| Alabama (Jefferson County), Bessemer — Henry W. Sweet / Sweet Home |
| | Henry Wilson Sweet (1902-1990) contributed greatly to the economic, political and civic life of Alabama, Jefferson County, and Bessemer. As Jefferson County Commissioner, he helped bring the University of Alabama Medical Center to Birmingham, signing the deed conveying land and the Hillman - Jefferson Hospital Complex to UAB. Sweet was Director of the Alabama and Georgia State Docks and a candidate for Governor in 1954. While he was Alabama Docks Director, Mobile achieved its highest ever U.S. . . . — Map (db m27024) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Bessemer — Hosea Holcombe 1780-1841 "Alabama's first church historian" |
| |
In 1840 he published his study, History of Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Alabama.
Also an evangelist and missionary.
In 1818 moved to Alabama from Carolinas, organizing five churches in vicinity.
President of Alabama Baptist Convention 1833-38, he was delegated to write church history.
Lack of cooperation led him to travel over state to get material for book.
He died at Jonesboro home in 1841. buried in Sadler Cemetery 1 mile south. — Map (db m27025) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Bessemer — Union Baptist Church And Cemetery |
| | Union Baptist Church was organized in 1834 by 18 or 20 members from Canaan Church. The Libscomb area was then known as East End. Members of the Rockett and Ware families donated the original two acreas of this site and a log cabin, which served as the church until a wooden building was built in 1888. The present edifice was erected in 1922. Many of the charter members are buried in the adjacent cemetery.
Alabama Register of Historic Places, April 11, 1984 — Map (db m24352) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — 1963 Church Bombing Victims |
| | This cemetery is the final resting place of three of the four young girls killed in the September 15, 1963 church bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley and Carol Robertson are buried here. The fourth victim, Denise McNair, is buried elsewhere.
The tragic loss of these lives led to the end of the era of massive resistance to social change in Birmingham and the release of the city from the fear which long paralyzed progress in human relations. — Map (db m25351) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Arthur D. Shores "Dean of Black Lawyers in The State of Alabama." |
| | During the first 30 years of his 54-year-old practice, Attorney Shores practiced all over the State of Alabama - from the Tennessee line to the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile Bay, and from the Mississippi borders to the Georgia limits. During the period roughly between 1940 and 1950 he was the only lone voice in the wilderness defending the civil rights of black people. Mr. Shores practiced civil rights law all over the state of Alabama during an era in which his life was in constant jeopardy. He . . . — Map (db m26720) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Belview Heights Neighborhood |
| | The Corey Land Company, a group of prominent local businessmen headed by Robert Jemison, Jr., developed Belview Heights as a neighborhood for the professional employees of U.S. Steel in the 1910's. Extending the grid system being used in Ensley over the topography of the 30 square block area, Jemison created a neighborhood of rolling streets and avenues, occasional steeply pitched lots, and captivating views. In 1915, the city of Birmingham set the architectural tone for Belview Heights when it . . . — Map (db m24351) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Brock Drugs Building |
| | The Brock building was established in 1915, located at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and 18th Street North, was built while the area was residential. The three-story building housed a hotel upstairs that catered to professional musicians and athletes. The drug store served as the "gathering place" for black patrons during the early 1920's through the early 1960's. The building was demolished in the 80's. The most notable businesses included:
1928 - 1977 Palm Leaf Hotel
. . . — Map (db m26723) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Civil Rights Freedom Riders May 14, 1961 |
| | On Mother's Day, May 14, 1961, a group of black and white CORE youth on a "Freedom Ride" from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans arrived by bus at the Birmingham Greyhound terminal. They were riding through the deep south to test a court case, "Boynton vs. Virginia", declaring segregation in bus terminals unconstitutional. Here they were met and attacked by a mob of Klansmen. The riders were severely assaulted while the police watched, yet the youth stood their grounds. — Map (db m26698) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Concord Center Time Capsule |
| | To Be Opened March 1, 2022
Dedicated at the construction completion March 1, 2002
Project Team
Owners - BLH Group, LLC
Brookmont Investors II, LLC
Spire Holdings, LLC
Developer - Brookmont Realty Group, LLC
General Contractor - B.L. Harbert International, LLC
Architect - Williams-Blackstock Architects, P.C.
Concord Center stands on the site of Birmingham's first County Courthouse, constructed in 1875. The growth of a bustling town demanded the construction of a . . . — Map (db m27010) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Disabled American Veterans |
| | (Side 1)
Disabled American Veterans Formed December 25, 1920.
Birmingham Chapter No. 4 Chartered January 25, 1926.
This Memorial Dedicated To Our Military Forces And To All Who Have Given Their Blood And Lives That The Republic Might Live Forever.
How Sleep The Brave Who Sink To Rest By All Their Country's Wishes Blest!
This Tenth Day Of November Nineteen Hundred Eighty One.
(Side 2)
United States Army
Authorized By The Continental Congress June 14, 1775
* . . . — Map (db m24347) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Donnelly House |
| | This neoclassical structure was built in 1905 for James W. Donnelly, "the father of the Birmingham Library System."
Donnelly moved to Birmingham from his native Cincinnati, Ohio after retiring from Proctor and Gamble. A much respected manufacturer, industrialist, real-estate developer and civic leader, he is best remembered for his efforts to organize, fund and develop the Birmingham Public Library System -- one of the finest in the southeast.
The Donnelly house, included in the . . . — Map (db m26740) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — East Birmingham |
| | Marker Front:
Founded in 1886 on 600 acres of land, East Birmingham was the agricultural area consisting primarily of dairy farms extending to the present Birmingham airport. The East Birmingham Land Company that developed the area was formed by local industrialist who proposed sites for manufacturing plants, employee housing , and a streetcar line linking them to Birmingham. East Birmingham was annexed to the city in 1910.
In the decades after 1886, Industrial enterprises and . . . — Map (db m26633) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — East Lake Community |
| | The Creek Indian Cession of 1814 opened this section of Alabama to settlement. At the time of statehood in 1819 many pioneer families had located here in what later became known as Jones Valley. By 1820 the area was called Ruhama Valley as a result of the religious fervor of Hosea Holcomb who preached mercy or "Ruhamah." As early as 1839 a post office named Rockville was established for the local community.
Major growth came in 1886 as a result of the promotion of the East Lake Land . . . — Map (db m26680) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — East Lake Park |
| | East Lake was planned in 1886 by the East Lake Land Company to help sell home sites to the men who came in the 1870's to work in Birmingham's steel industry. First named Lake Como, after the lake in the Italian Alps, it soon came to be called East Lake. Using water from Roebuck Springs and Village Creek this 45 acre man - made lake, within a 100 acre park, enhanced the area by providing a year round pleasure resort.
In a short time East Lake Park became a major recreational center of the . . . — Map (db m26678) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Eddie James Kendrick December 17, 1937 - October 5, 1992 |
| | Eddie James Kendrick, nicknamed "cornbread", was born the eldest of five children to Johnny and Lee Bell Kendrick in Union Springs, Alabama.
After attending Western-Olin High School in Ensley, Alabama, Eddie was persuaded by his childhood friend Paul Williams to move to Detroit, Michigan. It was there they formed a singing group called "The Primes". While in Detroit, the duo met Otis Williams of the music group "The Distants". The two groups merged forming the legendary "Temptations". . . . — Map (db m26724) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Five Points South |
| | This neighborhoods developed in the 1880s as one of Birmingham's first streetcar suburbs. It was the Town of Highlands from 1887 to 1893, when it became part of the City of Birmingham. The heart of the neighborhood was Five Points Circle, a major streetcar intersection lined with houses and small stores. In the 1920s, the Circle was transformed into one of the state's most distinctive shopping areas, known for its outstanding collection of Spanish Revival and Art Deco buildings. Nearby houses, . . . — Map (db m26965) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Forest Park |
| | A residential district extending from the crest of Red Mountain to the floor of Jones Valley with roads built along natural land contours. Birmingham real estate promoter and civic leader, Robert Jemison, Jr., began development as Mountain Terrace in 1906. New York landscape architect Samuel Parsons, Jr., conceived the park theme which the Jemison and Birmingham Realty companies extended in the 1910s and 1920s through developments originally known as Forest Park, Glenwood, Valley View, Altamont . . . — Map (db m26983) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Forrest Camp No. 1435 |
| | We salute the Confederate soldier with affection, reverence, and undying devotion to the cause for which he fought. — Map (db m12240) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Fourth Avenue Historic District. |
| | Marker front:
Prior to 1900 a "black business district" did not exist in Birmingham. In a pattern characteristic of Southern cities found during Reconstruction, black businesses developed alongside those of whites in many sections of the downtown area.
After the turn of the century, Jim Crow laws authorizing the distinct separation of "the races" and subsequent restrictions placed on black firms forced the growing black business community into an area along Third, Fourth, and Fifth . . . — Map (db m26702) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Howard College (Now Samford University) |
| | Founded in 1841 at Marion in Perry County by Alabama Baptists, Howard College was named for British prison reformer John Howard.
The liberal arts college moved to this site in 1887 and relocated to its present campus in Homewood, Alabama in 1957. It was renamed Samford University in 1965. — Map (db m26693) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Independent Presbyterian Church Founded 1915 |
| | The church was founded when the Rev. Henry M. Edmonds and many members of a Southern Presbyterian congregation withdrew from the local Presbytery. During the first seven years it met in Temple Emanu-El synagogue and held evening services in the Lyric Theater downtown. In 1922, Independent Presbyterian joined what is now the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). The congregation has focused on the use of beauty in every form as well as community service, which led to the establishment of the . . . — Map (db m27093) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Jefferson County Courthouse Site |
| | The county seat of Jefferson County was moved from Elyton to Birmingham in 1873. On this site stood the first Courthouse in the City of Birmingham. The Italianate style structure was designed by architect W. K. Ball. Completed in 1875, the two-story red brick building cost $30,500. In 1887 it was condemned as unsafe, and a new Courthouse was planned.
(Reverse):
In 1889 a second Jefferson County Courthouse was constructed on this site. Charles Wheelock and Sons of Birmingham and . . . — Map (db m27095) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Jefferson County Courthouses |
| | Side A Territorial legislature designated home of Maj. Moses Kelly (in Jones Valley) as site of first court in this area of Alabama, 1818.
After creation of Jefferson County, 1819, court held at Carrollsville (Powderly) until county seat established at Elyton, 1820.
County seat moved to Birmingham, 1873. Two story brick Courthouse completed 1875 on NE corner 3rd Ave. and 21st St., North. Replaced 1887 by elaborate three story structure which served county until 1931. Separate . . . — Map (db m25743) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Jordan Home 2834 Highland Avenue |
| | Dr. Mortimer Harvie Jordan and his wife, Florence E. Mudd, constructed their home between 1906 and 1908. After service in the Confederate army, Jordan studied medicine in Cincinnati and New York (under Alabama's famous gynecologist, Dr. J. Marion Sims). As a doctor in Jefferson County, he is especially remembered for his tireless work in the 1873 cholera epidemic. He served on the State Board of Health (1879-83), as president of the State Medical Association (1884), and as chair of materia . . . — Map (db m26743) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Julius Ellsberry |
| | In dedication to Julius Ellsberry, the first Black Alabama man to die in World War II; born Birmingham, Ala, 1922.
Enlisted in the U.S. Navy, 1940; First Class Mate [sic] Attendant aboard battleship Oklahoma in the Battle of Pearl Harbor, did sacrifice his life to save his shipmates, December 7, 1941. — Map (db m4635) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Lane Park |
| | In 1822 William Pullen, Revolutionary War veteran, acquired this land from the Federal Government for farming. In 1889 his heirs sold the land to the City of Birmingham for use as the New Southside Cemetery which operated from 1889 to 1909 with 4,767 burials. The name changed to Red Mountain Cemetery, then to Red Mountain Park and finally to Lane Park in honor of Birmingham Mayor A.O. Lane. The land was also used for the Allen Gray Fish Hatchery ( fed by Pullen Springs), a stone quarry , a . . . — Map (db m27096) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Morris Avenue Historic District / Elyton Land Company (Successor, Birmingham Realty Co.) |
| | Created 1972 by the Jefferson County Historical Commission, the district is based on this avenue. Morris Avenue was named for one of the founders of Birmingham, Josiah Morris, who paid $100,000 for 4,157 acres of the original site of the city in 1870. At the suggestion of Mr. Morris the city was named for England's industrial district. This avenue was the principal wholesale trade district of the city and enjoyed it's greatest popularity from 1880 to 1900. Some of the city's most prominent . . . — Map (db m27156) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — North Birmingham |
| | On October 1, 1886, the North Birmingham Land Company was formed to develop a planned industrial and residential town on 900 acres of land, formerly part of the Alfred Nathaniel Hawkins plantation north of Village Creek. The plan included sites for houses, parks, businesses and manufacturing plants, and a streetcar line to downtown Birmingham. The community was incorporated in 1902 with a population of 5,000, and annexed by legislative act, into the City of Birmingham, under protest, in 1910. . . . — Map (db m26700) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Oldest House In Shades Valley / Irondale Furnace Commissary Cummings - Eastis - Beaumont House |
| | The original log structure was built c. 1820 - 1830, with the board and batten addition dating to as late as the 1860s. The log cabin was at first one and one-half stories and is believed to be the oldest structure in Shades Valley. Members of the Eastis family lived here for over eighty years until it was purchased by the Edward Beaumonts in 1951.
(Continued on other side)
(Reverse):
The log house, purchased from William Cummings in 1863 by Wallace S. McElwain, owner of the . . . — Map (db m26697) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Oxmoor Iron Furnaces 1863 - 1928 |
| | First blast furnace in Jefferson County erected near this site (1863) by Red Mountain Coal and Iron Co. Destroyed (1865) by Federal troops: rebuilt (1873) and second furnace added. Successful experimental run made in Furnace No. 2 (1876) using local coke and Red Mountain iron ore: this assured future growth of coal and iron industry in Birmingham area. Owned by a succession of companies, the furnaces were acquired by U.S. Steel Corp. (1907) and later dismantled (1928). — Map (db m27280) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Powell School |
| | Birmingham's first public school was named for Colonel James R. Powell, the city's first elected Mayor. This energetic promoter also served as the first President of the Elyton Land Company (now Birmingham Realty). which founded the city in 1871. Two years later, Colonel John T. Terry led the fund raising to establish a "free school for white children." The school was "free" only of ties to a religious institution for fees were charged according to grade level. Mayor Powell donated his salary, . . . — Map (db m26675) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Rickwood Field |
| | Built by local industrialist A. H. "Rick" Woodward, this park opened on August 18, 1910. It is the oldest surviving baseball park in America. Rickwood served as the home park for both the Birmingham Barons (until 1987) and the Birmingham Black Barons (until 1963). It was also a favorite site for barnstorming Major League teams. Many greats of the game thrilled crowds here, including Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Ty Cobb, Burleigh Grimes, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Walt Dropo,and Reggie Jackson. . . . — Map (db m22526) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Roebuck Spring |
| | In 1850 George James Roebuck and his wife Ann Hawkins Roebuck built a log cabin at the mouth of Roebuck Spring. His Influence and leadership led to the area around it to be known as Roebuck. In 1900 Alabama Boys Industrial School was located adjacent to the spring, and the spring water was used for the school until city water became available. In 1910 George Miller, a leading landscape architect and industrial town planner, developed the first planned golf course and club house close to the . . . — Map (db m26688) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Roebuck Springs Historic District |
| | Roebuck Springs was the first large residential suburb in Birmingham where planning and development were tied to the automobile, and the first community in the city associated with a golf course development. The 1910 land plan was designed to complement the steep, rolling topography, reminiscent of narrow country lanes in rural England. The use of local native stones unified the diverse architectural styles - Craftsman, Tudor Revival, and Colonial Revival - and contributed to the natural, . . . — Map (db m26684) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Ruhama Baptist Church |
| | Constituted in 1819 by pioneer settlers in Territory of Alabama.
Oldest Church in Birmingham Baptist Association.
Elder Hosea Holcombe served as first pastor.
First meeting house was log cabin.
Present building is on fourth site. — Map (db m26695) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Site of the First Alabama - Auburn Football Game |
| | The first Alabama - Auburn football game was played on this site, formerly known as the Base Ball Park, on February 22, 1893. The Agricultural and Mechanical College's "Orange and Blue" met the University of Alabama's "Tuskaloosa" squad before a crowd of 5,000 cheering fans. A&M College, now Auburn University, triumphed by a score of 32-22, and still proudly displays the victory cup presented that day by a Birmingham belle.
That contest, reported as "the greatest football game ever played . . . — Map (db m23500) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Sloss Furnaces |
| | The crossing of railroads in 1872 adjacent to this site gave rise to the industrial city of Birmingham. In 1881 Alabama railroad magnate and entrepreneur James Withers Sloss, capitalizing on the unusual coincidence of coal, iron ore and limestone in the area, founded the Sloss Furnace Company as an iron manufacturer and built blast furnaces beside the railroad crossing. Production of pig iron at Sloss Furnaces began in 1882 and continued for almost 90 years. Early 20th century additions to the . . . — Map (db m23498) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — The Alabama Theatre Built 1927 |
| | Built by the Publix Theater division of Paramount Studios. This movie palace opened on December 26th, 1927. The theatre, in Spanish / Moorish design b Graven and Mayger of Chicago, seated 2500 in a five story, three-tiered auditorium. Paramount's president, Adolph Zukor, named it the "Showplace Of The South". The famous "Mighty Wurlitzer" pipe organ, with 21 sets of pipes, was played for many years by showman Stanleigh Malotte. The Alabama hosted many events including the Miss Alabama Pageant . . . — Map (db m27259) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — The Birmingham Public Library / The Linn - Henley Research Library |
| | Birminghams first library was organized in 1886 and in 1891 became a subscription library for the general public. In 1908 the Birmingham Public Library Association established a free public library, and the City created an independent Library Board in 1913. For decades the library was housed in various locations including the old City Hall where it was destroyed by fire in 1925. Libraries throughout the U. S. sent books and local citizens contributed for a new building. It opened April 11, . . . — Map (db m26677) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — The Iron Man: Vulcan |
| | The giant, cast iron statue you see towering above you is Vulcan, the Roman god of metalwork and the forge. The 56-foot tall statue was commissioned by Birmingham leaders to represent their new, growing city at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. After a smashing success at the fair, he was brought home to Birmingham. — Map (db m26297) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — The Rainbow Viaduct Dedicated to the Brave Men of the 167th Infantry who fought to Preserve Our Freedom |
| | On May 10, 1919, soon after its completion, this 21st Street Viaduct was named the Rainbow Viaduct in tribute to Alabama's famous 167th Infantry of the Rainbow Division, renowned for Bravery and Honor. The 167th was the Nation's only regiment in World War 1 referred to by its home state -- "The Alabama," made up of men from throughout Alabama, including a large number from Birmingham, this regiment had to its credit the following brave deeds, among countless others:
* Advanced farthest . . . — Map (db m26991) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Tuxedo Junction |
| | "Tuxedo Junction" was the street car crossing on the Ensley-Fairfield line at this corner in the Tuxedo Park residential area. It also refers to the fraternal dance hall operated in the 1920's and 1930s on the second floor of the adjacent building, and to the 1939 hit song "Tuxedo Junction", written by Birmingham musician-composer Erskine Hawkins, who grew up nearby and became a well known big band leader in New York City.
"Co-ome on down, forget your care,
Co-ome on . . . — Map (db m25623) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — United Confederate Veterans |
| | In Memory of the Confederate Soldiers.
In Memory of the Women of the Confederacy.
In God we trust. — Map (db m12241) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — United Confederate Veterans Camp Hardee No. 39 |
| | (front): United Confederate Veterans Camp Hardee No. 39 Camp Hardee No. 39 was organized as a camp of the United Confederate Veterans on August 7, 1891. This cemetery plot was acquired by the camp to provide a final resting place for the men whose valiant service had earned the undying gratitude of the South.
Past Camp Commander J. C. Abernathy led the committee which oversaw the erection of the monument which was dedicated on April 21, 1906.
In addition to the men buried here, . . . — Map (db m12487) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Walker Memorial Church |
| | In 1818 before Alabama, Jefferson County, Elyton or Birmingham existed, The Elyton Methodist Church was established on Center Street. It was moved to 14 Second Avenue, and in 1909, to its present site. Renamed in 1910 for Corilla Porter Walker (1824-1908), a member, and dedicated May 14, 1944. — Map (db m24348) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Wilson Chapel And Cemetery ("The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood") |
| | Wilson Chapel was built in 1916 as a memorial to James and Frances Wilson by their daughters, Rosa Wilson Eubanks and Minerva Wilson Constantine. At the time of its construction the area was developing into a community of country homes known as Roebuck Springs. Styled after the architecture of English parish churches, the chapel marks and protects the site of one of the oldest cemeteries in Alabama.
Frances Wilson's father, Audley Hamilton, was granted this land in 1818 and the cemetery . . . — Map (db m26681) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Birmingham — Wilson's Raiders Headquarters March 28-31, 1865 |
| | Gen. James H. Wilson, USA, having crossed the Tennessee River with a large force of well equipped cavalry, grouped them here at Elyton.
Their mission: to destroy Alabama's economic facilities for supporting the War.
From these headquarters he sent;
(a) cavalry unit to burn the military school, foundries and bridges at Tuscaloosa.
(b) soldiers to destroy mines and furnaces in Jefferson, Bibb and Shelby Counties.
(c) cavalry to dash south to destroy railroads and factories at Selma. — Map (db m24358) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Clay — Mount Calvary Cemetery Clay, Alabama formerly Ayers, Alabama |
| | The oldest marked grave is that of Nancy Paerson, daughter of William S. Turner who was born September 23, 1813 and died September 19, 1830. Jesse Taylor deeded land for this church and graveyard on February 15, 1856.
Listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register. — Map (db m25134) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Clay — Pioneer Massey Cemetery |
| | Samuel Massey and his brother - in - law, Duke William Glenn, first came to this Territory in February 1814 with Lt. Col Reuben Nash's Regt. South Carolina Volunteer Militia to help defeat the Creek Indians in the War of 1812. Samuel Massey returned to settle this land months before Alabama became a state on December 14, 1819. Samuel's son, William Duke Massey, married Ruth Reed, daughter of William 'Silver Billy' Reed. Born October 28, 1817, she was the first white girl born in Jefferson County. — Map (db m25088) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Clay — The Cahaba Heart River of Alabama |
| | On Cahaba Mountain to the NW, springs form a fragile stream that grows as it carves through the steep, rocky terrain of Birmingham suburbs, flowing south on the Gulf Coastal Plain to the Alabama River, at the site of Alabama's first capital, Cahawba. The Cahaba has sustained human life at least 10,000 years and remains a major drinking water source. It is known nationally for biological diversity and beauty and, at 191 miles, is Alabama's longest free flowing river. It nurtures 69 rare, . . . — Map (db m25110) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Clay — Wear Cemetery |
| | Established about 1850, Wear Cemetery is located off Old Springville Road to the northeast at Countryside Circle. In the 1800's the Wear family was among the first settlers of the community later known as Clay. Twenty-three remaining graves were identified and documented in 2008. The earliest known burial is that of Samuel Wear (1766-1852), an American Revolutionary War soldier who fought the British in the Battle of King's Mountain at 14 years of age. Other military veterans buried here . . . — Map (db m25113) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Edgewood |
| | Nathan Byars, II settled here in 1836, followed by William D. Satterwhite in 1853, and Phillip Thomas Griffin and his wife Mary Ann Byars Griffin in 1854. These early settlers cleared land, built homes and farmed in what was a vast wooded wilderness.
By 1909 real estate developers Stephen Smith and Troupe Brazelton incorporated the Edgewood Highlands Land Company and purchased 1700 acres on which to build their dream. The development would include Edgewood Country Club, also known as the . . . — Map (db m26946) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Edgewood Lake (Drained 1940's) Birmingham Motor & Country Club / Edgewood Country Club (Demolished 1930's) |
| | The developers of the Town of Edgewood, Stephen Smith and Troupe Brazelton, built the beautiful 117.4 acre lake and clubhouse in 1913-15. Amenities included a swimming pool, dance pavilion, fishing, boating and parking for hundreds of automobiles.
Similar to golf or tennis clubs, this was instead a driving club since the ownership of an automobile was the latest rage. A great race track, designed after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was begun and graded but never completed. It's north and . . . — Map (db m26963) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Hallman Hill |
| | In the early 1900's, among the many craftsmen who migrated south to build the booming industrial cities was Swedish brick mason A. G. Hallman. Hallman moved from the Lake Michigan area and purchased an acre of farmland along the north side of Oxmoor Road between Park Avenue (now 18th Street) and Center Avenue (now 19th Street). Hallman's brothers began to buy land around his, and before long residents began referring to the area as Hallman's Hill. — Map (db m26986) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Hollywood / Hollywood Town Hall / Hollywood Country Club |
| | Clyde Nelson, born in Columbiana, Alabama, was only 26 when he began development of the Town of Hollywood in 1926. With a sales force of 75 and the slogan "Out of the smoke zone, into the ozone" his beautiful community soon took shape. Homes were usually designed by local architect George P. Turner in Spanish Mission style as was the rage in Hollywood, California. Many were also of the English Tudor design.
Besides homes, Nelson built the magnificent Hollywood Country Club (burned 1984) on . . . — Map (db m27091) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Rosedale |
| | Benjamin F. Roden formed the Clifton Land Company in 1886 to develop this area. The development was reorganized in 1889 as the South Birmingham Land Company.
Theodore Smith, nurseryman and florist, moved here from Bedford, New York in the 1880's and developed the area as his home and business. Smith named the property Rosedale Park.
Smith sold residential lots to his workers and others he recruited to the area, the best known of which was Damon Lee from Eufaula, Alabama. Lee would . . . — Map (db m24344) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Union Hill Cemetery |
| | Union Hill Cemetery is the burial grounds of many pioneers and early settlers of the Shades Valley area. It was established in the 1870s. but includes gravestones dating back to the early 1850s due to the relocation of two earlier, smaller cemeteries to Union Hill - the Daniel Watkins Cemetery in 1946 and the Enoch Anderson Watkins Cemetery in 2004. Union Hill Cemetery is also the final resting place of many veterans who served in the Civil War, Spanish - American War, WWI, WWII, and the Korean . . . — Map (db m26293) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Homewood — Union Hill Cemetery, Union Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, Union Hill School |
| | This cemetery is the final resting place of many of Shades Valley's pioneer residents. A few of the earliest headstones date from the mid-1850s. Descendants of these settlers helped mold the cities of Mountain Brook and Homewood. Located on property to the east of the cemetery was the Union Hill Methodist Episcopal Church building which was completed in 1874 on property donated by Pleasant H. Watkins. This church was founded in 1867 near the Irondale Furnace and moved to Union Hill in 1873. . . . — Map (db m26294) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Hoover — Brocks Gap / Historic Gateway To Birmingham The South and North Railroad Cut. |
| | In 1858, the State of Alabama, wanting to develop coal and iron industries in Jefferson County, Had John T. Milner survey Shades Mountain for the most practical route for the South and North Railroad to cross. He selected Brock's Gap, named for original land purchaser, Pinkney L. Brock. Work began immediately. The cut, now passing under South Shades Crest Road, was blasted by nitroglycerin through a bed of limestone 75 feet deep and was heralded as the deepest railroad cut in the world. Delayed . . . — Map (db m26773) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Leeds — John Henry Ledgendary 'Steel Drivin' Man' |
| | The story of "steel driving' man" John Henry is one of America's most enduring legends. The strong ex-slave became a folk hero during construction of the Columbus & Western Railroad between Goodwater and Birmingham. He drilled holes for explosives used to blast tunnels. According to legend, he was involved in a race against a steam-powered drill that its manufacturer claimed could do the job faster than a man. Witnesses said after the all-day contest that he and his heavy hammer cleared . . . — Map (db m22207) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Leeds — Jonathan Bass House Museum Circa 1863 |
| | Jonathan Bass was born January 30, 1837, in Jefferson County. His father arrived in Jefferson County in 1816, and Jonathan was a life-long resident. Although the Bass House was under construction as early as 1863, Jonathan left the farm to join the Confederate Army in 1861. He finished the front two rooms when he returned from the war. Ruteria Watson married Jonathan on December 6, 1865. They built their home and left their descendants an uncommon example of architecture with unusual decorative . . . — Map (db m24697) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Leeds — Rowan House |
| | Thomas Rowan, son of Irish immigrants who settled in St. Clair County, Alabama, purchased his first 130 acres at auction and built a house here by c. 1854 that probably forms the core of the two northeast rooms. Heir John Thomas Rowan and his wife, Ada Scott Rowan, enlarged the house to its present turn-of-the-century farmhouse form about 1904. The Rowans were prominent farmers and landowners in the Cahaba Valley for three generations, at one time owning much of the land on this section of the . . . — Map (db m24716) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Leeds — The Depot |
| | The Depot was built by Richmond & Danville Extension Co. in 1883-84 following the completion of the Georgia & Pacific RR line between Birmingham and Atlanta, three years before the Town of Leeds was incorporated.
Richmond Terminal Co. operated Georgia - Pacific lines until 1888 when Richmond & Danville RR took over, succeeded by Southern Railway in 1894. Efforts to save the historic building were started in 1980 after Southern merged with Norfolk to become Norfolk-Southern RR. The . . . — Map (db m22209) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Mountain Brook — First Tuberculosis Sanatorium |
| | 1,000 feet East a small group of tents erected May, 1910 by the
Anti Tuberculosis Association of Jefferson County
constituted the first effort to aid victims of tuberculosis in North Alabama. — Map (db m26964) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Mountain Brook — Mountain Brook |
| | In 1821 the first settlers came to this area, later called Waddell. Large numbers of people first migrated here in 1863 with the construction of the Irondale Furnace. Destroyed in the Civil War, the furnace was rebuilt and operated from 1867 to 1873. The first school was established in 1857 and the first church in 1867. The area later became known for its many dairies. In 1926 Robert Jemison, Jr. began development of modern day Mountain Brook, which became one of the most beautiful residential . . . — Map (db m26769) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Mountain Brook — Wallace S. McElwain / Irondale Furnace Ruins |
| | Wallace S. McElwain (1832-1888)McElwain trained in a gun factory in New York and in a foundry in Ohio before moving to Holly Springs, MS, where he operated Jones, McElwain and Company Iron Foundry. He was well known in the Southeast for his beautiful cast iron designs, which still adorn many buildings in the French Quarter in New Orleans. After the Civil War began, he received the first order for the production of rifles and cannons from the Confederacy. He moved his operations to Jefferson . . . — Map (db m26266) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Pinson — Jefferson Warriors |
| | In honor of the men from Mt. Pinson who formed the "Jefferson Warriors" in mid-July, 1861. Marching to Huntsville, they were mustered into the Confederate army on August 12th as Company C of the Nineteenth Alabama Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Joseph Wheeler. Engaged in momentous battles at Shiloh, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Nashville, and Bentonville, N.C., the 19th suffered such losses that only 76 members of the Regiment were present at the surrender in April, 1865. — Map (db m26988) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Trussville — Cahaba Project "Slagheap Village" A government project under President Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| | A total of 243 houses and 44 duplex units were constructed from 1936 - 1938 at an overall cost of $2,661,981.26. Cahaba residents rented from the government until 1947, when the houses and duplexes were sold to individuals at prices ranging from $4,400 to $9,000 each. — Map (db m26227) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Trussville — Confederate Storehouse Burned By Federal Troops April 20, 1865 |
| | On this site stood the stone warehouse of Captain Thomas Truss and Marcus Worthington. Stored here were meats, grains and clothing collected by the Confederate government as a war tax. Disabled C.S.A. veteran Felix M. Wood was receiver of the tax at Trussville. The building was burned by a detachment of Wilson's Raiders under the command of John T. Croxton, Brigadier General U.S. Volunteers. — Map (db m25819) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Trussville — Trussville |
| | The Town of Trussville was named for the Truss Family who emigrated from North Carolina in the early 1820's.
Trussville was incorporated in 1947.
The present City Hall was constructed in 1959 on land patented in 1821 by Warren Truss. — Map (db m26225) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Trussville — Trussville Furnace 1889-1919 |
| | Operated on this site under the ownership of seven companies to produce foundry pig iron. Supplied pig iron during World War 1. Closed for the last time in the Spring of 1919. Dismantled in 1933, and the land sold in 1935 for a Federal Housing Project. — Map (db m26229) |
| Alabama (Jefferson County), Vestavia Hills — A History Of Vestavia Hills |
| | In 1924, George Ward, a former mayor of Birmingham, 1905-1909, 1913-1914, visited the City of Rome, Italy. He was so intrigued by the unique beauty of the Temple of the Vestal Virgins on a Roman hilltop that he vowed to build a replica of it on a chosen site near Birmingham. The site he selected was on a beautiful crest of Shades Mountain approximately two miles east of here. The temple was completed in 1925.
In Roman mythology, Vesta was the goddess of fire and of the family hearth, she . . . — Map (db m25352) |
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