Drop off cakes prior to Birmingham Historical Society annual meeting on February 27th. Taste testing will follow meeting! Be sure to include a card with your name and description. More information here.
Cake Walk! February 27th after annual meeting
Tag Archives: Birmingham Historical Society
Annual Meeting featuring The Bankheads of Alabama
Everyone is welcome at the Annual Meeting of the Birmingham Historical Society on February 27th at 7:00PM at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Copies of the book, “Deep South Dynasty” published by University of Alabama Press will be available for sale and signed by Professor of History, Kari Frederickson. A popular annual cake walk follows the meeting.
Cake Walk is BACK!
This popular annual BHS event is finally back. Calling all Cakes! What’s your childhood favorite?
Is it the Southern Living all time favorite, Hummingbird Cake? 7 Layer (difficult to assemble) Caramel Cake? Maybe Lady Baltimore, Coca Cola, or even a 7-Up Bundt? We KNOW you have a favorite—so it’s time to enter this year’s Birmingham Historical Society Heritage Cake Contest!
Monday, February 27th at Birmingham Botanical Gardens Auditorium, 4PM
It’s another Cake Walk into the Past but this year, we’re featuring your favorite childhood cakes.
The rules are simple:
1. The Birmingham Historical Society annual meeting is Monday, February 27—it’s also Cake Contest Day.
2. Bake your Childhood Favorite Cake and bring it to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Auditorium by 4 p.m. February 27 for judging
3. Be sure to fill out the form (see below) and bring it along.
4. Remember, bake ANY cake that’s your official childhood favorite!!
5. We’ll serve all the scrumptious cakes after our meeting and speaker
(and announce the winners too!)
Judging Categories
—Best Overall Cake
—Most Vintage Recipe
—Most Unusual Cake
—Most Beautiful Cake
—Best Memory Statement
(Click HERE or on form below to enlarge and print)
Thank you for your support!
It’s that time of year again! As a non-profit operating entirely with volunteers, we depend upon the support of our donors and the service of our Trustees. We ask that you renew your membership and join us in the important work of documenting Birmingham’s history. Currently celebrating our 81st year, we appreciate the generous gifts of members and patrons that enables us to provide annual seminars, tours, book signings, publications, and newsletters.
Birmingham has a very rich heritage and learning from its past, shapes its future. Please refer to the long list of publications below!
If you are a Trustee, please complete this form and submit it prior to February 14th, 2023, according to the requirements of our by-laws.
If you would like to join or renew your membership, please complete this form. Thank you for your support! We appreciate your interest!
BIRMINGHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS 1977-2022
- 2022. Birmingham’s Dynamite Hill
- 2021. Birmingham: The City Beautiful, Compliments of G. Ward
- 2020. The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide (reprint of 1981 edition)
- 2019. Pretty Posies, Powerful Healing: An Herbal Primer
- 2019. Shades Creek: Flowing Through Time
- 2018. Warren H. Manning’s City Plan for Birmingham, reprint of 1919 plan
- 2016. Birmingham, 1915, reprint
- 2016. For Science and Humanity: Building Southern Research
- 2015. Bob Moody’s Birmingham: A City in Watercolor
- 2014. Mountain Brook-A Historic American Landscape
- 2013. MINUTES-Central Committee of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- 2012. The Jemison Magazine: Birmingham and Mountain Brook, 1926-1930, reprint of the magazines
- 2011. The Jemison Magazine and The Selling of Birmingham, 1910-1914, reprint of the magazines
- 2010. Digging Out of the Great Depression: Federal Programs At Work In and About the Birmingham Area
- 2009. Mountain Brook Village: Then & Now
- 2008. D.O. Whilldin: Alabama Architect
- 2007. Hand Down Unharmed: Olmsted Files on Birmingham Parks: 1910-1925
- 2006. The Olmsted Vision: Parks for Birmingham
- 2005. A Park System for Birmingham, Olmsted Brothers, 1925, Reprint.
- 2004. Art of the New South: Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1950
- 2003. A Guide to Architectural Styles Featuring Birmingham Homes
- 2001. Aspiration: Birmingham’s Historic Houses of Worship
- 2001. A Pizella Affair: Portraits of the Comer Family
- 1999. Walking Tours of Birmingham Churches Conducted from 1990-1999
- 1999. Vive Vulcan! Activities for Schools
- 1998. In Celebration of the Restoration of Alabama Power Company’s 1925 Tower
- 1998. Low Virtues: The Value of Human Scale Architecture to Birmingham Urbanism
- 1998. A Walk to Freedom-The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1956-1964
- 1997. Birmingham Bound-An Atlas of the South’s Premier Industrial Region
- 1996. Birmingham View: Through the Years in Photographs
- 1995. Birmingham’s Vulcan, reprint 1938 booklet
- 1995. Vulcan & His Times-A Tell all about Birmingham’s Most Famous Landmark
- 1994. The Birmingham Industrial Heritage District Map
- 1992. True Tales of Birmingham
- 1991. Mountain Brook Estates, reprint of a 1926 publication
- 1991. Judge Clarence Allgood: His Brother’s Keeper
- 1990. Cinderella Stories, Transformations of Historic Birmingham Buildings
- 1989. Designs on Birmingham: A Landscape History of a Southern City and its Suburbs
- 1989. Buildings Against Cities: The Struggle to Make Places
- 1988. House Detective: A Guide to Researching Birmingham Buildings
- 1986. Image of the City, by Grady Clay
- 1985. Go To Town, Birmingham: A Public Forum on a Vital City Center
- 1984. Old Birmingham-New Architecture: Student Projects for a Historic Downtown Context
- 1983. Five Points Heritage Hike and Patch
- 1982. Town Within A City: The Five Points South Neighborhood, 1880-1930
- 1981. The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide
- 1980. Birmingham Heritage Hike Guide and Patch
- 1978. The Ghost in the Sloss Furnaces
- 1978. Downtown Discovery Tour
- 1978. Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide
- 1977-1987. The Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society, 14 issues
We are MOVING! (We have MOVED!)
Please note our change of location to: 2827 Highland Avenue/Birmingham, AL 35205. At this time, the BHS business office is open ONLY for scheduled meetings and appointments, and our mailing address remains unchanged at P.O. Box 321474/Birmingham, AL 35232. When our ongoing renovations are completed, a formal opening will be announced. (UPDATE: OPEN HOUSE November 13th, 2-4PM)
We LOVE our historic Highland Avenue neighborhood!
A big thanks to all those who made this move possible including John Lauriello of Southpace Properties, architect and BHS Trustee Wayne Hester, and The Ehney Camp Foundation.
Birmingham’s Hot Weather Extremes
It is HOT today, and there is another heat alert advising people to be cautious, but it IS July. So thought we’d take a look at some of Birmingham’s weather extremes throughout its weather history.
The hottest recorded temperature in Birmingham, Alabama history was a scorching 107 degrees Fahrenheit which occurred on July 29th, 1930. But it reached:
- 106 on July 13, 1980
- 106 on July 29, 1952
- 106 on July 25, 1952 and
- 106 on July 12, 1930.
Take a look at some more Birmingham extremes HERE. A special thanks to the Hostetler brothers. They created this site using U.S. government aggregate data in response to anecdotal stories from their parents about the extremely cold weather while students at the University of Michigan.
Maybe the upper 90’s in July are not so extreme after all! Stay cool…
Research, Publishing, & Education – Address Change
Birmingham has a very rich heritage and Birmingham Historical Society has been researching and publishing educational articles about Birmingham for 80 years. Established in 1942, the Society has published an impressive list of books about its neighborhoods, its origins, its industrial history, and its civil rights history among others.
PLEASE NOTE OUR CHANGE OF MAILING ADDRESS:
P.O. Box 321474 BIRMINGHAM, AL 35232
SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS 1977-2021
- 2021. Birmingham: The City Beautiful, Compliments of G. Ward
- 2020. The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide (reprint of 1981 edition)
- 2019. Pretty Posies, Powerful Healing: An Herbal Primer
- 2019. Shades Creek: Flowing Through Time
- 2018. Warren H. Manning’s City Plan for Birmingham, reprint of 1919 plan
- 2016. Birmingham, 1915, reprint
- 2016. For Science and Humanity: Building Southern Research
- 2015. Bob Moody’s Birmingham: A City in Watercolor
- 2014. Mountain Brook-A Historic American Landscape
- 2013. MINUTES-Central Committee of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
- 2012. The Jemison Magazine: Birmingham and Mountain Brook, 1926-1930, reprint of the magazines
- 2011. The Jemison Magazine and The Selling of Birmingham, 1910-1914, reprint of the magazines
- 2010. Digging Out of the Great Depression: Federal Programs At Work In and About the Birmingham Area
- 2009. Mountain Brook Village: Then & Now
- 2008. D.O. Whilldin: Alabama Architect
- 2007. Hand Down Unharmed: Olmsted Files on Birmingham Parks: 1910-1925
- 2006. The Olmsted Vision: Parks for Birmingham
- 2005. A Park System for Birmingham, Olmsted Brothers, 1925, Reprint.
- 2004. Art of the New South: Women Artists of Birmingham, 1890-1950
- 2003. A Guide to Architectural Styles Featuring Birmingham Homes
- 2001. Aspiration: Birmingham’s Historic Houses of Worship
- 2001. A Pizella Affair: Portraits of the Comer Family
- 1999. Walking Tours of Birmingham Churches Conducted from 1990-1999
- 1999. Vive Vulcan! Activities for Schools
- 1998. In Celebration of the Restoration of Alabama Power Company’s 1925 Tower
- 1998. Low Virtues: The Value of Human Scale Architecture to Birmingham Urbanism
- 1998. A Walk to Freedom-The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, 1956-1964
- 1997. Birmingham Bound-An Atlas of the South’s Premier Industrial Region
- 1996. Birmingham View: Through the Years in Photographs
- 1995. Birmingham’s Vulcan, reprint 1938 booklet
- 1995. Vulcan & His Times-A Tell all about Birmingham’s Most Famous Landmark
- 1994. The Birmingham Industrial Heritage District Map
- 1992. True Tales of Birmingham
- 1991. Mountain Brook Estates, reprint of a 1926 publication
- 1991. Judge Clarence Allgood: His Brother’s Keeper
- 1990. Cinderella Stories, Transformations of Historic Birmingham Buildings
- 1989. Designs on Birmingham: A Landscape History of a Southern City and its Suburbs
- 1989. Buildings Against Cities: The Struggle to Make Places
- 1988. House Detective: A Guide to Researching Birmingham Buildings
- 1986. Image of the City, by Grady Clay
- 1985. Go To Town, Birmingham: A Public Forum on a Vital City Center
- 1984. Old Birmingham-New Architecture: Student Projects for a Historic Downtown Context
- 1983. Five Points Heritage Hike and Patch
- 1982. Town Within A City: The Five Points South Neighborhood, 1880-1930
- 1981. The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide
- 1980. Birmingham Heritage Hike Guide and Patch
- 1978. The Ghost in the Sloss Furnaces
- 1978. Downtown Discovery Tour
- 1978. Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide
- 1977-1987. The Journal of the Birmingham Historical Society, 14 issues
CBS 42 News Brings Attention to Brock’s Gap Concerns
An interstate exchange is causing concern to Birmingham Historical Society members because of its impact upon the historic Brock’s Gap. A major mining area and a landmark of Birmingham’s founding, the nineteenth century site is currently a unique educational resource as well as a beautiful green space and nature trail. The hope is that interstate developers will consider not only traffic concerns but also the historic value of this site in their planning. For more information, please refer to this post.
Autumn Bracey with CBS News covers the story, interviewing Hoover Councilman, John Lyda, and Birmingham Historical Society Director, Marjorie White.
Ancestral Memories preserved in Birmingham’s Oak Hill Cemetery
Oak Hill Cemetery’s tour guide and historian, Wilhelmina Thomas, is featured in a podcast/blog entitled “Love Lives in This Place/The Order of the Good Death”
Death is not frightening, according to Birmingham Historical Society Trustee Wilhelmina Thomas, who leads tours through the historic Oak Hill Cemetery. She is among a number of volunteers who dress in period costumes and portray a deceased character buried there. Ms. Thomas brings to life the stories of Birmingham’s founders, politicians, and civil rights leaders. But she particularly likes to draw attention to the black elitists who are buried there as they are often overlooked in Birmingham’s history.
“The majority of the Black people in the cemetery were business owners, pastors, and started churches,” Wilhelmina explained. “When we’re looking at the Black people buried at Oak Hill, in the late 19th century, they’d have been the elitist. They were defined by the color of their skin and by how much money they had. The Black people who are buried there were very well educated, spoke more than one language, and were trying to build a community.”
In researching and telling the stories of residents buried there, Wilhelmina Thomas has become a compassionate voice of black history, and along with other volunteers, keeps Oak Hill residents ‘alive’.
Volunteers lead walking tours on the second Saturday of every month. Learn more and get tickets on Oak Hill’s website.
BHS concerns considered for Planned Parkway that could destroy Historic Landmark
It’s rewarding when the efforts of Birmingham Historical Society trustees to preserve a first-class historical site are not only recognized, but seriously considered by city leaders and developers in urban planning. Thanks to the research and site visits of BHS Director Marjorie White, and BHS Trustee and Hoover resident Birgit Kilbeka, plans for a 4 mile parkway that could potentially destroy the landmark Brock’s Gap are now being debated. This article in The Hoover Sun by Jon Anderson highlights the importance of what is being proposed.
An earlier BHS post follows the mile long walk along the railbed. And this BHS article highlights the importance of Brock’s Gap to the City of Birmingham and why it needs to be preserved.
Thank you to Birmingham Historical Society Trustees for bringing historical sites to the attention of developers. And thank you to developers and city planners for listening and responding to these concerns!