U-Haul's Alabama SuperGraphics

In October 2017 and May and June 2018 I had the very great privilege to make three long trips in 20-foot U-Haul trucks--one from Colorado Springs to Birmingham, and two from Edmond, Oklahoma, to Jacksonville, Florida. Luckily I was just the passenger along to keep the drivers awake. But I did get to help load and unload!

U-Haul has a program to decorate its large trucks called "SuperGraphics". These images highlight various places in the U.S. states and Canada. Created in 1988, the program includes four Alabama graphics which you can see below. 

Maybe you'll be lucky enough someday to rent a U-Haul and get an Alabama SuperGraphic. Unfortunately, we did not!  

You can read more about the graphics from the artist, Steve King, here. 

This graphic is the only Alabama one on U-Haul's website that has a description. Featured is the area of Bibb County where 61 rare plant species have been discovered. 

Fort Rucker 

[I presume; no identification on the U-Haul site]

U.S. Space Camp

This truck on one of our trips featured a South Carolina SuperGraphic. 

Blue Star Memorial Highway Marker in Cullman

In my regular trips from Pelham to Huntsville to visit mom, I often take a break at the I-65 rest stop south of Cullman. On one stop last year I noticed the plaque below designating something--perhaps a specific stretch of I-65--as "Blue Star Memorial Highway." What's up with that, I wondered?

Well, a bit of research quickly found some history. The idea started with the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs in 1944 when 8,000 dogwoods were planted along US 22 to honor members of the armed services in World War II.  A blue star banner or flag can be used to designate residences where a family member is serving during a conflict. That 5.5 mile stretch of highway was designated "Blue Star Drive" by the state legislature in January 1945.

Later in 1945 the National Council of State Garden Clubs adopted the program and began extending it nationwide. The program is continued today by that organization under its present name, National Garden Clubs, Inc; details are here. Two other types of markers have been developed in recent years. 

Alabama has a number of them; a state-by-state listing up to May 2015 is here. From what I could determine from that list, this particular marker was dedicated on August 27, 1990. 

The "Blue Star Memorial Highway" now extends over 70,000 miles in 39 states. 

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

Who Was James S. McLester, M.D.?

In August 2017 I posted an item about the Joseph H. Woolf, M.D., Family Practice Center in UAB's Community Health Services Building at 930 South 20th Street just up the hill from the campus. I've been seeing a family physician there for some years and wondered about Dr. Woolf, so that post covers what I found.

UAB's Family Medicine Clinic has since moved to UAB Highlands across campus, so I no longer visit the building at Southside. In this post I wanted to share a bit about the physician whose portrait decorated the entrance and may still for all I know.

Details of Dr. McLester's life and career can be found in the poster that accompanies his portrait and an article by Dr. Carter Smith published soon after McLester's death. Both are included below. I do want to emphasize some of the highlights.

After graduating from medical school at the University of Virginia in 1899, McLester spent time in postgraduate studies in Europe. Upon his return to Birmingham in 1902, he accepted a position as pathology professor at the Birmingham Medical College. When that school closed in 1915, he moved to the School of Basic Sciences at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In World War I McLester served in France as the commanding officer of Evacuation Hospital #18.

He was named Professor of Medicine while there and held that title until his retirement in 1949. When the new four-year medical school opened in Birmingham in September 1945, McLester was named the first Chair of Medicine. 

McLester died on February 8, 1954; he is buried in Elmwood Cemetery. He operated his private medical practice from a "charming" house located where the Community Health Services Building is now located. The portrait was commissioned by former students and residents and was first located in the medical library. 

He served as president of the state medical society in 1920 and the American Medical Association in 1934. During his academic career he published over 100 articles on nutrition and metabolism. McLester wrote two textbooks, Nutrition and Diet in Health and Disease (first published in 1927) and Diagnosis and Treatment of Disorders of Metabolism (1935).  He also contributed many chapters on nutrition to other textbooks. 

Dr. McLester's portrait during his days as a faculty member of the Birmingham Medical College

Source: UAB Archives

This portrait hangs in the entrance area of  UAB's Community Health Services Building. I'm unable to read the name of the artist in the lower right corner; there also seems to be a year after the name.

Birmingham Medical College in 1912

Source: BhamWiki

Source:

Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association [01 Jan 1954, 66:lxi-lxiii]

Birmingham Photo of the Day (68): City Hall Burns in 1925

Birmingham's second city hall opened in 1901 on the site of the original one, the southeast corner of 4th Avenue North and 19th Street. By the time it was replaced by the current city hall in 1950, many tenants had occupied the building over the years in addition to city offices. The first public library operated there, and a gymnasium was available to citizens. By the 1930's retail stores had included a market, a drug store, shoe repair, cafe, music company, optician and jewelry and barber shops.

The building suffered extensive fire damage on two occasions. On April 23, 1925, the tower and the public library's collection on the fourth floor were destroyed. The other floors were not seriously damaged. The tower was not replaced; and the library reopened in 1927 in the building that now houses the Lynne-Henley Research Library containing archives, Southern history materials, and more. 

A fire on June 23, 1944, also caused damage to the fourth floor that housed city comptroller and engineer offices.

The first photograph below shows the 1925 fire in progress. Other photos show the library damage and the second city hall building as it looked in 1909. From a cursory look at Google Maps, parking facilities appear to be at the location now. 

Photo by O.V. Hunt 

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

These two photos show the fourth floor library after the 1925 fire.

Source: Birmingham Public Library

Birmingham City Hall ca. 1909

Source: BhamWiki

Finding Bruno's in Fort Myers

People of a certain age in the Birmingham area will remember the Bruno's grocery store chain. From 1932 when Joseph Bruno opened his first grocery in the city until around 2012, the firm at its peak operated as many as 150 stores under the Bruno's, Food World, Big B Drugs and other names. At its height 14,000 people were employed in the operations.

Bruno had retired by 1977, and his brother Angelo and several other executives were killed in a plane crash in 1991. In 1995 the firm was sold to the first of several new owners, and the decline began. After two bankruptcies, the remaining locations were sold to Belle Foods in 2012. Belle entered bankruptcy the following year, and Bruno's and its other stores slowly disappeared until all were gone. Details of the long, sad tale can be found on the BhamWiki page linked above.

Dianne and I were recently on a Florida trip that included a weekend visit to the Fort Myers area. Our hostess drove us around the area along the coast to show us the endless parade of mansions and tourist rentals and retail shops. I had not been to that part of the state since the late 1960's when my family spent summer vacations in Naples. Dianne had never been that far south in Florida.

At some point we passed the convenience store below on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers. Naturally my first thought was how did this remnant of Bruno's end up here? But I guess it's just one of those weird coincidences, and the Bruno here is not the Birmingham Bruno. Ah, well.... 

Source is here. I was unable to get a photo myself. 

Bruno's logo in the 1960's

A later logo

Source for both logos: BhamWiki

Alabama Photo of the Day: Monument to a Slave

Another expedition to the digital material at the Alabama Department of Archives and History uncovered the photograph below. The description there noted, "Monument to Harry, a slave who saved several Howard College students from a fire in Marion, Perry County, Alabama; photo taken in the 1930's". Let's investigate.

To find out more, I turned to James F. Sulzby, Jr.'s two volume work, Toward a History of Samford University (1988). He discusses the fire on pages 28-33.

Samford was originally known as Howard College and incorporated by an act of the state legislature in 1841. Baptists founded the school, which opened in Marion on January 3, 1842, with nine students. 

The first official college building, a four-story brick structure opened on January 1, 1846. The first commencement was held on July 27, 1848, when seven men graduated. 

For the fall 1854 session 112 students were enrolled. Many of them lived in town, but others lived in the college building. On October 15, 1854, a fire began around midnight. The building and all property, valued at almost $20,000, was destroyed. 

A committee appointed to study the fire issued a statement on October 18. They noted that a professor, the tutor and 23 students had various injuries but all survived. One student died a few days later. The committee determined the fire started in a stairwell but could not establish a cause. 

The only immediate fatality was Henry, the college janitor and a slave owned by President Henry Talbird. He apparently awoke soon after the fire started and went through all the floors waking students. The fire prevented his return by the stairs, and Harry was forced to jump from a fourth story window. He was killed by the fall.  

Harry Talbird's funeral was held at Siloam Church. He was buried in Marion Cemetery. The marker seen in this photograph was paid for by officers and students of the college and members of the Baptist State Convention. 

The monument has a different inscription on each of its four sides; you can read them below. Also below are contemporary photographs of the monument. 

Source: Alabama Dept of Archives & History

Inscription

Harry

Servant of

H. Talbird, D.D.

President of Howard College

Who lost his life from injuries received while rousing the students at the burning of the college building on the night of Oct. 15th 1854.

Aged 23 years.

He was employed as waiter in the college, and when alarmed by the flames at midnight and warned to escape for his life replied "I must wake the boys first," and thus saved their lives at the cost of his own.

As a grateful tribute to his fidelity and to commemorate a noble act, this monument has been erected by the students of Howard College and the Alabama Baptist Convention.

A consistent member of the Baptist Church he illustrated the character of a Christian servant "Faithful even unto death."

(source: Library of Southern Literature, By Edwin Anderson Alderman, Joel Chandler Harris, Charles William Kent, pub. 1910, pg. 6463-6464, in a section of "Epitaphs and Inscriptions" in volume 14.)

Source: Find-A-Grave

Source: Find-A-Grave