Birmingham Landmarks: People and Places of the Magic City

by Victoria G. Myers

Overview

Though the landscape has certainly changed, many of Birmingham's early landmarks—testaments to the steelworkers who built the city after the Civil War, as well as those who have since prospered here—remain. In Birmingham Landmarks, Alabama native Victoria Myers explores the Magic City's most prominent industrial and cultural features. Step back in time to discover Rickwood Field, one of America's oldest baseball parks, and the Carver Theater, the only venue that allowed African Americans to view first-run movies before the civil rights movement. Find out why Birmingham is known as the Pittsburgh of the South at Sloss Furnaces and learn the secrets of Vulcan, who was commissioned for the 1904 World's Fair and has become one of the state's most recognizable monuments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596297388
Publisher:	History Press, The
Publication date:	11/28/2009
Series:	Landmarks
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	1,101,502
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Victoria Myers is a freelance writer and editor from Alabama. For the past twenty years, she has been the senior editor at Progressive Farmer Magazine in Birmingham, and has written two popular columns for the magazine. She has also edited Cotton Farming Magazine and has won multiple awards, including Writer of the Year and Story of the Year for the American Agricultural Editors Association.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Introduction: Threads of the Past 9

Chapter 1 Uniquely Southern 13

Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens 14

The Samuel Ullman Museum 22

Brother James Alexander Bryan 32

Chapter 2 Coal Mines, Iron Ore and Vulcan 41

Sloss Furnaces 42

Ruffner Mountain Nature Center 50

Vulcan 57

Chapter 3 Places of Growth and Reconciliation 69

Alabama Penny Savings Bank 70

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church 76

Kelly Ingram Park 83

A.G. Gaston Motel 89

Carver Theatre 96

Chapter 4 Diversions 101

Rickwood Field 102

Southern Museum of Flight 109

Barber Motorsports Park 115

Alabama Sports Hall of Fame 119

Sources 123