The City of Birmingham sanctioned a red light district which operated from 1905 to 1915 along 1st Avenue South, east of 20th Street. (Birmingham by the Book, pg 58) Madame Blanche Bernard offered free carriage rides from her ‘house of ill repute’ to guests’ hotels. She was among several proprietors who ran ‘classy sporting houses’. Statewide prohibition in 1915 shut these down as well as more than 100 saloons on Birmingham’s Southside.
Today’s Rotary Trail follows the stretch of tracks along 1st Avenue South linking Railroad Park to Sloss Furnaces as part of the Freshwater Land Trust’s Red Rock Trail System. And breweries once again flourish in the area.
