Piper / Coleanor

Piper, also, Coleanor. . , Piper , The town of Piper was established in 1901 a half mile northeast of here by the Little Cahaba Coal Company, named for Oliver Hazzard Perry Piper, a partner of industrialist Henry F. DeBardeleben. Two coal mines were opened in 1901 and 1903. The first was sealed in 1935 due to fire. Piper was one of the larger mining towns in the Cahaba Coal Field reaching greatest employment in 1914 with 432 miners and related workers. The Piper-Coleanor High School operated from 1931-1940. After World War II, a third mine was opened. Beginning in 1947 it was operated by the Shaw and Tutwiler Corporation. Coal was first mined in the area by N. H. Thompson and sons, W.H. and Lewis, who had moved here from Hinds County, Mississippi during the Civil War. The last coal was mined on a limited scale in the 1950s., Coleanor , The Blocton-Cahaba Coal Company was incorporated in September 1900 and soon opened a coal mine while founding the town of Coleanor. Principal stockholders included H.C. Reynolds, W.B. Reynolds, E.D. Reynolds and J.B. Wadsworth. Adjacent though separated by a deep ravine, the towns of Piper and Coleanor were connected by a railroad trestle and a swinging bridge. In 1915, 200 miners and other workers were employed at Coleanor. Both towns were occupied by the Alabama National Guard in 1934 during a strike organized by the United Mine Workers Union. The Coleanor Post Office operated from 1901 to 1942. Following World War II, the Coleanor mine was closed and nothing remains of either town that once boasted a combined population of over 2,500 people.