What's Coming to the Blog in 2026?

 Since 2015 I have started each year with a post outlining some of the pieces I'd like to write in the coming months. These posts have become a history of futility on this blog. I list some topics I'd like to cover, and over the year I might get one or two of them done. So many topics, so little time, so many new topics popping up all the time. If you have the inclination, you can read all about it: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.  

This past year I did manage a post on a 1987 brochure of Birmingham's Five Points South area; I had been planning that one for some time. I also posted one about the Paul Bryant Museum in Tuscaloosa which my son Amos and I visited in January 2023. Among the other posts for the year were the usual pieces on Alabama-related photos, maps, postcards, movies and bookstores. Only 38 items were posted in 2025, the fewest ever, no doubt due to the move we made from Pelham to Saint Johns, Florida in May and June. 

So what might be coming in 2026? No doubt more of those photos, postcards and such. I also hope to finally get around to part 2 of "Alabama on the Hollywood Walk of Fame". I only managed the first half of the alphabet in part 1. I've already started work on "Tallulah, Gary, Cary & the Devil" about Bankhead's 1932 film Devil and the Deep. Her co-stars include Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, and Charles Laughton in his first film. There's lots of excitement involving Tallulah's gowns and a submarine voyage.

I thought about doing an inventory from all these "What's Coming" posts of ideas I listed but have yet to write about. That thought quickly gave me a headache. Well, I guess I'll be back in January 2026 to see how all this speculation for 2025 turned out.

Stewart Post Office Closes in 1982

Since the United States Post Office Department was established in 1792, numerous post offices have opened and closed around the country. The current Postal Service maintains a state-by-state listing of open and closed facilities, but even there many discontinued offices are not listed. 

One post office that has come and gone in Alabama was in Stewart in Hale County. Below you can see the sign from my collection posted there ahead of its closing. Stewart was founded in 1844 as a stop on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad. Akron is also located on that railway. 

According to Virginia Foscue's Place Names in Alabama [1989] the community was first called Stewart's Station, in honor of an early settler of the area, Charlie Stewart. A post office operated under the name Stewart's Station from 1871 to 1903, and under the name Stewart from 1903 to 1982. That's a pretty long run for a small town post office, 1871 until 1982.

Also below I've included a list of the Stewart postmasters--or "officers-in-charge" as some are labelled-- from 1951-1981. Only two are male. Then there's a photo of Stewart in 1961, taken by our own William Christenberry. Finally, I've added a clip from a 1930 state road map showing Stewart and Akron. I checked the most recent official Alabama highway map and did not find Stewart. 

Stewart Postmasters 1951-1981

Source: U.S. Postal Service

Stewart in 1961

Photo by Alabama native William Christenberry

Source: High Museum of Art

A 1930 state highway map shows Stewart and Akron on the railroad line. Wedgeworth had its own post office 1895-1955. 

Source: University of Alabama historical maps collection

Ada, Lovell, Una & Professor Smith

Let's take a journey through some newspaper palmistry ads, shall we? 

The advertisements below are all the relevant ones I've spotted going through old Gadsden Times saved by my grandmother Rosa Mae Wright. She did not keep  entire papers, usually just the four-page spread that included the front page. What she kept dates mostly from the late 1930s until 1945; World War II, in other words.  More ads may have appeared on pages I haven't seen. 

I found a total of 14 different palmist advertisements. Madam Una outpaced the rest with seven. Madam Ada had three, Madame Lovell two with Professor Smith and Madam Smith one each. With one exception each ad uses the same image of a female figure in front of an open hand; some also feature the moon and a star. 

My grandmother also saved some newspapers from the 1950s and 1960s that featured significant events such as John Glenn's earth orbits and the JFK assassination. I found one outlier palmist ad in a 1954 paper; see the final entry below.

As the Wikipedia article linked above notes, palm reading is a practice found in variations all over the world and going back to ancient times. It was certainly available in the Gadsden area in these years. I looked at the 1939 Alabama state laws volume available at the Internet Archive and could find nothing on palm reading, palmistry, fortune telling, etc. Perhaps these activities were unregulated or subject to city or county laws.

Further comments are below the ads. 

Gadsden Times 27 Feb 1940

Madam Una sets the pace with various claims to be echoed by the others. She will tell the past, present and future; to whom and when you will marry. "She has helped thousands in all walks of life." Like most of these palmists, she kept long hours, 9 in the morning until 8 in the evening seven days a week. Ada includes her address, which Google Maps shows us does not exist today; the area is a vacant lot. 

According to state records, as of 1968 a Ratliff Sheet Metal Works had been in business for 57 years. Two of the incorporators were listed as James F. Ratliff, presumably father and son. The latter, a Gadsden resident, listed his occupation in the 1950 U.S. Census as "sheet metal mechanic." But I digress.... 

Madam Ada also declares, "Waiting Room for Colored." 

Gadsden Times 17 April 1940

Now we come to the pair of ads for Madame Lovell, identical and run in the same month in 1940. She is the only one who claims to be both a palmist AND clairvoyant. She charged 50 cents a sitting, double the cost of a movie ticket at the time. "I advise you on love, courtship, marriage, divorce and transactions of all kinds." She could settle lovers' quarrels and family troubles. She was also open seven days a week, from 9am until 8:30 pm. 

Her practice was "permanently located" at 1330 Forrest Avenue in Gadsden, and she offered waiting rooms "for white and colored." That address according to an April 2024 photo on Google Maps, is an empty lot but shows remains of what may have been part of the sidewalk to the house.

She is the only one using an "e" on Madam. 

The ads above and below from the Gadsden Times 21 April 1940

Madam Ada ads appeared in April, May and June 1940. "I Am Different From All Others", she declares. She "Gives Facts--Gets Results". "Reads entire life...she can help you" "If you are having bad luck or trouble." Ada was apparently a morning slacker; she doesn't get started until 10 am, but she does go until 9 pm seven days a week. "Everyone welcome." 

Her readings also cost 50 cents, and she was located at 214 South 5th Street in Gadsden. A Google Maps photo from August 2024 for that address shows a row of three small buildings with 214 in the middle. 

Gadsden Times 26 May 1940

This ad notes she is "Licensed by City, State, County". 

Gadsden Times 2 June 1940

Here Madam Ada's text differs significantly from the other two ads. 

Gadsden Times 14 Dec 1941

The text here differs from the February 1940 one. "Don't be mislead [SIC]! This is the same Madam Una you all know." Does this imply she has competition in the area? She has extended her hours, changed location to a "tent and trailer" and says nothing about waiting rooms. 

Gadsden Times 16 June 1942

This ad is the only one I found for a male palmist. He gives location, but no hours or cost. 

Gadsden Times 11 February 1943

Here Madam Una tells us which bus route to take. 

Both of these ads appeared in the Gadsden Times 6 February 1945

Two years later Madam Una is still going. 

Madam Smith notes "Not to be classed with Gypsies. World's Star American Palmist and Life Reader. After noting her skills, she adds "She is the seventh daughter born with a double veil." Smith also charges 50s, reads seven days a week and operated from Thompson's Trailer Camp. "Look for sign." She had long daily hours and "All welcome. White and colored."

Being a seventh daughter, presumably of a second daughter, is a folklore belief granting that woman--or man--with psychic powers such as seeing the future.

 

Gadsden Times 24 April 1945

The Una ad above and the two below are all alike and similar to ones used earlier. 

Gadsden Times 1 May 1945

Gadsden Times 8 May 1945

Gadsden Times 5 May 1954

Madam Davis' ad was tucked between ones for a bait shop and a drive-in theatre. All of the other ads above were located pretty much by themselves on the page. The ad directs "See sign on Trailer at Glencoe", which is a small town near Gadsden. The illustration for her ad is also different from all the others in the 1940s, and the only one in which the phrase "palm reading" appears.   

Alabama Tourism Promotion in 1940

Earlier this year I wrote an item about Alabama's only welcome center not located on an Interstate highway. In this post I'm continuing that tourism theme with these two brief items found in the old Gadsden Times newspaper issues I'm reading. 

The articles describe an effort by the state Chamber of Commerce to persuade tourists bound north from Florida to enjoy some of Alabama's beauty and recreational opportunities. Members of the Chamber, armed with "thousands" of  maps and promotional booklets, were driven south by state patrolmen. Also noted is a similar foray into the Midwest in the fall of 1939. The state had contracted with the Chamber to conduct these advertising efforts and others. 

At the time the state had no tourism bureau. In October 1951 the legislature created the Bureau of Publicity and Information. That became the Bureau of Tourism and Travel in May 1984 and finally the Alabama Tourism Department in 2010.

 

Gadsden Times 26 February 1940

Gadsden Times 27 February 1940

Gadsden Times 12 April 1940

Here the state chamber of commerce reports on tourism increases; perhaps those trips helped!

Doctor Kills His Wife in Bessemer in 1943--or Did He?

I'm still making my way through the World War II issues of the Gadsden Times saved by paternal grandmother Rosa Mae Wright. Here's another recently found item; I've piled up a number of others and have many more issues to examine. You are in for some real treats.

This item describes the violent death of a Mrs. Laura Ball Blue at her home in Bessemer on May 23, 1943. She was almost decapitated by a "heavy charge" from a shotgun, which was found in another room. As the first article notes, her husband J. Howard Blue was about to be charged with first degree murder. 

Shortly after 9:30 the previous night the coroner received a call from the husband, a physician, and when he arrived at the house found Mrs. Blue's body  and an incoherent Dr. Blue. His wife had apparently just come into the house from the garage; car keys were still in her hand. Both of their sons were away from home at the time.

Blue was a "widely known Bessemer physician" who specialized in eye, ear, nose and throat disorders. He was freed on bond after a July 7 preliminary hearing, but finally indicted for first degree murder by a grand jury on August 6 and returned to jail without bond. 

The December 25, 1943, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association picks up the story:

"Physician Sentenced on Murder Charge.—  Dr. James Howard Blue, Bessemer, was found guilty by a jury of murder in the second degree and sentenced to fifty years' imprisonment, newspapers reported November 17. Attorneys for the defense announced that motion for a new trial would be filed. At the physician's first trial last September a mistrial was declared. Dr. Blue was charged with the shooting of his wife, May 23."

I've yet to determine exactly what happened after this trial, but I've picked up the story of Dr. Blue in the early 1950s. He is listed in the 1951 Bessemer city directory under "Physicians and Surgeons" with an office at 1828 3rd Avenue, phone R207. According to Google Maps that address is in the same block as the Bright Star Restaurant. By publication of the 1953 Bessemer city directory, we find this entry: "Denzil R. Blue--ear, eye, nose & throat specialist, wife Lola M. Office at 1828 3rd Avenue, home in Lakewood Estates".

Denzil was apparently a nephew of James Howard Blue; the Blue family seems to have had several physicians. James Howard had died on March 10, 1953, and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham. Poor Laura Blue was also buried in Elmwood. Her husband remarried in 1950 to Vera Tucker; he was her third husband. She, too, is resting in Elmwood. 

As the second article notes, Blue contended that first wife Laura killed herself. 

UPDATE 27 SEPTEMBER 1925

I've found another article from the Gadsden Times dated 17 September 1943 that has some interesting new information. See below. 

UPDATE 18 October 1925

I added yet another article from the Gadsden Times 15 September 1943. A witness, another physician, testified to a 10 year-old threat by Dr. Blue to kill his wife. 

That "Manasco Hits Communists" is a line inserted there in error. 

Gadsden Times 15 September 1943

A 1940 Socialist Union Party Flyer in Gadsden

As brother Richard and I cleaned out Mom and Dad's house in Huntsville during 2023 and 2024, we found lots of interesting family memorabilia and a few really unexpected items. This flyer falls into the latter category.

We found it in material Dad brought from Gadsden after his mother Rosa Mae Wright died in 1993. My grandfather Amos J. Wright, Sr., worked for the L&N Railroad there for many years, most of them as a yard foreman. One of his duties included checking boxcars to make sure they were completely empty. Perhaps he found it in one of those. If so, why he kept it is a mystery. Perhaps it came into their family papers some other way.

The Socialist Union Party was one of several small groups spun out of the Socialist Labor Party in the 1930s. These organizations were known as De Leonist after Daniel De Leon, an early leader in the SLP, which was the first socialist political party in America and founded in 1876. In the mid-1930s Abraham Ziegler was expelled from the SLP and joined another De Leonist group that soon faded. Then he and a few others started the SUP in 1939; it lasted until 1941. 

This anti-conscription flyer is dated August 1940. An address is given for the Socialist Union Party, 140 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn. As far as I could determine from Google Maps, the building still exists, located between Luna's Tire Shop and a Papa John's Pizza. According to the Wikipedia article on "Conscription in the United States", support for compulsory military service for young men was building in the country in the summer of 1940 as the war in Europe heated up.

Given the Scottsboro Boys trials and labor organization/unrest history in the state, the American Communist Party was very active in Alabama in the 1930s and beyond. For detailed information see Robin D. Kelley's Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists during the Great Depression [2015] and Mary Stanton’s book Red, Black, White: The Alabama Communist Party, 1930–1950 [2020]. I would imagine other political groups beyond Republicans and Democrats were also present in the state to one degree or another. This flyer would seem to be evidence about one little known socialist group at least.  

A Pelham Map from 1989

                          

We live in Pelham, so naturally I've done quite a few pieces over the years about the city and its history. Several have featured maps older than this one, which is similar to a 1985 Hoover map I wrote about in September 2024.  I have a third one of Shelby County, and I may post about it one day.

Pelham was incorporated on July 10, 1964, although the town dates back to 1820 when it was known as Shelbyville and the seat of Shelby County. That status only lasted until 1826, when Columbiana replaced it. The Shelbyville name remained until soon after the Civil War when a change honored Confederate cavalry officer Major John Pelham. For a bit more of history, see my post on Pelham in the 1880s. 

Thus this 1989 map commemorates the 25th anniversary of incorporation. We moved to town in 1985, and I've discussed some of these places in that linked post. Let's see how many of these businesses and  landmarks are still around or that I remember. 

The map features several government buildings that haven't changed, such as the post office, city hall [which has had extensive interior upgrades] and fire station #2. Highway US 31 had already been renamed Pelham Parkway. Other entities still operating include Oak Mountain State Park, Pelham Cemetery, the main City Park and Pelham High School. Businesses like Cracker Barrel, Southern Heritage, Alabama Power, Goodyear Tire Center and Blue Water Park haven't changed much either.

Some places have different uses today. The Bradford Center is now a part of Shelby County Schools, the Linda Nolen Learning Center. K-Mart became Old Time Pottery. Valley Elementary School, which both our kids attended, is now the Campus 124 retail and city park complex. First Baptist Church built a huge new facility, and Skate Time became the church's annex. The Food World Plaza is no more; it's now the Pelham Place Shopping Center. Mi Pueblo Supermarket replaced Food World, where our son worked during high school. China One, later Cafe, was an Asian restaurant we frequented in the early years of our days in Pelham. The business eventually closed and has been replaced by Wok On In. 

Some things on this map are simply gone. Fran's Restaurant, opened in 1962, closed in September 2013. The small retail strip where it and the Pelham Barbershop were located is now an empty lot. The Methodist Church, the first religious group in the city, occupied that corner from 1898 until October 2006, when it moved to Shelby County 11. The sanctuary, built in the 1940s was demolished; the new Family Life building remains. Demolition of Oak Mountain Amphitheater is expected later this year. 

Well, all things must change, more or less. Take a look at how empty Helena Road is up to the high school and think about all the businesses, etc. located there now.

The last two images are excerpts giving most of the locations in a hopefully more readable size. I've written a blog post about Pelham as we knew it in 1985. A good source for Pelham history is Pelham Memories: A Pictorial History by Bobby Joe and Diane Seales [2008]. 

Town Square Graphics, Inc, the Georgia company responsible for designing this map was formed in 1988 and dissolved in 2010. 

Birmingham Postcard: Electrik Maid Bake Shop & Restaurant

I recently added this postcard to my collection and decided to find out what I could on the business, "The South's Finest Retail Bakery & Restaurant". I didn't uncover much, but here we are.

A business named the Electric Maid Bake Shop filed incorporation papers with the state on November 15, 1929. The Bizapedia site where I found that information did not include an address, but gave the names of three incorporators: Bessie Helms Clark, Ralph Clark and S.J. Redmon. Via Ancestry.com I found these individuals, all living in Andalusia in Covington County. Bessie [1897-1995] was married to Ralph, an attorney who died in 1963. In the 1910 U.S. Census S.J. Redmon was listed as a carpenter. Huh. 

Well, that strangely named shop may have operated in Andalusia, not Birmingham. Let's move on.

The BhamWiki site has a massive listing for the occupants over time of addresses along 20 Street South in the Magic City. Lo and behold, at the address 1014 20th Street, we find the Electrik Maid Bake Shop operating from 1941 until 1953. The last image below is taken from the 1945 Birmingham Yellow Pages and shows the bakery, designated "No. 1", phone 7-5871. That spot on 20th is now occupied by the Homewood Suites Five Points South. Other business once located on the site include Piggly Wiggly, Winn-Dixie, and the Five Points Music Hall. 

I next found the business later in the 1950s at the Alabama Company Directory site. That listing describes a Jefferson County incorporation on April 25, 1956, for the Electrik Maid Bake Shop. Three individuals were listed, and I located some information about them via Ancestry. William S. Levey was 25 years old in the 1950 U.S. Census, living in Mountain Brook and his occupation given was partner in a retail bakery. He died in 1996 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. All I found on Mary Joe Rice were dates, born in 1924 and died in 1972. Ralph Bryant Tate was a 38-year old attorney in 1950, living in Birmingham. He died in 1999 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. 

According to the Directory, the business was dissolved on February 12, 1957, less than a year later. Perhaps the partners had a falling out. At any rate, as we can see on the card, the bakery AND restaurant operated in the Shephard-Sloss building at 2011 Highland Avenue when the card was issued. Bhamiki's entry for Highland Avenue tells us the business was located there from 1946-1964. The address has also been the location for an antique shop and several bars over the years.

I suppose we can conclude the Electrik Maid Bakery etc [what a strange name!] was open  until at least 1964. Further research into old telephone directories, city directories, etc, would probably turn up more details. 

As we learn from the back, this "Natural Color Post Card" was manufactured by the E.C. Kropp Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which was active from 1907 until 1956. Thus the card is perhaps early or mid-1950s. We are also informed that the Electrik Maid "offers the public the finest in Home Cooked Meals and Baked Delicacies" and is "Recommended by the American Automobile Association." 

You can actually visit the Electrik Maid Bake Shop today, but you'll have to go to Biloxi, Mississippi. That so-named business has operated there for over 100 years. The use of "Electric" or "Electrik" Maid has popped up in other areas of the country as well.

Isn't historical research fun?

More comments below some of the images. 

This photo is from Google Maps and taken May 2024. The door in the center and window to the left in the building now at 2007 Highland Avenue would seem to match the postcard view. 

Birmingham Yellow Pages 1945

 

A 1985 Map of Hoover

I've written a number of pieces on this blog about various Alabama maps; one of these days I may put together a post that's a list of those posts. At any rate, here we are again.

Son Amos and I were recently going through some of the endless stuff around our house and came across this map of Hoover. We both agreed these kinds of graphic maps are pretty neat.

This map was issued in 1985 by Landmark Graphics Ltd. and Town Art Incorporated. The Riverchase Galleria did not open until February 1986, so that large regional mall is not on the map. We rented a house on Chapel Hill Road in Hoover in 1983, but before the end of 1985 we purchased our first home in Pelham. I remember in particular two of these businesses we patronized.

When we moved to Hoover in 1983 and then Pelham in 1985, restaurant choices were far more limited than today. El Palacio was our go-to Mexican place in those days. The chain's first operation was in Texas and the second was the Huntsville location where our family ate often. The chain had almost 60 restaurants by the early 1970s. The Hoover location closed a number of years ago. The one in Huntsville, believed to be the first Mexican restaurant in in that city, opened around 1966 and closed in 2017. Werner Von Braun was apparently a frequent customer.

We often ate at the Hunan Garden Chinese Restaurant and have continued to do so over the years. The menu is large with excellent food each time we visit. Another favorite in Hoover was the Mandarin House, which was a Chinese restaurant we patronized even a few times after we moved; that business closed several years ago. 

I don't remember if we ever ate at Showbiz Pizza, but we sure did patronize the Vestavia Chuck E. Cheese's back in the day. Showbiz eventually merged with Chuck E. Cheese; follow the link for a look at that complicated history. Many other national brands can be seen on the map: Firestone, Texaco, Citgo, 76, State Farm, and Gulf. I don't recognize many of the local businesses, such as Jahmins Food & Games, Ed's Hair Gallery, or Greenside Nursery. Perhaps Ed's is now Ed and Company Hair and Nail Salon? 

Davenport's Pizza Palace does have two locations now in Mountain Brook and Vestavia. Founded by Rex Hollis, the pizza places were named after a childhood friend, Jim Davenport. A Siluria native, Davenport played professional baseball with the San Francisco Giants. He is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and was recently inducted into the inaugural class of the Shelby County Hall of Fame. 

If you have memories about any of the businesses on this map, feel free to leave them in the comments!

I was unable to locate information about either of the businesses credited for the map's creation. 

I have a similar though smaller 1989 map of Pelham created for the city's 25th anniversary of incorporation. Maybe I'll get around to a blog post on that one someday.