Birmingham's First Mardi Gras

In Alabama we associate Mardis Gras celebrations with either our own city of Mobile, where it all began, or New Orleans, where the elements of parades, floats and throws and masked balls were created. Yet in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Birmingham tried to create a Mardis Gras tradition. You can read the details and see various photos and invitations on the wonderful BhamWiki site. 

Roaming around the Alabama Mosaic site recently, I came across two relevant newspaper articles. The first one from an 1886 newspaper describes the city's first celebration, the "German Mardis Gras". The second article, from 1959, recounts details of that first Mardis Gras in the Magic City. Two photos from the 1897 parade are included below the articles.

After the 1886 event, no more celebrations were held until 1896. Annual events lasted through 1901. The BhamWiki article notes several current annual events in Birmingham tied to the Mardis Gras season, but the grand effort is long gone.

You can find various other photos of and invitations for those early Birmingham events on  Alabama Mosaic. You can find a schedule of Mardis Gras parades in Mobile, which begin February 2, here. 

Birmingham Age 9 March 1889 

Source: Birmingham Public Library 

Birmingham News 1 February 1959

Source: Birmingham Public LIbrary 

Biddle Warren Cycle Company float in the 1897 parade; the float won second prize.

Source: Birmingham Public Library

Mardis Gras parade in Birmingham in 1897

Source: BhamWiki

Holidays Past in Alabama: A List

My effort to bring together related posts on this blog continues here.  So far I've also done "Film Actresses from Alabama Before 1960", "Medical History in Birmingham" and "Alabama Library History".

Mardi Gras Past in Alabama 

A Vintage Valentine's Day in Birmingham

Saint Patrick's Days Past

April Fool's at Auburn University in 1962

Easters Past in Alabama

Mother's Days Past in Alabama

Memorial Days Past in Alabama

Father's Days Past in Alabama

Independence Days Past in Alabama 

Veterans Days Past in Alabama 

Thanksgivings Past in Alabama

Christmas Shopping in Gadsden in 1940

Christmas Past in Alabama 

New Year's Eve in Montgomery in 1967

Saint Patrick's Days Past in Alabama

March 17 is the traditional death date of Saint Patrick and its celebration acknowledges him and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. The day is a religious one in Catholic, Lutheran and several other churches and is celebrated in many countries where the Irish have settled. The day is also a general celebration of Irish history and culture.

A few tidbits related to Saint Patrick's Day in Alabama and comments are below. And don't miss the video on YouTube of the 2006 leprechaun appearance in Crichton, a suburb of Mobile. Wikipedia has the background.

Tumble In Youth Center in Decatur decorated for a formal dance on St. Patrick's Day in 1945. The Center was sponsored by the Decatur Recreation Commission and St. John's Episcopal Church and had 236 boy and girl members at this time. 

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History 

This profile of Rick Woodward  was published in a Birmingham newspaper on March 31, 1934. Woodward was a third generation Birmingham businessman who also owned the Birmingham Barons baseball team. The caption under Woodward's photo notes that he had stepped out of his office on St. Patrick's Day and saw peach tree blossoms, the first he had noted that season. "For years he's taken note of the date for the first blossoms around Birmingham."


Source: Birmingham Public Library

Pratt City Herald 18 March 1899

The Hibernians are an Irish-Catholic fraternal organization founded in New York City in 1836. The group organized a St. Patrick's Day parade in that city every year until 1993 when an independent committee took over responsibility. Pratt City developed in the 1880's in conjunction with the Pratt Mines, which at that time were the largest in the state. The area was a magnet for immigrants of many nationalities, including the Irish.

Source: Birmingham Public Library 

New Year's Eve in Montgomery in 1967

Recently I began looking for some photos to use in one of my history of holidays in Alabama blog posts on New Year's Eve and Day. As often happens in doing research, one gets sucked down another rabbit hole but finds fascinating stuff anyway.

All of these photos were found on the Alabama Mosaic site. They are part of more than 2200 at the Alabama Department of Archives and History taken at the Laicos Club by Southern Courier photographer Jim Peppler. Published in Montgomery, the Courier covered civil rights in the South from 1965 until 1968. All 177 issues can be found here.  The photos used here are form a subset of 49 identified as taken at a New Year's celebration. 

The Laicos Club was registered as an Alabama non-profit domestic corporation in Montgomery in October 1962. I have found nothing more about it. As noted below, photos and a brief article about the band appeared in the Southern Courier issue for January 27-28, 1968. 

More information about the band and others is given below some of the photos. Material in quotes comes from the notes on individual photographs on the ADAH web site.

"Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces performing on stage at the Laicos Club...Chico Jenkins is playing the guitar on the left, Marion Sledge is singing at the microphone, and Bobby Moore is playing the saxophone in front of the drum set."

The ADAH page is here.

"Woman performing on stage with Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces...."

Some of the band members are seen playing behind two dancers. Leader of the group Bobby Moore is playing the saxophone. 

Barbara Howard Flowers on the left and another woman are looking at photographs during the Laicos Club celebration. Flowers was a staff member at the Southern Courier; the other woman was a backup dancer for the band. The photographs they are looking at were taken at a show in Selma at the National Guard Armory on Dallas Avenue.

Marion Sledge sings with the band at the show.

Guitarist Chico Jenkins plays during the show

A dancer performs during the show. The stage and band are behind her, but not visible in this photo.

Here's the Southern Courier story; a larger version of the text is below.

Born in New Orleans, tenor saxophonist Bobby Moore started the first version of his group while stationed in the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Georgia, in the early 1950's. After leaving the military, he moved to Montgomery in 1961 and put together the band seen in these photographs. They played local concerts and often provided backup for such national artists as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles when they came to town.

In late 1965 they recorded Moore's song "Searching for My Love" at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals. The song became a hit and million seller in 1966 after Checker Records in Chicago signed the group. Checker released less-successful singles through 1969, then dropped the group. 

Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces continued to play in Alabama with various personnel until Moore's death in February 2006. The group has continued under the leadership of son Larry Moore. 

Veterans Days Past in Alabama

Veterans Day has its origin in "Armistice Day" which in many countries recognizes the end of World War I. A resident of Birmingham, Raymond Weeks, led the effort in the U.S. in the early 1950's to expand Armistice Day to include veterans of all wars. President Dwight Eisenhower formally recognized the change on June 1, 1954.

Veterans Day parade in Huntsville November 1979. The location appears to be along Williams Street downtown.

Source: Huntsville Public Library 

Governor George Wallace and wife Cornelia at a Veterans Day parade in 1972

Source: Birmingham Public Library 

Veterans Day services at Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomeryin 1954

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

Message from Frank W. Boykin published in 1950. Boykin was a U.S. Representative from Alabama from 1935 until 1963.

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

Raymond Weeks [1908-1985] the "Father of Veterans Day"

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

Mardi Gras Past in Alabama

Despite New Orleans' claim to the contrary, the Catholic celebration Mardi Gras began in America in Mobile when the city was a French colony and long before statehood. French explorer d'Iberville recorded the city's first Mardi Gras in his journal in 1699. The Civil War brought Mardi Gras to a temporary end; by that time various societies with their own rituals had developed. After the war Joe Cain was instrumental in reviving the city's festival.  

Below are some photos of past Mardi Gras activities in Mobile. A video of a parade in Mobile in 1966 can be found here. Further down are some illustrations from elsewhere in the state. Many additional photos and other materials can be found on Alabama Mosaic. Mobile also has a Carnival Museum documenting the festival in the city. 

1918 postcard of a Mardi Gras parade in Mobile

Source: Alabama Mosaic

Spectators crowd a Mobile street for a 1949 parade. Note the sign on the upper left for the studio of WABB "Dial 1480" radio station

Source: Alabama Mosaic 

A float in a parade in March 1981

Source: Alabama Mosaic

Mardi Gras King & Queen and Court in Mobile in 1982

Source: Alabama Department of Archives & History Digital Collections 

Other cities have tried Mardi Gras celebrations in addition to Mobile. In its issue of February 18, 1875, the Birmingham Iron Age reprinted a long article from a Huntsville newspaper with a detailed description of that city's first carnival. 

In the late 19th century Birmingham held Mardi Gras parades and activities in various years. The first one was held in 1886; a BhamWiki article is available. That site also has a more general article on the celebration in the city.

Biddle Warren Cycle Company's float in Birmingham's Mardi Gras parade ca. 1897

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Newspaper illustration of a Mardi Gras ball in Birmingham in 1899.

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

A float in a Birmingham Mardi Gras parade in the 1890's

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections 

Ball invitation for the 1900 Birmingham Mardi Gras

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections 

Mardi Gras King and Queen and their Court in Birmingham in 1900

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Christmas Past in Alabama

What to say about Christmas? A time of both great spirituality and much commerce, the day has a fascinating history and practice both sacred and secular.

Let's take a look at a few items from Christmas past in Alabama.
Many other Christmas images from the state's past can be found on Alabama Mosaic. 

This card is postmarked December 24, 1909

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

A brochure published by the Birmingham Association of Social Workers in 1927.

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Christmas party at the Auburn University Baptist Student Union in December 1945.

Source: Auburn University Digital Library 

Christmas party at Dickert Lumber Company,  Brundidge, Alabama
December 24, 1949

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

Choir at the First National Bank in Montgomery in December 19, 1955

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

Christmas decorations at a Gulf gas station in Montgomery on December 21, 1955

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives and History Digital Collections

Choir in the lobby of the First National Bank in Montgomery on December 18, 1956

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections 

Salvation Army Christmas donation booth in Montgomery on December 2, 1962

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History Digital Collections

This article appeared in the Birmingham News on November 23, 1965. Eastwood Mall was the first enclosed mall in the Deep South and the third largest in the nation when it opened in 1960. The mall was demolished in 2006; a Wal-Mart currently occupies the property.  

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Christmas parade in Birmingham in 1972

Source: Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

Just to keep the historical record straight, our daughter Rebecca [now Becca], is between Santa and Mrs. Claus. That is indeed our son Jason [now Amos] on the far right with that knowing smirk on his face.