Our photograph this time shows the interior of the Birmingham Arms and Cycle Company taken before 1920. The entry for this photo at the Alabama Department of Archives and History credits the Grand Rapids Show Case Company and notes, "Among the items on display are bicycles, guns, knives, watches, safety razors, and boxing gloves."
The Grand Rapids Showcase Company was founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1901 and operated under that name until a 1926 merger. The firm's factory built furniture and other equipment--such as display cases-- for different kinds of retail stores.
The BhamWiki site has an article with some history of this establishment. According to that piece, the shop was founded by C.J. Chunn, a North Carolina native who had owned a gun store in Baltimore. He opened the Birmingham store in 1887 at 1904 2nd Avenue North. By 1895 Robert Baugh was co-owner and manager. Baugh was an active golfer who laid out the city's first course; he was also involved in local baseball.
As BhamWiki notes, the store was located at various locations on 2nd and 3rd Avenues North. The final one may have been at 2017 3rd Avenue as seen in the 1920 telephone directory excerpt below between the Birmingham Apothecary and the Birmingham Artificial Limb Company. Today that block includes First Horizon Bank and Jim Reed Books.
Birmingham Arms and Cycle Company before 1920
Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History
Source: Library of Congress
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