The National Historic Landmarks Program protects our American cultural heritage by bringing attention to worthy landmarks and guiding the process to nominate them. In Birmingham, there are currently only 3 listed landmarks: 16th Street Baptist Church, Sloss Furnaces, and Bethel Baptist Church as well as the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument (which includes multiple sites).
There are over 2,600 National Landmarks in the U.S. today including buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts. To be considered, the landmark must be nationally important and contributing to an understanding of our nation’s heritage. Sloss Furnaces is a monument to our nation’s industrial heritage and was considered to have “perhaps the greatest potential of any area in the country for developing a comprehensive museum to the industry.”
While they are not on the National Parks Historic Landmarks list, there are many other historic properties worth noting in Birmingham listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bhamwiki lists them HERE.
And although the National Register of Historic Landmarks and the National Register of Historic Places are both administered by the National Park Service, the landmarks represent places of exceptional national significance.
Certainly, Sloss Furnaces is worthy of this special recognition!
Just a taste of some of Birmingham’s fine historic architecture that will also be featured in the Historical Society’s upcoming guide to Birmingham to be released in February 2026 at the annual meeting (free and open to the public). Thank you Bham Now for sharing the wonderful photography in this quick reel below.
#City Federal Building #Massey Building #John Hand Building #McAdory Building
Margot Gayle obtained almost a cult like status in New York City for her work as a preservationist, activist, journalist, newspaper columnist, tour guide, and community organizer, with a passion for Victorian cast iron architecture. Born in Kansas City in 1908, she moved frequently before heading to Atlanta, and attending Agnes Scott and Emory University. After a brief stint in social work, she soon became immersed in the political injustices of the pre civil war antebellum South which would influence her throughout her life.
She advocated against the pole tax in Georgia, was Secretary of the League of Voters in the 1930s – and was devoted to the cause of political education along with other suffragette women of that era who described Gayle as someone with remarkable public relation skills,
“who with a velvet glove, could sell a battleship to a Quaker in New York…with a soft cadence…and expressions like nifty, gosh darned, and goodness knows”
Upon moving to New York, she soon turned her attention to architectural preservation, forming a committee to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse in Greenwich Village built in 1876, going against the recommendations of NYC’s revered AIA. She noted that,
“if one forms a committee, gets a name and prints a letterhead, you have a certain power that you didn’t have just 10 minutes before…”
She is largely responsible for the preservation of the cast iron district of SOHO in New York, which was then declared a historic district by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. She was known to carry a pocket magnet to test buildings and determine if they contained cast iron, as many builders and owners tried to disguise the use of the material by mimicking the more popular stone facades of the era. It was said that Margot’s ‘good-humored fanaticism’ saved many cast iron buildings as a result.
Well into her 90s, Gayle continued advocating for causes about which she was passionate through small volunteer organizations. Her energy and commitment, her organizational and scholarly educational work, and largely self-funded projects, led to formidable connections and significant results. She died at the age of 100 in 2008 and was such a distinctive personality that NY Mayor Ed Koch called her the queen of New York. Hers is a legacy worth celebrating!
Birmingham Historical Society Director, Marjorie White, has dedicated her life to recording and preserving Birmingham’s history with over 70 publications, countless volunteer organizations, self-funded projects, and unflappable enthusiasm. I cannot end this post without mentioning her selfless passion for historic preservation which rivals that of Margot Gayle!
President and longtime Trustee and Honorary Trustee of Birmingham Historical Society, among his many other leadership roles, Sam Frazier died May 12th and was honored May 31 with a service at Grace Episcopal Church and a reception at The Club.
President and longtime Trustee and Honorary Trustee of Birmingham Historical Society, among his many other leadership roles, Sam Frazier died May 12th and was honored May 31 with a service at Grace Episcopal Church and a reception at The Club.
Sam Frazier, then a young attorney with a specialty in tax law and a passion for preservation of country estates, came to Birmingham in the early 1970s. Over the next 50 years, his corporate practice and civic service would include municipal law, public finance, real estate, counsel to four mayors, and innovative strategies for financing and preserving Birmingham’s special places and neighborhoods. Sam played key roles in both private and City and state preservation as components of a broader urban planning strategy.
Upon buying a home in Forest Park, he led the charge for researching the neighborhood’s history and nominating it for federal recognition. In 1980, Forest Park became the first Birmingham neighborhood to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places (the nation’s list of properties worthy of preservation), thereby thwarting a planned US highway that would have obliterated the neighborhood. The next year, Birmingham Historical Society joined in dedicating an historical marker to commemorate this preservation victory. Continuing to lead neighborhood revitalization over several decades, Sam served as the South Avondale-Forest Park neighborhood president and chaired its design review committee to maintain the historic fabric of its early 20th century homes. Forest Park was the first neighborhood to become a Local Historic District and institute the design review process.
Closed in 1972, Sloss Furnaces reopened following initial preservation in 1983 with Sam Frazier as president of the City of Birmingham Board and a dynamic director whom Frazier had recruited to set the vision for the open-air museum (then the only industrial site under preservation in the world). Sam was also President of Birmingham Historical Society and in 1985 recruited the Society to move to the site and move and restore an historic house there. He drafted the many contracts between Sloss, the City, and the Society and located and supervised the craftsmen to make possible our home for the next 37 years.
Also in 1985, Frazier spearheaded the renovation of the pigeon-infested and deteriorated Peter Zinszer’s Mammoth Furniture Store. Recasting cast-iron columns and capitals, the heavily corroded and sign covered storefront was restored and its interior rebuilt. Frazier’s law firm, Spain Gillion, took up residence on Second Avenue North. Participants in Society’s Downtown Discovery Tour enjoyed a special welcome in the Zinszer Building atrium. Many Society committees met in the second floor conference room. The Society’s initial Endowment policy was drafted here.
In the 1980s, the City of Birmingham instituted new commercial revitalization programs, offering rebates for façade fix-ups. In 1987, The City instituted design review to ensure appropriate treatment and protect the character and historic significance of these and other designated areas. Sam Frazier drafted the ordinance creating the City’s Design Review program and for the next 40 years served as chairman of the Design Review Committee that oversaw work in downtown and Five Points South. Both historic renovations and new construction came before the committee. Frazier’s understanding of the urban fabric, memory, and command were legendary. And he had no qualms in eloquently expressing his opinion, even to the internationally admired architect I. M. Pei who appeared with early designs for the Kirklin Clinic before the committee.
Sam continued to advocate for city and state tax incentives to equalize investment opportunities in historic properties with those that had long favored new construction. In the 1990s, he pioneered the use of façade easements (that preserve historic structures by restricting changes to the exteriors or facades of the buildings) to help provide favorable incentives to renovate large residential and commercial projects. The easements are legally binding and enforced by the agency holding the easement. Thanks to Sam, Birmingham Historical Society received 11 easements and gifts of funds to monitor the conservation of these properties in perpetuity. Funds received formed the initial corpus of the Society’s endowment.
Also in the 1990s, Sam led the five-year long Mayor’s Committee for the Preservation of Vulcan whose members were Society Trustees. With the 120,000 ton cast-iron statue disintegrating and the Mayor and business community reluctant to commit funds, the committee explored methods to fix and pay for the project. The committee brought the conservator of large statues for the National Park Service in Washington came to appraise the situation, worked with Robinson Iron (the firm that had recast the iron on the Zinszer Building who with the conservator would later lead the dismantling, conservation, and reassembly of the statute), created the framework for public-private management of the site (that became today’s Vulcan Park Foundation that operates the site for the City), and pioneered the highly successful offering of educational opportunities at the park and along the mineral railroad during the Olympic summer of 1996. When the committee disbanded, the Society continued the public relations campaign to save the City’s symbol.
Sam also provided leadership to St. Andrews Episcopal Church on Southside and to Grace Episcopal Church in Woodlawn.
While stationed with the army in England following his college years, this Southern gentleman from Decatur, Alabama, learned of the Irish Georgian Society, Ireland’s agency for promoting and protecting this nation’s heritage, historic gardens, and decorative arts. Carol McCroarty, his future wife, was working for the Society. These Irish associations nurtured his passion for preserving Birmingham heritage.
Sam loved to collect, preferably antiques of Georgian provenance. He also loved to entertain and was the consummate host at his homes in Forest Park and later at “Woodside,” his home in Belle Mina, Alabama. In his living rooms, a silver galley tray remained set with Irish crystal and Irish whiskeys, a ready welcome for family and friends. True leaders serve others, and Sam was ever ready to serve not only at home, but in his community. And he did.
~ Marjorie White, Director, Birmingham Historical Society
It’s often after the fact that the public regrets the demolition of an historic building. At this last lecture of Birmingham’s Historic Preservation Month, David Fleming discusses easements and how they can protect historic buildings.
The Alabama Historical Commission has prepared a worksheet for property owners HERE who are interested in safeguarding their private property and/or receiving appropriate tax incentives.
Generally, a building or site must possess historical, architectural, archaeological, or cultural significance to the state or its locale in order to qualify. However, if it’s contributing to an existing historic district, it may also qualify. Detailed maps HERE show historic districts in Birmingham.
The National Park Service provides more information about tax incentives HERE. But for more information or with questions for David Fleming, the lecture is at NOON at Sloss Furnace, West Room on Thursday, May 29th.
The event that sparked America’s independence from the British started with an historic ride to warn colonists. Celebrate this event exactly 250 years later with two lights in your window on APRIL 18TH! Let’s see these beacons SHINE to remind us of the price of liberty, equality, and freedom!
May is Historic Preservation Month, and Birmingham has a lot of events planned throughout the month to celebrate! Mark your calendars NOW so you won’t miss a thing!
Join a Walking Tour of Collegeville: Ground Zero for Civil Rights-Saturday, May 10th at 10:00AM
Meet at the Four Spirits Statue, Kelly Ingram Park to honor nonviolent protestors-Friday, May 23, at noon
Attend a talk on Birmingham’s Historic Preservation Program-Thursday, May 1st, at noon in City Council Chambers, 3rd Floor, City Hall
Attend a talk on Best Practices for preservation projects by Chloe Mercer, Federal Tax Credits and Alabama AdValorem Coordinator, Alabama Historical Commission-Tuesday, May 6th, at noon
Attend a talk on neighborhood preservation by Paula Stanton of Titusville Historical Marker Committee and Walladean Streeter of Bush Hills Neighborhood Association at Sloss Furnaces Visitor Center-Tuesday, May 13th, at noon
Making Iron at Sloss Furnace-Thursday, May 22nd at noon
Learn about Birmingham’s Modern Architecture by Dr. Caroline Swope, Historic Preservation Specialist, City of Decatur at Sloss Furnaces Visitor Center-Tuesday, May 20th, at noon
When is a property considered ‘historic’ and what this means for the seller and buyer by Birmingham Association of Realtors at 3501 Independence Drive, Homewood-Tuesday, May 27th, at noon
What are historic easements and what are the pros and cons by David Fleming, President and CEO of REV Birmingham at Sloss Furnaces Visitor Center-Thursday, May 29th, at noon
The highly anticipated annual event for the 2025 Heritage Society Gathering was at the residence built for Herbert Clark and Virginia Stockham in 1924 by Miller & Martin Architects. Atop Red Mountain on Argyle Road, the Tudor-styled home was called ‘Cragmoor’ in reference to the stone cottages and mists of the English Lake Country.
Herbert’s father, William Stockham, purchased the ‘Cragmoor’-lot 24 of Milner Heights-in 1919 and gave it to his oldest son Herbert Clark several years later. Herbert then immediately married Virginia Cannon, and began construction on the home (2930 Argyle Road) where he raised his children, Virginia Lee and Herbert Cannon, for the next 30 years.
A greatly-respected business industrialist, Herbert Clark Stockham proceeded to lead Stockham Pipe founded by his father in 1903 to national and international success. Herbert Clark Stockham died in 1958, and his wife Virginia in 1964, and the home was purchased by Martha & Marion Brodnax.
Improvements to the front entrance, kitchen, porch area, and garage were added in 1984 by new homeowners Virginia & Richard Scruggs, who sold it to Doug Click and Gregg MCormick in 2023, our generous hosts for this event. They recently added a pool/activity area and are landscaping the forested ridge.
Our Heritage Society Hosts: Doug Click, Gregg McCormick, and Virginia Scruggs
Party Planners; Virginia Markstein, Jay Draper, Mark Thompson
In the meantime, Herbert Clark’s father, William, had purchased another 200 acres on Red Mountain’s crest and southern slope in 1922 for $250,000, the city’s largest real estate transaction at the time. William Stockham subdivided 50 acres at the crest for his 10-acre personal residence at 2950 Argyle Road, and set aside lots for his two younger sons, Douglass and Richard. His two younger sons never built on their property and sold it in the mid-1950’s.
Herbert Clark’s son, Herbert Cannon Stockham, married Peggy Roundtree in 1954 and built a home on portions of Lot 24 adjacent to his parent’s home at 2940 Argyle Road This home remained in the Stockham family until 2021. Read the complete history here.
Happy 250th Birthday, America!! Help our nation begin the celebration on April 18th, 2025 by joining in a unique remembrance of American history. Do you recall Paul Revere’s midnight ride, famous for this line – “one if by land, two if by sea”? Or “the British are coming, the British are coming”?
The “Two Lights for Tomorrow” event celebrates America’s fight for liberty and independence based on Paul Revere’s famous ride. Read the poem below, and follow along for more information as well as upcoming events on these 3 websites.
Households: Light two candles or lanterns in your windows on the evening of April 18th, symbolizing the two lanterns hung in the church steeple. Share your participation on social media with #TwoLightsForTomorrow.
Businesses: Display two lights prominently at your establishment to foster a sense of community and historical pride. Engage customers with stories of the American Revolution, perhaps through window displays or special events.
Government Offices: Encourage the use of symbolic lighting in public buildings, alongside educational programs or public readings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride.”
Paul Revere’s Ride
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
LISTEN, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, “If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light, — One, if by land, and two, if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country folk to be up and to arm.”
Then he said, “Good night!” and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon like a prison bar, And a huge black hulk, that was magnified By its own reflection in the tide.
Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street, Wanders and watches with eager ears, Till in the silence around him he hears The muster of men at the barrack door, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, And the measured tread of the grenadiers, Marching down to their boats on the shore.
Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, To the belfry-chamber overhead, And startled the pigeons from their perch On the sombre rafters, that round him made Masses and moving shapes of shade, — By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, To the highest window in the wall, Where he paused to listen and look down A moment on the roofs of the town, And the moonlight flowing over all.
Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, In their night-encampment on the hill, Wrapped in silence so deep and still That he could hear, like a sentinel’s tread, The watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, “All is well!” A moment only he feels the spell Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread Of the lonely belfry and the dead; For suddenly all his thoughts are bent On a shadowy something far away, Where the river widens to meet the bay, — A line of black that bends and floats On the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. Now he patted his horse’s side, Now gazed at the landscape far and near, Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, And turned and tightened his saddle-girth; But mostly he watched with eager search The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, As it rose above the graves on the hill, Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight A second lamp in the belfry burns!
A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet: That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night; And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep, And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; And under the alders that skirt its edge, Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.
It was twelve by the village clock, When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. He heard the crowing of the cock, And the barking of the farmer’s dog, And felt the damp of the river fog, That rises after the sun goes down.
It was one by the village clock, When he galloped into Lexington. He saw the gilded weathercock Swim in the moonlight as he passed, And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare, As if they already stood aghast At the bloody work they would look upon.
It was two by the village clock, When he came to the bridge in Concord town. He heard the bleating of the flock, And the twitter of birds among the trees, And felt the breath of the morning breeze Blowing over the meadows brown. And one was safe and asleep in his bed Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket-ball.
You know the rest. In the books you have read, How the British Regulars fired and fled, — How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farm-yard wall, Chasing the red-coats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm, — A cry of defiance and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forevermore! For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history, to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
From The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1903
