saints Episcopal Church, 155 

All Saints Parish House, 155 

All-America City Award, 141 

All-American Bowl, 162 

All-American Football League, 162 

Allen, J. A., 57 

Allen, Judge Basil M., 79 

Allen, Mel, 171, 174 

Allen, Mrs. Marion Pittman, 126 

Alley, Grace, 128 

Alley, Gus, 128 

Allinder, Thomas, 14 

Allison, Bobby, 171, 173 

Allison, Davey, 171 

Altamont School, 158 

ALTEC Industries, 108 

Amaranth Club, 79 

American Bar Association, 80-81 

American Basketball Association, 

162, 165 

American Cast Iron Pipe Company, 102 

104, 151, 164 

American Savings Bank, 117 

American Trust and Savings Bank 

Building, 96 

American-Traders National Bank, 118 

AmSouth Bancorporation, 168 

AmSouth Bank, 73, 118 

AmSouth-Sonat Tower, 77 

Anchorage Restaurant, 149 

Anderson, Edward L., 78 

Anderson, Mary, 108-109 

Anderson, Mary “Bebe”, 171 

Andrew Jackson University, 158 

Anthony, Ray, 114 

Apollo Club, 77 

Arena Football League, 162, 163 

Argo, 187 

Arlington Mansion, 26, 51-52, 91, 160 

Armes, Ethel, 44, 83 

Armondo’s, 149 

Armstrong, R. G., 170-171 

Armstrong, Reverend J. C., 88 

Arnold, Gen. Henry (Hap), 126 

Arova, Dame Sonia, 161 

Arrington, Mayor Richard, Jr., 139, 

171, 188 

Askew Brick Kiln, 57 

Atkins, Leah Rawls, 171 

Atlantic Stores, 144 

Auburn University, 84, 89, 109, 137, 

162, 171 

Autosee, 11 

Avon Theatre, 142, 165 

Avondale, 75, 95 

Avondale Bank & Trust, 117 

Avondale Mills, 95 

Avondale Park, 109 

Axis Club, 78 

Ayers, John B., 16 

B 

Baby Doe’s Matchless Mine, 149 

Bachus, U.S. Representative. Spencer, 171 

Baconsides, 63 

Badham, Henry, Sr., 79 

Badham, John, 114, 171 

Badham, Mary, 171, 174 

Badham, W. T., 113 

Baez, Joan, 165 

Baird’s Bluff, 27 

Baker, B. J., 165 

Baker, Bob, 19 

Baldwin, Christopher Columbus, 119 

Baldwin, W. H., Jr., 119 

Ball of Roses, 79 

Ballet Alabama, 161 

Bama State Collegians, 150 

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria 

S.A., 168 

Bank for Savings, 141 

Bank for Savings Building, 81, 115 

Bank of Ensley, 117 

Bank of Warrior, 117 

Bank Saloon, 82, 96 

Bankhead Hotel, 109 

Bankhead, Tallulah, 165 

Baptist Medical Center Princeton, 156 

Baptist Medical Center-Montclair, 156 

Barber Motorsports Park, 160, 163 

Barber Vintage Motorsports 

Museum, 160 

Barber, George, 143, 160 

Barbour, Ben, 166 

Bargain Town USA, 144 

Barger, Isaac, 14 

Barker, Annie, 59 

Barker, Capt. Joseph R., 125 

Barker, Frances, 59 

Barker, Hannah, 59 

Barker, Margaret, 59 

Barker, Mary, 59 

Barker, Nathaniel, 59 

Barker, Ruth, 59 

Barker, William P., 56, 59, 85 

Barkley, Charles, 170-171 

Barnard’s Almanak, 55 

Barton, Thomas, 20 

Bartow, Gene, 171 

Batson, Nancy, 125 

Battle of Bataan, 125 

Battle of El Alamein, 127 

Battle of Iwo Jima, 126 

Battle of Leyte Gulf, 125 

Battle of New Orleans, 15 

Battle of Okinawa, 126 

Battle of Shiloh, 47 

Baugh, R. H., 78 

Baughan, Maxie, 171 

Baxley, Bill, 138 

Baylor, William K., 26 

Bayview, 103 

Bear Meat Cabin, 14, 15 

Beard, Andrew Jackson, 66 

Beard’s Bluff, 35 

Beaumont, Henry F., 111 

Beaux Arts Ball, 148 

Beaux Arts Jewell Ball, 148 

Beaux Arts Krewe, 148 

Beaux Arts Krewe Ball, 79 

Bechtel-McCone Aircraft Modification 

Plant, 124, 128 

Beddow, Roderick, Sr., 80 

Bedinger, Rev. R. F., 88 

Beeson Divinity School, 159 

Belafonte, Harry, 165 

Belk Department Stores, 143 

Bell, George C., 137 

Ben’s Barn, 150 

Bencor Hotel, 92 

Benjamin, William, 14 

Bennett, Jim, 81 

Benny, Jack, 146 

Benson, Amber, 171, 174 

Benz, L. R., 82 

Beringer, G. W., 91 

Berle, Milton, 146 

Bertalan, John, 122 

Bessemer, 13, 17, 25, 40, 70-72, 74, 

82, 93, 96, 108, 122-123, 128, 

175, 187 

Bessemer Carraway Medical Center, 157 

Bessemer County, proposed, 96-97 

Bessemer Dummy Line, 75 

Bessemer Furnace, 71 

Bessemer General Hospital, 157 

Bessemer Hall of History, 160 

Bessemer Indian Mounds, 16-17 

Bessemer Land and Improvement 

Company, 71, 82 

Bessemer State Technical College, 158 

Bessemer Super Highway, 122-123, 

142, 157 

Bessemer Trust & Savings, 117 

Bessemer, Sir Henry, 71 

Bethel Baptist Church, 131 

Bethlehem Methodist Church, 23, 89, 92 

Bevill State Community College, 158 

Bibb, B. S., 46 

Bibb, Gov. Thomas, 29 

Bibb, Gov. William W., 19, 29 

Bice, Bo, 170, 171 

Big Blue Spring, 22 

Bijou Theatre, 85, 90 

Billy’s, 151 

Bing, Loo, 149 

Biracial Community Affairs 

Committee, 141 

Birmingham Aero Club, 128 

Birmingham Americans, 162 

Birmingham Army Base, 127 

Birmingham Art Association, 148 

Birmingham Art Club, 160 

Birmingham Art League, 78 

Birmingham Art Museum, 159 

Birmingham Athletic Club, 77-78, 80, 

84, 109 

Birmingham Baptist Association, 139 

Birmingham Bar Association, 139 

Birmingham Barons, 107, 111, 133, 

162-164 

Birmingham Barracudas, 162 

Birmingham Black Barons, 164, 172, 175 

Birmingham Bottling Works, 166 

Birmingham Brewery, 167 

Birmingham Brewing Company, 167 

Birmingham Broadway Series, 161 

Birmingham Carnival Society, 80 

Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, 

83, 95, 101, 135, 141 

Birmingham Children’s Theater, 161 

Birmingham City Hall, 60, 87 

Birmingham Civic Ballet, 161 

Birmingham Civic Center, 168 

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 139 

Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, 160 

Birmingham Civitan Club, 80 

Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling 

Company, 166 

Birmingham College, 158 

Birmingham Country Club, 78, 81, 

84, 112 

Birmingham Dental College, 154 

Birmingham Exchange Club, 80 

Birmingham Fire, football team, 162 

Birmingham Fire Department, 58 

Birmingham Foundry and Car 

Manufacturing Company, 49, 72 

Birmingham Gas Light Company, 67 

Birmingham Green, 141 

Birmingham Gun Club, 80 

Birmingham High School, 64, 79-80 

Birmingham Hotel, 82, 83 

Birmingham International Airport, 

122, 128 

Birmingham International Raceway, 163 

Birmingham Junior Chamber of 

Commerce, 80, 148 

Birmingham Kiwanis Club, 102 

Birmingham Lions Club, 80 

Birmingham Magicians, 162, 165 

Birmingham Medical College, 155 

Birmingham Medical, Dental and 

Pharmaceutical College, 154 

Birmingham Modification Center, 124 

Birmingham Motor and Country 

Club, 107 

Birmingham Museum of Art, 148, 160 

Birmingham Music Club, 79-80 

Birmingham Music Festival, 160 

Birmingham News Building, 58 

Birmingham Optimist Club, 80 

Birmingham Ore & Mining 

Company, 101 

Birmingham Parks and Recreation 

Board, 102 

Birmingham Public Library, 60, 

159-160 

Birmingham Railway & Electric 

Company, 75 

Birmingham Railway, Light & Power 

Company, 75 

Birmingham Real Estate Exchange, 111 

Birmingham Rolling Mill, 72, 83, 85 

Birmingham Rotary Club, 80 

Birmingham Savings and Trust 

Company, 73 

Birmingham School of Law, 158 

Birmingham Southern Steel 

Company, 125 

Birmingham Stallions, 162 

Birmingham Steel and Iron 

Company, 101 

Birmingham Steel Corp., 151 

Birmingham Steeldogs, 162 

Birmingham Street Railway 

Company, 75 

Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, 

160-161 

Birmingham Theatre, 90, 146 

Birmingham Theological Seminary, 158 

Birmingham Thunderbolts, 162 

Birmingham Traction Company, 75 

Birmingham Trust and Savings 

Company, 119 

Birmingham Trust National Bank, 

118-119 

Birmingham University School, 158 

Birmingham Urban League, 146 

Birmingham Vulcans, 162 

Birmingham Water Works, 108 

Birmingham Zoo, 24, 122 

Birmingham, founded, 187 

Birmingham, named for city in 

England, 56 

Birmingham, population growth, 68, 95, 

106, 129, 169 

Birmingham-Bessemer Boulevard, 123 

Birmingham-Edgewood Electric 

Railroad, 4 

Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, 141 

Birmingham-Jefferson Historical 

Society, 160 

Birmingham-Southern College, 86, 93, 

125, 128, 158-159 

Bissell, Elmer, 114 

Blach’s Department Store, 92, 142-145 

Black Creek Coal Seam, 43 

Black, Hugo, 108, 171 

BlackHawk, 165 

Blackmon Family, 24 

Blaik, Earl, 137 

Blanton, Thomas E., Jr., 138 

Bloch, Lauren, 91 

Blount County, 29 

Blount Springs, 36, 110 

Blount Springs Hotel, 80 

Blountsville, 14, 15 

Blountsville Methodist Church, 15 

Blue Bird Roadhouse, 123 

Blue Crystal, 111 

Blue Front, 150 

Blue, Vida, 164 

Bluff Park, 110 

Bluff Park Hotel, 110-111 

Blythe, Rev. Sion, 87 

Blythe, Sission, 90 

Bo Reynolds and the Premiers, 150 

Bob Cain and the Cain Breakers, 150 

Bogue’s, 149 

Bohemian 

Bakery, 149 

Bonita Theatre, 146, 148 

Booker City, 159 

Borders, Tom, 125 

Bostock, Lyman, 164 

Boswell, Charley, 171 

Boutwell, Albert, 132-133, 136, 

141, 188 

Bowden, Bobby, 170, 171 

Bowie, Sidney W., 109 

Bowron, James, Jr., 69-71, 78 

Bowron, James, Sr., 69 

Bowron, Lillian Roden, 79 

Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, 63 

Bradley, T. M., 112 

Brake, Bennett, 24 

Bramlett, John W., 16 

Brass Rail, 149 

Brazelton, Troupe, 71, 107 

Breckenridge, Richard, 27 

Brice Building Company, 114 

Bridges, Georges, 88 

Brierfield Furnace, 33, 43, 86 

Bright Star, 149 

Brighton, 56, 187 

British Iron and Steel Institute, 101 

Britlings Cafeteria, 148-149 

Brock’s Gap, 33-34, 36, 55-56 

Brodie, John B., 119 

Bromberg’s, 143 

Brooke Hill School, 158 

Brookley Field, 127 

Brooks, William, 19 

Brookside, 74, 187 

Brookwood Hospital, 149, 156 

Brookwood Mall, 122, 143 

Brother Bryan, 88, 138 

Brother’s Music Hall, 113 

Browdy’s, 149 

Brown Family, 20 

Brown ore, 15 

Brown vs Board of Education, 131-132 

Brown, Isaac, 19, 29 

Brown, John, 19 

Brown, Justin, 160 

Brown, William, 23, 89 

Brown’s Spring, 19-20 

Brownell, Hartley T., 71 

Brownlee, Lanie, 19 

Brown-Marx Building, 83, 95-96, 

103, 151 

Brownsville, 187 

Bryan, Dr. John E., 133 

Bryan, Rev. James A., 88, 138 

Bryant Store, 86 

Bryant, Mayor Jap, 123 

Bucksville, 17, 19, 30, 50, 64 

Buffalo Rock Company, 166-167 

Burbank, A. M., 77 

Burger Dry Goods Company, 92 

Burger, Jacob, 92 

Burger-in-a-Hurry, 149 

Burger-Phillips Department Store, 92-93, 

143-144 

Burns, George, 146 

Burns, Happy Hal, 171 

Burrass, Henry Page, 96 

Bush Hills, 87, 111 

Bush, J. W., 100 

Butler Mountain, 22 

Byars, Drucilla, 24 

Byars, Nathan, Jr., 71 

Byler Road, 31 

Byrd, H. A., 153 

C 

Cabaniss, Edward H., 78 

Cabaniss, William J., Jr., 171 

Caddell’s Restaurant, 149 

Cadillac Café, 150 

Cadmean Club, 78 

Café Italiano, 149 

Cahaba Cave, 150 

Cahaba Club, 150 

Cahaba Coal Field, 13 

Cahaba Golf and Country Club, 113 

Cahaba Invincibles, 109 

Cahaba River, 12-13, 23, 29-30, 32-34, 

36, 47, 96 

Cahaba, Marion & Greensboro 

Railroad, 37 

Cahalan, Mary A., 64 

Cahawba, 29-30, 32 

Cahawba Baptist Church, 90 

Cahawba Iron Works, 44, 47 

Cain Break, 150 

Cain, Bob, 171 

Calder Furniture Company, 93, 144 

Caldwell Hotel, 59, 77, 81-82 

Caldwell Park, 89, 161 

Caldwell, Dr. Henry, 56-57, 59-61, 

65-66, 68, 72, 119, 188 

Caldwell, Lily May, 165 

Calera, 33 

Calico Ball, 83 

Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital, 

153, 156 

Cameron, W. J., 119 

Cammack, A., 167 

Camp Rucker, 126 

Canaan Baptist Church, 87 

Canadian Football League, 162 

Cane Creek Furnace, 43 

Cane Creek School, 24 

Canterbury Shop, 143 

Capital City Street Railway 

Company, 73 

CapitalSouth Bank, 168 

Capitol Park, 60 

Capitol Theatre, 144 

Caramel Corn Shop, 149 

Cardiff, 56, 84, 187 

Carmichael’s Supper Club, 149 

Carnegie Steel Works, 100-101 

Carnegie, Andrew, 101 

Carraway Methodist Hospital, 156 

Carraway, Dr. C. N., 156 

Carroll, Thomas, 19, 44 

Carrollsville, 19, 20, 24-25, 40, 64, 70 

Carter, Nell, 171, 174 

Carver Performing Arts Center, 146 

Carver Theatre, 146-147 

Casbah, 151 

Cascade Plunge, 150 

Cash, Herman Frank, 138 

Cast iron pipe industry, 104 

Catfish King, 149, 150 

Cathedral of St. Paul, 89 

Cedar Creek Furnace, 15 

Cedar Hill Cemetery, 25 

Celery-Cola, 166 

Center Point, 187 

Center Point Theatre, 146 

Central Bank, 141 

Central High School, 64, 154 

Central Park, 111, 123, 128 

Central Presbyterian Church, 88, 91 

Central Trust Company, 119 

Century Plaza, 143 

Chalifoux Building, 83, 96 

Chalifoux Clothing Store, 83 

Chalifoux, Mrs. Oliver, 79 

Chambliss, Robert E., 138 

Champion Theatre, 146 

Chandler, Jennifer, 171, 173 

Chapman, Ben, 171 

Cheek, B. F., 59 

Chennault, Claire, 128 

Cheri-Chum, 166 

Cherokees, 9, 11, 30-31 

Cherry, Bobby Frank, 138 

Chicago White Sox, 162, 163 

Chickasaws, 9, 30 

Chicken-in-the-Rough, 149 

Chief Bear Meat, 15 

Children’s Hospital, 148, 153, 155 

Choctaws, 9, 30, 31-32 

Cholera epidemic, 63, 85 

Choy, Loo, 149 

Christian Methodist Episcopal 

Church, 159 

Christmas Carnivals, 148 

Chum, A. M., 77 

Church of the Covenant, 139 

Citizens’ Committee of Birmingham, 153 

City Bank, 73, 118 

City Bank & Trust, 117 

City Board of Missions, 86 


306

City Federal Building, 96, 168 

City Hall fire, 1925, 60 

City National Bank, 95 

City National Bank of Bessemer, 118 

City Stages, 161 

City Stores Corporation, 143 

Civil Rights Act, 131 

Civil War, 9, 15-17, 19-22, 26-27, 33-37, 

39, 40-41, 43-44, 49-50, 52, 56, 

90, 101 

Civitan International, 80 

Clark Memorial Theatre, 161 

Clarkson, Art, 164 

Clay, 187 

Clay, Gov. Clement, 31 

Clean Air Act, 169 

Clifton Land Company, 71 

Climbers Club, 78 

Clinkscale, Rachel A., 81 

Clioian Club, 78 

Clover Club, 150 

“Club 280”, 151 

“Club 31”, 151 

“Club 78”, 151 

Club Hotel, 78 

Club Rex, 113 

Coal Barons, 163 

Cobb, movie, 165 

Cobb Lane, 149 

Cobb Theatres, 147 

Cobbs, Herbert, 78 

Coca-Cola, 166 

Cochran, John, 29 

Coe, Richard Blauvelt, 122 

Coffee, Gen. John, 11 

Cohen, Octavus Roy, 171 

Coleman, Ashby, 167 

College Theatre, 142, 146 

Collins, Addie Mae, 137 

Columbus & Western Railroad, 65 

Comer Building, 96, 168 

Comer, Gov. Braxton B., 95, 104 

Commercial Club, 83, 101 

Communist Party, 120 

Community Chest, 79 

Community Club, 79, 106 

Compass Bancshares, 168 

Compass Bank, 84 

Compton Hill Baptist Church, 87 

Compton Hill School, 87 

Concordia Society, 73 

Confederate Motorcycles, 168 

Confessore, Christopher, 160 

Congress of Industrial Organizations 

(CIO), 121 

Connecticut Asylum for the Education 

of the Deaf and Dumb, 25 

Connelly, D.C.B., 64 

Conners Steel Company, 124 

Connor, Bull, 131-133, 136-137, 

154, 171 

Connors Steel Company, 124, 151 

Constantine’s, 149 

Continental Gin Company, 91, 124-125 

Convict labor system, 121 

Cook Springs, 110 

Cook Springs Hotel, 110 

Cooke, LaFayette, 110 

Cooke, Sam, 165 

Cooper, Harrison, 150 

Cooper, N. Lee, 81 

Copeland, Gen. John E., 125 

Copper Kettle, 149 

Corey, town of, 103, 187 

Cornwall Furnace, 43 

Cory, Mrs. Chappell, 79 

Cosmopolitan Hotel, 80 

Country Boy Eddie, 157, 172, 174 

County Line, 187 

County Prison Camp No. 5, 127 

Cowan, Tennessee, 69 

Cowden, William, 20 

Cox, Courtney, 170-171 

Craig Field, 127 

Crane & Breed Company, 48 

Crawford, George Gordon, 103, 113 

Crawford, W. W., 113 

Crazy Horse, 151 

Creek Indian War, 11 

Creeks, 9, 11-12, 31 

Crestline Park, 112 

Crestline Village, 72 

Crippled Children’s Clinic, 148 

Crockett, Davy, 11, 22, 26-27 

Crockett, John, 22 

Crockett, Rebeckah Hawkins, 22 

Crosby, Bing, 165 

Cross, Rev. John H., Jr., 139 

Croxton, Gen. John T., 50 

Crystal Palace, 57 

Culbertson Family, 20 

Culinard Culinary Institute, 158 

Cumberland Furnace, 15 

Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 88 

Cumberland School of Law, 158-159 

Cumberton, William D. T., 14 

Cunningham Creek, 23 

Cunningham, Gov. Russell M., 95-96, 171 

Cunningham, James, 14, 20, 22 

Curl, Harry, 147 

D 

Dales Cellar, 149 

Dales Hideway, 149 

Daniel Building, 93, 141 

Daniel Construction Company, 114 

Daniel, Col. David L., 125 

Daniels, Charlie, 165 

Danny Davis and the Nashville 

Brass, 114 

Daughters of Charity, 156 

Daughters of the American 

Revolution, 79 

Dave’s Club, 149 

Davis, Angela, 172 

Davis, Dr. Daniel, 19 

Davis, Jefferson, 45, 58 

Davis, Lorenzo (Piper), 164 

Davis, Maj. Harwell G., 158 

Davis, U.S. Rep. Artur, 171 

Day, Doris, 143 

de Ovies, Rev. Raimundo, 155 

Deason, Dr. Gilbert T., 41 

Deavenport, Rev. T. H., 86 

DeBardeleben Coal & Iron 

Company, 47 

DeBardeleben, Charles F., 40, 120, 156 

DeBardeleben, Henry F., 40, 47, 53, 65, 

68, 70-72, 85-86, 91, 102, 156 

Dedman, Dr. James E., 155 

Dees, Morris, 159 

Dees, Sam, 172 

DeGarmo, Diana, 172 

DeJarnette, Elias, 26 

Delonah Dolomite Quarry, 16 

DeLucas, Larry, 172 

Democratic Club, 74 

DeMoes Hot Dogs, 149 

Depression of 1873, 83 

Depression of 1893, 117-118 

Diamond Jim’s, 150 

Dickson Station, 52 

Dimmick Pipe Company, 70, 81, 95 

Ding Ho, restaurant, 149 

Dixie Bowl, 162 

Dixie Carlton Hotel, 78, 109 

Dixie Cream Donuts, 149 

Dixie Field, 128 

Dixie Metal Products, 124 

Dixie Series, 164 

Dixon, Gov. Frank, 172 

Doaks, Capt. John, 21 

Doar, John, 135 

Dobbs House, 149 

Docena, 103 

Dolonah Dolomite Quarry, 16 

Domino Lounge, 151 

Donald, James H., 119 

Donalson, Col. John M., 125 

Donavan, Virginia Samford, 161 

Donovan, Mollie, 62 

Doolittle, Col. Jimmy, 126, 128 

Dope (cola), 166 

Dorsey, Jimmy, 128 

Dorsey, Tommy, 165 

Dow Jones Industrial Average, 69 

Down the Hatch, 150 

Downs, Deidre, 172, 173 

Downtown Action Committee, 141 

Downtown Club, 114 

Downtowner Hot Dogs, 149 

Doxey, John S., 19 

Dr. Gus Restaurant, 149 

Dr. Pepper, 166 

Drennan, Allen T., 133 

Drennan, Mayor W. Melville, 83 

Drennen & Company General Store, 

93, 146 

Drennen Motor Car Company, 93 

Drennen, Herbert A., 93 

Drennen, William, 93 

Driver, James T., 108 

DuBose, John Witherspoon, 37, 39 

Dude Saloon, 82 

Duffee, Mary Gordon, 19, 21 

Duncan, Dr. William B., 26 

Dunn, William, 29 

Dunnavant, town of, 66 

Dupont Alabama Ordnance Works, 124 

Dupuy, John M., 25 

Dutch’s Tavern, 151 

Dutchman, 151 

E 

Eagle Hotel, 83 

Earle Place, 111 

Earle, Baylis W., 25 

Earle, Dr. Samuel S., 26, 81 

Earle, Paul E., 25 

Earle, Paul H., 119 

Earle, Samuel S., 111 

East Birmingham, 95 

East Lake, 79, 82, 87, 90, 95, 99, 107, 

113, 157-158, 163 

East Lake Park, 107 

East Lake Theatre, 146 

Easterwood, Simon, 41 

Eastwood Mall, 93, 142-144, 150 

Eaton, Cleveland, 172 

Ed Salem’s, 149 

Edgewater, 103 

Edgewood, 24, 71, 86, 107-108 

Edgewood Country Club, 71, 107 

Edgewood Highlands Land Company, 71 

Edgewood Lake, 71, 107, 122 

Edgewood Park, 107 

Edison, Thomas, 81 

Edmonds, Dr. Henry M., 138-139 

Edwards Furnace, 49, 86 

Edwards, Giles, 86 

Edwards, Lemack, 14 

Eighth Avenue Theatre, 146 

Eighty Eights Piano Bar, 151 

Electrik Maid, 149 

Eli’s Sky Castle, 149 

Elks Lodge No. 79, 79 

Ellington, Duke, 165 

Ellsberry, Julius, 125 

Elmwood Cemetery, 128 

Ely, Eugene B., 104-105 

Ely, William, 25 

Elyton, 16, 19-21, 25-26, 29, 31, 39, 44, 

52-53, 55-56, 60, 62-64, 87-89, 91, 

95, 111 

Elyton Academy, 19 

Elyton Cemetery, 22, 53 

Elyton Land Company, 19, 35, 39, 47, 

55-68, 73, 75, 81, 84-89, 115, 119 

Elyton Methodist Church, 86 

Elyton Village Housing. Project, 53 

Elyton Warriors, 109 

Empire Building, 7, 82, 96-97 

Empire Theatre, 144, 146-147, 165 

Emuckfau, 15 

Energen Plaza Building, 115 

English Village, 72, 112 

Enon Baptist Church, 86 

Enotochopco, 15 

Enslen, Eugene F., 96 

Ensley, town of, 23, 68-70, 74, 87, 93, 

95-96, 119 

Ensley Bank & Trust, 117 

Ensley Bank and Trust Company, 117 

Ensley Baptist Church, 87 

Ensley Furnaces, 99 

Ensley Grill, 149 

Ensley Highlands, 111 

Ensley Rail Mill, 101-102, 104, 125, 151 

Ensley, Enoch, 68, 69, 70, 96, 102 

Entrepreneur Magazine, 169 

Entumchate, 11 

Episcopal Church of the Advent, 89 

Episcopsal Church of the Advent, 89 

Erlanger Theatre, 146 

Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, 150 

Erwin, Sgt. Henry E. (Red), 129 

Essex House, 114 

Estess, Glenn E., Sr., 80 

Eubank, George, 14 

Eubank, William, 14 

Eubanks Home, 91 

Eubanks, Robert, 23 

Eureka Experiment, 47 

Evans, Gen. Virgil, 128 

Exchange Security Bank, 80, 118 

F 

F. W. Woolworth Company, 93, 135, 

142-143 

Fain, LTD, 143 

Fair Park, 102 

Fair Park Arena, 165 

Fair Park Drive-In, 142 

Fairfield, 23, 89, 95, 103-104, 119, 

142, 151, 159, 187 

Fairfield Theatre, 142, 146 

Fairfield Works, 114, 123-124, 151, 164 

Fairmont Club, 115 

Fall, Albert B., 109 

Famous Theatre, 146 

Farley Building, 148 

Farrar, Thomas W., 25, 29, 111 

Faulkner University, 158 

Fechheimer, Martin S., 119 

Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation, 119 

Federal Reserve Board, 118, 119 

Federal Road, 31 

Federal Trade Commission, 104 

Feeney’s, 143 

Fenelon Club, 78 

Ferguson, Hill, 111-112 

Ferro-Enamel Corporation, 125 

Fess Whatley Orchestra, 113 

Festival of Arts, 148, 161 

Fields, Isaac, 13 

Fields, Mary Johnstone, 13 

Fields, Moses, 13 

Fields, Samuel, 13 

Fiery Gizzard, furnace, 70 

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 89 

Finch, Julia Neely, 79 

Fingers, Rollie, 164 

Finley, Charlie, 164 

Finley, Mary, 22 

First Alabama Bank, 141 

First Alabama Volunteer Infantry, 99 

First American Bank, 168 

First Baptist Church of Birmingham, 

87, 90, 139 

First Baptist Church of Trussville, 90 

First Christian Church, 89 

First Colored Baptist Church of 

Birmingham, 90 

First Lutheran Church, 89 

First Methodist Church, 86, 91 

First National Bank, 73, 77, 83-84, 96, 

117-118, 120 

First National Bank of Bessemer, 118 

First National Bank-Southern Natural 

Gas Building, 141 

First Presbyterian Church, 88 

Fitzgerald, Ella, 128 

Five Mile Creek, 13, 67 

Five Mile Creek Presbyterian Church, 

87, 90 

Five Points Theatre, 142, 146 

Five Points West Shopping City, 142-143 

Flagg, Fannie, 17-173 

Flat Top Coal Mine, 120, 122 

Fletcher, Louise, 172, 174 

Flexner, Abraham, 155 

Flintridge Building, 151 

Florence Hotel, 81-83, 91-92 

Flowers, Vonetta, 172-173 

Ford, Henry, 107 

Ford, Pres. Gerald, 114 

Forest Park, 112 

Fort Jonesborough, 13-14, 16 

Fort McClellan, 126 

Fort Mims, 9, 11 

Fort Stoddard, 31 

Fortnight Club, 77 

Foster Mountain, 22 

Fox Studios, 165 

Frank Merrill’s Charcoal Steak House, 149 

Franke, Will, 112 

Franklin Theatre, 146 

Franklin, Benjamin, 29 

Fraser & Company, 46 

Fred Jones Restaurant, 149 

Freedom Riders, 132 

Friar’s Club, 79 

Frick, Henry Clay, 102 

Friday Night Club, 77 

Friendly Tavern, 151 

Friley, Caleb, 13-15, 17, 25, 44 

Friley, James, 17 

Friley, Martin, 17 

Friley, Mary, 15, 17 

Frog Level Racing Ground, 25-26 

Frolic Theatre, 146 

Fulenwider, A. L., 113 

Fulton Springs, 108 

Fultondale, 187 

G 

Gafford’s Livery Stable, 86 

Gaines, Charles, 172 

Galatoire, John, 85 

Galax Theatre, 144 

Gardendale, 175, 187 

Gardiner, Harry, 7 

Gardner, Ava, 165 

Garland, L. C., 36 

Garst, John, 66 

Gary, E. G., 102 

Gaslight, 151 

Gaston Motel, 135-136 

Gaston, Dr. A. G., 132, 135 

Gayety Theatre, 90 

Gayle, Gov. John, 30 

Gayler, Noel, 125 

Geddery, Dr. Vann M., 100 

Gelder’s Restaurant, 85 

Gelders, Louis, 91 

General Electric Corp., 67 

General Film Company, 146 

Gentle, Janet, 157 

Gentle, Lili, 157, 165, 172, 174 

George M. Figh & Bros, 57 

George Ward Park, 169 

George, Ann, 172 

Georgia Pacific Railroad, 32, 65 

Georgia Road, 20, 23, 39 

Georgia State Railroad, 36 

German Club, 80 

German Political Union, 73 

German Society, 73, 79 

GES Stores, 143-145 

Giattina, Joe, 150 

Gibson, Mark, 160 

Gikka’s, 151 

Gilchrist, Percy, 101 

Gillespy, James, 107 

Gillespy, Matthew, 14 

Gilman, Rebecca, 172 

Gilmer, Frank M., 35, 45, 46, 55 

Gilmer, Harry, 172 

Gilmer, James N., 56 

Gilmer, William B., 46 

Gilpin, Ebenezer N., 52 

Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, 119 

Glen Iris, 112 

Glenn Miller Orchestra, 150 

Gold Nugget Restaurant, 4, 149 

Gold Star Wives, 81 

Goldberg, Rube, 146 

Goldbro, 143 

Golden, John, 133 

Goldman, G., 115 

Goldstein’s Furs, 145 

Gorgas, Gen. William C., 103 

Gorgas, Josiah, 50 

Goslin Birmingham Manufacturing 

Company, 125 

Gould Coal Mine, 34 

Goyne, Harrison W., 44 

Grace, Baylis E., 16, 31, 44-45, 188 

Grace, Frank, 64 

Grace’s Gap, 35, 44, 53 

Grambs, Fred L., 77 

Grambs’ Military Band, 77 

Grand Hotel, 82 

Grand Theatre, 146 

Grasselli Chemicals, 164 

Graymont Elementary School, 136 

Grayson’s Spinning Wheel, 149 

Graysville, 120, 187 

Great Depression, 80, 92, 107, 111, 113, 

115, 117-118, 122, 129, 148, 160 

Greater Birmingham Annexation Act 

(1910), 95 

Green House, 53 

Green Springs Baptist Church, 90 

Green Springs Highway, 107, 122 

Green, Cooper, 188 

Green, Hubert, 172, 174 

Green, Mrs. Cooper, 126 

Green, Robert, 23 

Greene, Robert H., 52 

Greenwood’s, 149 

Greer’s Store, 29 

Griffin, Philip Thomas, 71 

Grove Park, 71 

Growlers Club, 79-80 

Grundy’s Music Hall, 151 

Guarantee Shoe Company, 148 

Gulas Supper Club, 149 

Gulas’ Blue Note, 151 

Gulf Miles Stores, 144 

Gun Club, 79 

Gunter Field, 127 

Gunter’s Landing, 31 

Gus’ Hot Dogs, 149 

Gynecological and Surgical 

Association, 40 

Gypsy Ball, 77 

H 

H. L. Green Store, 93 

Hagood, Dr. Zachariah, 22 

Hagood’s Crossroads, 22-23, 49 

Hale & Murdock Furnace, 43, 53 

Hale Springs, 110 

Hall of Fame Classic, 162 

Hall, Bolling, 56, 119 

Hall, James, 25 

Hall, Samuel, 14 

Hall, Stephen, 19, 25 

Halls, Williams, Jr., 119 

Hampton, Lionel, 172-173 

Hanby Mills, 49-50 

Hanby, David, 22, 32, 49 

Hanby, Felix, 22 

Hanby, Jesse, 22 

Hanby, John, 22 

Hanby, Milton, 22 

Handley, W. A., 119 

Hanes, Mayor Art, 133, 188 

Hanson, Clarence B., 115, 135 

Happy Wilson and the Golden River 

Boys, 157 

Harbert Management Company, 172 

Harbert Plaza Building, 115 

Harbert, John M., 172-173 

Hardie, Mrs. William, 78 

Harding, Pres. Warren G., 2, 108 

Harding. W.P.G., 118-119 

Harlem Globetrotters, 164 

Harmon, Robert, 87 

Harriman Railroad, 102 

Harris, Dr. Seale, 153 

Harris, Emmylou, 165, 172-173 

Harris, Mark M., 16 

Harrison, Isham, 19 

Harrison, Pres. Benjamin, 59 

Hatcher, James, 161 

Hawkins Cemetery, 53 

Hawkins Plantation, 43, 51-52, 108 

Hawkins Spring, 22, 108 

Hawkins, Burgin, 41 

Hawkins, David Crockett, 21-22 

Hawkins, Don A., 133 

Hawkins, Dr. Nathaniel, 52, 88 

Hawkins, Ella Cheek, 57 

Hawkins, Erskine, 150, 165, 172, 174 

Hawkins, James E., 41 

Hawkins, Susan Caroline, 21 

Hawkins, Williamson, 13, 20-22, 38, 

41, 43, 51-53, 88 

Hayes Aircraft, 127-128 

Hayes, Tom, 164 

Headley, J. C., 115 

HealthSouth Metro West 

Hospital, 159 

Health-South Rehabilitation 

Corporation, 156, 158 

Hearn, Rev. Ebenezer, 15, 23 

Held, Jack, 115 

Helen Bess Mine, 101 

Helen Bess Red Ore Mine, 47 

Helena Coal Mines, 41 

Helena Rolling Mill, 34 

Henckell, Rev. Carl, 155 

Henderson Steel & Manufacturing 

Company, 99-101 

Henderson, Gov. Charles, 154 

Henderson, James, 100 

Henley, Darby, 19 

Henley, John W., 25 

Henley, Mayor Robert H., 86 

Henley, Mrs. John C., 79 

Henley, Robert, 188 

Henry Porter’s, 143 

Henry, John, 65-66 

Heritage Ball, 79 

Herman, Woody, 114 

Herzing College, 158 

Heslip, Joseph, 15 

Hess, Carl, 92 

Hess, Emil, 92 

Hewitt, Abram H., 60 

Hewitt, Goldsmith W., 25, 63 

Hewitt, Walker & Porter, 63 

Hibbler, Al, 132 

Hibernian Club, 74 

Hickman Family, 24 

Hickman, Joseph, 19 

Hickman, Roy, 80 

Hicks, Taylor, 172, 174 

Hi-Fi Lounge, 151 

Higdan, Col. Elijah L., 99 

Highland Avenue, 112 

Highland Avenue & Belt Railroad 

Company, 75 

Highland Book Club, 78 

Highland Park Club, 112 

Highland Park Golf Course, 75, 88 

Hill, U.S. Sen. Lister, 153 

Hill, Virginia, 172 

Hill-Burton Act, 153 

Hillcrest Country Club, 115 

Hillman Bloomery, 14-15, 20, 30, 33, 

44-45, 82 

INDEX 

307

Hillman Clinic, 153-154 

Hillman Hospital, 82, 154 

Hillman Hotel, 81, 84, 91 

Hillman, Daniel, Sr., 33, 44, 50, 82 

Hillman, T. T., 65, 69, 82, 84, 119 

Hillyer, Rev. John L. D., 87 

Hiwassee River, 31 

Hobdy’s Bridge, 31 

Hobson, Lt. Richmond Pearson, 98 

Hochstadter, Joe J., 82 

Hogan’s Hideaway, 149, 151 

Holcombe, Rev. Hosea, 87 

Holiday Inn, Bessemer, 123 

Holiner, William, 92 

Holland House, 149 

Holley, Sherwood, 90 

Holly Springs Iron Works, 47 

Hollywood, 72, 113, 127 

Hollywood Country Club, 113-114, 

150 

Holy Innocents Hospital, 155 

Homestead Grays, 164 

Homewood, 71-73, 86, 107, 113-115, 

122, 127, 139, 141, 149, 156-158, 

166, 187 

Homewood Dairy, 149 

Homewood High School, 108 

Homewood Theatre, 142, 146-147 

Honda assembly plant, 168 

Hood, William, 93 

Hood-Yeilding Mercantile Store, 93 

Hooper’s, 149 

Hoover, 72, 87, 143, 169, 187 

Hoover High School, 158, 164 

Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, 164 

Hoover, J. Edgar, 134 

Horn, Thomas, 14 

Hornady, John R., 111 

Horseshoe Bend, 11 

Horton, Lt. Ken, 125 

House, Frank “Pig”, 172 

Houston, Sam, 11 

Howard College, 84, 158-159 

Howard Johnson’s, 149 

Howard, Richard, 160 

Hubbard, David, 32 

Huddleston, U.S. Rep. George, Sr., 120 

Hudgins, T. L., 118 

Hueytown, 14, 171, 187 

Huffman, 23, 90 

Huffman, Thomas, 14 

Hull, John A., 14 

Humber, Charles C., 14 

Hunt, Issiah, 14 

Hunt, Maj. William R., 48 

Hunter Street Baptist Church, 87 

Hunter, Catfish, 164 

Huntsville, 14, 19, 29 

Huntsville Road, 9, 13, 15, 19, 22, 27, 

29, 31, 37, 44 

Hurst, J. E., 119 

I 

Ideal Store, 93 

IMAX Theatre, 160 

Imperial Ball, 79 

Independent Presbyterian Church, 138 

Indian Mound Campground, 16 

Indian Springs School, 158 

Ingalls Steel Company, 124 

Ingram, Osmond Kelly, 105, 129 

International Center for Leadership in 

Education, 158 

International Labor Defense Fund, 120 

Interstate Commerce Commission, 104 

Irish Deli, 149 

Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama, 160 

Iron Bowl, 162 

Irondale, 47, 115, 157, 171, 187 

Irondale Furnace, 15, 34, 43-44, 47- 

49, 72, 101, 117 

Ironton Hotel, 48 

Ironwood Inn, 151 

Irvin, William, 29 

Isnard, Arthur, 167 

Isuzu truck plant, 168 

Italian Society, 74 

ITT Technical Institute, 158 

J 

J. Blach & Sons, 90, 92 

J. C. Mayfield Manufacturing Company, 

166 

J. J. Newberry Five & Dime, 93, 142 

Jack Daniel’s Distillery, 97, 168 

Jack O’Lantern, 149 

Jack’s, 149 

Jacks Family, 87 

Jackson Building, 97, 155 

Jackson, Bo, 164, 170, 172 

Jackson, Ervin, 142 

Jackson, Fred M., Sr., 101 

Jackson, Gen. Andrew, 11, 13, 30 

Jackson, J. F. B., 34 

Jackson, Kate, 170, 172 

Jackson, Reggie, 164 

Jacksonville State University, 175 

Jacobs, Pattie Ruffner, 79 

Jacque’s Hamburger Heaven, 149 

James, Edmund, 14 

James, Gov. Fob, 139 

James, Thomas, 14 

Janney Furnace, 43 

JCPenney, 142 

Jeanie, movie, 165 

Jeb’s Seafood, 149 

Jebeles, Gus H., 111 

Jefferson Academy, 19, 88 

Jefferson County Alms House, 66 

Jefferson County Commission, 122 

Jefferson County Committee for 

Economic Opportunity, 141 

Jefferson County Courthouse, 60, 88 

Jefferson County, established, 29 

Jefferson County International 

Baccalaureate School, 157 

Jefferson County Medical Society, 39- 

40 

Jefferson County Savings Bank, 96 

Jefferson County, population growth, 27, 

169 

Jefferson Hospital, 153-154 

Jefferson Iron Company, 48 

Jefferson Seafood, 149 

Jefferson State Community College, 

158 

Jefferson Theatre, 85, 146, 160 

Jefferson, Pres. Thomas, 29 

Jelks, Gov. William D., 95-96 

Jemison Real Estate and Insurance 

Company, 110-111 

Jemison, Powell, Ficklen & Company, 

40 

Jemison, Robert S., Jr., 72, 78 110-112 

Jemison, Robert, Sr., 40 

Jenkins, Judge W. A., Jr., 133 

Jimez, 149 

Jobe-Rose, 143 

Joe Bar, 151 

Joe, Henry, 149 

Joe, Mansion, 149 

Joe’s Ranch House, 150 

John Click’s Mill, 19 

John Hand Building, 96-97 

John’s Restaurant, 149 

Johnson & Jennings Company, 125 

Johnson, Crawford, III, 166 

Johnson, Crawford, Sr., 166 

Johnson, O. A., 58 

Johnson, R. C., 136 

Johnston, Capt. Edward D., 99 

Johnston, George W., 119 

Johnston, Gov. Joseph F., 98, 172 

Johnston, Lt. Gordon, 129 

Jolly, Mrs. S. W., 89 

Jones & Company, 88 

Jones Family, 24 

Jones Valley, 9, 12-13, 16, 19, 22, 26- 

27, 38-39, 55, 68, 112 

Jones Valley Times, 45 

Jones, Bobby Jones, 113 

Jones, Jeremiah, 13 

Jones, Jesse, 27 

Jones, John, 13-16, 19, 24-25, 44 

Jones, John Paul (Booze), 106 

Jones, Rev. Silas, 90 

Jones, Sudie McLaughlin, 25 

Jones, W. A., 47 

Jonesboro, 17 

Jonesborough, 11, 13-17, 20-21, 24- 

27, 29-30, 33, 39-40, 44, 64, 67, 

87, 157 

Jordan, B. J., 41, 46, 50 

Jordan, Mortimer H., 14, 23, 25, 40, 

84, 88, 92 

Jordon, Martha Gaines, 40 

Joseph, M. V., 92 

Joy Young’s, 149 

K 

Kallen, Kitty, 114 

Kayser, Leo, 115 

Kelly Ingram Park, 134 

Kelly, Moses, 29 

Kendall, Amos, 40 

Kendricks, Eddie, 172, 175 

Kenilworth Club, 79 

Kennedy, Atty. Gen. Robert, 135 

Kennedy, Pres. John F., 134-137 

Kesslers, 143 

Ketchum, William, 58 

Key, Francis Scott, 30, 81 

Kidd, Rev. Oley, 139 

Kilby, Gov. Thomas E., 109 

Kimberly, 187 

King & Brown Store, 30 

King Joy Inn Restaurant, 149 

King, A. D., 135 

King, Dr. Peyton, 26 

King, John P., 46 

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 24, 30, 46, 

131-138, 172 

King, Peyton, 19, 29 

King, Rep. Jere, 95 

Kingdom of God and Christ, 138 

Kirkpatrick, J. D., 77, 113 

Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, 80 

Kiwanis International, 80 

K-Mart, 93 

Knesseth Israel, 89 

Knickerbocker Club, 79 

Knight Furnace, 43, 50 

Knight, Baker, 172 

Knights of Labor, 70-71 

Knox, James, 122 

Kontoss, Alex, 74 

Kosmos Club, 77 

Koutroulakis, Gus, 149 

Kracke, Dr. Roy R., 153 

Kress Foundation, 160 

Ku Klux Klan, 78, 107, 135, 138 

L 

L&N Railroad, 35, 70, 119 

L. R. Hall Auditorium, 135 

L. Straus & Sons, 119 

Lacey, Robert, 29 

Ladd, Hewitt, 90 

LaFollette Committee, 122 

Lakeshore Hospital, 127 

Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital, 156 

Lakeshore Stables and Riding Academy, 

127 

Lakeview, 112 

Lakeview Park, 57, 65, 75, 79, 84, 88- 

89 

Lakeview Park Hotel, 84, 88 

Lane Park, 122 

Lane, Mayor A. O., 74 

Lansden, John, 81 

LaParee, 149 

Lawley, John, 14 

Lawley, Lt. William R., Jr., 129 

Lawrence, Tracy, 165 

Lawson State Community College, 158 

League of Women Voters, 79 

Leavell, Chuck, 172 

Lee Family, 166 

Lee, Afton, 71 

Lee, Damon, 71 

Lee, James C., Jr., 166 

Lee, James C., Sr., 153, 167 

Lee, Needham, 23 

Lee, Sidney W., 167 

Leeds, 23, 49, 56, 65, 88, 112-113, 

119, 129, 160, 163, 171, 187 

Legion Field, 141, 162 

Lehman Brothers, 46 

Leo’s Seafood House, 149 

Leonard, Sgt. Matthew, 129 

Lesser, Emil, 70, 73, 79 

Lester, Charles E., 11 

Letter from the Birmingham Jail, 134 

Lewis, Burwell Boykin, 63 

Lewis, Carl, 172, 173 

Lewis, U.S. Rep. John, 131 

Lewis, John L., 121 

Lincoln, Pres. Abraham, 136 

Lindbergh, Charles, 128 

Lindsay, Micajah, 29 

Line Material Company, 125 

Linger Longer Lodge, 111 

Linly Heflin Balls, 148 

Linly Heflin Unit Service Group, 148 

Linn Iron Works, 49, 72 

Linn Park, 64, 136 

Linn, Charles, 49, 64, 68, 72, 77, 83, 

85, 110, 118 

Linn, Edward W., 119 

Linn’s Folly, 77, 83, 95 

Linthicum Springs, 111 

Linton Family, 24 

Lipkin, Arthur Bennett, 160 

Lipscomb, 123, 187 

Lister Hill 

Library of the Health Sciences, 153 

Little Cahaba River, 45 

Little Italy, 74 

Little Southerner, 149 

Little Theatre, 161 

Little, Henry, 23 

Littleton Family, 108 

LL BBQ, 149 

Lloyd Nolan Hospital, 159 

Lloyd, Clarence, 72 

Lloyd, Harrison (Hack), 127 

Lockett, Lester, 164 

Loeb, Emil, 92 

Logan, Don, 172 

Lombardo, Guy, 114, 128 

Long, Gen. Eli, 51 

Look Magazine, 141 

Lotus Club, 149 

Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company, 92 

Louis Saks Department Store, 82, 91, 

93 

Louis’ Place, 149 

Lou-Jac Drive-In, 149 

Love Beat, 165 

Loveman, A. B., 92 

Loveman, Joseph, & Loeb, 92 

Loveman’s Department Store, 60, 91- 

92, 139, 142-143, 145 

Lovett, Dr. J. A. B., 82 

Lovoy’s, 149 

Lowenbrau, 150 

Lowenthal, N., 70 

Luau, 149 

Lubuzan, Anthony, 19 

Luckie, Lt. Dabney, 99 

Lucy, Autherine, 134 

Luker, Rebecca, 172 

Lunsford Hotel, 154-155 

Lyell, Sir Charles, 55 

Lyric Hotdog Stand, 149 

Lyric Theatre, 144, 146-148 

M 

Mabson Hotel, 85, 88 

Mabson, Hendon B., 86 

Mabson, Thomas Hill, 85 

Mack, Connie, 164 

Mack’s Tavern, 151 

MacKnight, James, 101 

Madison, Pres. James, 29 

Mallory, Stephen R., 45 

Malotte, Stanleigh, 145 

Manning, Warren H., 72 

Mansfield, Jayne, 113 

March of Dimes, 157 

Mardi Gras Ball, 77 

Mardi Gras celebrations, 77, 79-80, 

148 

Margaret Allen School for Girls, 161 

Margaret Coal Mine, 121 

Marino, Amerigo, 160 

Mariott Courtyard Hotel, 113 

Marlowe, Marion, 114 

Marquard, Rube, 107 

Marre & Allen Store, 57-58 

Marre, Maj. Andrew, 57-58 

Marshall, Burke, 135 

Martin, Hugh, 172 

Martin, John, 14, 25, 29 

Martin, Victor, 77 

Marx, Hugo, 115 

Mary Ball Candies, 149-150 

Mary Beard’s Tea Room, 149 

Mary Bryant Bridge, 123 

Mary Pratt Furnace, 67 

Massey Building, 97 

Massey, Samuel, 23 

Mattison, Benjamin, 19 

Maxwell Air Force Base, 127 

Maynard, Cooper & Gale, 81 

Mayor-Council Act, 133 

Mays, Willie, 164, 172-173 

Maytown, 187 

McAdory, James, 25, 31 

McAdory, Robert, 14 

McAdory, Thomas, 14, 17 

McAnnally, Pat, 58 

McAnnally, Richard P., 58 

McCalla, 19 

McCammon, Robert R., 175 

McCampbell, Comd. David, 125, 129 

McClane, William, 46 

McClellan’s Variety Store, 93 

McClung, Pvt. David B., 99 

McCook, Gen. Edward M., 21, 51-52 

McCormack, George B., 70 

McCoy Memorial Methodist Church, 

86 

McCoy, Clyde, 114 

McCoy, John, 100 

McDavid, R. P., 111 

McElwain, Wallace S., 47-49 

McGee, A. F., 49 

McGehee, Abner, 14, 33 

McGehee, John S., 14 

McKinley, Pres. William, 98 

McLaran, Charles, 25 

McLaughlin, Andrew, 13, 24-25 

McLaughlin, Felix, 64 

McLaughlin, Pvt. Alford Lee, 129 

McLester, Dr. James, 153 

McMaths, 30 

McMillion, Lemuel G., 14 

McNabb, C. H., 81 

McNair, Denise, 137 

McQueen, J. William, 163 

McQueen, John, 77 

McRae's Department Store, 143 

McWane Cast Iron Pipe Company, 102, 

151 

McWane Science Center, 92, 160 

McWane, James R., 101-102 

McWhorter, Ben, 16 

McWilliams, J. W., 25 

Medal of Honor winners, 129 

Medical Center East, 156 

Medical College of Alabama, 155 

Melba Theatre, 144, 148 

Mellencamp, John, 165 

Melrose Creamery, 149 

Melville, George W., 100 

Memphis & Charleston Railroad, 37 

Menawa, Chief, 11 

Mendelssohn Club, 77 

Mendelssohn Society, 70 

Mercedes Benz assembly plant, 168 

Mercy-Cooper Green Hospital, 156 

Merrill, H. D., 48, 53 

Merritt, W. H., 127 

Messer Field, 128 

Messer, Glenn, 128-129 

Messer-Airport Highway, 129 

Metropolitan Arts Council, 162 

Metropolitan Hotel, 86 

Meyer, Robert R., 86 

Miami Club, 151 

Michael’s Steakhouse, 149 

Mickey Mouse Club, 145 

Midfield, 19, 22, 27, 142, 144, 187 

Miglionico, Nina, 133 

Miles College, 158-159, 171 

Miles Law School, 159 

Miles, William H., 159 

Miller’s Stores, 143-144 

Milner, Henry Key, 81 

Milner, John T., 29, 35-36, 38, 45-46, 

55-56, 73, 85, 119 

Milner, W. J., 56, 58, 63, 84-85 

Milner, Willis J., railroad engine, 35 

Mims B. Stone Soda Fountain, 85 

Ming, Robert, 132 

Miss Alabama Pageant, 145, 165 

Miss America Pageant, 172, 175 

Miss American Aviation, 128 

Mitch, William, 121 

Mitchell, Lt. Charles D., 51 

Moar, Hezekiah B., 23 

Mobile & Girard Railroad, 37 

Mobile & Montgomery Railroad, 73 

Mobile & Ohio Railroad, 37 

Molton Hotel, 109-110 

Molton, Thomas H., 110 

Monogram Club, 77 

Monroe County, 17, 29 

Monroe, Pres. James, 29 

Monroe, Vaughn, 114 

Montclair Road, 47 

Montevallo Road, 44-45, 47, 53 

Montezuma Hotel, 82 

Montezuma University, 82 

Montgomery & West Point Railroad, 

33, 35 

Montgomery Bus Boycott, 132, 134 

Montgomery County, 29 

Montgomery Family, 20 

Montgomery, J. A., 100 

Moore & Handley Hardware Company, 

109 

Moore & Schley, 102 

Moore, Benjamin, 119 

Moore, Gov. Andrew B., 35 

Moore, James B., 14 

Moore, James D., 119 

Moore, Lucius, 119 

Moore-Handley Hardware Company, 

93, 119 

Moorer, Adm. Thomas H., 126 

Moorer, Mrs. Carrie Foy, 126 

Moreland, Jonathan, 23 

Moretti, Giuseppe, 101 

Morgan School, 19 

Morgan, Chuck, 133 

Morgan, John Pierpoint, 101-102 

Morgan, U.S. Sen. John T., 41 

Morris, town of, 187 

Morris Bank, 

Montgomery, Alabama, 59 

Morris Hotel, 74, 77, 81, 91, 148 

Morris House, 150 

Morris, Josiah, 55-57, 59, 62, 73, 81, 

118-119 

Morris, W. H., 188 

Morrow, Hugh, 14 

Morrow, Judge John C., 58 

Morrow, Mary, 58 

Morrow, Mary Ellen, 58 

Morton, Albert J., 77 

Moses Building, Montgomery, Alabama, 

59 

Mother Angelica, 170-171 

Motlow, Frank "Spoon", 97 

Motlow, Lem, 97, 168 

Moundville, 16 

Mount Joy Baptist Church, 90 

Mount Pilgrim Baptist Association, 91 

Mount Willing, 126 

Mount, T. L., 46 

Mountain Brook, 24, 34, 43, 49, 72, 

81, 101, 111-112, 141-143, 187 

Mountain Brook Club, 112-113 

Mountain Brook High School, 158, 171 

Mountain Brook Land Company, 112 

Mountain Brook Lodge, 151 

Mountain Brook Village, 72, 112 

Mountain Springs, 111 

Mountain Terrace, 111 

Mountain Top Inn, 111 

Mowery, W. S., 119 

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, 165 

Mr. Lucky’s, 151 

Mrs. Todd’s Cafeteria, 149 

Mt. Pinson, 23 

Mt. Pinson Forge, 49 

Mt. Pinson Ironworks, 44, 49-50 

Mt. Pinson Road, 49 

Mud Town, 9 

Mudd, Florence Earle, 81 

Mudd, James, 25, 32 

Mudd, William S., 25-26, 51-52, 56, 

62, 81-82, 91, 118 

Munger, Robert S., 78, 91, 113 

Murphree, Daniel, 22 

Murphrees Valley, 19, 22, 26-27 

Murphy, David, 29 

Murphy, S. J., 119 

Murphy’s Lounge, 151 

Muscle Shoals, 32-33 

Music Study Club, 79 

Mutual Land and Improvement 

Company, 70 

N 

NAACP, 132, 134-135 

Naber’s Spring, 20 

Nabers, Francis D., 14, 19 

Nabers, Matilda M., 19 

Nabers, William F., 19, 25, 39, 56-57 

Nabers’ Grove, 57 

Nabors, Lula Hawkins, 53 

Nabors, Sarah E., 21 

Namath, Joe, 137 

Nancy Duncan Robinson Memorial 

Hospital, 157 

Nappi, Bill, 150 

NASCAR, 163 

Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad, 36- 

37 

Natchez Trace, 31 

National Air Carnival, 128 

National American League, 164 

National Association for the 

Advancement of Colored People, 

134 

National Association of Real Estate 

Boards, 111 

National Association of Secretaries of 

State, 81 

National Association of State Election 

Directors, 81 

National Bank of Birmingham, 73, 83, 

95, 118 

National City Bank of New York, 119 

National Dope Company, 166 

National Industrial Recovery Act, 121 

National Institutes of Health, 156 

National Municipal League, 141 

National Shirt Shops, 143 

National Tube Company, 103 


308

Nations, Elizabeth, 21-22 

Negro Federation of Women’s Clubs, 

78 

Negro League (baseball), 164 

Negro League World Series, 164 

Negro National League, 164 

Nelson, Clyde, 72, 113 

Nelson, Frank, 165 

Nervola, 166 

New Community Church, 86 

New Deal, 122, 129 

New Ideal, 93, 143 

New Williams, 143-144 

New York Press Association, 60 

Newberry’s Five & Dime, 81-82, 143 

Newmann, Isadore, Sr., 167 

Newmar Theatre, 144 

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry 

Dock Company, 126 

Newsome, H. M., 146 

Newsweek, 157 

Newt’s Restaurant, 149 

Nineteenth Century Club, 78 

Nitre and Mining Bureau, 48 

Nixon Building, 150 

Nixon, Dr. John W., 132 

Nixon, Pres. Richard Nixon, 143 

Noble Brothers Foundry, 46 

Noble, Henry Jeffers, 104 

Nola’s, 151 

Noland, Dr. Lloyd, 103 

Norman, Loulie Jean, 175 

North Birmingham, 95, 100, 112, 119 

North Birmingham Theatre, 146 

North Birmingham-American Bank, 

117 

North Highland Streetcar Line, 75 

North Highlands Chautauqua, 78 

North Johns, 187 

Northeast & Southwest Railroad, 35- 

36, 46 

Northington-Munger-Pratt Company, 

91 

Norwood, 74, 156 

Norwood Clinic, 156 

Norwood Theatre, 142 

O 

O’Brien, Frank P., 85, 188 

O’Brien’s Opera House, 74, 85-87, 90 

O’Connor, James, 84 

O’Neal Steel Works, 124-125 

O’Neal, John, 79 

O’Reilly, Father Patrick, 89 

Oak Hill Cemetery, 63, 85 

Oak Mountain State Park, 122 

Oaks Street Restaurant, 150 

Odeon Theatre, 146 

Odum Clothing, 143 

Odum, Bowers & White, 143 

Office Park, 142 

Ogg, Alan, 175 

Old Glory Tourist Court, 123 

Old Plantation BBQ, 149 

Old Warrior Town, 9, 35 

Oldsides” Baptist Church, 22 

Oliver, W. G., 57 

Ollie’s BBQ, 149 

Olmsted, Frederick Law, 169 

One Great City Plan, 141 

Oneonta, 15, 27 

Operation New Birmingham, 141 

Opossum Valley, 23 

Orpheus Society of Bessemer, 77 

Our Lady Queen of the Universe 

Catholic Church, 138 

Overton Coal Mine, 121, 156 

Overton, David, 23 

Overton, Dr. E. C., 133 

Owen, David, 29 

Owen, Thomas, 14, 92 

Owenton, 158 

Owenton Church, 86 

Oxford Furnace, 37, 43 

Oxmoor Station, 110 

Oxmoor Furnace, 9, 15, 33, 34, 41, 

44-50, 53, 69, 85, 100, 110 

Oxmoor, town of, 46 

P 

Paige, Satchel, 164-165 

Palace of Mines and Metallurgy, 101 

Pallisades Shopping Center, 115 

Panic of 1819, 12 

Panic of 1873, 49, 117 

Pantages Theatre, 85, 90, 147 

PappaJohns.com Bowl, 162 

Pappy’s, 151 

Paramount Studios, 145 

Parisian Dry Goods & Millinery 

Company, 91 

Parisians Department Store, 91, 142- 

143 

Parker High School, 136 

Parks, Rosa, 132, 134 

Parkwood Tunnel, 35 

Parliament House Hotel, 141, 143 

Partin, Z. T., 57 

Partners for Livable Communities, 169 

Pasquales Pizza, 149 

Patrick, Gail, 175 

Patterson, Gov. John, 134 

Patton, Gen. George, 125 

Paty, Dr. Raymond R., 153 

Paul Gilardoni’s Restaurant, 85 

Paul Hayne School, 65 

Paulding, William K., 14, 19 

Payne, Irvin, 157 

Payne, Mrs. Irvin, Sr., 157 

Pea River, 31 

Pearl Harbor, 124-126 

Pearson, Judge J. Richmond, 159 

Peck, E. W., 26 

Peek, Jefferson J., 166 

Peerless Saloon, 83 

Pemco Aeroplex, 127 

Pendergrast, Capt., 58 

Pepsi Cola, 166 

Periclean Club, 78 

Perkins, Capt. Samuel E., 99 

Perkins, Col. Nicholas T., 15 

Persons, Gen. John C., 118, 125 

Persons, Gov. Gordon, 132 

Pete Fountain Band, 113 

Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs, 149, 151 

Peter Pan Club, 79 

Pettus County, proposed, 96 

PGA Champions Tour, 163 

Philharmonics Club, 78 

Phillips Family, 92 

Phillips High School, 64-65, 154, 160 

Phillips, John Herbert, 159 

Phoenix Club, 75, 115 

Pickett, A. J., 12 

Pickwick Club, 150, 151 

Pig Trail Inn, 149 

Pine Tree Country Club, 115 

Pinson, 16, 19, 22-23, 44, 108, 168, 187 

Pinson Cave, 16 

Pioneer Fire Department No. 1, 58 

Pioneer Mining & Manufacturing 

Company, 53 

Pioneers Club, 79 

Pipers, 149 

Pittsburgh 

Plus, 104 

Pizitz Department Store, 91-92, 126, 

142-143, 145 

Pizitz, Louis, 92, 126, 135 

Pizitz, Richard, 141 

Plantation Club, 151 

Playhouse 90, 165 

Playroom, 151 

Plaza on Highland Avenue, 151 

Pleasant Grove, 187 

Pleasant Hill, 19, 20, 64 

Pleasant Hill Methodist Church, 20 

Pleasant Hill School, 20 

Poinsettia Ball, 79 

Polio epidemic, 157 

Polivnick, Paul, 160 

Pollard, Charles T., 46 

Pontotoc Creek, 30 

Port of Birmingham, 106 

Porter, M. T., 25 

Porter’s, 143 

Post Offices, Jefferson County, 40 

Potter Building, 78 

POW camps, 127 

Powderly, 19, 24, 70-71, 123 

Powderly, Terrence V., 71 

Powell School, 64 

Powell, Alma, 136-137 

Powell, Colin., 136-137 

Powell, James R., 40, 56-58, 60-65, 84, 

115, 188 

Pratt City, 74, 84, 95, 105 

Pratt City Distilling Company, 98 

Pratt Coal & Coke Company, 68, 96, 102 

Pratt Coal & Iron Company, 68 

Pratt, Daniel, 35, 46-47, 55 

Pratt, M. E., 46 

Premocar, 2, 108 

Prentice, Jo Ann, 175 

Presbyterian Ladies Society, 79 

Presley, Elvis, 165, 172 

Press Club, 150 

Preston Motor Car Company, 108 

Pride, Charley, 164, 175 

Prince, Dr. Edmond M., 156 

Prince, Dr. Francis M., 39-40, 157 

Prince, Margaret, 40 

Prince, Martha Gaines Jordan, 40 

Progressive Study Club, 79 

Prohibition, 97, 168 

Prude, David, 25 

Prude, John, 20 

Prude, Margaret, 20, 24 

Prude, Martha, 92 

Prude, Mary, 20 

Prude, William, 19, 29 

Public Roads Administration, 123 

Puckett, Elizabeth, 17 

Pullen Family, 24 

Pullen, William, 19, 24 

Pure Oil Company, 166 

Pussy Cat Lounge, 151 

Q 

Queen Ginger Ale, 166 

R 

R. H. Macy & Company, 119 

R.M.T. Club, 79 

Racket Club, 77 

Ragsdale, Rep. Milton C., 96 

Railroad Reservation Park, 169 

Rainbow Division, 167th Infantry, 105 

Rainbow Viaduct, 106 

Raines, Howell, 175 

Ramsay High School, 136 

Ramsay, Erskine, 109, 150 

Ramsay-McCormack Building, 150 

Rase, Betty Jane, 165 

Rathkellar, 151 

Rayfield, Wallace, 92 

RBC Centura Bank, 168 

Read, Reuben, 29 

Readon, Rev. James, 90 

Rebel Love, 165 

Reckling, August C., 84 

Red Cross, 77, 106, 120, 127 

Red Diamond Coffee, 165 

Red Eagle, 13 

Red Lion, 151 

Red Mountain, 9, 35, 38, 44-46, 112, 

114, 151 

Red Mountain Expressway, 141 

Red Mountain Iron & Coal Company, 

46 

Red Mountain Iron Company, 47 

Red Mountain Iron Works, 44 

Red Mountain Park, 9, 169 

Redmont Hotel, 109 

Redmont Park, 111 

Redstone Club, 79, 80 

Reed, Rev. Warner, 90 

Reed, Ruth, 23 

Reed, Sarah, 23 

Reed, Silver Billy, 23 

Reeder, Stephen, 25 

Rees Auto Service, 106 

Rees, George, 106 

Rees, Harry, 106 

Rees, Howard, 106 

Rees, Wade, 106 

Regions Bank, 59, 118 

Regions Financial Corp., 168 

Regions Park, 164 

Reid Family, 20, 24 

Relay House, 58, 60, 63, 81, 114-115 

Republic Iron & Steel Company, 45, 103 

Republic Steel Corporation, 43, 121, 

125, 151, 164 

Rheem Manufacturing Company, 125 

Rialto Theatre, 148 

Rice, Angelena, 137 

Rice, Condoleezza, 137, 170, 175 

Rice, John Wesley, Jr., 137 

Richards, 143 

Rickenbacker, Eddie, 128 

Rickover, Adm. Hyman G., 126 

Rickwood Field, 107, 164-165 

Ridgely Apartments, 110 

Riley, Joseph, 14 

Rinky Dink, 151 

Rioalto Club, 77 

Ritz Theatre, 144, 146, 147 

Riverchase Galleria, 143, 169 

Riverside Café, 74 

Roaring Twenties, 107 

Robert Jemison Park, 123 

Robert Meyer Foundation, 158 

Robert R. Meyer Planetarium, 158 

Roberts Field, 128 

Robertson, Anderson, 90 

Robertson, Carol, 137 

Robertstown Furnace, 71 

Robinson, Dr. Elisha M., 156-157 

Robinson, Dr. Thomas F., 157 

Robinson-Nelson Infirmary, 156-157 

Robinwood Drive-In, 142 

Rockefeller, William A., Jr., 119 

Rockett, Richard, 14 

Rockett, Thomas W., 25 

Rockville, 20 

Roden Hotel, 109, 110 

Roden, Benjamin F., 71, 110, 119 

Roebuck Country Club, 113 

Roebuck Drive-In, 142 

Roebuck Golf and Automobile Club, 113 

Roebuck Shopping City, 143 

Roebuck Springs, 108, 113 

Rogers, Wayne, 173, 175 

Rogers, Will, 146 

Rollins College, 139 

Romeo’s, 149 

Rommel, Field Marshal Erwin, 127 

Rooney, Mickey, 165 

Rooney, Mickey, Jr., 165 

Rooney, Tim, 165 

Roosevelt City, 187 

Roosevelt Park, 122 

Roosevelt, Pres. Franklin, 117, 119, 

157 

Roosevelt, Pres. Theodore, 102, 103 

Root, Elihu, 102 

Rose Hill, 151 

Rose, Rev. Lysander Washington, 89 

Rosedale, 4, 24, 71, 122 

Ross Bridge, 36 

Ross Creek, 36 

Ross, Diana, 170, 175 

Ross, Donald, 112 

Ross, James Taylor, 36 

Ross, Joseph P., 77, 84 

Ross’s Landing, 31 

Round Mountain Furnace, 43, 46 

Rountree, Asa, Jr., 128 

Roupe, William, 17, 19, 27 

Roupes Creek, 19, 50 

Roupes Valley, 17, 19-20, 29 

Roupes Valley Ironworks, 20, 34, 43, 50 

Rowan, James, 24 

Royal Bank of Canada, 168 

Royal Theatre, 144 

Royall, Kenneth, 137 

Rubino, Joe, 113 

Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, 169 

Ruhama Baptist Church, 87, 90-91 

Rushton Park, 39 

Rushton, W. J., 167 

Rutledge, James, 23, 89 

Ryding, H. C., 80 

Rye-Ola, 166 

S 

S. H. Kress & Company, 92-93, 143 

S. S. Kresge Store, 93 

Sadler, Alions, 14 

Sadler, Mrs. William Rose, 24 

Sadler, Rev. Anderson, 14, 87, 90 

Sadler, William, 14 

Sai, George, 149 

Saks, Inc., 143 

Salem Baptist Church, 22 

Salem School, 16, 40 

Salit, Lenny, 92 

Salt Creek Furnace, 43, 50 

Salvation Army, 120 

Sam Latham Plantation, 90 

Samford University, 108, 158-159, 

171-172, 175 

Samford, Frank P., 159 

Sanders, William L., 50 

Sanford, Hugh W., 105 

Saperstein, Abraham, 164 

Sardis Missionary Baptist Church, 87 

Satterwhite, William D., 71 

Saturday Night Fever, 114 

Schaefer, J. William, 89 

Scheibe, Rev. C. E., 89 

Schilleci Family, 74 

Schillinger Brewing Company, 80 

Schillinger Family, 79 

Schillinger, Philipp, 167 

Schmid, L. N., 70 

Scott, William Rose, 34 

Scottsboro Boys Trial, 138 

Sears & Roebuck, 68, 93, 143 

Sebastian, Dorothy, 175 

Second Creek War, 31 

Seddon, James A., 45 

Seibels, Mayor George G., Jr., 133, 

139, 141, 188 

Selma Arsenal and Gun Works, 33, 43, 

46-47, 50 

Seminoles, 11 

Semper Fidelis Club, 78 

Senior Citizens Committee, 135 

Seventeen Seventy Six AD Restaurant, 150 

Sewanee Mining Company, 69 

Shades Cahaba Elementary School, 127 

Shades Creek, 13, 24, 29, 46-47, 107-108 

Shades Mountain, 33, 36, 39, 110-111 

Shades Mountain Country Club, 151 

Shades Mountain Drive-In, 142 

Shades Tavern, 151 

Shades Valley, 24 

Shades Valley Bank, 117 

Shades Valley High 

School, 157 

Shadix, Glenn, 175 

Shakespeare Club, 77 

Shang-Hai-Low, 149 

Shaughnessy, J.F.O., 119 

Shaw, Dewitt, 150 

Shaw, Dorothy, 114 

Sheffield Furnace, 68 

Shelby County, 169 

Shelby Ironworks, 33, 43, 86 

Shelby, U.S. Sen. Richard, 175 

Shepherd, Everett, Sr., 142 

Shepherd-Sloss Realty, 142-143 

Sherwood, Roberta, 113 

Shillinger Family, 84 

Shipman, Maj. S. V., 34, 52 

Shook, Alfred M., 68, 70 

Shopshire, Dr. Courtney W., 80 

Shores, Arthur, 136, 141 

Short Creek, 106 

Showboat, 151 

Shuttlesworth, Rev. Fred, 131-136, 175 

Sidle, Jimmy, 137 

Silver’s, 93, 143 

Simon, H., 89 

Sims, Edward, 16 

Sims, Henry Upton, 81 

Sinatra, Frank, 165 

Sington, Fred, 175 

Sinovadad Club, 78 

Six Mile Forge, 49 

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 90, 

92-93, 131, 134, 137, 139, 141, 

169 

Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, 90 

Sixth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 89 

Sizemore, Ralph, 157 

Skinner, R. A., 108 

Skyview Drive-In, 142 

Slaben, Pvt. John, 99 

Slag Pile, ball park, 163 

Slaughter & Lubuzan, 25 

Slave labor, 12-13, 19, 38-39, 52-53, 

90 

Sloss City Furnaces, 32, 67, 100, 151 

Sloss Furnace National Historic 

Landmark, 169 

Sloss Iron & Steel Company, 74, 99, 

100, 172 

Sloss National Historic Landmark, 160 

Sloss North Birmingham Furnaces, 99 

Sloss Special Benzol, 166 

Sloss, A. Page, Sr., 142 

Sloss, Fred, 119 

Sloss, James W., 62, 85, 119 

Sloss-Sheffield Iron & Steel Company, 

103, 117, 121, 164, 166 

SMI Steel, 151 

Smith, Dr. Francis M., 16 

Smith, John, 14 

Smith, Jonathan Newton, 45 

Smith, Joseph R., 14, 25 

Smith, Maj. Thomas A., 99 

Smith, Milton H., 70 

Smith, Mrs. J. Morgan, 79 

Smith, Robert S., 114 

Smith, Ross C., 83 

Smith, Sally, 14 

Smith, Stephen, 71, 107 

Smith, Theodore, 71 

Smith’s Plantation, 36 

Smolian Psychiatric Clinic, 153 

Smyer, Sid, 135 

Social Grill, 149 

Sojourner Truth Club, 78 

Sokols Department Store, 143 

Solomon & Levi Saloon, 82 

Sombrero, 149 

Somerby Retirement Community, 108 

Sommers, Bertha, 91 

Sommers, Estella, 91 

Sousa, John Phillip, 80 

South & North Railroad, 33-38, 45-48, 

55-56, 73, 85 

South Central Bell Tower, 141 

South Family, 24 

South Highland Presbyterian Church, 139 

South Highlands, 88 

South Highlands Hospital, 157-158 

South Highlands Infirmary, 156-158 

South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, 69 

Southeastern Bible College, 158 

Southeastern Conference, 162, 164 

Southeastern Engineering Company, 

164 

Southern Association, 163-164 

Southern Bank & Trust, 117 

Southern Baptist Convention, 87, 158 

Southern Business and Development 

Magazine, 169 

Southern Christian Leadership 

Conference, 131, 134 

Southern Claims Commission, 53 

Southern Club, 77, 78 

Southern Female Academy, 84 

Southern League, 162-164 

Southern Museum of Flight, 160 

Southern Negro League, 164 

Southern Poverty Law Center, 159 

Southern States Coal, Iron & Land 

Company, 69 

Southern University, 158 

Southside, 74-75, 86, 88-90, 108, 153, 

160 

Southside Bank, 117 

Southside Baptist Church, 87 

SouthTrust Bank, 73, 118, 168 

Southwestern Athletic Conference, 162 

Spain Park High School, 158 

Spain Rehabilitation Center, 153 

Spain, Frank, 80 

Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, 106 

Spanish-American War, 98-99 

Sparks, Gov. Chauncey, 153-154 

Spaulding Mine, 45 

Speaker, Harry, 166 

Spencer Springs, 111 

Spencer, Alfred, 14 

Spencer, Octavius, 14 

Springville Road, 23 

Squire, Joseph, 49 

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 155 

St. Clair County, 29, 169 

St. James Baptist Church, 135 

St. John’s AME Church, 90, 93 

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 88, 91 

St. Johns Episcopal Church for the 

Deaf, 88 

St. Luke’s AME Zion Church, 138 

St. Mary’s-on-the-Highlands Episcopal 

Church, 89 

St. Paul’s Catholic Cathedral, 88-89 

St. Stephens, 14, 31 

St. Vincent’s Hospital, 91, 156-157 

Stallings Building, 96 

Standard Distributors, 143 

Standard Furniture Store, 93 

Standard Oil Company, 103, 119 

Stanley, C. M., 83, 91 

Star Super Market, 83 

Starlite Drive-In, 142 

Starr, Bart, 175 

State Fairgrounds, 123, 142, 163 

State Theatre, 146 

Stay Hungry, movie, 165 

Steagall, U.S. Rep. Henry B., 119 

Steamboat Tinnsie Moore, 31 

Steamship Birmingham, 106 

Steel Town, movie, 165 

Steele, Ed, 164 

Steele, Jonathan, 25, 32 

Steiner Bank Building, 57-58 

Steiner, Leo K., 115 

Stephens, Joshua, 87 

Stillman’s Journal, 55 

Stinson, Eddie, 128 

Stockham Valves & Fittings, 124-125, 

151, 164 

Stony Lonesome, 22, 27 

Stovall, John, 90 

Stowers Furniture Store, 59 

Strand Theatre, 144 

Stratton, J. A., 119 

Straus, Isidor, 119 

Straus, Nathan, 119 

Strawberry Fields, 149 

Strickland, Gail, 175 

Stroup, Moses, 45-47, 50 

Studdard, Ruben, 173, 175 

Student Non-Violent Coordinating 

Committee, 131 

Sullivan, Pat, 175 

Summerfest, 161 

INDEX 

309

Summit Club, 115 

Sun Ra, 175 

Superior Ice Cream Company, 74 

Sutowski, Thor, 161 

Sylvan Springs, 187 

T 

Taft, Pres. William Howard, 81, 103 

Talladega, 11 

Talladega Super Speedway, 163 

Tallassee, 11 

Talley Mounds, 16 

Talley, N. D., 16 

Talley, Nancy, 21 

Tallushatchee, 11 

Tanglewood, 151 

Tannehill Furnaces, 34, 41, 43, 45-46, 

50, 52, 98 

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State 

Park, 19, 50, 160 

Tannehill, Benjamin, 24 

Tannehill, Ninian, 20, 50 

Tanner’s, 149 

Tapawingo Springs, 108 

Tarrant, 187 

Tarrant City, 119 

Tarrant Family, 20 

Tarrant, Rev. James, 14, 24, 90 

Tarrant-American Savings Bank, 117 

Tate, Sam, 46 

Tatum, Anita King, 81 

Taylor Hotel, 31 

Taylor School, 84 

Taylor’s Tavern, 63 

TCI, 16, 68-70, 78, 80, 82, 100-105, 

117, 120, 123, 125, 151 

TCI Mines, 103 

Teagarden, Jack, 114 

Temple Beth-El, 89, 138 

Temple Emanu-El, 89 

Temple Theatre, 144 

Tennessee & Alabama Central Railroad, 

37 


Company, 16, 47, 68-70, 84, 96, 

100, 102-104, 121 

Tennessee River, 32, 35 

Terminal Station, 96 

Terrell, Tommy, 150 

Terry, John T., 64 

TG&Y, 144 

The Buttery, 149 

The Club, 114-115, 120 

The Hunt for Red October, 127 

The Ramblers, 150 

The Ravagers, 165 

The River, 165 

Third Presbyterian Church, 88, 138 

Thomas, town of, 74 

Thomas Family, 24 

Thomas Iron Furnaces, 38, 58, 95 

Thomas Jefferson Hotel, 109, 168 

Thomas, Ben, 14 

Thomas, Frank, 164 

Thomas, John, 14 

Thompson Brick Company, 57 

Thompson, Joseph, 14 

Thompson’s, 149 

Thompson-Houston Electric Company, 

67 

Three on a String, 150 

Tilman-Levinson, 143 

Tip Top Grill, 110-111 

Tito’s, 151 

Toddle House, 149 

Tom’s Coneys, 149 

Tombigbee River, 32, 106 

Toney, Andrew, 175 

Top of the 21, 149 

Toumey, Michael, 55 

Town & Gown, 161 

Town of the Highland, 89, 95 

Tracy City, Tennessee, 69-70 

Trafford, 187 

Trail of Tears, 30-31 

Trail’s End, 151 

Trailways Bus Station, 133 

Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, 30 

Treaty of Fort Jackson, 11 

Treaty of Ghent, 11 

Treaty of New Echota, 30 

Tredegar Iron Works, 43 

Trevelick, town of, 71 

Trevelick, Richard, 71 

Trianon Theatre, 146 

Trimble, Capt. John, 99 

Trinity Lutheran Church, 89 

Trinity Medical Center, 47, 156 

Trinity United Methodist Church, 86 

Triumph Church, 138 

Trolley system, 74 

Troy Bell Foundry, 88 

Troy, Daniel S., 46, 73, 119 

Trucks, Virgil, 175 

Truman Administration, 153 

Truss, Warren, 23 

Trussville, 9, 23, 50, 90, 122, 187 

Tucker, Sophie, 146 

Tullavahajah, 9 

Tulley, Mayor Bryant, 84 

Turkey Creek, 9, 13, 22-23, 29, 49, 87, 

108 

Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, 50 

Turner, Roscoe, 128 

Turn-Verein Society, 73, 77 

Tuscaloosa, capitol moved to, 30 

Tuscumbia Railroad, 32 

Tuscumbia, Courtland & Decatur 

Railroad, 33 

Tuskegee Army Air Field, 127 

Tutwiler Coal and Coke Company, 110 

Tutwiler Family, 110 

Tutwiler Hotel, 2, 80, 97, 109-110, 

114, 149 

Tutwiler, E. M., 78, 110 

Tutwiler, Margaret, 175 

Tuxedo Park, 150 

Twentieth Century Literary Club, 78 

Twentieth Century Restaurant, 149 

Twentieth Street Car Line, 115 

Twenty-One Twenty-One Building, 141 

Tyler, William Francis, 78 

U 

U.S. 31 Homewood cloverleaf, 122 

U.S. 31 South, 123 

U.S. News & World Report, 155, 159 

U.S. Pipe, 151 

U.S. Steel Corporation, 101-102, 103- 

105, 117, 120-121, 123, 151, 154, 

159, 169 

U.S. Steel Ensley Works, 95 

UAB Highlands Hospital, 157 

Ullman High School, 137 

Understood, U.S. Rep. Oscar, 79 

Underwood, Henry, 77 

Underwood, Oscar, 109 

Underwood, W. T., 119 

Union Bank & Trust Company, 59 

Union Depot, 81 

Union Ironworks, 99 

Union Passenger Station, 56 

Union Station, 58, 99 

United Daughters of the Confederacy, 

79 

United Mine Workers of America, 103, 

104, 121 

United States Football League, 162 

United Steelworkers of America, 121 

United Way, 79 

University Club, 79 

University Hospital, 137, 153, 155-156 

University of Alabama, 16-17, 50, 84, 89, 

134, 137, 154-155, 162, 172, 175 

University of Alabama at Birmingham 

Ballet, 161 

University of Alabama Extension 

Center, 155, 161 

University of Alabama Medical School, 

153 

University of Alabama School of 

Medicine, 153, 155 

University of Alabama-Birmingham, 

153, 154-155, 156, 161-162, 171, 

172, 175 

University of Montevallo, 158-159 

Upton, Gen. Emory, 22, 48, 51-52 

USS Birmingham (CL-2), 104-105 

USS Birmingham (CL-62), 126-127 

USS Birmingham (SSN-695), nuclear 

attack submarine, 126-127 

USS Cassin, 105 

USS Essex, 125 

USS Hornet, 126 

USS Kearny, 125 

USS Oregon, 99, 100 

USS Texas, 100 

V 

V. J. Elmore Store, 147 

Valentin, brewmaster, 167 

Valley Creek, 13-14, 19, 38, 87, 108 

Valley View Iron Ore Mines, 114, 120 

Van Hook, R. W., 89 

Van Sheck, Sidney, 122 

Vann, Mayor David, 100, 133, 139, 

188 

Vaughan & Weil, 144 

Vaughn, Capt. Harris C., 99 

Vaughn, Harry, 163 

Ventura, Robin, 164 

Verne Miller, movie, 165 

Vestavia Country Club, 113 

Vestavia Hills, 72, 150, 187 

Vestavia Hills High School, 158 

Vick, Wanda, 157 

Victoria Station, 150 

Village at Cook Springs, 110 

Village Creek, 13, 16, 21, 58-59, 108 

Village Restaurant, 149 

Vines, Lt. Gen. John R., 174, 175 

Virginia College of Birmingham, 158 

Virginia Samford Theatre, 162 

Vlahos Family, 150 

Volker, Dr. Joseph, 154 

Vulcan Hotel, 83 

Vulcan Park, 102, 108, 160 

Vulcan Restaurant, 149 

Vulcan Statue, 100-101, 121-123, 166, 

170 

W 

W. C. Howton Contracting Company, 

122 

W. L. Dellheim Company, 166 

W. T. Grant & Company, 93, 142-143 

Wachovia Bank, 168 

Wade, Russell B., 125 

Wadell, community of, 24 

WAFM-TV, 109 

Waggoner, Comm. J. T. (Jabo), 133 

Waite’s Bakery, 149 

Walker House, 37 

Walker Memorial Methodist Church, 

86 

Walker, Dixie, 175 

Walker, Dr. Alfred A., 153 

Walker, Harry (the Hat), 175 

Walker, Jesse, 164 

Walker, Margaret, 175 

Walker, William A. Sr., 14, 25, 58, 

62-63 

Walker, William A., Jr., 63 

Wallace, Campbell, 56 

Wallace, Gov. George, 47, 92, 135-136 

Wal-Mart, 144 

Walton, Jacob, 111 

WAPI Radio, 109 

WAPI-TV, 109 

War of 1812, 11, 20-21 

War on Poverty, 141 

Ward, George B., 188 

Ward, Thomas C., 72 

Ward, W. C., 119 

Ware Plantation, 90 

Ware, William, 90 

Warner, R. N., 75 

Warren, Knight & Davis, 114 

Warren, William T., 96 

Warrick Road, 108 

Warrior, 24, 64, 187 

Warrior Coal Field, 13, 32 

Warrior River, 12-13, 16, 22, 27, 30, 

32, 96, 106 

Washburn, J. D., 106 

Washington, Pres. George, 24, 29, 150 

Watermark Outlet Mall, 16 

Waters Family, 142 

Waters, Newman H., 142 

Watkins, Daniel, 24, 26 

Watson, Pvt. George, 129 

Watts & Troy law firm, 46 

Watts Building, 146-147, 166 

Watts, Gov. Thomas H., 45 

WBRC-TV, 109 

Weatherford, William, 13 

Webb Building, 82 

Webb, J. B., 58 

Weeks, John W., 109 

Weissinger & Riddle Forge, 45 

Wells, H. Thomas, Jr., 81 

Wells, Mrs. Oscar, 160 

Wells, Oscar, 118, 120, 153, 160 

Welton, Amy, 88 

Welton, William Leslie, 96-97 

Welton., Maria, 88 

Wenonah, 119 

Wersterfield, Richard, 160 

Wesley, Cynthia, 137 

West End, 87, 89, 95, 123 

West End High School, 136 

West End Methodist Women’s Bible 

Class, 79 

West End Park, 163 

West End Savings Bank, 117 

West Jefferson, 187 

West Lake, 108 

West Lake Mall, 25, 108 

West Side Baptist Church, 25 

West, Thomas M., Jr., 127 

West, Thomas Mabson., Sr., 110 

Western Hills Mall, 142 

Weston, William C., 110 

Wharton, R. H. (Bob), 122 

Whatley, Fess, 150 

Wheeler, Gen. Joseph H., 98 

Wheeler, H. E., 160 

Whispering City, movie, 165 

Whitestone, Heather, 175 

Whitmire, Cecil, 145 

Whittington, Dorsey, 160 

Whitwell, Thomas, 69 

Wicks, M. J., 46 

Wieschaus, Eric F., 175 

Wiggin & McWhorter Store, 30 

Wiggins, M. E., 133 

Wigwam Village Motor Court, 123 

Wild Rose, 157 

Wilfoy’s Chicken in the Rough, 149 

Wilkins, Roy, 132 

Williams & Owen Bloomery, 20, 44 

Williams, Andre, 175 

Williams, Dr. W. Clyde, 159 

Williams, Jordan, 90 

Williams, Paul, 175 

Williams, Thomas Lightfoot, 20 

Williamson Furnace, 67 

Williamson, Capt. John A., 125 

Williamson Turn, 125 

Wills Valley Railroad, 36 

Wilson, E. O., 175 

Wilson, Gen. James H., 21, 26, 33, 44, 

51-52 

Wilson, H. F., 100 

Wilson, Jim, 143 

Wilson, Sgt. Harold E. (Speedy), 129 

Windsor Castle, 149 

Winograd, Arthur, 160 

Winslow, Gen. E. F., 34 

Winslow’s Brigade, 52 

Wiseola, 166 

WMAV Radio, 109 

Woco Pep, 165-166 

Wofford, George T., 166 

Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 

78 

Wood Family, 39 

Wood Station, 20 

Wood, Edmund, 20, 21 

Wood, John, 14, 19, 29 

Wood, Larkin, 20 

Wood, Mary, 21 

Wood, Obadiah Washington, 20-21 

Wood, Stella Tarrant, 20 

Wood, Thomas, 21 

Wood, William, 14 

Woodland Club, 151 

Woodlawn, 20, 40, 88, 95, 119, 124, 

129, 165 

Woodlawn Cemetery, 66 

Woodlawn High School, 122, 165 

Woodlawn Savings Bank, 117 

Woodlawn Theatre, 146 

Woodrow Wilson Park, 136 

Woodward Building, 82-83, 96, 118 

Woodward Iron Company, 14, 27, 44, 

67, 103, 121, 151, 163-164 

Woodward, A. H. (Rick), 163 

Woodward, Baldwin & Company, 119 

Woodward, James T., 73, 119 

Woodward, W. H., 118-119 

Woolco, 144 

Wooster, Louise, 85 

Works Progress Administration (WPA), 

12-123 

World Football League, 162 

World League of American Football, 

162 

World War I, 89, 99, 105, 109, 128 

World War II, 123, 126, 128, 150, 165 

World’s Fair in St. Louis (1904), 101 

Worth, Marion, 174-175 

Worthington Plantation House, 38 

Worthington, Benjamin P., 14, 19, 38- 

39, 56-57, 60, 84 

Worthington, Virginia Elizabeth, 57 

WSY Radio, 109 

Wylam, 56, 95 

Wylam Theatre, 146 

Wynette, Tammy, 170, 172, 175 XFL, 

football league, 162 

Y 

Yeilding Brothers Company, 93 

Yeilding, Francis Bee, 93 

Yeilding, Grant, 93 

Yeilding, Henry, 93 

Yeilding, Howard, 93 

Yeilding, Milton, 93 

Yeilding, William Jackson Lee, 93 

Yeilding’s Department Store, 93, 143 

Yerkes, S. L., 113 

YMCA, 70, 78 

Young Men’s Business Club, 133, 139 

YWCA, 78-79, 110 

Z 

Zamora Shrine Temple, 115 

Zanuck, Richard D., 165 

Zayre’s, 144 

Zion Lutheran Church, 89 

Zukor, Adolph, 145 


310

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

J AMES 

R. BENNETT 

Jim Bennett, twice elected as Alabama’s secretary of state, is a former newspaper reporter with a bent for history. 

In 2000, he wrote a definitive account of Alabama’s iron industry, Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry, 

which was selected as the best local history of the year by the Alabama Historical Association. The AHA awarded him 

the C. J. Cooley Book Award. 

He is also the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award from the Jefferson County Historical Commission and the 

Jefferson Davis Medal from the United Daughters of the Confederacy. 

During his long political career, Bennett was elected to two terms in the State House of Representatives and three 

terms in the State Senate serving in the Alabama Legislature from 1978 to 1993. 

In 1999 he was elected president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and in 2003, was appointed state 

labor commissioner, a member of the governor’s cabinet. 

The author holds degrees from Jacksonville State University, where he continues to serve as chairman of its board of 

trustees, and the University of Alabama. 

While a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald, he received national recognition in 1969 from the American Political 

Science Association for reporting of government affairs. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

311

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call 

Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com. 

Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas 

Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History 

Historic Albuquerque: An Illustrated History 

Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History 

Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History 

Historic Austin: An Illustrated History 

Historic Baldwin County: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History 

Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Charlotte: 

An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County 

Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City 

Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History 

Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History 

Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History 

Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began 

Historic Hancock County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Houston: An Illustrated History 

Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History 

Historic Kern County: 

An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County 

Historic Lafayette: 

An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish 

Historic Laredo: 

An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County 

Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Midland: An Illustrated History 

Historic Montgomery County: 

An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas 

Historic Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion County 

Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History 

Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Omaha: 

An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History 

Historic Paris and Lamar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History 

Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History 

Historic Prescott: 

An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County 

Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History 

Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land 

Historic Shreveport-Bossier: 

An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City 

Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History 

Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texas: An Illustrated History 

Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History 

Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History 

Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear: 


Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego 

Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community 

Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History 

Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle 

The New Frontier: 

A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County 

The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait 

The Spirit of Collin County 


312

LEADERSHIP SPONSORS 

CITY OF TRUSSVILLE 

CITY OF VESTAVIA HILLS 

U. S. STEEL CORPORATION 

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ISBN: 9781893619838

Historic Birmingham & Jefferson County

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