Holiday season has begun! For the friends who have everything, give the gift of membership, discounted through December to $40! Membership includes the popular Birmingham by the Book: A Guide to the Magic City. Great gifts for out of towners, or stocking stuffers for locals. Help us continue to tell the story of our community.
Help us celebrate the publication of Birmingham Rebound: Fifty Important Books About Our City, 1994-2026 by Coke S. Matthews III.
Free and Open to the Public
Sunday, November 8th, 4-6PM
Birmingham Historical Society Headquarters
2827 Highland Avenue
In 1993, Patrick Cather published a book entitled Birmingham Bound: Opinionated and Often Irreverent Essays of the Fifty Most important Books About Alabama’s Largest City.
Coke Matthews has carefully reviewed and refreshed this list, presenting a curated selection of his 50 titles that explore the rich history of Birmingham, published by Birmingham Historical Society.
Many of the included authors will be on hand to sign these books, and 2026 members can pick up their membership copy. This list is a must have for avid readers, Birmingham historians, and anyone simply curious about Birmingham. Please join Birmingham Historical Society members and the authors who write about our city’s history on Sunday, November 8th, 4-6PM.
It was so much fun to work with UAB Public Relations @uab_pr students, Grace and Ava, who conceived and executed the Haunted Scavenger Hunt for our organization! The PRCA/PRSSA at UAB is an award winning student-led organization at the University of Alabama at Birmingham open to students of all majors interested in public relations, networking, and career development.
As members of this organization, Ava and Grace began by interviewing BHS trustees and Director Marjorie White to determine some of our objectives. They then crafted a strategic public relations campaign aimed at engaging younger members, highlighting Birmingham’s history, fundraising via a fun event, and leveraging social media to broaden its reach.
PRCA/PRSSA at UAB is an extremely active group, always looking for young professionals who wish to excel in this field! The organization conducts workshops, hosts panels and networking events, and participates in service-based learning in the community.
As a member of the PRCA/PRSSA at UAB, students will have the unique opportunity to network and share ideas with fellow peers and local public relations professionals. Education and professional development are key elements to the success of this organization.
Approximately 200 people attended the event, new members were added, books were sold, lots of family fun was had by all, and recognition was brought to our organization. Thank you Ava and Grace!
Sunday afternoon offered a perfect fall day to tour and appreciate several of Forest Park’s finest homes as a member of the Heritage Society. Although thoughtfully updated with modern conveniences, many of the original features remained or had been restored and it was easy to imagine how families lived at the turn of the century.
The histories of their prominent original owners were shared in a booklet that also included the original 1909 plat of Forest Park. The T. Felton Wimberly home was built in 1911, and the J.F. Leary residence was constructed in 1910. This very popular annual event directly supports the mission of the Birmingham Historical Society.
Established in 1942, the Birmingham Historical Society enhances the quality of life in Birmingham, Alabama, by preserving, studying, and celebrating its past while helping to shape its future. The Society celebrates Birmingham’s history through research, publishing, and education, and it engages the public to make our shared history and heritage more visible, clarify their value, and empower their stewards.
Heritage Society members are acknowledged in the annual report, AND receive an invitation to the annual Heritage Society gathering in an historic home. Heritage Society memberships are $500.
Interested in joining us? Here’s more info!
For more than 80 years, the Birmingham Historical Society has explored, documented, and shared the stories of our city—its people, neighborhoods, architecture, landscapes, and remarkable history.
Your membership helps support the Society’s research, publications, educational programs, and special events while connecting you with others who share an interest in Birmingham and its history.
Members receive:
Whether you have lived in Birmingham all your life or have only recently discovered its fascinating history, there is a place for you in the Birmingham Historical Society.
Birmingham by the Book: A Guide to the Magic City is FREE to all new members! The heavily illustrated 8 x 10 guide is divided into chapters with photos, maps, and descriptions including:
A typical page is pictured below. Quickly access places to go and things to do with a particular emphasis on the history of the sites. Locals may discover a new appreciation for their city that they only thought they knew well. Tourists will find an easy-to-follow overview divided into regions with notable sites in each region. Use this guide so that you don’t miss important architectural or historical features. And JOIN US, as we continue to document Birmingham’s history and educate the public with annual publications per the words of Marjorie White, BHS Director, below.
Interview by Birmingham Business Journal with
Marjorie White
Chairman of the Board and Director, Birmingham Historical Society
Category: Volunteer of the Year, Birmingham Business Journal 2026
Why is the nonprofit mission so critical and needed in the Birmingham community?
Nonprofits tread where others will not. Case in point: Fifty years ago, when I was first elected as an officer of the Birmingham Historical Society that I continue to serve as chairman of the board and director, the general understanding was that Birmingham had no history. (History happened before or during antebellum times and Birmingham was not even here then), and that the city had no built heritage to preserve. Over the intervening years, the Society has researched and published more than 70 books, drafted National Register of Historic Places and National Landmark nominations, conducted educational programs for adults and school groups and worked to create awareness and stewardship of the significant heritage of our post-bellum industrial city, greatly spearheading its conservation and preservation. This year, we look forward to releasing and sharing our definitive guide to Birmingham that once and for all dispels the notion that there is nothing to see or do in the Magic City.
Birmingham Historical Society is a privately funded membership organization. The Society benefits from the philanthropy of others: their donations of money, time and skills. As is true for similar groups across the United States, the Society has no full-time staff and operates with an exceptionally strong volunteer base. Many individuals have made decades long contributions.
We look forward to continuing their service, recruiting other volunteers, and to building our endowment to support future staffed positions, fulfilling our mission to research, publish. and educate our community about its history and heritage.
BUY HERE ON AMAZON.COM
or support our local vendors: Shoppe in Forest Park and Thank You Books in Crestwood
What’s Your Birmingham IQ? with Birmingham boosters Tom Cosby and Stewart Dansby
Cosby and Dansby are former public relations and marketing officers of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and leaders in our city and in the saving and conserving of its landmarks, notably Vulcan, Rickwood Field, and the Lyric
And featuring Birmingham Historical Society’s annual cake contest with this year’s theme: Cakes with a Past
“See what we did in 2025. Be part of what we do in 2026! Maybe our best publication yet, BIRMINGHAM by the BOOK–a five-year LABOR of love for those who put it together–has gone to press. It lays to rest forever that “there’s nothing much to see in Birmingham”.
Membership gets you this book. Membership also makes you a part of an organization whose members are excited about the intricacies, the turns, the truths of history. Membership fees and book sales support our general operations. The endowment fund and the publishing fund promise us a future. Keep us going however you can.”
Carol Slaughter, BHS Secretary
Look what we did in 2025. Be part of what we do in 2026!
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.
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.
Missed this event but want to join? Thank you for your support!
