A Quick Visit to Montgomery (3)

In August 2012 son Amos and I made a trip to Montgomery to see some historical sites. Along the way, as I've covered in previous blogs, we happened upon a great Alabama ruin, the Clanton Drive-In, and made a trip through Tuskegee on the way back. 

Downtown Montgomery was quiet that day, since the legislature was not in session. The previous two Montgomery posts are here and here. Comments are below some of the photographs. 

Riverfront Park was a pretty place on a hot August day. Close to The Alley and other locations around the capitol, the park has an amphitheater for concerts, the Harriott II riverboat and other facilities. The Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball team play at Riverwalk Stadium nearby.

Amos and I had lunch at a restaurant at this venue. I don't remember the name, but we enjoyed it! The Alley is a complex of shops, eateries and bars near Riverfront Park. 

Located near the state capitol is the First White House of the Confederacy, and we did spend some time here. This house served as residence of President Jefferson Davis and family while the capital of the Confederate States of America was located in Montgomery. That period only lasted from February to May 1861, when the capital was moved to Richmond, Virginia. During that time, however, Mrs. Davis hosted many parties at the residence. 

This photo shows the house, built in the 1820's, at it's original location several miles away. Efforts to preserve the house began in the late 19th century, and in 1919 the legislature appropriated money to have it moved to the capital complex. 

The house is filled with furniture of the period and personal items of all sorts belonging to the Davis family. 

We encountered a fascinating example of the ironies of history that day. Apparently the only staff member working there when we visited and who greeted us as we entered was an African-American woman. In talking later we realized both of us had been tempted to ask her what it was like working in this temple of the Confederacy.  

A Quick Visit to Montgomery (2)

In August 2012 son Amos and I made a trip to Montgomery to see some historical sites. Along the way, as I've covered in previous blogs, we happened upon a great Alabama ruin, the Clanton Drive-In, and made a trip through Tuskegee on the way back. This post is the second of three devoted to Montgomery. Part one can be found here and part three here. 

Downtown Montgomery was quiet that day, since the legislature was not in session.

Comments are below some of the photographs. 

The front steps and entrance of the Alabama State Capitol at the end of Dexter Avenue. This Greek Revival building was constructed in 1851 on the foundation of the previous capitol, which had burned. The side and rear wings were constructed later.

All three branches of government were located here until 1940, when the Supreme Court moved to its own building on Dexter Avenue. The state legislature met here until moving to new quarters at the State House in 1985. The governor's offices remain here.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History has a number of historical photographs of the capitol in its digital collections.

These are two backside photos of the Alabama State House.

A shot from the balcony down into the Senate chamber. 

Stand in the rotunda and look up and this is what you see at the top of the dome. 

Artist Roderick MacKenzie painted eight panels depicting state history that hang in the Rotunda. Mackenzie began these panels in 1926 and finished in 1931. He also designed the plaster frames around the panels. 

MacKenzie, born in London, spent his youth and many adult years in Mobile. His long and fascinating career included art studies in Boston and Paris and periods in working in England and India.  He returned to Mobile in 1914 and painted many works with Alabama themes until his death in 1941.

A Quick Visit to Montgomery (1)

In August 2012 son Amos and I made a trip to Montgomery to see some historical sites. Along the way, as I've covered in previous blogs, we happened upon a great Alabama ruin, the Clanton Drive-In, and made a trip through Tuskegee on the way back. In this post and two more I'll share some of the photos from the Montgomery trip and make a few comments. Downtown Montgomery was quiet that day, since the legislature was not in session.

Montgomery is one of Alabama's most history-filled cities. Much attention has been paid to the Civil War period and the Civil Rights era; many articles and books have been published on those periods and individual participants. A recent book on the antebellum period is Jeffrey C. Benton's Through Others' Eyes: Published Accounts of Antebellum Montgomery, Alabama [2014]. 

We saw both the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and the ministers' home, although we did not have time to go through either one. More comments are below a couple of the other photos. More sites to come in parts two and three of this series. 

Benjamin Moore Hotel and Majestic Cafe served many prominent African-American visitors to Montgomery. 

If the Smithsonian is the "nation's attic", then the state archives is Alabama's "attic." However, like the Smithsonian, the place has better organization and staff than most attics. 

Medical History in Birmingham: The List

I recently worked on a blog item fitting this general topic, and it dawned on me how many such posts I've done since I start this blog in March 2014. I've also published relevant items in other venues. I decided to bring them together in a single posting with links; perhaps I'll be doing something similar in other subjects. I'll try to keep this one updated as well.

So here we go....

Birmingham's "Heaviest" Medical Block

Birmingham Medical College 1894-1915 

Birmingham Photos of the Day (34): Some More Hospitals

Birmingham Photos of the Day (35): Even More Hospitals

Birmingham Photo of the Day (9): McAdory Home & Infirmary in 1910

Birmingham Photo of the Day (18): St. Vincent's Hospital in 1908 

Birmingham Photos of the Day (33): Holy Family Hospital

Dr. John Payne Murdered in Birmingham in 1901 

Medical History Panels in Jefferson Tower at UAB 

Birmingham Photo of the Day (38): Gunn's Pharmacy ca. 1915

Two Early Medical Libraries in Birmingham

Hektoen International series on "Famous Hospitals: Hillman Hospital

Profile of Dr. Lloyd Noland 
Important to public health in Birmingham for many years

Standing Tall at UAB: The Statue of Dr. William E.B. Davis 

Early black physician in Birmingham: Dr. Arthur McKinnon Brown 

Alice McNeal, MD: Alabama's First Female Anesthesiologist

UAB's Anesthesiology Library 1983-2015

A Plaque in UAB's Jefferson Tower

A Plaque in UAB's Jefferson Tower

I've written a number of blog posts and other items devoted to some aspect of medical history in Birmingham, and this one is another in that series. 

Past the main entrance of the Jefferson Tower building on the UAB campus, near the public elevators, is the plaque you see below. Let's investigate.

In the 1930's the growing number of indigent patients in Jefferson County began to overwhelm the facilities at Hillman Hospital. The county and Birmingham agreed on a joint funding mechanism in 1939. The year before the U.S. Public Works Administration offered two million dollars in a grant and loan to fund the building of a new hospital that would charge patients based on their ability to pay. 

The new facility was a modern one, sixteen stories that could hold almost 600 patients. The maternity ward occupied the entire fifth floor, and eight operating rooms filled the seventh floor. The top two floors provided living space for numerous nurses and interns. 

The first patients were accepted at Jefferson-Hillman Hospital in February 1941. In December 1944 the county gave the hospital to the University of Alabama. This donation was part of the two-year Medical College of Alabama's move from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham to become a four-year school. Students entered the first class in October 1945. 

The building was renamed Jefferson Tower in 1979. UAB's new hospital building, the North Pavilion, opened in late 2004 and most clinical services were moved out of Jefferson Tower.

My original purpose for this blog post involved the local names on this plaque. I've spent some time researching all of them, but found nothing much online about the six commissioners listed. The same goes for half the men listed on the Building Committee. However, Cooper Green was a well-known businessman and politician and the namesake for Cooper Green Mercy Hospital. Dr. Harry L. Jackson was apparently a prominent local surgeon.

James S. McLester, MD, had served on the faculty of the Birmingham Medical College from 1902 until 1915 when the school closed. He was Professor of Medicine at the Tuscaloosa school and then at the new one in Birmingham from 1920 until 1945. He was head of the Hillman Hospital medical staff. An expert on nutrition, McLester published two books on the topic. He also served as President of the American Medical Association in 1934.

The Birmingham Public Library has this information about the architect in it's introduction to the collection of his firm's papers:



"Charles H. McCauley (1893 – 1970) was born in Chicago and studied architecture at the University of Illinois. McCauley practiced architecture in Chicago before moving to Birmingham in 1919 where he worked for William Leslie Welton before opening his own practice in 1925. McCauley and his firm, Charles H. McCauley Associates, designed many important buildings in Birmingham including Temple Beth-El (1926), Medical Arts Building (1931), Birmingham City Hall (1950), Boutwell Auditorium Entry Pavilion (1957), U.S. Post Office and Vehicle Maintenance Facility (1968), and First National – Southern Natural (1968-1971, with Welton Becket & Associates). At the time of McCauley’s death in 1970, Charles H. McCauley Associates was one of the largest architectural practices in the South. "




These individuals, agencies and companies created an important part of what became the medical and university behemoth UAB is today.

Cooper Green in 1947

Source: BhamWiki

James S. McLester, MD

Source: UAB Digital Collections

1939 architect's rendering of Jefferson Hospital

Source: BhamWiki

1945 aerial view of Jefferson Tower. The Kracke Building is in the lower right and Hillman Hospital on the upper right of the block. I've written a blog post about "Birmingham's Heaviest Medical Block."

Source: BhamWiki