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FEDERAL PROGRAMS

IN A N D A R O U N D
BIRMINGHAM
BIRMINGHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY
DIGGING O U T OF T H E
GREAT DEPRESSION
FEDERAL PROGRAMS AT WORK
IN A N D A R O U N D BIRMINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY

 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Digging out of the Great Depression : federal programs at work in and around
Birmingham / edited by Julius E. Linn, Jr., Katherine M . Tipton, and Marjorie L.
White. — Original limited ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-943994-35-2 (alk. paper)
1. New Deal, 1933-1939--Alabama~Birmingham Region. 2. New Deal,
1933-1939~Alabama~Birmingham Region—Pictorial works. 3. Birmingham Region
(Ala.)—Economic conditions—20th century. 4. Birmingham Region
(Ala.)—Economic conditions—20th century—Pictorial works. 5. Birmingham
Region (Ala.)—Social conditions—20th century. 6. Birmingham Region
(Ala.)—Social conditions—20th century—Pictorial works. 7. Public
welfare—Alabama—Birmingham Region—History—20th century. 8. Birmingham
Region (Ala.)—Intellectual life—20th century. 9. Art and state—Alabama—Birmingham
Region—History—20th century. 10. Federal government—United
States—History—20th century. I. Linn, Julius E. II. Tipton, Katherine M . ,
1959- III. White, Marjorie Longenecker. IV. Birmingham Historical Society.
HC108.B6D54 2010
330.9761'781062-dc22
2010027417

ORIGINAL LIMITED EDITION

Copyright 2010 by Birmingham Historical Society

Birmingham Historical Society

One Sloss Quarters
Birmingham, Alabama 35222
www.bhistorical.org

This book is published in conjunction with the exhibitions Digging Out of the Great Depression-Federal Program.!,
At Work (2009) and Murals, Murals On the Wall, 1929-1939-Our Story Through Art in Public Places (2010),
organized by the Birmingham Historical Society and the Birmingham Public Library, with the financial support
of the Daniel Foundation of Alabama and the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. The latter exhibition is made possible in part by the Alabama Cooperative
Extension System and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn, Alabama.

ISBN 978-0-943994-35-2
Printed in China

F R O N T COVER P H O T O G R A P H S :
"Steel mill and workers' houses. Birmingham, Alabama."
Photograph by Walker Evans, 1936. Courtesy the Library of Congress Farm Security Administration-Office of War
Information Photograph Collection (LOC-FSA).

Playground Supervision, A C I P C O Park.

Photograph, 1930s. Courtesy Birmingham Public Library Department of Archives and Manuscripts (BPL Archives).
Jefferson Hospital-NowJefferson Tower, UAB Medical Center.
Photograph, circa 1940. Courtesy BPL Archives.

Vulcan M o n u m e n t in Vulcan Park, atop Red Mountain.

Photograph by O. V. Hunt, circa 1939. Courtesy BPL Archives.

BACK COVER P H O T O G R A P H S :
"Digging dirt used in rammed earth construction near Birmingham, Alabama."
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., March 1937. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

Agriculture Moves Onward, Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture.

John Augustus Walker. Mural panel (one often), tempera on canvas, 1939. Created for the Alabama Cooperative
Extension Service Exhibition, Alabama State Fair, Birmingham, October 1939. Courtesy Alabama Cooperative
Extension Ssytem.

Clinic in the Slossfield Hospital.

Photograph courtesy UAB Archives, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

T I T L E PAGE P H O T O G R A P H :
"Digging dirt used in rammed earth construction near Birmingham, Alabama."
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., March 1937. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

Designer: Scott Fuller

 T A B L E OF C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments iv
Preface v
Introduction ix

Chapter One
Alphabet Agencies 1
Chapter Two
Putting the First 15,000 to Work: The Civil Works Administration (CWA) 4
Chapter Three
Roosevelt's Tree Army: The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 18
A Great and Lasting Good: C C C Structures in Alabama Parks 34
Chapter Four
Better Housing for Industrial Workers: Subsistence Homesteads and Public Housing 38
Documenting Working and Living Conditions 40
Palmerdale Homesteads 50
Greenwood Homesteads 52
Moving O u t and In 54
Mount Olive Homesteads 56
Rammed Earth Houses 58
Slagheap Village-Cahaba Village atTrussville 64
Other Housing Ventures 66

Chapter Five
Jobs for the Jobless:The Works Progress Administration (WPA) 72
Chapter Six
Creating a City Beautiful: WPA Beautification Efforts 84
Chapter Seven
Artists on Relief: A New Deal for the Arts 88

Chapter Eight
On Stage:The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) 104
Chapter Nine
Digging Up the Past: Advances in Archaeology 108
Chapter Ten
Recording Our Heritage: The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) 114

Chapter Eleven
Built to Last: A Legacy in Stone at Birmingham Parks 120

Index 131
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Designer Moundville Archaeological Park, Moundville, Alabama

Scott Fuller William F. Bomar, Director
Photographs of Surviving Murals and Structures University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Marc Bondarenko Mary J. Bade, Director of Museum Collections
Brian Rushing Mike Dressier, Collections Assistant
Frank Jefferson Tombrello Eugene Futato, Senior Archaeologist and Deputy Director
Pam Venz's Birmingham-Southern College 2003 Jan-Term Studio
U S . Forest Service, Montgomery, Alabama
Students: Adam Colbert, Charles Horn, Annette Kittrell, Jamie
Robert Pasquill Jr., Archaeologist
Neal, Andrew Ryan, and Booth Wilson
Special Appreciation
Birmingham Historical Society
John Bertalan; Birmingham Board of Education; Graham
Officers: Pat Camp, Wayne Hester, Julius Linn Jr., Carol Slaughter,
Boettcher, Birmingham Museum of Art; Jeff Brasher, Boy Scouts
Rick Sprague, Katie Tipton, and Marjorie White
of America; Enrico Caporaso, Postmaster, Montevallo Post Office;
Trustees assisting with this book and associated exhibitions: Regina
Patrick Cather; Leslie R. Collins, Tallassee, Tennessee; Mildred
Ammon, Kaydee Erdreich Breman, Harold Goings, Sallie Lee,
Crain; John Davis, Birmingham Zoo; Leah Donnelly, Special
Carolanne Roberts, Brian Rushing, and Jim Strickland
Collections and Archives, George Mason University; Veronica
Birmingham Public Library Fisher, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University;
For support of research and for sponsoring the two exhibitions Steve Gilmer, What's On Second?; Jane Goings; Clarice Goodwin;
associated with this book, Digging Out of the Great Depression- Shirley G. Graham, Woodlawn High School; Beth Hunter,
Federal Programs At Work (2009) and Murals, Murals On the Wall, Gardendale Historical Society; Lynn B.Williams Katz, Auburn,
1929-1939-Our Story Through Art in Public Places (2010): Alabama; Maria Kennedy, Daniel Foundation of Alabama; Nora
Renee Blaylock, Director Lewis, Georgia Historical Society; Mary Ann Martin, Martin
Angela Fischer Hall and Pamela Lyons, Associate Directors Advertising, Inc.; Jeff Meadows, Woodlawn High School; Patti
Don Veasey, Curator of Photographs; Gigi Gowdy and Yolanda Mulock, Belleair, Florida; Patty Pendleton, Birmingham Zoo;
Valentin, Archival Assistants, Archives Department Susan Perry, Alabama Humanities Foundation; Julee Potter, Davis
Ben Petersen, Southern History Department Architects, Inc.; Angelo Price, Bessemer Park and Recreation
Government Documents Department Department; Jordan H . Prince, Locust Valley, New York; Bob
Jim Baggett, Kelsey Bates, Frank Golden, Sandi Lee, Melinda Stewart, Alabama Humanities Foundation; Ed Young, Postmaster,
Shelton, and Linda Wilson Fairfield Post Office
Elizabeth Swift, Jefferson County Library Cooperative, Integrated
Library Systems Administrator Collections
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn, Alabama
Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Birmingham Public
Gaines Smith, Director
Library
C. Bruce Dupree, Art Specialist
Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photograph
Sallie Lee, Jefferson County Agent
Collection, Library of Congress
Carol Whatley, Communications and Marketing Director
Federal Theatre Project Collection, Special Collections and Archives,
Alabama Department of Archives and History George Mason University Libraries
Martha McLemore Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library Archives Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia
and Rare Book Room Historic American Buildings Survey Photographic Collection, Library
Jason Kirby, Archivist of Congress
National Archives and Records Administration
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama
National Association of C C C Alumni
Alice Carter, Librarian; Pam Bransford, Registrar
Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and Literature, Birmingham
Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn, Alabama Public Library
Marilyn Laufer, Director U.S. Forest Service, Montgomery, Alabama
UAB Archives, University of Alabama at Birmingham UAB Archives, University of Alabama at Birmingham
T i m L. Pennycuff, Assistant Professor and University Archivist, University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
University of Alabama Museums Walter B.Jones Photograph Collection, Alabama Museum of Natural
History, The University of Alabama Museum
 PREFACE

As the U. S. stock market plummeted in late 2007, this book was envisioned as a visual survey of
the first federal stimulus program and how it was expended in the Birmingham area during the 1930s.
Carolanne Roberts chose the title and the lead photograph for our project: workers digging earth
for dirt-cheap houses being built at Mount Olive. Thomas Hibben Jr., an innovative federal architect
and engineer, was supervising the adaptation of an ancient building technique known as rammed earth
for use in low-cost housing in this federally sponsored farming community, now a suburb north of
Birmingham. Hibben photographed his experimental construction techniques and the inexpensively
built houses.
Hibben's photograph is part of a remarkable collection of 164,000 remaining Depression-era nega-
tives made by Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration) photographers
hired by innovative Washington bureaucrats to document the benefits of federal expenditures. To the Bir-
mingham area, the Washington staffers sent some of the nation's finest photographers—Walker Evans,
Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein, and Marion Post Wolcott—with specific shoot lists to document federal
housing programs here. In Birmingham, from 1935 to 1939, these individuals photographed working
and living conditions at area industrial mines and mills and documented the houses and well-designed
suburban communities that the government was financing and building in rural areas near the city. The
Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Photographic Collection is today housed at
the Library of Congress and online {http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html).
The records of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), which began in 1933 with unem-
ployed architects making measured drawings and photographs of pre-1860 structures, continue to this
day as an archive of drawings, photographs, and other materials documenting America's architectural
heritage. These materials, which document more than 38,600 historic structures, can be found at the
Library of Congress, where they are a frequently used and online collection {http://memory.loc.gov/
ammem/collections/habs_haer).
The Birmingham Public Library, especially its Southern History and Archives Departments, also
holds significant visual resources from the New Deal period. Throughout the years, the library's dedi-
cated staff have safeguarded source material, including the engineer's copy of Jefferson County's heavily
illustrated final report documenting the work of the Civil Works Administration (CWA); the James M .
"Jimmie" Jones Papers (Jones was President of the Birmingham City Commission at this time); manu-
als to implement the federal programs (including the school lunch room program); the tax assessor files
on county property, first formulated through on-site property inspections in 1938 by Works Progress
Administration (WPA) workers; teaching aides; and art work accumulated as libraries expanded their
missions and collections during the 1930s. Don Veasey, Curator of Photographs, was invaluable in
locating obscure records in the Archives collections, and Yolanda Valentin and Gigi Gowdy did yeo-
man work providing digital reproductions. Also of invaluable assistance were the clipping files found
in the Southern History Department. Here, since the 1930s, librarians have gathered newspaper and
print sources on many pertinent topics. The library also holds a microfilm copy of the Jefferson County
W P A projects card file, the transcription of which provided descriptions of local W P A projects, noting
recipients—cities, counties, and federal, state, and local agencies—the required match, the total project
cost, and the number of persons employed.
Renee Blaylock, Director of the Birmingham Public Library, asked department heads to help locate
pertinent Depression-era records in their collections. She also directed Elizabeth Swift, Integrated
Library Systems Administrator for the Jefferson County Library Cooperative, to establish a Web site
to showcase the library's New Deal resources. Swift created The New Deal in Jefferson County, an online
exhibit that accompanied the first phase of this project, which was the Birmingham Historical Society's
photographic exhibit Digging Out of the Great Depression—Federal Programs at Work (November-Decem-
ber 2009). Library staff continue to add to the Web site {http://www.bplonline.org/resources/exhibits/new_
deal) as more information becomes available.
Robert Pasquill Jr., a Montgomery-based U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and dedicated chronicler
of the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Alabama, lent his expertise and access to pho-
tographic resources of the U.S. Forest Service and his personal collection. His good friend and Society
Trustee Brian Rushing photographed extant C C C structures in Alabama's state parks. Bob's book, The
Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama, 1933-1942: A Great and Lasting Good (Tuscaloosa: University of
Alabama Press, 2008), provides further details about the men and work of the Alabama C C C .
Birmingham-Southern College Assistant Professor Pam Venz and her students—Adam Colbert,
Charles Horn, Annette Kittrell, Jamie Neal, Andrew Ryan, and Booth Wilson—helped us research 1930s
structures in Birmingham parks during a 2003 Jan-term photographic studio. Peggy Balch contributed
significant research to this effort. Many of the projects, we discovered, were funded through a City of
Birmingham bond issue of 1931, prior to the expenditure of federal funds. Concerned about idled indus-
trial workers, civic leaders such as James R. McWane led the campaign to build recreational facilities in
the parks.
The University of Alabama Museums provided yet another treasure trove of visuals and information,
made readily accessible by the online WPA/TVA Archaeological Photographs {http://diglib.lib.utk.edu/
wpa).This extensive archive contains photographs taken by W P A workers of archaeological projects con-
ducted in preparation for Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) dam construction in the 1930s. Mary Bade
and Mike Dressier provided access to these records, and archaeologist Eugene Futato kindly reviewed our
brief summary of archaeological work at this time.
At the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library Archives and Rare Book Room, Archivist Jason
Kirby cleaned up the storage area and, to the delight of all, unearthed the personal scrapbooks of the
state's W P A beautification program supervisor. These materials chronicle the many efforts of the federal
program administrator, together with scores of community groups, to "beautify" roads, schools, and other
public places.
Frank Jefferson Tombrello and Graham C. Boettcher, the latter the William Cary Hulsey Cura-
tor of American Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art, greatly expanded our knowledge of federally
supported art remaining in public and private collections, especially those of the Birmingham Museum
of Art {http://www.artsbma.org), the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts {http://www.mmfa.org), Pat-
rick Cather, and Jane, Harold, and Hubert Goings. Tombrello photographed many pieces for this book,
including the spectacular school and post office murals. Alice Carter at the Montgomery Museum helped
research federally funded traveling exhibits shown at the Montgomery Museum in the 1930s.
Sallie Lee, then a Jefferson County Agent of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, or ACES
{http://www.aces.edu), as well as a Society Trustee, brought to our attention the Historical Panorama of
Alabama Agriculture, the fabulous canvas mural panels recently rediscovered in the attic of the ACES
office on the Auburn University campus. ACES Art Specialist C. Bruce Dupree's research documented
the work as that of a Mobile W P A artist who created the series for the 1939 Alabama State Fair in
Birmingham. The panels showcased New Deal pride in technological and agricultural progress that was
helping to build a better life for Alabama's farmers. Through the efforts of Gaines Smith, ACES Direc-
tor, and Carol Whatley, Communications and Marketing Director, ownership of the murals has been
transferred to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn {http://jcsm.auburn.edu). Museum
Director Marilyn Laufer is supervising the cleaning and restoring of the murals for their return to

DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Birmingham for a showing at the Birmingham Historical Society-Birmingham Public Library exhibi-
tion Murals, Murals On the Wall, 1929-1939—Our Story Through Public Art, appearing in the Library Gal-
lery from November 7 to December 31,2010.
Major portions of this book, through the financial support of the Daniel Foundation of Alabama and
the Alabama Humanities Foundation, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities,
first appeared as an exhibit at the Birmingham Public Library. Digging Out of the Great Depression-Federal
Programs at Work exhibited in the Library Gallery from November 1 to December 31,2009.
We hope you agree that the book provides superb visual demonstration of federal programs at work
and evidence of many people working.

PREFACE
Field Crew Seated on the Domiciliary Mound, Bessemer Site 15 Je 14.
Photograph, August 30, 1939. Courtesy The University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

viii DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 INTRODUCTION

"Hard times come here first and stay longest." That's how those in Birmingham speak of the Great
Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the city "the worst hit town in the country."
As the 1930s opened, Birmingham was the center of an industrial region with mines and mills and
the manufacture of iron and pipe at the core of its idled economic engine. W h e n Roosevelt took office in
March 1933,25 percent of the national labor force was without jobs. In Birmingham, widespread unem-
ployment had been high for some time.
In 1930, 68 percent of those employed in the city worked in blast furnaces, steel mills, foundries, and
fabricating plants. Jefferson County's industrial wage earners numbered 76,662. Most of these workers
saw their wages and hours cut drastically as employers attempted to weather the downturn. Thousands of
others were without jobs.
The city's steel production sank to its lowest 1930s level in 1932. The steel mills never closed, but
production averaged 40 percent to 60 percent of capacity. Blast furnaces and ore mines operated only
sporadically. Coal mining fared a bit better.
In July of 1934, one-fourth of the population of Birmingham and Jefferson County was listed as
receiving federal aid. Of 56,000 families on relief state-wide that December, 28,000 lived in Birmingham.
Only World War II, with its heavy demand for structural steel and armament, provided the stimulus
required to revive the district's industrial economy.
This book explores federal programs designed to cut the relief rolls and ameliorate the lives of resi-
dents of the greater Birmingham area during the 1930s. Diverse programs implemented here employed
more than 24,000 persons and expended more than $1 billion in today's dollars.
Alabama's politicians and citizens were committed to bringing federal dollars to our community. At
their opening meeting in the winter of 1933, the bankers, clergy, and businessmen who headed up the
local Civil Works Administration (CWA) committee noted their desire to secure "every possible dollar"
they could. The photographs from their final reports demonstrate what they accomplished, in just five
months, with a federal infusion valued at $39.3 million in today's dollars. They felt and responded to the
community need.
Succeeding federal programs carried the relief efforts forward.
The Works Progress Administration (WPA), the nation's largest employer in this era, put more than
9,000 persons to work in Jefferson County. W P A workers improved infrastructure: roads, bridges, hos-
pitals, schools, and parks. They improved drainage and airport runways. They built health and T B clinics
and public buildings. They sealed abandoned coal mines. They greatly expanded recreational facilities at
schools and at state and local parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields. They staffed libraries and parks to
keep them open extra hours to provide recreational opportunities. They operated sewing rooms to make
clothing and house wares for needy families. They staffed the first school lunch room programs. They
painted history murals for public schoolchildren and for state fairgoers. They drew scenes of everyday
life and taught art and music in the schools. They wrote and staged theatrical productions. They tran-
scribed city and county records. They photographed and recorded property for the tax assessor's office.
They recorded graves in area cemeteries. They painted schoolhouses and planted roses. One thousand
strong, they excavated archaeological sites across the state. They worked.
The Public Works Administration (PWA), a bricks-and-mortar arm of the Department of the Inte-
rior, provided partial funding for the Industrial Waterworks System through the creation of Inland Lake
(an expenditure that included W P A labor estimated at a $94 million value in today's funds). Jefferson
Tower at today's UAB Medical Center (a $34.5 million dollar project in today's funds) was built as a hos-
pital for needy persons—the project in which local politicians took the greatest pride. In 1938, Smithfield
Court became the first Birmingham public housing project, followed by Elyton Village in 1940. Both proj-
ects were built with PWA funds in conjunction with the local public housing authority, which was estab-
lished at this time. By April 1943, additional housing projects at Central City, Eastwood, and Southtown
provided Birmingham 2,566 total public housing units valued at $213 million in today's dollars, represent-
ing the largest federal expenditure in the area.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)—"Roosevelt's Tree Army"—worked at nearby Oak Moun-
tain State Park and at Cheaha State Park on reforestation, road and building construction, fire suppres-
sion, erosion control, and other projects. They also built today's Moundville Archeological Park and Jones
Archaeological Museum near Tuscaloosa.
At a total cost of $53.3 million dollars in today's funds, the Resettlement Administration (RA) built
four new communities at Greenwood, Mount Olive, Palmerdale, and Trussville. W i t h the National Park
Service, the RA also built a Recreational Demonstration Area at Oak Mountain State Park surrounding
today's Tranquility Lake. RA photographers, including Walker Evans, Thomas Hibben Jr., Carl Mydans,
Arthur Rothstein, and Marion Post Wolcott, provided a superb record of federal initiatives here to improve
housing alternatives and lifestyles for industrial workers.
The federal relief efforts of the 1930s touched the lives of virtually every resident of Birmingham and
Jefferson County. The beneficiaries of these programs—the men and women who labored to improve their
lot and that of the community—left us with a remarkable legacy.

What major New Deal landmarks remain?

Bessemer City Hall Vines Stadium in Hueytown and Snitz
Chalkville State School for Girls Snider Memorial Stadium in Bessemer

Fairfield Post Office and City Hall Oak Mountain and Cheaha State Park
improvements
Roads, bridges, drainage improvements, fish
hatchery, lodge, picnic shelters, and an Overton Park, Homewood
arboretum at Lane Park—now Birmingham Rosedale School, Homewood
Zoo Scores of additions to Birmingham and
Greenwood, Mount Olive, Palmerdale, and Jefferson County schools, especially audi-
Cahaba Village at Trussville communities torium, class- and lunchroom wings, and
Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture, recreational amenities
Auburn Slossfield Negro Youth Training Center,
Industrial Waterworks System, now part of the North Birmingham
Birmingham Water Works system Smithfield, Elyton, and Southtown housing
McAdory High School projects

Moundville Archeological Park, Tuscaloosa Stone structures in local and state parks

Murals at East Lake Branch Library, Fairfield Tuberculosis Sanatorium, now Lakeshore
Post Office, Lakeview School (now Martin Foundation
Advertising Building), Montevallo Post Vulcan Monument and Park
Office, and Woodlawn High School
Nine stadia and grandstands in Jefferson
County, including H. F. Gilmore-Melvin

DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 WELCOME ADDRESS BY HON. J. M. JONES, JR., PRESIDENT, CITY COMMISSION, TO MRS. ELEANOR
ROOSEVELT AT 8 O'CLOCK, P.M., MARCH 23, 1937, AT MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Our Most Distinguished Guest:
It is impossible for me to adequately express the hearty welcome which all of our people feel toward the
First Lady of the Land. The whole American people gave some idea of this feeling when the Roosevelt
Administration was again placed in charge of our national government by the greatest landslide in our
history. My friends, the feeling which we have in our hearts tonight is more than a feeling of welcome; it
is a feeling of deep appreciation, pride and honor that Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt has come to our city.
In 1933, the people of Birmingham were honored by a visit from our illustrious President. Only one thing
marred the happiness of that occasion; his distinguished wife did not accompany him. But tonight, she
has also done honor to our city and we are now satisfied and contented.
Since March 1933, the White House has come to mean more to the American people than ever before.
During the late depression no city suffered more than industrial Birmingham. Our banks were failing;
our industries were closing; our people were without employment; we were without a market for our
municipal bonds; we were unable to take care of our thousands of people on relief. In our dire distress
the Roosevelt Administration came to our rescue. It restored confidence. It placed the country's banking
system on a sound basis; it bought Birmingham's bonds; it enabled us to complete our drainage
system; it supplied funds for the construction of much needed viaducts, underpasses, and many miles
of pavement and various other public improvements. It spent two million dollars in our city for slum
clearance, and it is furnishing six and one-half million dollars for the construction of our great and much
needed industrial water system. It has furnished employment for thousands of our citizens. It has fed
our needy and clothed our naked.
My friends, the outlook for the city of Birmingham was never brighter. With the timely help of the
Roosevelt Administration and with the progressive spirit of our people, the depression has been
conquered. Birmingham has the same inexhaustible resources she has always had, the same mountains
rich in coal and ore, the same rivers, the same fertile valleys. The sun shines even more brightly than it
has in the past. Birmingham now the great metropolis of Alabama, is destined soon to become a city of
a million people, and the metropolis of our entire Southland.
But, my friends, our guest of tonight is distinguished not only because she is the wife of one of the
greatest presidents of all history she is distinguished because of her own ability and attainments. Mrs.
Roosevelt, we have followed your career with profound interest. We know that it is from you that our
great leader draws his support and inspiration. Happy is the nation which has a wise and able leader to
whom it may look for inspiration; blessed, indeed, is the nation which has two such outstanding leaders.
And now permit me figuratively at least, to present to you the keys to our city. These keys will unlock
for you our picturesque driveways from which you may look down in the valley upon Birmingham, a
scintillating gem at the feet of the mountains so full of coal, iron and limestone. These keys will unlock
the doors of our great industrial plants which the Roosevelt Administration has again set in motion,
and from which go out manufactured steel and iron products to the utmost parts of the world. They
will unlock our places of amusement, our shows and theatres, our clubs, our parks and libraries. They
will unlock to you our homes. They are, indeed, the keys to our hearts. This is a great day in the history
of our City. It is a memorable day for the people of Alabama. Mrs. Roosevelt, Birmingham's door of
welcome was never swung wider open than it is to you tonight.
I thank you for your attention.

Welcome Address by James M.Jones Jr., City Commission President, to Eleanor Roosevelt, March 23,1937, Municipal Auditorium.
James M. Jimmie"Jones Papers, File #1007. Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Birmingham Public Library (BPL Archives).

INTRODUCTION
 Cartoon Parody of Roosevelt's New Deal Program.
Vaughn Shoemaker.
Courtesy The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, administered by the National Archives and Records
Administration.

Roosevelt holds a hand of alphabet cards, which he is organizing on the table like a game of Scrabble.

xii DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

CHAPTER ONE

ALPHABET AGENCIES

Beginning in 1932, Acts of Congress and Presidential Executive Orders established so many new agencies that
they became known by their initials. In 1936, a peacetime year, federal spending first outpaced that of state and
local governments. It rose to nine percent of the national economy.
January 1932-1941, Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) lent $9.4 billion in low-interest loans to
banks, insurance companies, building and loan associations, agricultural credit organizations, and railroads to
help stabilize these institutions.
March 1933, Emergency Banking Act (EBA) closed and helped reorganize troubled banks.
April 1933-1942, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a work relief program for more than 3 mil-
lion men from unemployed families who planted trees, built roads and structures, and fought fires in the nation's
forests and parks. The CCC's closest projects to Birmingham were at Oak Mountain and Cheaha State Parks and at
today's Moundville Archaeological Park near Tuscaloosa.
May 1933-December 1935, Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) operated a direct-relief effort
that provided jobs for more than 20 million people and granted $3.1 billion to local work projects.
May 1933-present, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) became the first large federal regional planning agency.
TVA built dams, produced and sold hydroelectric power and fertilizer, developed recreational lands and com-
munities, and reforested this region.
May 1933-1937, Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) began the federal balancing of supply and demand for
farm crops by offering farmers funds to not produce corn, cotton, milk, peanuts, rice, tobacco, and wheat.
June 1933, National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) authorized the President to regulate industry and permit
cartels and monopolies. The act also guaranteed labor the right to organize and bargain collectively. An amend-
ment sponsored by Alabama Senator John Bankheadjr. created the Subsistence Homestead program.
June 1933-1943, Public Works Administration (PWA) spent $4 billion on federal, state, and local construction
projects, funding educational buildings, courthouses, public art, sewage-disposal plants, waterworks and public
health facilities, and streets and roads. The major Birmingham projects were the Industrial Waterworks System at
Inland Lake; the Jefferson Hospital, now part of UAB; and public housing projects, the first at Smithfield and Elyton.
June 1933, National Recovery Administration (NRA) allowed industries to create "codes of fair competition,"
which were intended to reduce "destructive competition" and to help workers by setting minimum wages and
maximum weekly hours. Blue Eagle posters symbolized business participation in the NRA.
June 1933-present, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guaranteed the safety of bank deposits up
to a certain amount.
June 1933-1936, Home Owners'Loan Corporation (HOLC) permanently changed the prevailing mortgage
system, refinancing more than a million homes to prevent foreclosure.
1933-present, Farm Credit Administration (FCA), established in 1916, was authorized to establish a central-
ized source of farm credit.
September 1933-present, Soil Erosion Service (SES), now the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the
United States Department of Agriculture, was established to assist farmers.
October 1933-1939, and to present, Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) aided farmers and producers
through loans, purchases, and other operations. In 1939, the C C C was transferred to the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture.

ALPHABET AGENCIES
October 1933-March, 1934, Civil Works Administration (CWA), a five-month program, employed 4 million
people in the construction of roads, schools, playgrounds, airports, and sewers. The program spent over a billion
dollars nationally. The CWA employed 15,000 persons in Jefferson County in public works projects.
October 1933-March 1934, Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) commissioned more than 15,000 works of
art for public buildings. A Treasury Department program continued the work through 1943.
1933-present, Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) began a make-work program for unemployed
architects to develop measured drawings of pre-1860 architecture and thereby develop a national architectural
archive that remains to this day. HABS documented the Walker, Worthington, and Mudd Plantation houses in Bir-
mingham.
1934, 1938-present, Bureau of Air Commerce, Civil Aeronautics Authority-Federal Aviation Authority
(CAA-FAA) expanded the federal role in air travel, monitoring safety, overseeing pilot and aircraft certifica-
tions, and regulating fares and routes.
June 1934-present, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) became the successor to the Federal Radio
Commission, regulating non-federal broadcasting and interstate and international telecommunications that
originate in the United States.
1934-present, National Housing Act of 1934 created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Fed-
eral Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation to improve housing standards and conditions and provide home
financing by insuring mortgage loans. The F H A is today part of the Department of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment (HUD). From 1934 to 1938, RobertJemison Jr. ofBirmingham was the FHA'sfirst state director for Alabama.
1934-present, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was charged with protecting the interest of the
public and investors in connection with the public issuance and sale of corporate securities.
October 1934-June 1943, U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts encompassed variously named pro-
grams that commissioned works of art for post offices and courthouses across the nation and for public buildings
in Washington, D.C. The best-known local projects are the post office murals at Fairfield and Montevallo.
1934, July 1935-present, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the successor organization to the National
Labor Board of 1933, conducted elections for labor union representatives and investigated and remedied unfair
labor practices.
April 1935-1943, Works Progress Association-Administration (WPA), name changed to Works Project
Administration in 1939, employed more than 8.5 million persons in communities across the nation to work on
19 types of potentially fundable activities, including improving streets, roads, and schools and building high-
ways, bridges, airports, water systems, and parks. The WPA employed 9,000 persons in Jefferson County on public
works projects valued at $63 7 million in today's dollars. A partial list of localprojectsfollows in Chapter Five.
April 1935-present, Resettlement Administration (RA), later Farm Security Administration (FSA), now
Farmers Home Administration attempted to improve the lifestyle of sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and the
rural poor by resettling them on large government-owned farms that used modern techniques and expert
supervisors. One activity set up 34 subsistence homestead communities under the guidance of government experts,
four of them in the Birmingham area at Greenwood, Mount Olive, Palmerdale, and Trussville. Federal photographers
documented these community building efforts.
May 1935-1942, Federal Art Project (FAP) was an "art for every man" program and sub-unit of the W P A that
hired artists from the relief rolls to produce and exhibit more than 400,000 works of art, provide art education
for children, and staff 100 community art centers.
June 1935-1943, National Youth Administration (NYA), a part of the WPA, provided vocational educational
programs for adult learners and work to keep other students in school. Aubrey Williams from Alabama headed
the program. The NYA was active at the Slossfield Clinic in North Birmingham and the Snow Rodgers and other com-
munity centers. NYA and WPA workers also built Overton Park in Homewood.

DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

July 1935-1939, Federal Writers'Project (FWP) funded writers of local and oral histories, children's books, and
the 48 state guide books known as the American Guide Series. F W P workers also indexed titles, including the
Index to Alabama Biography, slave tales, life histories, short stories, and folklore. Individual states continued the
project until 1943.
August 1935-present, Social Security Board-Administration became law and remains so, with social security
benefits financed by a payroll tax.
1935-1943, Federal Music Project-Program gave employment to professional musicians and teachers of
music. The program hosted thousands of concerts and festivals, offered music lessons, created 34 orchestras, and
researched American traditional music and folk songs.
1935-1939, Federal Theatre Project funded theatrical events: classical and children's venues, revues, musical
comedies, vaudeville, circus, dance, puppet and marionette shows, and ethnic plays. Coordinated from Washing-
ton, its theatre companies operated in 22 states and 40 cities, including Birmingham, which became home to
the only federally supported African-American theater unit in the Deep South.
May 1935-1955, Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA) intended to provide agricultural relief
and economic diversification as well as power, good roads, reforestation, and adequate housing.
May 1935-present, Rural Electrification Administration (REA) undertook to provide farms with inexpensive
electric lighting and power. The Rural Utilities Service continues this function today.
1930s and 1940s, Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA) program was a National Park Service program
that built and staffed 46 public parks in 24 states, chiefly near urban areas. Oak Mountain State Park included an
original Recreational Demonstration Area with a group camp in the area about Tranquility Lake that was created at
this time.
1937, United States Housing Authority (USHA) was designed to lend funds to states or communities for the
low-cost construction of public housing. The Housing Act of 1937 provided for the establishment, through state
law, of local public housing authorities to build, own, and operate housing and for the government to guarantee
mortgages for other low-cost housing developments. In 1938, Smithfield Court became the first Birmingham proj-
ect and was followed by Elyton Village in 1940. These were built with PWAfunds. By April 1943, additional housing
projects at Central City, Southtown, and Eastwood provided Birmingham 2,566 total public housing units, valued at
$213 million in today's dollars.
June 1938, Fair Labor Standards Act established a minimum wage and a maximum workweek.

ALPHABET AGENCIES
CHAPTER TWO

PUTTING THE F I R S T 15,000 TO W O R K :

T H E CIVIL W O R K S ADMINISTRATION (CWA)

LEGEND
/historic American J3u tiding Survey (See hcdy of
Aviation.
0 Aviation Marking.
•X J3essemer Airport,
%\ Munic/pai Airport
United States Coa^i & Geodetic Survey-
'_ i$ench Marks S= Quarter Townships.
Triangula! ion Stations,
tyeaftft, Safety, Sc -Sanitation.
} Community Sam ration.
I ptoodControl & Surface Water Drainage.
i federal Malarial Control.
) Seating Pbandcnecf A7/r?es.
I Sewage J?/spo3ai P/anfe.
I Tuhercuics/s San ifolium.
Homesteading.
© Birmingham /iosnesZhao's, /nc.
Military.
\h Birmingham 7hr-get 7?crnoe.
% Roberts' F/eid
hce/tan ecus,

f Public 23a i/dings

Pock Quarry ~
jrVo/7?en's Projects
Porks &
$ Athletic
Recreation.
Field.
/mproved.
J3r-i#h/on.
fSee body af repcri.J

Q) Parks.
Roads.
— County Road^s /mproved.
Sc hoots.
g Alabama JZoy>s' Industrial School -Grading-
© Schooi'JBof/d/rrgs improved.
© -School Grounds improved.
© School Zsaiidings & Grounds improved-
© Stole Training School for (girls -iBuitdirtQ^ & Irnprovt/rfertfc
streets.
> Improvement within Small incorporated

Note. See map far City of

23irrrjirfffAam pr-q/ects.

DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 The first federal program established to create temporary jobs for millions of
unemployed citizens was unveiled November 8, 1933. Nationally, it provided jobs for
4 million persons and spent more than $200 million a month, well above initial cost
estimates. The program ended on March 31,1934.
The program was managed in Jefferson County under the direction of a local com-
mittee that included a leading clergyman, two bank presidents, a lawyer, an investment
banker, an industrialist, and a housewife. They met on November 20,1933, the day after
the local initiative was announced, and declared their purpose to "put every possible man
to work at the earliest possible date, with the idea of securing every possible dollar for
the residents of Jefferson County." Their track record is admirable.
By the end of the first week, 5,816 persons from all types and classes of work
were employed on projects countywide. By February 15, 1934, 15,350 persons were
employed. The program expended $3.6 million in federal dollars and the required
$250,000 local match. It would have completed all its projects had federal authorities
not curtailed the work week to 24 hours per week to reduce run-away expenditures.
The county engineer's copy of the Report of the Civil Works Administration of Ala-
bama, Jefferson County Division, now held in the Southern History Department of the
Birmingham Public Library, documents with words and photographs the remarkable
improvements made in the five-month period to public facilities, streets and roads,
storm water drainage, parks, and schools and athletic fields in the Birmingham area. A
partial list includes:
• 92 miles of roads improved
• Streets, alleys, sidewalks, and storm drains improved
• Additions made to the airport and other public buildings
/
• 101 county schools repaired, renovated, and cleaned
©
• New park facilities and school athletic fields built
• 74 playground leaders assigned to supervise play in parks
• Repairs made to 11 buildings at t h e T B Sanatorium
• 500 coal mine openings sealed to decrease acidity in the surface water carrying
mine drainage
• 400 boxes of donated toys given to the Community Christmas Shop and placed
in new kindergarten programs started in the parks
• 12 reading rooms opened to extend library services (These had "trained
directrices.")
• 13 persons hired to keep the libraries open on the weekends
• 15 sewing rooms organized with 140 seamstresses who produced 13,371 garments
• 24 nurses hired to advance public health initiatives
• 2 women appointed to inventory and index state and county records

M a p ofJefferson County Project Sites.

Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy Birmingham Public Library (BPL) Southern History Department.

The map documenting the City of Birmingham projects, cited on the county map, left, is missing from
the library's volume.

PUTTING THE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK

P U B L I C FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS

Shades Valley Sewage Disposal Plant, Jefferson

County.
"A general view of the Shades Valley Disposal Plant
showing the clarifier tanks, flocculators and main
building. Also digestor tanks in the background. This
is one of the most modern sewage treatment plants
using the chemicalprocess in the U.S."
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama,Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Municipal Garage, Tarrant.

"This is one of severalprojects of Tarrant City
where skilled men were used to advantage on
public buildings."
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

a-5

City Shops, Birmingham.

"A general view showing the construction of the new City Shops located at the South Side Jail property. The material used in the construction of
this building was salvaged from the Loveman Joseph & Loeb Fire."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

STREET A N D ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

Repairing Streets—Brick Paving, Bessemer.

"Repairing the worn out brick paving on 19th
Street, Bessemer. This paving has been in a bad
condition for a number of years. The bricks are
taken up and turned over and reset on sand
cushion and grouted, and all worn out bricks are
replaced with new bricks."
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Grading and Surfacing a Residential Street,

33rd Avenue from 16th to 17th Street,
North Birmingham.
A typical section of one of the many streets
graded and surfaced in the North Birmingham
district of the City of Birmingham."
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Grading and Surfacing, 25th Avenue from 22nd to 24th Street, North Birmingham.
"A typical street grading and surfacingjob in the negro section of North Birmingham."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

PUTTING THE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK

 Broadway Cut, North View, Homewood.
'"fflij roarf w a continuation of the present paved street in
Homewood known as Broadway that follows the car line to the
paved road along Edgewood Lake. This road was cut through
solid rock and will give the people of this section a more direct
route into Homewood and Birmingham."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of
Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

; TS *
t _z 'V

Rocky Ridge Road, Elimination of Dangerous Curve,

Jefferson County.
"This view of the Rocky Ridge Road clearly shows the extent
of road work in Jefferson County. New right of ways were
secured in order to make this major change to eliminate some
of the dangerous curves of this road."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Grading, 83rd Street South of Vassar Avenue, Birmingham.

A typical view of a street grading job in the South part of East Lake."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Widening and Straightening,
Maxine Road, Jefferson County.
"This view shows another change being
made in the Maxine Road that winds
through the mountains near the Warrior
River. This singular change will eliminate
three dangerous horse shoe curves. This
was the heaviest roadproject in Jefferson
County."
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama,Jefferson
County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Grading and Widening, East Lake Boulevard, Tarrant.

'East Lake Boulevard is the main street through Tarrant
City connecting the county road from East Lake to the
business section of this city and the paved Mt. Pinson Road.
This road wasformerly a narrow curving road through cuts
and fills and has been widened to itsfull width and made
safefor the travelling public."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

W i d e n i n g and Straightening, Bradford-

M t . Pinson Road,Jefferson County.
"This is one of the heavy travelled roads in
this section of the county, leading into several
mining camps and on into Warrior, Alabama.
Curves have been day-lighted through heavy
rock cuts, and this road has been reworked for
a distance of approximately 5 miles."
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama, Jefferson
County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

PUTTING THE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK

STORM WATER IMPROVEMENTS

Streets, Sidewalks, and Drains, Central Park, Birmingham.

An end view of a 3' x 11'3" stone box storm sewer with
reinforced cone slab. This box culvert is 900 long and replaces an
open ditch that ran through a beautiful park and across several
streets in Central Park."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of
Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

m .'-••-kk'

Drainage Ditch and Concrete Bridge, Interurban Heights.

Fairfield.
"This view is of the [main] ditch showing the end of one of the
many concrete bridges built along this ditch through this colored

Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of

Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Parking Field and Treatment of Gutter, Municipal

Airport, Birmingham.
A typical section of the parking space along the east side of the
Mun icipal Airport showing area graded and surfaced with
course slag. The gutter between this parking area and the County
Road has been lined with largeflat stone 6' wide to allow for
drainage and easy cross-over for cars."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of
Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

10 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Drainage Ditch, Municipal Airport, Birmingham.
"Typical section of drain ditch showing treatment of side
walls of ditch with ruble masonry."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Streets, Sidewalks, and Drains, L o m b Boulevard, <',*#*£A . **» •'-• • - * " £ *

Birmingham.
A picture of one of the concrete box storm sewers showing
a section of the open ditch. This sewer eliminates several
wooden bridges in Lomb Boulevard in the vicinity of the
Fair Grounds in the City of Birmingham."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History. KS>'
Drainage Ditch, Green Springs Park—Now George
Ward Park, Birmingham.
A view of a typical section showing treatment of drainage
ditches with rip-rap-ruble masonry in Green Springs Park."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

PUTTINGTHE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK 11

PARK IMPROVEMENTS

i Recreation Building, Homewood Park,

Homewood.
"One of the units of the new Homewood Park
on Shades Creek." [Status: Demolished for
,. .^tili^illil Brookwood Mall]
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama,Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Community House, Municipal-Now Roosevelt

Park, Bessemer.
"The Community House is one of the many units of the
Municipal Park constructed by the C. W.A. This house
is of a permanent construction and equipped with a
large open room and fire place, a nursery, kitchen, two
toilets and lavatories." [Status: Under restoration by the
Bessemer Parks Department]
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama,Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Wading Pool and Spring House, Municipal Park-Now Roosevelt Park, Bessemer.
"Two other units of the Municipal Park at Bessemer, showing the wading pool and spring house. This spring is the main source of water
supplyfor wading pool and swimming pool." [Status: Filled in]
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

12 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Barbecue Pit, Lane Park, Birmingham.
Apicture of one of the barbecue pits built in Lane Park of rustic
stone masonry. These pits and shelter houses are built throughout
this park to serve individual picnic groups. The park covers an
area of 200 acres." [Status: Extant at the Birmingham Zoo]
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of
Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Stone Bridge, Lane Park, Birmingham.

"One of the rustic bridges built with stone
quarried from Lane Park. This bridge is built
over a spring branch on one of the drives
through this park." [Status: Extant on Pullen
Creek, just east of the train station at the
Birmingham Zoo.]
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama,Jefferson
County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Community House, Lane Park-Now Z o o

Lodge, Birmingham.
A view of the beautiful Community House in
Lane Park. This house is built from natural stone
taken from this park and equipped with modern
plumbing and otherfeatures." [Status: Renovated
by the Birmingham Zoo in 1992-1993 and rented
for special events]
Published in Report of the Civil Works
Administration of Alabama,Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

PUTTING THE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK 13

A T H L E T I C FIELDS A N D O T H E R SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS

Athletic Field, Ensley High School, Birmingham.

A view of the Ensley High School athletic field showing the leveling and sprigging of these grounds."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

in.. • ii! 3 MM

Athletic Field, Hueytown School, Jefferson County.

"This is another County School that was built years ago on a site where it was necessary to do a large amount of grading in order to build a suitable
playing field adjacent to the school building. This work was all done with hand labor."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

14 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 •<•-• '• -.. '—• i ..•»rJ v *w» «? . • » » *' Vbi.-

Athletic Field, Tarrant City School, Tarrant.

"The work of grading this athletic field together with the landscaping and drainage of these grounds represents one of the best completed
projects of the C W.A."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Athletic Field and Terrace, Lewisburg School, Jefferson County.

A view showing the treatment of terraces and slopes of the deep cut showing the stone steps and retaining wall. The stone used in the construction of
this wall was taken from nearby abandoned coke ovens."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

PUTTINGTHE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK 15

 Football Field and Stand, Bessemer.
"This view shows the arrangement of this field and the type of construction of the grandstand."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Matrons Home, State Training School for Girls, Chalkville.

"This was one of the old buildings which has been remodeled and made into a 6-room housefor the Matrons Home. This is one of the several units
of this project."
Published in Report of the Civil Works Administration of Alabama, Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

16 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Painting, Mortimer Jordan
High School, Jefferson County.
"This picture shows the painting
of the Mortimer Jordan High
School, a typicalpainting project.
Similar work of this kind has
been done throughout Jefferson
County."
Published in Report of the
Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Addition, Springdale School,

Jefferson County.
"This new building replaces an
old dilapidated building that was
being used as an annex to this
school."
Published in Report of the
Civil Works Administration
of Alabama,Jefferson County
Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

Auditorium, Warrior High School,

Jefferson County.
An interior view of the new
auditorium of Jefferson County High
School at Warrior, Alabama."
Published in Report of the Civil
Works Administration of Alabama,
Jefferson County Division, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Southern History.

PUTTING THE FIRST 15,000 TO WORK 17

CHAPTER THREE
ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY
T H E CIVILIAN CONSERVATION C O R P S (CCC)

In March 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt created

the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to put men to
work on natural resource projects. Alabama took full advan-
tage of this popular program.
Lands were reforested and protected from erosion and
fire, timber productivity was developed in the newly acquired
national forests and on private land, and recreational facili-
ties were built at many state parks. Between 1933 and 1942,
an average of 30 C C C camps operated in Alabama. The
state's total participation was $55 million.
The Moulton Advertiser of July 16, 1942, provides a sta-
tistical summary of the work of Alabama's C C C boys:
• 1,800 miles of roads built
• 490 bridges constructed
• 188 buildings erected for the protection and adminis-
tration of forest lands and for public recreational areas
• 1,430 miles of telephone lines strung
• 61 lookout towers built
• More than 2,200 miles of firebreaks constructed
• More than 285,000 bushels of pine cones gathered
• 20,000 denuded areas replanted to provide future
forests Map of Alabama National Forests and State Parks in
• 114,000 acres of timber improved CCC Days, 1933-1942.
Adapted from State Parks in Alabama, a brochure by the State
• Numerous recreational areas developed with improved of Alabama, Parks Division, Department of Conservation,
hunting and fishing Montgomery, Alabama, 1940.

18 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Company Photograph, 1935. Company 3475, Camp F - 2 at Danville,
Alabama (now Bankhead) National Forest.
Photograph courtesy Robert Pasquill Jr.

C C C enrollees were organized into companies of approximately 200

men each. Large-format photographs of assembled companies were
made as souvenir portraits and sold to the men. Recruits were assigned
to a camp and usually served for three months.The closest camps to
Birmingham were SP-8 and P-81 at Bessemer.

Sentell Martin, 1937. Company 3477-C, Camp

F-6 at Heflin, Talladega National Forest.
Photograph courtesy Robert Pasquill Jr.

Company leaders organized the men for their

project work and camp life. Leaders were paid
$45 monthly, well above the $30 monthly base pay.
Enrollees sent home to their families a portion of
this pay. Sentell Martin was a company leader and
also edited the company newspaper and played
the piano.

Telephone Line Crew with Supervisor, 1937.

Company 3477-C, C a m p F-6 at Heflin, Talladega
National Forest.
Photograph courtesy Robert Pasquill Jr.

M e n were assigned various duties, including the

rigging of telephone lines between fire towers to
assist in fire protection. Aided by the "climbers" on
their legs, this crew climbed trees to string the lines.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 19

 C a m p P-54 for Company 2403 at Brewton, 1933.
Photographs courtesy the National Association of CCC Alumni and
Robert Pasquill Jr.

In the beginning, enrollees were housed in tents provided by

the army. Each man was issued army clothing and two blankets.
Toiletries and mess kits were also supplied.

Soon camps grew to average 24 buildings, including a kitchen and

mess hall, recreation and education buildings, infirmary, barracks
accommodating as many as 40 to 50 men, and quarters for the
military and technical staff.

20 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Charles Foster, C C C Artist, 1934.
Company 463, C a m p F - l at Moulton,
Alabama (now Bankhead) National Forest.
Photograph courtesy Robert Pasquill Jr.

Under a program created by First Lady Eleanor

Roosevelt, artists recorded C C C camp life. Foster
spent four months photographing and preparing
watercolor and oil paintings of Alabama's first C C C
camp, established May 19,1933, in the future Bankhead
National Forest.

Barracks for Company 463,1934.

Camp F - l at Moulton, Alabama-
(now Bankhead) National Forest.
Watercolor by Charles Foster.
Photograph courtesy Robert Pasquill Jr.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 21

Mess Hall, 1933.
Camp P-54 at Brewton.
Photograph courtesy the National Association of CCC
Alumn i and Robert Pasquill Jr.

Enrollees of Company 3486,1936.

Camp TVA P-13 at Huntsville.
Photograph courtesy the National Association of CCC
Alumn i and Robert Pasquill Jr.

In this souvenir photograph, below, C C C men are

gathered in the Education Building, where reading
and writing as well as vocational education instruction
was offered.

Company 3476 Baseball Team, circa 1935.

Camp F-5 at Double Springs, Black Warrior
(now Bankhead) National Forest.
Photograph courtesy the National Association of CCC
Alumni and Robert Pasquill Jr.

Most C C C camps organized sporting teams.

Opponents included other camp and high school
teams. In isolated areas, barracks played other
barracks and work crews took on other crews.
Singing groups, movies, drama, and dances were also
popular.

Work Crew Heading Out of Camp, 1936.

Company 3478-C, Camp F-7 at Chandler Springs,
Talladega National Forest.
Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest Service.

22 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

W O R K I N T H E FORESTS

Constructing a Fire Tower, Talladega

National Forest, circa 1936.
Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest Service.

The Talladega National Forest was acquired in

1936. At left, enrollees in Company 3477-C
construct one of nine steel fire towers the
C C C built in the newly acquired forest. These
towers reduced the time needed to report and
take action on forest fires.

Fire Tower at Open Pond, Conecuh National Forest, 1938.

Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

This 100-foot steel fire tower with a 12- x 12-foot "cab" and an exterior catwalk is one
of four such towers built by C C C men in Conecuh National Forest, which was also

Caretaker's Cabin, Weogufka State Park, 1935.

Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest Service.

A watchman lived in this residence adjacent the fire tower on Flagg Mountain.
Mississippi farm boys and native Alabamians built it as well as Weogufka's roads,
towers, cabins, bathhouse, and mess hall. From 1933 to 1935, Company 260 lived at the
park while building its structures from timber and stone hewn on-site.

Bunker Tower at the Highest Spot in Alabama, Cheaha State Park, Built 1934-1935.
Photograph by Robert Pasquill Jr., 2007.

M e n from Alabama, Florida, and Georgia who formed Company 468 built a 13-mile
road from their camp at Oxford into the wilderness area that was to become Cheaha
State Park. Then, they began work on this 40-foot tower, as well as cabins and other
structures. Those who worked on the stone bridges, culverts, and retaining walls along
the park road learned on the job. Their leader was the only man experienced in masonry
when construction of the park road began.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 23

FIRE SUPPRESSION A N D FOREST REGENERATION

Filling Back-Pack Pumpers,

Talladega National Forest, 1936.
Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest
Service.

Enrollees patrolled the forests with

fire-fighting equipment. In 1935,
a Talladega newspaper reported
that two C C C companies in
the adjacent national forest had
extinguished 700 forest fires. At
the left, enrollees from Company
3478-C at Camp F-7 at Chandler
Springs fill their pumpers.

Collecting Pine Cones, Blue Pond Plantation,

Conecuh National Forest, 1937.
Enrollees from Company 3474-C at Camp F - 9
near Andalusia.
Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

W h e n Conecuh National Forest was created

in July 1936, it consisted of 54,177 acres of
cutover and burned-over lands. The land was
mostly barren except for scattered trees that
logging operators had considered undesirable.
Fire Suppression in the Talladega National Forest, 1936.
C C C enrollees collected seeds and planted
Photographs courtesy U. S. Forest Service.
seedlings to help reforest the Conecuh lands.
Enrollees on the Cheaha State Park project from Company 468 at Camp SP-7
also helped fight fires in Alabama's national forests.

24 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 i'--\<*.Mi.ii--' ••„'

Planting Pine Seedlings, Blue Pond Plantation, Conecuh National Forest, 1937.
Photographs courtesy U S. Forest Service.

km Blue Pond became the Alabama CCC's first large-scale planting project. In January
1937, 60 enrollees planted 22,000 trees in one day. Six weeks later, nearly a million
k^o trees had been planted on 1,000 acres here. To regularly space the pine seedlings at
6- by 8-foot intervals across the open lands, the planting crew "followed the knotted
* string." Both longleaf and slash pine were planted.
• v

'•IPlfi
-.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 25

Timber Stand Improvement, Talladega National Forest, 1937.
Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

To help the newly planted pine grow, C C C men cut down damaged trees and tree species that competed with the pines. Here, the
work is performed by Company 3478-C of Camp F-7 at Chandler Springs.

Erosion Control, Open Pond, Conecuh National Forest, 1937.

Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

To stop erosion on over-timbered and over-farmed land, the Alabama C C C built hundreds of check dams similar to those pictured.
In this photograph, the forest supervisor and district ranger inspect the dams. Above the dams, top of this photograph, C C C Camp
F-9 is perched at the top of the gully.

26 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

BUILDING ROADS AND BRIDGES

Five Runs Creek Bridge, Conecuh National Forest, 1937.

Photographs courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

Enrollees of Company 3474-C at Open Pond built this bridge, below,

and planted its approaches with "carpet grass sod,'''left.

Thompson Creek Bridge, Alabama (now Bankhead) National Bridge Construction Crew from Company 1485, Camp S-52
Forest, 1933. at Chunchula.
Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service. Photograph courtesy National Association of CCC Alumni and Robert
Pasquill Jr.
Enrollees of Company 1403 at Kinlock Springs built this steel-span
bridge with masonry abutments.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 27

B U I L D I N G RECREATIONAL A R E A S A N D A M U S E U M

OPEN POND
RECREATIONAL A R E A

Drilling a Well, Open Pond,

Near Andalusia, 1937.
Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest Service.

Before building the recreational area, the

C C C men drilled a well to provide water for
drinking, bathing, and lavatory facilities.

Open Pond Recreational Area,

Conecuh National Forest, 1938.
Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest Service.

The recreational area for bathing and

picnicking included a bathhouse, picnic shelter,
tables, and barbecue pits all built by Company
3474-C of Camp F-9. The 200 enrollees also
built roads, constructed fences, and planted
trees over the 3,000-acre area. W h e n the
recreation area opened in June 1938, the
Covington News noted that the bathhouse,
center left in the photograph below, "built of
large hewn timbers, in its setting among the
majestic pines portrays a beautiful and restful
atmosphere to the surroundings."

28 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

T H E M U S E U M A T MOUNDVILLE

Pouring the First Concrete for the Museum

at M o u n d State Monument, May 24,1937.
Photograph made by Dr. Walter B. Jones, Courtesy
the Walter B. Jones Photograph Collection, Alabama
Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama
Museums.

This major archaeological site was purchased

in 1932 by the State of Alabama. C C C men
constructed its first roads and trails, initiated erosion
control to stabilize the 26 mounds, and built a
concrete museum building. Archaeologists Dr.
Walter Jones and Dr. James Dejarnette and others
also supervised C C C enrollees in the excavation of
the mounds. At this time, the age and contents of
the mounds were unknown.

To work at the Moundville site, C C C Company 487

established a side camp from their main camp SP-8
at Bessemer. Later, Company 444 established a full
camp at the park, Camp SP-15. They completed the
museum to house the site's archaeological collection
for its opening on May 16,1939. Robert Flechner,
Director of the C C C , was on hand to help celebrate.
Today the mounds, artifacts, and museum remain at
the Moundville Archaeological Park.

Construction of the M o u n d State M o n u m e n t Museum, Moundville, 1939.

Photograph courtesy the Walter B. Jones Photograph Collection, Alabama Museum of Natural History, University of Alabama Museums.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 29

C H E A H A S T A T E PARK

"Sky Way Motor Way" Construction,

Talladega National Forest, 1937.
Photograph courtesy U. S. Forest Service.

The Talladega National Forest was

created in July 1936. Several C C C
companies were assigned to make
the forest more accessible. Company
3477-C from Heflin constructed the
scenic road, which extended from
Sylacauga to Borden Springs across the
more than 2,000 acres of Cheaha State
Park and the highest point in Alabama:
a location 2,407 feet above sea level.

Bankhead Fire Tower and Picnic Shelter, Talladega

National Forest, 1938.
Photographs courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

During 1936,17 miles of the Talladega scenic road were

located, graded, and cherted. By March 1937,180 C C C
men were working to develop the emerging Cheaha
State Park. They constructed the fire tower, above, and a
watchman's house,far right, as well as visitor amenities
including picnic shelters, overnight cabins, and a
bathhouse—all of native timber and stone hewn on the
site. C C C work continued here in 1938 and 1939.

30 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Lunch time for Construction Crew, "Sky Way Motor Way"
Project, Talladega National Forest, 1937.
Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

Mess hall workers provided lunch, which was served from

the back of a truck to C C C men who consumed it at the job
site with utensils from their army-surplus mess kits.

Watchman's House, Talladega National Forest, 1938.

Photograph courtesy U.S. Forest Service.

In the photograph, right, the National Forest District Ranger

reviews construction plans for the watchman's dwelling with the
C C C Project Superintendent. A carpenter works to the rear.

Watchman's House Above the Sky Way Motor Way, Talladega National Forest, 1938.
Photograph courtesy U S. Forest Service.

Cheaha State Park and the scenic drive reopened to visitors in June 1939. Park improvements included visitor accommodations,
30 miles of road, and 4 miles of foot trails. Four thousand native shrubs and trees had been transplanted to the park area.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 31

 Vacation Cabin Rentals
i
Park
r«t IMI"; ,'.',' Chins £'«< ""«•',.,!""'
'k
',';' ," "p"V™s
Mo-te SB „0 H - n svllle „ Cabins « c b S3.W »-.« ,„.« ,
2 Cabins each 1.00 3.00 20.00 o

:s. : : : :: : .
Ili.lir, i m p l e x
4.5. 23.00 1!

Utile Rlv« R.2, *tm»rr 1 Cabins »<h 1.73 1.25 S.00 4

Oak each 2 30 173 12 00 4

2.73 18.00
'
Cabin Equipment
Cabins arc completely furnished anil all you need to bring is ice. Kerosene f<
cooking can be obtained from the park custodian at all parks except Monte Sam
where electric hot plate* are furnished, Cahin furnishings include beds antl cot
complete with bedding: towel.; cooking utensils: dishes and cutlery: chest ot drawer
are used for lighting ;ii ClV.il,a nod flak Mountain.

Reservations
Cabin reservations should be booked for three or four weeks in advance if possibk
Writing the Custodian, giving number of persons in party, date and hour teservatio
to begin, length of stay, etc. The reservation cannot be completed until a depos
made. If the cabins are not available for the time specified, all money will i
urncd to the applicant. For additional information write Parks Division, Dcpar

32 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

State Parks in Alabama.
Brochure by the State of Alabama, Parks Division, Department of Conservation, Montgomery, Alabama, 1940.

This brochure presents Alabama's state parks, and their recently built recreational amenities, to future park visitors. It also suggests that,
"Alabama's outdoors offer unlimited opportunities to enjoy Nature in solitude and quietness if one so desires." The new CCC-built museum at
today's Moundville Archaeological Park is also included in the presentation.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 33

A GREAT A N D LASTING G O O D :
CCC S T R U C T U R E S IN ALABAMA'S P A R K S

Alabama's state parks contain a wealth of well-built

Civilian Conservation Corps construction work. Des-
ignated in 1927, the state parks developed facilities for
visitors during the 1930s using improvements from the
Adirondack resort tradition, then the popular model for
the national parks and forests. This basic park scheme
included hiking, picnicking, camping (in cabins and tents),
and swimming. The parks became woodland retreats with
rustic facilities built of rough-cut stone and crude timber
hewn on-site.
Brian Rushing's 2009 photographs for Birmingham
Historical Society record typical C C C features: scenic
roads to the highest and most scenic point in the park,
bridges, observation towers, dams (to create lakes), ridge-
top and lakeside cabins for overnight visitors, bathhouses
for swimmers, group lodges, picnic shelters, and barbecue
pits, all created and set into the woods with great respect
for the natural and indigenous landscape.

OAK MOUNTAIN S T A T E PARK

In late 1934, C C C men from their camp near Bessemer

began developing the first 940 acres of this 9,940 acre park.
They graded and surfaced the Pea Vine Falls Road to the
highest point in the park, where lookout points offer views
for miles. Birmingham engineer Henry Gladner, Jemison
8c Company's engineer for the development of Mountain
Brook Estates, supervised the construction of this road and
the Red Road. Oak Mountain Park, with CCC-built picnic
facilities, staff houses, and trails, opened in 1936.
From 1935 to 1942, the Resettlement Administra-
tion, together with the National Park Service, developed
the Group Camp at Tranquility Lake on additional park
acreage now extensively used by the Boy Scouts.

Picnic Shelter

34 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

C H E A H A S T A T E PARK

In 1936 and 1937, C C C men built the

scenic "motorway" into the park, accessing the
highest point in Alabama. Here, they located
Bunker Tower. At that point, the observation
tower originally also included park adminis-
tration and a gift shop. The tower, bluff-side
cabins, and a group lodge have welcomed
visitors since the park opened in June 1939.

""-•-. fS

ft " ,i
§r^ ^vt^^B

Bunker Towe

Overnight Cabins Along the Bluff

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 35

MOUND S T A T E MONUMENT - Now MOUNDVILLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK
CCC labor built roads and facilities and also helped other facilities reopened in 2010, following the major ren-
archaeologists Walter Jones and James Dejarnette and ovation seen in these 2009 photographs. Moundville has
others excavate portions of the Mississippian-era (A.D. been nominated to become a UNESCO World Heritage
1000 to A.D. 1450) village's many mounds at this 320-acre site. The park, under the aegis of the Alabama Museum of
site overlooking the Black Warrior River. The museum and Natural History, first opened in 1939.

36 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

C H E W A C L A S T A T E PARK

At this 525-acre park in Lee County near

Auburn, the C C C built a dam that created a
lake for swimming and fishing. C C C labor
also built the immense stone bathhouse, said
to accommodate 800 people, and five cabins
to provide accommodations for overnight
park visitors. An Auburn-based advocacy
group currently seeks to preserve the charac-
ter of the scenic road leading into the park.

ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY 37

CHAPTER FOUR

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS:

S U B S I S T E N C E HOMESTEADS A N D PUBLIC HOUSING
The first New Deal housing initiative was incorporated into the National
Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. An amendment sponsored by Alabama Sen-
ator John Bankhead Jr. created the Homesteads Division of the Department of
the Interior (later part of the Resettlement Administration, the Farm Security
Administration, and the Federal Public Housing Authority).
The homesteads program, established in July 1933, set out to build farm-
ing communities for wage earners of modest means to help them supplement
their uncertain industrial income. Nationally, this experiment in government-
financed, cooperative farming drew controversy. In the South, part-time farm-
ing to enhance income was a way of life. Most families in small towns and rural
communities made a garden and kept chickens, a milk cow, and perhaps hogs.
Because this was not possible in urban areas, the program, targeted for rural
areas near Birmingham, found favor here, particularly with the slack in opera-
tion of mines, mills, and furnaces.
In Birmingham, a local committee, headed by industrialist Erskine Ram-
say, selected the four tracts of land deemed suitable for subdivision into small
farms. The sites were located less than 20 miles from Birmingham, to which
the part-time farmers would carpool to jobs in the city and at industrial sites.
In 1935, the Resettlement Administration, the Washington agency that
managed the building of the homesteads, set up a construction office in Bir-
mingham to supervise projects in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and
South Carolina. The office employed 180 men. As many as 2,500 local men
were hired from relief rolls and paid good wages to build the Birmingham
projects. Local landscape professionals laid out the Birmingham communi-
ties, and local architects designed most of the houses as well as a combined
school and community center and a cooperative store at each location. Most
construction materials for homesteads were purchased from Birmingham sup-
pliers. A plethora of government inspectors ensured the best workmanship.
Agricultural experts provided farming know-how. The four communities were
up and running by April 1938, five years after the initial legislation.
By 1944, when the subsistence homesteads program closed, the federal
government had built 34 new homestead communities consisting of 3,304
homes at a cost of $30 million. Through this and various other federal housing
programs, a total of 99 new communities with 10,938 new units were built at a
cost of $108 million. Among the 99 communities were Cahaba Village-Truss-
ville, Greenwood, Mount Olive, and Palmerdale near Birmingham, as well as
Bankhead Farms in Walker County, Skyline Farms in Jackson County Gee's
Bend Farms in Wilcox County, and Prairie Farms in Macon County the latter
two projects for African Americans.

"Roadside Stand near Birmingham, Alabama."

Photograph by Walker Evans, 1936.
Courtesy the Library of Congress Farm Security Admin istration- Office of War Information
Photograph Collection (LOC-FSA).

38 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 39
DOCUMENTING W O R K I N G
AND LIVING CONDITIONS
The Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Secu-
rity Administration) hired photographers to gather docu-
mentation showing how the New Deal's social reforms might
improve people's lives. This photographic work, which was
published in local newspapers and popular magazines of the
era, is most responsible for creating the visual image of the
destitution wrought by the Great Depression.
The Birmingham photographs—made by Walker Evans,
Carl Mydans, Thomas Hibben Jr., Arthur Rothstein, and
Marion Post Wolcott from 1935 to 1939—do not show des-
titution. They capture workers and their families, mines and
mills, and company quarters adjacent to these industries. Sev-
eral of the families from the local sites photographed would
be among those selected to move into the new communities
at Greenwood, Mount Olive, Palmerdale, and Trussville that
Resettlement Administration professionals were designing
and building at this time.
In the photographs, the mines and mills are functioning,
albeit on a part-time basis. The varied housing stock pictured
in the photographs dates from the 1880s to the mid-1920s.
Since the founding of Birmingham in 1871, industrial firms
had built and rented quarters for their employees at the work
site, this often being the only place to live in the then unde-
veloped region.The surrounding landscapes are often barren
and stripped of valuable minerals. For the photographs that
follow, the photographers' original captions, cited with quo-
tation marks, remain as the title of each photograph.

"Steelmill and workers'houses. Birmingham, Alabama."

Photograph by Walker Evans, 1936.
Courtesy the Library of Congress Farm Security Administration-Office of War
Information Photograph Collection (LOC-FSA).

This photograph shows the iron-producing furnaces a t T C I - U . S . Steel's

Ensley Works, not steel mills as the image's original caption states. A
steam engine hauling ladle cars filled with molten iron, center, heads to
the steel mill, to the left and not pictured in the photograph. At this mill,
the molten iron was further processed into steel and steel rail, then the
principal product of the Ensley Works. Double shotgun houses for
furnace labor appear in the foreground.
*\ 3 ^-"^^R
1
-—

; ^ ^ " " T ^ -
*"~ ••'<&*»< '

40 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 41
 "Steel plant and workers'houses. Birmingham,
Alabama."
Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott, May 1939.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

This photograph, made from a vantage point

further west than the Walker Evans image on
the previous page, also shows the company
quarters at the Ensley Works. It is wash day.
The houses photographed are bungalow-style
duplexes built for the company's expanded
labor force of the 1920s. Each worker and his
family are provided three rooms and electricity.
Front porches have then-stylish brick piers
supporting the porch columns.

"Steelmill workers'company houses and outhouses. Republic Steel Local industrial firms built these one-story houses by the
Company, Birmingham, Alabama." hundreds in the early 1900s. Known as "square tops," the cottages
Photograph by Walker Evans, March 1936. are well adapted to the Southern climate. H o t air rises into the steep
Courtesy LOC-FSA. roof, effectively cooling the rooms below. W i t h two front doors, the
house was easily subdivided as the demand for housing changed.
Republic Steel did not make steel in Birmingham. At its Thomas site,
The company provided electricity, but sanitary facilities were outside.
it manufactured iron as well as coke and coke byproducts, the coolers Several of the square top houses remain today in the Thomas
for which plant are pictured here, far left, with adjacent company neighborhood of the city of Birmingham.
houses and outhouses.

42 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "An iron ore mine near Bessemer, Alabama. Some of the Rehabilitation
[Resettlement] Administration homesteaders work here."
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

This photograph shows the above-ground mining facilities at T C I -

U.S. Steel's Muscoda Red Ore Mine No. 4, including the tipple, hoist
house, machine shop, and Mineral Railroad spurs. Red Mountain has
been heavily stripped of its surface ore. That ore was transported via the
Mineral Railroad, bottom, to the company's ironmaking furnaces just five
miles away at Ensley and Fairfield. Many of the mining facilities and the
adjacent miners'housing remain today, just west of Red Mountain Park.

"Iron ore miners. Jefferson County, Alabama."

Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

Birmingham area miners and the nearness of the ore mines to

the furnaces made possible the cheap iron for which the region
was noted. In 1922, the price per ton of Alabama red ore was
$1.54; the average U.S. price was $3.14.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 43

"Iron ore mine and company houses. Jefferson County, Alabama." spaced lots. A few more substantial houses for superintendents, a
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, April 1937. doctor, and a store manager added some variety and made clear
Courtesy LOC-FSA. the social hierarchy of this community. T C I supplied jobs, houses,
churches, schools, and a commissary for miners and their families.
This view from the mining operations on Red Mountain (note the In 1952, T C I sold the camp houses to residents. Once mining
cars filled with ore, at the bottom left of the photograph) looks across activity ceased, this former company village became a suburban
the valley in which rows of identical houses are set on generously neighborhood.

44 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "Coal mine at Lewisburg, Alabama. Some of the settlers on Birmingham coke and chemical plant, established in 1918
homesteads work here." and still operated by Sloss Industries. The Mary Lee Railroad
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, February 1937. ran from the Lewisburg mine to the chemical plant.

0 Courtesy LOC-FSA.

The Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company operated the

In the photograph, above, precut timbers to build the
underground mining chambers are piled, left. The wooden
superstructure is a coal washing facility. The hillside, to the
V Lewisburg coal mines and coke ovens until the 1950s. Coke left, is composed of mine tailings, residual materials of the
produced at the Lewisburg plant fueled the company's North industrial process.

"Coming out of the mine. Birmingham, Alabama." "Coal miners. Birmingham, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, February 1937. Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

During the 1930s, mines operated on a reduced schedule, initially

three days a week. Often, miners managed a full shift's work every
two weeks.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 45

46 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
 "Alabama Miners'Houses. Near Birmingham,
«£* Alabama."
Photograph by Walker Evans, December 1935.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.
\
These board-and-batten, two-room houses are
among the earliest dwellings built for coal miners
\ , and their families in the Birmingham area. Set
on rugged terrain without streets and sidewalks,
each house mirrors its neighbor. Sanitary and
water facilities are outside. The two-room, central-
chimneyed design was also seen as slave housing in
the antebellum South.

"Coal M i n e r s ' H o m e s . Birmingham, Alabama."

Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

These board-and-batten houses at an undesignated

mining site were probably built in the 1880s.
Southern forests provided abundant supplies of
wood, used here for the framing, roof shingles,
siding, window sills and sashes, porch floors and
rails, and foundation posts. Board and batten is a
sturdy construction technique used in Europe since
the Middle Ages.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 47

 "Home of Negro Family. Birmingham,
Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

This two-room company house with

"lean-to" extension at the back and a narrow
porch at the front was probably built around
1900 to provide living quarters for two
miners and their families.
The two front doors at 320 and 322 are
screened. The clapboard (pronounced "'kla-
bird") siding and the rolled tar paper roof
have been recently repaired and concrete
steps poured, evidence of company crews
fixing up the rental units. The porch has
swings and decorative turned columns.The
windows have shades and curtains.

"General store for iron ore miners. Muscoda, Alabama." The company store (also known as the commissary) served as gathering
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, February 1937. place, pay office, post office, bill-collection office, and shopping
Courtesy LOC-FSA. center, handling everything from workers'tools to housewives'
non-essentials—fuses and boots, food and furniture, clothing and
Companies provided not only housing for workers but also stores laces. The hillside behind the commissary is stripped of its mineral
where they purchased goods with company scrip known as "clacker.' resources.

48 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

"Gas Station and Miners'Houses. Lewisburg, Alabama
Photograph by Walker Evans, December 1935.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

Dominating this scene of identical miners'houses set

along a narrow road are the Sloss benzol (a hometown-
produced fuel) station and the power transmission lines
that extend to the adjacent coal mine on the hillside
behind the houses. The houses are one-room, board-and-
batten structures with rear lean-to extensions and front
porches. The trim is crisp and white, identifying them
as company houses. They may be electrified. The road is
surfaced with crushed rock.

"A Street in Brookside, Alabama, the small mining town

where many of the M t . Olive homesteaders formerly
lived."
Photograph by Arthur Roths tein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

The Brookside community grew up adjacent to Sloss

coal mines, which attracted area farmers and scores of
immigrants from Eastern Europe. St. Nicholas Russian
Orthodox Church, established in 1894, built this frame
church with Byzantine-style copper dome in 1914. In the
1930s, St. Nicholas sat along a dirt road, today's Church
Street, adjacent to a heavily stripped hillside.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 49

PALMERDALE HOMESTEADS
The first Birmingham homestead opened for occupancy in January
1936 at Palmerdale to the northeast of the city. Here, along the Birming-
ham to Oneonta Road, a 690-acre dairy farm became the setting for the
Palmerdale farms. Under contract to the government, a local man built the
initial 40 four- and six-room frame and brick farmhouses. Lots varied in
size from 1V2 to 6 acres.
In addition to the houses, the government financed a combined
school and community center and a cooperative grocery store. Resettle-
ment Administration staff leased the houses to the occupants until 1940,
when all 75 houses constructed by the government were sold to tenants.
Local records indicate the houses sold for $1,500 to $2,600 each. Govern-
ment records indicate a unit cost of $9,205 with $938,865 as the total cost
of building the community.
"Five room house, Southern colonial style, at the
In June 1936 and February 1937, as the Palmerdale homesteads neared Palmerdale Homesteads near Birmingham, Alabama.'
completion, the Washington staff of the Resettlement Administration sent Photograph by Carl Mydans, June 1936.
photographers Carl Mydans and Arthur Rothstein to document the newly Courtesy LOC-FSA.

built crisp white cottages and Colonial Revival style houses. They also
photographed family members at work on the farmsteads. Interviews with
residents indicate that in-laws and children as well as hired staff contrib-
uted the farm labor necessary to cultivate the generous acreage provided by
the government.

<MiT
St
*

"Plowing a field at Palmerdale, Alabama. New

homesteads in the background."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Some of the children who are now residents of the Palmerdale Homesteads, Alabama/ "Working in garden at Palmerdale Homesteads,
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937. Alabama. New homesteads in background."
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

50 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 ^r r i
^ "L.^ L I
"Five Room Southern colonial style house at Palmerdale Homesteads near Birmingham, Alabama/
Photograph by Carl Mydans, June 1936.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Backyards and houses of the Palmerdale Homesteads near "Palmerdale Homestead boys working a watermelon patch near
Birmingham, Alabama." their house. Alabama."
Photograph by Carl Mydans, June 1936. Photograph by Carl Mydans, June 1936.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Five room house and family at the Palmerdale Homesteads near "One of the Palmerdale Homesteads near Birmingham,
Birmingham, Alabama. Alabama."
Photograph by Carl Mydans, June 1936. Photograph by Carl Mydans, June 1936.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 51

GREENWOOD HOMESTEADS
Birmingham landscape professional William Holm-
quist laid out the Greenwood community's roads,
houses, and related buildings; the cooperative store;
and the school-community center. The former 409-
acre Martin farm site, several miles south of Bes-
semer, included flat lands and hilly topography that
was extensively terraced to improve drainage. The
floodplains of Rice Creek were "reserved" as a cen-
tral woodland and open space. Septic tanks and field
lines and a water system were installed. D. H . Greer
designed 83 four-, five-, and six- bedroom homes
and the multipurpose barns that served as garages, "The new house now occupied by the Chesser family at Greenwood
Homesteads, Alabama."
chicken houses, and feed and tool sheds. Coal houses
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
were also built, as the burning of coal provided heat Courtesy LOC-FSA.
for the residences. The homes were set on three-
to five-acre plots subdivided so that each parcel
received as much tillable land as possible. The pas-
tures and chicken yards were fenced and ready for use
when the first tenants moved in on April 1, 1936. The
Greenwood Homesteads were completed during 1937
V
and houses sold to residents and others beginning in
1940, with the compounded rent paid deducted from
the purchase price.
Arthur Rothstein photographed Greenwood. His
photographs reveal the stark newness of the commu- 'yV
nity and its lack of landscaping. The roads across the
red clay fields were screened with chert but became
mud when it rained. The well-insulated homes featured
flush toilets, laundry heaters that provided hot water
for the stove, and automatic washing equipment on the "Andy Smith's home at Greenwood Homesteads, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
screened back porch—all amenities that set new stan- Courtesy LOC-FSA.
dards for rural Alabama living.

"Terraced fields at Greenwood Homesteads to prevent soil "Mr. Chesser unloading some of his farming implements at the barn on
erosion. Alabama." his new homestead. Greenwood, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

52 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "Mrs. L. C. Glenn and son in their new home at Greenwood
Homesteads, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Andy Smith and wife in their new home at Greenwood

Homesteads, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Mr. and Mrs. Andy Smith

in the kitchen of their
new home at Greenwood
Homesteads, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur
Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Greenwood Homesteads Community, Alabama."

Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 53

MOVING O U T A N D IN
In February 1937, with 260 of the Birmingham home- housing condition as a chance to get out where they
steads completed and being offered to residents, Arthur can have adequate garden space, and a chance for chil-
Rothstein came to photodocument the new government- dren to enjoy the advantages of country life." All appli-
built homes and the homes from which the homesteaders cants had to have stable employment in the mines and
moved. mills or commercial establishments sufficient to sustain
John Beecher, who managed the Birmingham pro- the enterprise and to permit payment of a reasonable
gram, told a local news reporter, "It is not entirely a mat- occupancy charge, he noted. Some of Rothstein's pho-
ter of getting people out of dilapidated shacks. In many tographs were included in local news articles published
cases it is not so much a question of leaving a deplorable April 25,1937.

"Home of Noah Johnson of Fairfield, Alabama. The Johnson family

will move to Mt. Olive Homesteads, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Former home of George F. Spence of Brookside, Alabama.

Mr. Spence now lives at Mt. Olive Homesteads, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"The backyard of Wesley H. Vickrey's present home in Wylam,

Alabama. The Vickrey family will move to Mt. Olive Homesteads,
"Brookside miner's children, will move to Mt. Olive Homesteads.' Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

54 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "Home of C. L. Earle. Fairfield, Alabama. This house is being
vacated. The family is moving to Mt. Olive, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Mrs. Wesley Vickrey, who will move to a new home at "Present home of Wesley Vickrey of Wylam, Alabama. Mr. Vickrey and his
Alabama's Mt. Olive Homesteads. Wylam, Alabama." family will soon move to a new house at Mt. Olive, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 55

M O U N T O L I V E HOMESTEADS
Homesteads on the 512-acre Mount Olive tract,
mistakenly called the "Gardendale Tract" by federal
officials, also ranged from three to five acres. Agri-
cultural experts devised the proposed planting plans:
one third of the acreage of each homestead was to be
devoted to pasture, one third to hay or feed crops, and
one third to vegetable gardens, potatoes, or other truck
crops. In addition to a four- to six-room house, each
homestead was equipped with a combination barn and
garage as well as cow pastures and chicken yards. Wil-
liam Holmquist laid out the new community. D. H. -1&
Greer designed the facilities.
The first five units of Mount Olive's 75 project
— SJ ?
homes were ready for occupancy in January 1937. For
months before the opening, housing applicants by the "House ofMt. Olive, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
hundreds poured into the Birmingham office. Accord-
Courtesy LOC-FSA.
ing to a survey by properly tax officials, most families
selected came from respectable industrial neighbor-
hoods and rural areas, not from slum districts. Local
newspaper accounts of the era estimated the average
cost per family unit as $6,500; federal sources reported
to the U.S. Congress a cost of $8,242 per unit with a
total cost for the 75 homesteads and other community
improvements of $618,162.
Arthur Rothstein photographed the Mount Olive
homesteads, which are near Gardendale, today a north-
ern suburb of Birmingham, in February, March, and
April of 1937.

"Houses of Mt. Olive Homesteads, Alabama.'

Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

mm~

"David Taylor moving into his new home at Mt. Olive, Alabama." "Completed House at Mt. Olive, Alabama.'
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937. Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, March 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

56 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "Completed house on the Mt. Olive Project
Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, March 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"The Howard family moving into their new

home at Mt. Olive, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February
1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Kitchen in one of the Mt. Olive Homesteads, Alabama.

Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, April 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Interior of a Mt. Olive Homestead, Alabama.'

Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, April 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 57

RAMMED EARTH HOUSES

At Mount Olive, government officials experimented the University of Pennsylvania, and in London and Paris.
with an ancient building medium known as rammed earth Well tutored in how historic buildings were built and with
to build modern houses. The construction costs were dirt a special interest in low-cost housing, Hibben served as the
cheap. Dirt was dug from the project site and mixed with chief engineer for the Resettlement Administration and
sand and water. The project director was Thomas Hibben Jr., the mastermind for the Birmingham experiment.
an architect and engineer educated at Princeton University, Hibben drew the plans and supervised the construc-
tion. His team of 14 men, hired from the relief rolls,
perfected the rammed earth technique. It took them five
weeks to build the first of seven houses and five days to
build the last one. Hibben designed the houses in the
International style with flat roofs and wide roof over-
hangs. Walls of dirt dug from the site and tamped into
building forms were 9 feet high and 17 inches thick. The
walls were coated with linseed oil and stuccoed or painted.
The process required little equipment and was labor-
intensive, a desirable quality at this time of large-scale
unemployment.
Project director Thomas Hibben Jr. made photo-
"Digging dirt used in rammed earth construction near Birmingham, graphs showing the construction of the rammed houses
Alabama."
in March and April of 1937. His captions describe the
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., March 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. techniques employed.

"The bulkheads are firmly braced so as to maintain vertical alignment."

Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., March 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

58 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

"After each three-inch layer has been tamped, another
layer is spread in the form and work resumed."
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., March 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

•!?,+••• mr.i,

"Tampers used in rammed earth construction." "The workmen stand in the forms and knead the loose earth
Photograph by Thomas Hibben Jr., April 1937. with tampers."
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr, 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 59

 "The bolts are removed and the holes plugged with mortar."
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"When one house has been completed the forms are moved to the next building site. Form sections should not be larger than can be
handled by a crew of three or four men."
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

60 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

"Rammed earth construction near Birmingham, Alabama.'
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Whitewashing rammed earth house."

Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 61

"Rammed earth house at Mt. Olive, Alabama." "Rammed earth house near Birmingham, Alabama.
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, March 1937. Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Rammed earth House at Mt. Olive, Alabama." "Rammed earth house near Birmingham, Alabama/
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, March 1937. Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Rammed earth house at Mt. Olive, Alabama." "Rammed earth house. Mt. Olive Tract, Birmingham, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, March 1937. Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA. Courtesy LOC-FSA.

62 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 n
I' , , l,lv - ...
iiii Hi!
H - ^

:::: s:::
'f <-.-t '••-' • •

X_L

Coat THa.taria.ls
Rtinforccd concrete foot-
i n g s »nd floor «,la.b. . . .
(Jood or Asph»lt file f i n -
Ltbsr * wo ished interior t l o o T s . . . .
m.ahourj -sk.llad- 70° R j m m t d aarlh. bearing-
f\anV)ours - unikillffd -IftOO LO&I1& . . Stud partitions.
Lagaivd Built up Tar and .slag
A Bad Boon roaring- on. da&d la v<i f
£> fcad P_oar\ ajood deck-. . . . . . .
C ©«d P.OOM. ll-li Oood branch d o o r s . . .
0 6»1h. fc.8 Interior ua.lt s e n d
£. - i . . . ;.'.• Callings pi a star t d .
F Ltvmg R w i \ E x l i n o r w*o.tl» Jlmar
Gi front porcK Color w&shtfd. (Jood
H K.rtch«n a.u So$( it . All plumbing,
1 R a i r porth. 9«I5 cjiring and fixtures
» n
. . H Jt included ia «i1ima.te.
I3n—n
. •• •• -
::::

"Plan of rammed earth house, Alabama.'

Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr., 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Rammed earth pump house near Birmingham,

Alabama,"/^//.
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr, 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Barn constructed by rammed earth process. Mt. Olive, Alabama,

right.
Photograph by Thomas Hibbenjr, 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 63

S L A G H E A P V I L L A G E - C A H A B A VILLAGE AT T R U S S V I L L E
The 750-acre site of the future federal housing proj-
ect at Trussville included an abandoned furnace, several
coke ovens, 60 company houses, and an immense slag
pile. Proving unsuitable for redevelopment as farms, it
remained vacant for three years after purchase as a sub-
sistence homestead site. A local committee headed by the
Jl^iU
far-sighted developer Robert Jemison Jr., coal operator
Charles DeBardeleben, and Jefferson County farm agent

*!3"lifli
J. F. Lies convinced Resettlement Administration offi-
cials to redevelop the site as a federally sponsored "green-
belt" town through a new RA program initiated in 1936.
Greenbelt, Maryland; Greenhills, Ohio; and Greendale,
Wisconsin are other similar federal ventures.
Officially listed as Slagheap Village when construc-
tion began in July 1936, the project was renamed Cahaba "Scene at Slagheap Village, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Village for the wide greenbelt of parklands along the Courtesy LOC-FSA.
Cahaba River that formed the new community's eastern
spine and gave it cohesion. Green space also extended at $9,619 each. Residents, who eventually purchased their
along a 1,200-foot mall through the tree-lined village. A homes in the well-planned town, developed a strong sense
school and community facilities defined one edge of the of community.
village green, which continued to the parklands along the W h e n Trussville incorporated in 1947, the federal
river. These extensive open spaces safeguarded the water project became a part of the town. Project houses were
supply, provided natural areas for recreation, and buffered sold to tenants and others. The water, natural gas, and park
the village from future encroaching and nonconforming systems were acquired by the new government.
developments. Arthur Rothstein photographed the community in
Birmingham landscape architect William Kessler, February of 1937 as the sewage disposal plant and early
who had earlier worked with national land planners houses were under construction.
employed by Jemison 8c Co. on developments
such as Mountain Brook, designed the commu-
nity, including all the bells and whistles of what
was then considered top-notch planning.
Development work included constrution of a
waterworks, sewage disposal plant, utilties instal-
lation, street and sidewalk paving, curbs, gut-
ters, 3 public buildings, and 287 dwelling units
including 44 duplexes. Project architect D. H.
Greer drew a dozen plans for the brick and frame
houses, varying styles and materials. California
redwood and T C I steel shingles were construc-
tion staples. While construction labor came from
relief rolls, government inspectors insisted upon
quality work.
Upon completion on April 1, 1938, the
Cahaba Village was among the largest of the
federally built new towns in terms of numbers of
"Construction of the sewage disposal plant. Slagheap Village."
homes built, and among its finest. The total proj- Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
ect cost was $2.7 million for the 287 units valued Courtesy LOC-FSA.

64 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "Painting one of the new houses for industrial and white collar
workers of Birmingham. Slagheap Village, Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

• • - • > • ' • • • ; - - •

"Slagheap being used as construction material at Slagheap Village,

Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February 1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"Sewage disposal plant. Slagheap Village,

Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February
1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

"One of the new houses at Slagheap Village,

Alabama."
Photograph by Arthur Rothstein, February
1937.
Courtesy LOC-FSA.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 65

OTHER HOUSING VENTURES •*«*

Many New Deal initiatives attempted to sta- built for $2.5 million; Elyton Village's 860 units
bilize the nation's existing housing stock, encour- in 110 row houses and four apartment build-
age home construction, and promote home own- ings cost $4.25 million. Birmingham architect
V
ership. The Federal Housing Administration D. O. Whilldin served as project architect, and * *
established government support for long-term William Holmquist was the landscape architect
home mortgages.From 1934 to 1938,Birmingham and planner for both projects.
developer Robert Jemison Jr. headed the Alabama The Smithfield Court project is a seven-
office and sought to convince bankers that gov- square-block site that fronts 8th Avenue North
ernment-guaranteed mortgages would encourage and abuts Parker High School. It is the only Bir-
well-designed new home construction. mingham project to be featured in the PWAs
The U.S. Congress also passed legislation survey of its best projects nationwide. The Beaux-
to construct government-owned rental housing Arts style site plan maximized the use of open
in major cities. The initial act was modified and space. The low-scale row houses occupied 27
expanded as the Housing Act of 1937, which percent of the total land area, and open space is
provided for the establishment, through state law, reserved for a recreational commons, playgrounds,
of local public housing authorities to build, own, gardens, and walking paths. In 1938, First Lady
and operate the housing. Eleanor Roosevelt came to town for the parade
In Birmingham, the Public Works Admin- down 8th Avenue that opened the new public
istration (PWA), a federal agency that funded housing venture.
>; *5«j
construction of massive public buildings and The Housing Act of 1937 would provide
projects, funded the first two "slum clearance further federal support for privately developed
projects": the Smithfield Court Public Housing housing, by offering mortgage subsidies to pri-
Project and the Elyton Village Housing Project. vate developers to construct large apartment
Intended to provide "low cost, low rent" complexes for persons of modest incomes. The
housing options, Smithfield Court served black Redmont Gardens and Park Lane Apartments in
tenants, and Elyton Village, white. Smithfield Mountain Brook would be among the projects
Court's 540 units of two to five rooms each were using this program.

Open Space with Surrounding Row Houses, Smithfield Court Housing Project.
Photograph published in Public Buildings: A Survey of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933
and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, 1939. Courtesy BPL Government Documents Department.

66 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Aerial View, Smithfield Court
Housing Project, Designed 1 9 3 5 -
1938, Smithfield Neighborhood,
Birmingham.
Photograph published in Public
Buildings: A Survey of Projects
Constructed by Federal and Other
Governmental Bodies Between
the Years 1933 and 1939 with the
Assistance of the Public Works
Administration, 1939. Courtesy BPL
Government Documents Department.

Community Building, Now Bethlehem House, 8th Avenue North, Smithfield Court
Housing Project.
Rendering from the Postcard Collection, BPL Archives.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 67

 May 21, 1936.

Hon, Frankiyn D» Roosevelt, President,

United States of America,
At the White House,
Washington, D. C # ,
Dear Mr. President*
We of Birmingham, Alabama, are deeply interested
in the low rental housing program of your Administration
which is being carried on by the Housing Division of the
P. W* A« It offers at present the only way by which those
of our people, wfcose Inadequate earnings would not otherwise
allow it, may enjoy even a minimum standard of decency,
sanitation and comfort in housing.
Fortunate indeed do we count ourselves in that one
such project, for negroes, is now being constructed here.
For some six hundred families of our forty (40j() per cent
negro population, this project when completed will mean
more than we dare to express in words and the entire community,
the taxpayers in every walk of life, will be benefitted by
itj they will profit in health, happiness, improved citizen-
ship and in dollars and cents«
We have twenty-two b&ighted areas within our City,
a consolidated report on which has Just been completed and
copy forwarded to Washington today. The Wagner Bill -
3. 4426 - when enacted into law will place us in position to
deal with and correct these thoroughly Had and economically
disastrous conditions and we ask that you give your active
support to the early passage of that measure.
Respectfully,

President of the Commission.

Housing Letter, James M.Jones Jr., City Commission President, to Franklin D . Roosevelt, May 21,1936.
James M. "Jimmie"Jones Papers, File #1007, folder #5.2. BPL Archives.

68 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Elyton Village, Graymont Avenue-
3rd Avenue West.
Photograph 1940, Birmingham News
Photograph Collection, BPL Archives.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 69

 USH

KJTCHEJU I KlTCHW $ KlTCHEJJ $ i tMTCHEJU

DIJUI.UC M>o*| JDUiUil ROOM
O
1 58 - ¥ 1

Livuj<q koo*>, I l V I AJC ta<

<OOM

L
n^/T rLQQK PLAJU Ik.

,/tOOAJD f~LOORy PLAIJU

Floor Plans, First and Second Floors, Elyton Village.

Photograph published in "Families Will Move into Fairyland-Ely ton Village," Birmingham Post, 1 January 1939. Clipping Files
(Housing Authority of Birmingham District).
Courtesy BPL Southern History Department.

70 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Park Lane Apartments.
Photograph by A. C. Keily, 1950s.
Courtesy BPL Archives.

"Park Lane Apartments, Inc. Mountain Brook, Alabama."

"276 Modern Fireproof Units consisting of 96 one bedroom, 168 two bedroom, and 12 bungalow apartments. Located over the
mountain, in clean, cool Mountain Brook. Only twenty minutes from downtown Birmingham. Complete shopping and recreational
facilities within walking distance."
Postcardpublished by Park Lane Apartments, 1949.
Courtesy the collection of Steve Gilmer, What's On Second?.

BETTER HOUSING FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS 71

 • • U S A * * WORK PROGRAM WPA.
Artist unknown, photolithograph, 1936.
Courtesy National Archives, Publications of the U. S. Government.

72 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

C H A P T E R FIVE

J O B S FOR THE J O B L E S S :
THE WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION (WPA)
io7,6U ^Ml-f-U
Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds Uj.-P'jj£l-
iki. ,
OT7- WE:
were given not only to counties and their departments
H9*6 ferfforami Cowaty T^apartaarfc 'of "]
of public health and public welfare, but also to cities, Pribilo Ihlftr*. -—
C«*osty-*ifi«, To provlda afcligamt for w&y pmtmna
.7,4;
school boards, park boards, as well as the state high- tST.Wa
in prnvldtes f r w l u n u t i l t m o * in. boneewcrk md
M T * of ehlldr«n| in the Suww of th» aotdy i*«r* the r
h«a»irt r» b«r#*lf U t o t a l l y or p a r t i a l l y taeapMitttva-^-
way department, archives, department of health, and im to i l l fcawlth, Mnflaoaunt, or niiiilir r u c i a s .
This pni J « t rf.ll oparktfr ttroi^ioot Jmtturatwi Cowntjv
geological survey for work in individual counties. Total •nd i l l t fs^loy Mostly VOBMIU In "addition to pro>et*
•pwjlfioally a#prov#d0
federal allocations were tracked by state. Discovering "B.U 4« a, < n t t M k < l « of IM ]X6-ol~70S8.
what happened at the local level is a challenge. iied by u- i-u ??
•~M
W P A funds were for wages only. Local funds f-„...:
provided materials and a match if required. In today's
160,«tt
:i1937
dollars, a local worker paid $6.00 a day on a road HIT.OM t«T.<H» lHa««
building project would earn the equivalent weekly
salary of $470. W P A jobs were not full-time jobs, nor
were they permanent jobs. They did pay well.
tte -'*29a253
W P A projects for Jefferson County are iden- 037
Jnffaraoja 3B
tified on index cards preserved on microfilm in the -• flouaty Board of Maoation
«-* S65 i^afraraon
Birmingham Public Library Archives. From tran- B>» *PP. Couftty-nljls. To proaida aafloyaant for Maty paraona
1B tna preparation of aobooi lunohaa to b« rurniahad
without ooat fco naady or uBdarnouriahad ahlldraa la
scription of the microfilm, the following list of major *o* oourrhr publio aohoola. T U i projaet will oparata
thro&shou^ Jeffaraoa, County, w\th aeadquartara. for
projects and total expenditures has been compiled. tha purpobo of aapcrtlaloo, at feiraln^haja. Thu pro-
Jaat aaploya aoa.tly auaan. In'addition to projaota
apaaifloaflLly apprtwad.
While the index cards do not always identify indi-
vidual projects, they do present the fullest picture
<,/ i t,
available of the WPAs employment relief efforts here. 4 tLl/fa 7

y-wl 1937
WPA Allocations in Jefferson County, 1935-1941 64 M H i-' |jiMjL—_ *.^.*ra_;

•ft—!r *«>•_'&_ taj^Ki.

Categories Millions of Dollars
City Streets 6.8
County Roads 5.2 i]T.6,10B J46-61-S-62
^ J F i g f ] t'ttLg?
Public Welfare 4.9
Public Buildings/Administration 4.9
11a,
COB'
Jaffwrneni

piTerfr^'CiTin^CffiSJilBBioJl
£.1
CoMKty-^7i(3o* S.'o jiroTiiie mpl contort for msciiy prc-
Schools 4.5 10-32-37 fossioaalj sdacattoiml anii clerical parsons In aofcj*;
R ownprohonElve tr&Ti'io aurwy of tfoff nroon County '
|koUluting or Yrfilale n.nU p«tIo3tr3.ari donai-ty oomrfccj
Parks 3.7 &ricl2i'nii() dost±aatlon..5tudi«H, and tfao r-ooardliif, nf
nnclil, pJtyslo&l una tioanpmlo faotoro linilutjlttjiajf
ti-afflo pat^trnn* Ih±« pro^DOt trill operato itLrou^x-
Industrial Waterworks 3.5 .o«t .IsfreffBtm Coiart^';, wltijv iidqrts., frjr p^rpoaes of
iSttpor'elEl.Tn, a t Siyi)iinj:hQiJiv' Tbiu Terttflj: io cot a ncr
ilUii aotivity of tko;cpolWDi'. or other mubllo antlioj-ity
Drainage/Sanitary Sewers 2.9 or RfCTioyJ oud ca r^gjllarjw flinylpyed poTBonaal will tie
: Stn-ttstlool
^ieplncfiGB m ari'Ji-fclcn to probata .apooifieally apprcrved. Rerl<w Projc
Public Health 1.9
State and Federal Highways 1.0 22„05a

Military 0.7
131937
CM* 018.0S2

Aviation 0.6 : 6U,U5 ' at„050 j >lt,18t' | toOO |t*,«Sy

Total Allocation $40.6 million

WPA Project Cards.
* $637 million in today's dollars (A dollar in 1935 is worth $15.69 Prints from microfilm.
in purchasing power in 2009.) Courtesy BPL Archives.

JOBS FORTHE JOBLESS 73

City Streets .8 million Drainage/Sanitary Sewers $2.9 million
• Improve streets in Birmingham, Bessemer, Cahaba Citywide storm water drainage and sanitary sewer
Village at Trussville, Fairfield, Homewood, Leeds, construction projects in Birmingham, Bessemer,
Lipscomb, Irondale, Tarrant, and Warrior. Homewood, Leeds, and Tarrant City. Typical projects
• Improve streets, including grading, surfacing, constructing included excavating, cleaning, grussing, constructing
sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and necessary drainage work. manholes, drainage ditches, culverts, and retaining
Surfacing materials include tar, tar and slag, slag, bitumen, walls; deepening, widening and straightening banks, and
concrete, and brick. shaping canals and ditches. Grade, clean, slope banks and
rip-rap masonry for ditches.
• Repair brick pavement, taking up paving and relaying
brick on sand cushions. Projects mentioned by name:
Cahaba River at Leeds, deepened, widened,
• Produce slag for base material, bitumen, and concrete
straightened.
material for use on W P A projects, operating "borrow" pits
and chert pits. Greenwood Homestead, drainage canals and
ditches straightened and shaped.
• Resurface alleys.
Village Creek Canal, widened and straightened.
• Beautify public drives.
Sanitary sewers in Enon Ridge, Ensley, Hollywood
• Set street markers at intersections on city-owned sections of Homewood, Hyde Park Settlement,
property. The Birmingham city engineer provided the Milner Heights, Mountain Brook Estates, near
specifications and supervised the project. Powderly,Titusville,Trotwood district, and
Wylam.
County Roads $5.2 million
• Improve roads, grading, draining, surfacing, straightening,
widening, constructing, and reconstructing bridges and
culverts on county and privately owned property. Work
on private property includes detours, drainage ditches, I 9 ™ S T \ !
and cleaning roadsides.
• Bridge construction and repair. Hit

State and Federal Highways $1.0 million ;V«ijjnr.fj| •'!

XDOIQ OOf

• Improve U.S. 31 including surfacing and shoulders.

. *TJ&™ST ^
/'tfrckfT/e-a.-js"'* 0 0 BLOCK
• Grade, drain, and improve U.S. 31 from North CI1T.OF BIRMINGM

wcttx iiitti mutt

Birmingham to Lewisburg, 1936.
• Improve U.S. 31 from Homewood to top of Shades
Mountain, operate borrow pits.
• Improve U.S. 11 on First Avenue from 85 th Street to
Cozy Corner.
• Improve Third Avenue.
• Improve state highway from Avondale to Irondale,
operate borrow pits to produce materials.
• Improve county-owned road from Shades Tavern to
Walkers Gap and from Green Springs to Avenue G in
Birmingham.

Concrete Street Signs, above.

City ofBirmingham engineering drawingfrom The American
City, May 1938.
Courtesy BPL.
[Status: Some are extant.]

Street Surfacing, right.

Photographsfrom The American City, November 1935.
Courtesy BPL.

74 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 USE CAUTION DANGER USE CAUTION

Vvjk
m
•'«—»•*• I
m
—<
^ -

Sewer Work on 18th Street.

Photograph 1930s.
Courtesy Alabama Department of Archives and History.

JOBS FORTHE JOBLESS 75

Public Buildings/Administration $4.9 million • For the county, install a new record and procedure for
real property evaluation for tax assessment purposes by
Public Buildings and Grounds, $2 million preparing and revising records of real property, etc. 41%
• Bessemer City Hall Addition and Auditorium. sponsor funds. Today these tax assessor records, located at BPL
• Completion of the Birmingham Municipal Auditorium. Archives, provide researchers valuable documentation on historic
properties, includingphotographsfrom the late 1930s.
• Improvements at Cedar Hill and Oak Hill Cemeteries.
• Slossfield Negro Youth Training Center; Administration, Military $.7 million
Clinic, Education, and Recreational Buildings (North • National Guard armories were built at McLendon
Birmingham). Park (the Graymont Armory) and Lewisburg. At the
• Snow Rogers Community Center (near Gardendale). Municipal Airport, an administrative building, taxiways,
and a hanger were built. Armory additions, truck sheds,
• Birmingham City Street and Garbage Department Stable
and rifle ranges were also built at locations not identified.
and Garage, 1940.
• Additions to Birmingham's Southside Jail. Aviation $.6 million
• A community house and auditorium at East Lake. • Roberts Field was improved and a hanger, shop, garage,
• Municipal Building, Fairfield, 1940. groundwork, runways, and lighting were built at the
Birmingham Municipal Airport. Airports were built at
• Brick and stone jail, welfare building, fire station building,
Bessemer and Warrior.
Leeds.
• Street decorations, permanent float chassis, costumes, Waterworks $3.5 million
and parade equipment to be used by sponsor (the City of The Industrial W a t e r w o r k s System
Birmingham) in the decoration of streets and parks.
• Construct a Distribution Reservoir and Distribution
Public Administration, $2.9 million Line for the Birmingham Industrial Water Supply
• Conduct studies for the Housing Authority of the System located in Jefferson County, near Mt. Pinson, and
Birmingham District: 1. A real property survey of the the opening and operating of a limestone quarry, stone
metropolitan area of Birmingham, land use, land coverage crushers, and screens for furnishing stone and [illegible]
and type, construction, condition, facilities, rental value, for impounding the Dam for the above system located in
# of persons per room of dwelling units and structures. Blount Co., near Inland. Quarry is a public quarry, work on
Data on family income within a limited area also public property in addition to projects specifically approved.
collated and tabulated. Results will provide up-to-date No local match. Funded 12/35,10/36,4/37,2/38.
information on substandard housing, vacancies, doubling • Construct water system for Pleasant Grove.
up income levels, and other matters necessary for • Construct waterline to children's fresh air camp, located
developing plans for low-rent housing and slum clearance 7 miles south of Birmingham on Shades M t .
as well as other types of zoning. 2. A study of the
demand for low-rent housing in Birmingham, Bessemer,
Brighton, Fairfield, Homewood, Irondale, Tarrant, and B i r m i n g h a m s Industrial W a t e r Supply
Jefferson County for the Housing Authority of the foittl PW'AWPA Project Expected to Stimulate Growth b/ District
Birmingham District, cost $850,000. ion project in lAlabama, Warrior Hirer, about a mile from Inland ill Dlount Countr,.
, joint PWA-WPA umh-i in-, i- ill.- new sr>.pm- Here the water will be impounded ''>" a t m , n approximately
. n„rk on wMdrlfau< Kill feet high. The reservoir behind the! dam will lu.ld
• Inventory, catalog, index, and transcribe archival materials. i Fcl.ruar <>•>,!, The Works f'n between 22 and 25 billion gallons of water. T h e lake will
nllottri! SiUKMKKi toward* Liu- project. un< run back 7 miles.into the hills o f ' B l o u n t Count v, and
the system will easily supply 60,000,000 gallons daily.
• Prepare maps of sanitary sewers, tunnels, water mains, of !l„.- necessary funds was made available I
*\Vi.rk> Administration through a loin scran From the impounding reservoir, the water, n;ill be brouslii
W n l , of the rii> or Birmingham. The loan through a 60-inch steel pipe 20'.miles t o . ' a . point htpr
service lines, manholes, and catch basins. liwd U r e m i t s from the sale of water Kelonu, tn Jefferson County, to a distribution reservoir.
. It will be possible to handle a flow' of 40,000,000 gallons
i i d equal r' industrial water suppl) has lung I daily from the impounding dam by gravity, but when lln>
• Provide employment for needy professionals, educational e Sards of Birmingham. Bark in 1929 it mis consumption reaches that figure, pumps w i l l have to be
installed.
and clerical persons who will assist in organizing library «l and t The distribution reservoir will hold about 00.000,0(11,1
gallons, or a one day's supply at capacity consumption.
From the distribution reservoir the water will be brought
services for the Birmingham Public Library, indexing, lltuvrt one small Stream, inadequate for the immense amount
[if n-atfT eunsumed by heavy industries. The city lias an by gravity to industrial Birmingham.
ample 'domestic supply or filtered and treated water, but As the project' is planned, WPA will clear the site and
typing cards, and copying records and reports. a'lack of cheap industrial water has! hampered tin.- growth excavate for the impounding dam, and also will' clear tile
impounding basin and relocate the roads in the area. PWA
of'the district because such a SUpplL is considered essen-
tial in altrartirig new industries lo consume Birmingham E will build the impounding dam and a portion of the
• Prepare a study of juvenile delinquency. production of raw materials. water line. Here WPA will pick up the construction, com-
pleting the line, building the distribution reservoir and
.First efforts lo secure loans and grants fur the project
were held up because the self-liquidating character of the dam arid laying the distribution lines, which will belief
• Index Jefferson County Circuit Court records, Sheriff's project was questioned. Birmingham answered the objec- cast iron and steel. The job will require about 81.000,00(1
worth1 of steel pipe and about 8200,000 worth of cast iron
tion by securing signed, valid contracts from a number of
pipe. Delivery of the pipe began. March 1.
execution dockets, case records of the Court of Domestic industries, guaranteeing a consumption of 7.000,000 gal-
lons daily when the water becomes available. The city The entire project will furnish 3,600 man-years of work.
itself agreed to lake whatever water was necessary lo sup- WPA will employ about 5,000 men when the jqb is in
Relations and Juvenile Court, and a record of prisoners 'piemen! industrial consumption In the point where the loan full swing. PWA will employ a smaller number, but both
would be serviced. jobs will be carried on simultaneously. ,As with all WPA
received and discharged from the county jail, 1895-1935. Two WPA crews started clearing the site for the im- projects,: plans have been made : to complete its portion'of
ihe work by June 30, but PWA has until January 1, 1937,
I ndiug dam and making soil tests iasl February. The
Mrtirw «t the water will be the BJackhuin fork of the lo complete its part.
• For the county, prepare report on expenditures, 1 9 2 1 -
1935; install a new record and procedure for taking and
"Birmingham's Industrial Water Supply."
maintaining an inventory of equipment and supplies Articlefrom The American City, May 1936.
owned by the county. Courtesy BPL.

76 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Graymont Armory, 210 Graymont Avenue
West, McLendon Park.
Photograph 1949, from the Jefferson County
Tax Assessor's Property Survey.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Demolished.]

Bessemer City Hall Auditorium and Addition.

Photograph 1939, from the Jefferson County Tax Assessor's Property
Survey, a survey funded by the WPA.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant.]

Slossfield Community Center.

Photograph 1938, from the Jefferson County
Tax Assessor's Property Survey.
Courtesy BPL Archives.

W P A workers also built and staffed the

Administration, Clinic, Education, and
Recreational Buildings at this North
Birmingham site. Local industries provided
additional funding for this center. [Status:
Abandoned.

Birmingham Municipal Airport. W P A workers improved the hanger and built runways and light towers. Prior to these
Photograph by American Airways, 1930s. improvements, planes landed in the field and loaded passengers and freight from the concreted
Courtesy BPL Archives. area, the light area in this photograph. At the airport, the W P A also built National Guard facilities,
not shown in this photograph.

JOBS F O R T H E JOBLESS 77
Hillman Hospital Outpatient Clinic Building, Jefferson Hospital, dedicated 1940.
completed 1939. Photograph showing PWA project sign.
Photograph 1940. Courtesy BPL Archives.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Demolished.] In 1944, the University of Alabama entered into a 99-year contract with Jefferson
County, builder of this hospital, for the lease of the Jefferson and Hillman
Hospitals. [Status: Extant, now the Jefferson Tower at UAB Medical Center.]

Public Health .9 million Public Welfare $4.9 million

Abandoned coal mines were sealed to prevent spillage into • Sewing Rooms. Provide employment for needy persons in
area water supplies. the maintenance and operation of sewing rooms. Products
Hillman Hospital Clinic for charity patients was constructed will be distributed free of charge to charitable institutions,
and staffed by local physicians and nurses. $400,000. Until or to the needy. Approximately 20 hours per month will be
the completion of the Jefferson Hospital (now Tower) in 1940 spent in training in methods of childcare and household
(funded by the Public Works Administration-PWA), Hillman management, total allocations to Birmingham and Jefferson
was the principal hospitalproviding services to indigent persons County, $3 million.
in Jefferson County. • Make mattresses by hand from government surplus cotton
T B clinics and the Sanatorium Building (the latter at today's and ticking, distribute to needy families.
Lakeshore Foundation in Homewood) were constructed and • Weave rugs and other household items for free distribution
staffed by needy nurses and doctors. to charitable institutions.
Conduct a public health education program, lecturing • Renovate donated furniture to be given to needy families.
before civic groups; promoting and organizing local study • Repair, renovate clothing, mattresses, tents, cots, shoes,
groups; preparing, delivering, and distributing copies of household supplies, and goods donated by federal
a series of radio health talks; preparing and distributing government and local public institutions.
health pamphlets, posters, recordings for phonographs and
• Make toys and gifts from purchased materials, $675,000,
radio use, and preparing and displaying health exhibits.
1/36; make and repair cloth, wooden, and composition toys
Clean and spray vacant lots to prevent mosquito and rodent for free distribution in the City of Birmingham, 11/39,
breeding. $343,404.
Prepare an inventory and record of dogs in Jefferson Coun- • County-wide. Furnish free home assistance in housework
ty, showing the names and addresses of owners, number and and care of children in the houses of the needy where the
breed, sex and age, and date of immunization or inoculation homemaker is totally or partially incapacitated because of ill
against rabies. To aid in controlling and preventing rabies. health or confinement, or in case of temporary emergency,
Transcribe birth and death records. 8/38, $112,498.
Survey blighted areas to determine cost of necessary sewers
and health improvements.
Investigate coagulation of sewage using salt.

78 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Tuberculosis Sanatorium,
Homewood, left.
Photograph 1938.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant, now Lakeshore
Rehabilitation Hospital.

Medical and Dental Clinic, Lincoln

Elementary School, below left.
Photograph by Birmingham View Co.
Courtesy BPL Archives.

Clinic in the Slossfield Hospital.

Photograph courtesy UAB Archives,
University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The Slossfield Health Center provided

pediatric clinics, health education, and
training for black doctors and nurses.

Negro Women's Sewing Room. W h i t e Women's Sewing Room.

Photograph 1930s, WPA District 8 Scrapbook and Photo Album, Photograph 1930s, WPA District 8 Scrapbook and Photo Album, MS 1250.
MS 1250. Ccourtesy the Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia.
Courtesy the Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Georgia.

Similar rooms operated at 2831 N . 27th Street in Birmingham,

at 10th Avenue and 34th Street North in Birmingham, and at
5 S. 19th Street in Bessemer.

JOBS F O R T H E JOBLESS 79
Parks $3.7 million
• Oak Mountain State Park (for the Recreational Demonstration
Area, not including the CCC improvements, these allocations to
Jefferson and Shelby Counties, $.8 million)
• Birmingham Parks, $1.7 million, improvements to Avondale,
East Lake, Lane, McLendon, Woodrow Wilson, and 24 other
parks, build 4 swimming pools, improve playgrounds, build 20
roller skating rinks, construct a community center in Central
Park, improve Municipal Stadium (Legion Field).
• Improve drainage and build masonry dams on the Roebuck
Springs Golf Course (Hawkins Park).
• Improve parks throughout the city, work includes
construction of recreation facilities, shelter buildings, walks,
bleacher seats, and baseball diamonds, surfacing tennis courts,
opening quarries to produce materials for use in the project.
• Construct fish hatchery basins in Lane Park (today's zoo Fish Hatchery Basins in Lane Park, 1936-1937.
ponds). Photograph courtesy BPL Archives.
• Construct a concrete shaft and move and erect Vulcan statue [Status: Extant as the ponds at the Birmingham Zoo.
in Park on Red Mountain, near Birmingham (today's Vulcan
Park).
• Fairfield, a colored playground, $60,000.
• To Birmingham, Bessemer, Homewood, Leeds, and Jefferson
County funds for park and playground staff.

Community Center in Central Park, right.

Photograph by the Birmingham News.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant with modifications

Playground Supervision, ACIPCO Park. The WPA provided annual funds to school and park boards to "employ needy persons to
Photograph 1930s. supervise and coordinate recreational activities, including recreational and leisure time leaders
Courtesy BPL Archives. for games, sports, social activities, and training for recreational leadership."
80 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Vulcan M o n u m e n t in Vulcan Park, atop Red Mountain. W P A funds paid for the labor to move and erect the Vulcan statue on Red
Photograph by O. V Hunt, circa 1939. Mountain and for extensive improvements to all Birmingham parks. [Status:
Curtesy BPL Archives. Extant.]

JOBS F O R T H E JOBLESS 81
 Councill School, Auditorium Addition, above
Photograph 1940, from the Jefferson County Tax
Assessor's Property Survey.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant

Rosedale School, Homewood.

Photograph 1959, from the Jefferson County Tax
Assessor's Property Survey.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant, formerly the Resource Learning
Center (Shades Valley Annex), now the Islamic
Academy of Alabama.]

McAdory High School Auditorium, McCalla.

Photograph 1948.
Courtesy Davis Architects, Inc.
[Status: Extant, renovated in 2006 by Davis
Architects, the original architectural firm for the
WPA-built school.;

Ramsay High School, Auditorium, Cafeteria

and Classroom Addition, below.
Photograph 1952.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant

82 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Schools .5 million
• Birmingham schools, painting and repairs to all elementary
and high schools; new construction of the Snow
Rogers School and a community house; additions to
Industrial High (Parker), Ramsay High (auditorium,
cafeteria, classrooms), and West End High School
(auditorium, cafeteria, and home economics wing);
conversion of existing buildings for Tuggle, Lincoln, and
South Highland Schools; additions to Barrett, Belview
Heights, Councill, Curry, Gibson (amphitheatre seats),
Graymont, Minnie Holman, Inglenook, Lakeview,
Lincoln, 17th Avenue, 30 th Street, Tuggle, Wilson, and
Playground, Graymont Elementary. Woodlawn Schools; WPA-NYA additions to Public
Photograph 1930s. School Buildings; facilities improvement at Alley, Baker,
Courtesy Birmingham Board ofEducation Collection, BPL Archives.
Councill, Gate City, Gorgas, and West End Schools;
Playground and athletic facilities were improved at schools throughout school lunch program, $2 million.
the county.
• Jefferson County schools, repairs to more than 135
schools: new schools at McAdory and Gardendale;
additions to Riley, Gardendale, Huffman, and Hooper
City Schools; improvements to grounds and athletic
facilities, including landscaping, draining, constructing
driveways, walkways, walls, steps, and curbs; cleaning,
grubbing, excavating, installing drainage facilities,
sodding, planting grass and shrubs; school lunch program,
$1.7 million.
• Fairfield, repairs, additions to several schools, a new high
school at 59th Street; athletic fields, stadium, bleacher
seats at Fairfield High School.
• Homewood, construct Rosedale School.
• Tarrant High School, addition.
• Warrior, school auditorium, landscape grounds.
• Alabama Boy's Industrial School at Roebuck, additions
to existing campus, $184,000.
School Lunch, Industrial [Parker] High School Cafeteria.
Photograph by Birmingham View Co. • Alabama Training School for Girls at Chalkville,
Courtesy Birmingham Board ofEducation Collection, BPL Archives. construction of a new campus, $506,631.
WPA workers served school lunches "for needy students" throughout • Draining, grading, and landscaping school grounds at city
the county. and county schools.
• Improvements to school playgrounds and athletic
facilities, including constructing bleacher seats, walks,
landscaping, steps, backstops, tennis courts, and drives and
operating quarries to produce materials for use on this
project.
• School lunch program for needy students in Jefferson
County, 1937-38, $54,435.
• Support to school administrative personnel.
• Bind, rebind, and repair books; make and repair window
shades, renovate bus cushions, clean, scrape, sand, and
varnish school furniture and equipment, plant shrubbery
and trim trees on school grounds, repaint interior and
replaster schools.

New Filing System for the Birmingham Board of Education Office.

Photograph by Birmingham View Co.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
JOBS FORTHE JOBLESS 83
CHAPTER SIX

CREATING A CITY BEAUTIFUL:

W P A BEAUTIFICATION EFFORTS
In the late 1930s, beautification of highways, entrances to
towns and cities, town and city streets, schools, and farm and
home grounds was administered under statewide beautifica-
tion programs. Typically, the Works Progress Administration
provided labor to supervise and plant. Local civic committees,
garden club leaders, and professional park staff coordinated the
projects, raised funds or received donations for the plant materi-
als, and became responsible for the maintenance of the extensive
plantings. Marion Thomas Brooks (1897-1977), a University of
Kentucky-trained horticulturalist who took a summer course at
Harvard University's horticultural program in 1922, adminis-
tered the Alabama program most probably from 1936 to 1941,
coordinating it statewide with the local sponsors. Brooks' scrap-
books, recently re-located in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Library Archives, document the W P A Beautification program
guidelines and many of the projects statewide. To support the
efforts, Homer S. Fischer of the Alabama Cooperative Extension
Service at Auburn prepared a series of 14 horticultural papers
to help develop an appreciation of the importance of beautify-
ing one's environment and the proper ways to grow, propogate,
transplant, nurture, and handle pest control for the improvement
programs. The use of native plants was strongly encouraged, as
natives are more drought- and disease-tolerant.
The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, the Exchange
Club, and the federated garden clubs coordinated the Birming-
ham projects. Following upon Mobile and New Orleans' estab-
lishment of azalea trails (intended for economic development and
to encourage tourists to stop and visit), Birmingham developed
dozens of miles of roses along the highways and entrances to the
city and also planted crape myrtle, dogwood, althea, wild hydran-
gea, vitex, spirea, abelia, iris, and jasmine along the roadways. By

84 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Members of the Greater Birmingham Beautification
Board, 1938 at the initial meeting of the board at the
Tutwiler [Hotel],far left. Seated from left to right, Jessica
Ingram, secretary; Mrs. C. F. Manly, Mrs. T. M . Francis,
Erskine Ramsay, Mrs. J. Frank Parks, Dr. J. F. Hardin,
chairman, and T. K. Byrne. Standing, left to right,
M.Thomas Brooks, Robert Jemison Jr., AndrewThomas,
and Roy S. Marshall.
Photograph published in the Birmingham News, 1938. Brooks
Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare Book Room, Birmingham
Botanical Gardens Library.

The News article indicates these individuals represent a

cross section of Birmingham's industrial, commercial, and
civic life that backs the beautification efforts. It is a blue
ribbon committee, indeed. Jemison was the leading real
estate developer; Erskine Ramsay a major industrialist,
philanthropist, and chairman of the school board; Roy
Marshall the longtime superintendent of Birmingham
parks; and Brooks, the statewide W P A coordinator.

W.P.A. Beautification Office, Flomaton, left.

Photograph circa 1938.
Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare Book Room, Birmingham
Botanical Gardens Library.

CREATING A CITY BEAUTIFUL 85

1937, more than 7,000 roses had been planted along the
Bankhead Highway, the Florida Short Route (today's U S.
280), and the Montgomery Highway. Roses cost ten cents
each for two-year-old plants. In 1940, the Chamber of Com-
merce produced a colored motion picture, Birmingham-The
Industrial City Beautiful, documenting beautification efforts.
Motorcades and special tours and maps also showcased the
massive efforts to "green" the traffic routes.

Roses in Bloom Along the Florida Short Route-Today's

U.S. 280, in 1938 One of the Three Major Traffic Routes
Greeting Motorists Entering Birmingham, above.
Photograph circa 1938.
Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare Book Room, Birmingham
Botanical Gardens Library.

More than 7,000 rose bushes were purchased by a committee

headed by T. K. Byrne and planted by WPA labor.

1800 Plants Donated by Joseph H. Abercrombie

For Planting at the Lane Park Arboretum-Today's
Birmingham Zoo.
Photograph circa 1938.
Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare Book Room, Birmingham
Botanical Gardens Library.

The local committee arranged for donations of plant

materials to supplement material raised and propagated in
WPA-sponsored nurseries.

86 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Crape Myrtle Trail, Birmingham, left.
Photograph circa 1938, Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and
Rare Book Room, Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library.

Crape myrtle trees were planted along Bush Boulevard,

Edgewood Lake, in North Birmingham, from Hollywood
to Mountain Brook Village, and along the Bessemer and
Powderly boulevards.

Grading and Plantings, Tarrant City School, right.

Photograph circa 1938, Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare
Book Room, Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library.

-:**&?,

Planting Shrubs, Woodlawn High

School, Birmingham, left.
Photograph circa 1938.
Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare Book
Room, Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Library.

Beds were prepared and shrubs planted by

female workers at many school grounds.

Picture Page of W P A Projects.

No. 5. Italian born women, now living
in the county, learn to become citizens
under W P A supervision.
No. 6. A W P A monument, the four-
lane Green Springs road looking north
toward Birmingham, part of 795 miles
constructed or improved by W P A in the
county.
No. 7. A monument to WPA-Vulcan.
Its rock park and setting is the pride of
masons who built it.
No. 8. The Alabama State Training
Schools for Girls, one of the most
modern of its type in the nation.
No. 9. W P A workers molding some
of the 14,534 street markers for
Birmingham. Other cities have followed
this method of street marking.
No. 10. Building the intricate forms for
pouring concrete in the construction of
the Fairfield City Hall.
Photographsfrom an undated Birmingham
newspaper.
Brooks Scrapbooks, Archives and Rare Book
Room, Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Library.

This undated picture page of W P A

project photographs is found in one of
Thomas Brooks' scrapbooks of news
clipping on statewide beautification
projects.

CREATING A CITY BEAUTIFUL 87

CHAPTER SEVEN

ARTISTS ON RELIEF:
A N E W DEAL FOR THE A R T S
The New Deal provided jobs to all kinds of American workers,
including artists. From 1933 to 1943, painters, sculptors, graphic
designers, and art teachers received the standard white-collar wage
to make and share their art. By law, works of art produced by art-
ists on "relief" were to be displayed in public places, such as schools,
libraries, courthouses, and post offices.
Painter Richard Coe, who served briefly as director of Alabama's
federal art programs, captured their aspiration to create a new form
of American art:

The art spirit (art for art's sake) created in the nine-
teenth century is all well and good, but there is an art for
the people. The government is doing its best to develop it
by taking charge and giving work to artists to do art for
the education and delight of the people. American art for
American people is a slogan well worth heeding.... The
modernistic era has passed. A 'new deal' in art has come in
with all the other 'new deals.'The government has it in its
power to create a good one.... We are an educated race and
use painting as a useful purpose.
Richard Coe quoted by Dolly Dalrymple, "Winner of Scholarship Returns on
Visit," Birmingham News, 9 May 1934.

During 1933 and 1934, the earliest federal program, the Public
Works of Art Project (PWAP), was funded through the Civil Works
Administration and operated under the U.S. Treasury Department.
The PWAP put thousands of artists to work nationwide. Locally, 12
prominent Alabama artists, including Coe as well as Frank Hartley
Anderson, Martha Fort Anderson, Hannah Elliott, John Kelly Fitz-
patrick, William Grant, Carrie Hill, and Sidney Van Sheck, pro-
duced oil portraits and paintings of public figures and local scenes,
woodcuts, watercolors, murals, bronze plaques, and statues as well
as special displays of their "relief" work. Perhaps the best-known
PWAP project is the full-size statue of the beloved pastor of Third
Presbyterian Church, the Reverend "Brother" Bryan still on display
in Five Points South in Birmingham.

Birmingham Steel Mill.

Richard Blauvelt Coe (1904-1978, active in Birmingham 1934-1940). Oil on
canvas, 1934. Signed and dated, center, verso: COE 34. Courtesy Montgomery
Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama, Gift of the Artist, 1940.31.

This painting, which the editors believe to be of the still extant though not
operating Sloss Furnace No. 2, hung in the Montgomery offices of Alabama's
relief administrator, Thad Holt. Coe later transferred the painting to the
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, then a federally supported museum that
was actively acquiring the nucleus of its superb regional art collection.

88 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 89
 Beginning in October 1934, the Treasury Depart- Federal Project Number One. Five "Federal One"
ment Section of Painting and Sculpture, later known as divisions supported the arts: the Federal Art Project
the Section of Fine Arts, commissioned art for new federal (FAP), the Federal Music Project (FMP), the Fed-
buildings. Two dozen new Alabama post offices, including eral Theatre Project (FTP), the Federal Writers' Proj-
those at Fairfield and Montevallo, were decorated under ect (FWP), and the Historical Records Survey (HRS,
this program (see table, at right). Encouraged by the federal originally part of the Writer's Project). All persons
mandate to provide art that everyone might understand employed in these programs actually worked for the
and enjoy, the local postmasters selected the themes, which WPA. The programs were coordinated out of Wash-
most often reflected local historical and real-life scenes. ington and state government offices. Detailing the local
Artists competed for these prestigious commissions. scene, Birmingham artists recorded iron- and steel-mak-
In 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) ing operations, African-American life, and the region's
established the most ambitious cultural program: historical events.

Church Supper. subject matter for art works, particularly local and typical
Frank Hartley Anderson (1891-1947, active in Birmingham Southern subjects and especially African-American
1909-1938). Woodcut, 1934. Collection of Lynn B. Williams gatherings. Anderson founded the Southern Printmakers
Katz, Auburn, Alabama. Society, which became a regional graphics art organization
Published with the permission of Jordan Prince, Locust Valley, that set standards for prints and exhibited and sold them to
New York. growing numbers of patrons. His artist wife, Martha Fort
Anderson, collaborated in many of his works, including
Frank Hartley Anderson's most highly acclaimed woodcut providing sketches for this print. The scene, above, shows
print, made in 1934 and exhibited at local and national individuals grouped for a meal during which plates of hot
shows, typifies the then-new trend to use native topics as biscuits are being served.

90 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

New Deal Artwork in Alabama Post Offices
Location Title Artist Date Medium
Alexander City Cotton, Tobacco, and Wheat Franc Epping 1941 Terra cotta
(now in storage at City Hall) reliefs
Atmore The Letter Box Anne Goldthwaite* 1938 Oil on canvas
Bay Minette Removal of the County Seat Hilton Leech 1939 Oil on canvas
from Daphne to Bay Minette
Brewton Logging John Von Wicht 1939 (Missing)
Carrollton (Post Office and Agricultural Farm Scene with Senator Stuart R. Purser 1943 Mural
Building) Bankhead
Enterprise (now in the Public Library) Saturday in Enterprise Paul Arlt 1941 Tempera
Eutaw The Countryside Robert Gwathmey 1941 Oil on canvas
Fairfield Spirit of Steel Frank Hartley Anderson* 1938 Oil on canvas
and Martha Fort Anderson*
Fort Payne Harvest at Fort Payne Harwood Steiger 1938 Oil on canvas
(two panels)
Guntersville Indians Receiving Gifts from Charles Russell Hardman 1947 Oil on canvas
the Spanish
Haleyville (now the Public Library) Reforestation Hollis Holbrook 1940 Mural
(painted over)
Hartselle (now in the Hartselle Cotton Scene LeeR.Warthen 1941 Mural
Chamber of Commerce)
Huntsville (Post Office and Courthouse) Tennessee Valley Authority Xavier Gonzalez 1937 Mural
(several panels)
Luverne Cotton Field Arthur Getz 1942 Mural
Monroeville (Post Office and Harvesting Arthur Leroy Bairnsfather* 1939 Oil on canvas
Agricultural Building)
Montevallo Early Settlers Weighing Cotton William S.McCall 1939 Oil on canvas
Oneonta (now the Blount County Local Agriculture-A.A.A. 1939 Aldis B. Browne 1939 Oil on canvas
Courthouse Annex, Blount County
Board of Education)
Opp Opp Hans Mangelsdorf 1940 Wood relief
(missing)
Ozark Early Industry ofDale County John Kelly Fitzpatrick* 1938 Oil on canvas
Phenix City (now the Public Library) Cotton John Kelly Fitzpatrick* 1939 Oil on canvas
Russellville Shipment ofFirst Iron Produced Conrad A. Albrizzio 1938 Fresco
in Russellville
Scottsboro Alabama Agriculture Constance Ortmayer 1940 Plaster
bas-relief
(three panels)
Tuscumbia Chief Tuscumbia Greets the Dick- JackMcMillen 1939 Mural
son Family
Tuskegee The Road to Tuskegee Anne Goldthwaite* 1937 Oil on canvas

* Alabama artist

Sourcesfor the Post Office Mural Listing: "New Deal/WPA Art in Alabama," http://www.wpamurals.com/alabama.htm; Alabama Department of
Archives and History, "New Deal Art in Alabama Post Offices and Federal Buildings," http://www. alabamamoments. state, al us/sec49det. html.

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 91
 Nearly every known local artist of the period
participated, creating paintings, prints, murals,
sculpture, and teaching aids. Quilters, basket and
rug weavers, and those creating needle and other
forms of folk art were also employed. W P A work-
ers also staffed art centers and galleries, taught
children's art classes, and arranged exhibitions. The
Birmingham Public Library hosted many local and
traveling displays. Special shows also featured the
work of young artists at the Library, Birmingham-
Southern College, Howard College (now Samford
University), and the Federal Art Museum, then
located in Henley School at 1700 Sixth Avenue
North. Artists also gave lectures to groups on art
and museum subjects, collected information about
Alabama artists, and circulated materials in the
public schools.
The best-known local W P A art projects
are the large murals commissioned for libraries,
schools, and the state fair. The mural at Woodlawn
High School is said to be the largest and longest
mural frieze in the entire South, covering fully 816
square feet.

The Trussville Furnace.

Carrie L. Hill (1875-1957, active in Birmingham 1908-1957). Oil on
canvas, 1934. Collection ofPatti Mulock, Belleair, Florida. Photograph,
2004 by Lesley R. Collins, Tallassee, Tennessee. Courtesy Birmingham
Historical Society.

Southern landscape had long been Carrie Hill's primary source of

inspiration. Here, she paints the rusted stoves and cast shed of the
Trussville furnace that closed after World War I. The 750-acre site
had been recently acquired and designated to become a new federally
planned community. Proving unsuitable for farming, it was later
developed as the greenbelt community known as Cahaba Village, the
core of today's Trussville.

Brother Bryan.
Designed by William Grant (New York, active in Birmingham in the
1930s); carved by George Bridges (1899-1976), Birmingham; dedicated
July 29, 1934. Statue, Alabama marble, 1934. Five Points South,
Birmingham. Photograph by the Birmingham News, September 23, 1934.
Courtesy BPL Archives.
[Status: Extant, restored 1983.]

Brother Bryan, the indefatigable local pastor whose religious work

touched everyone across the city, is portrayed in his then well-known
and characteristic attitude, kneeling to pray. Of his marble statue, Bryan
said on dedication day, "It will be out there fighting the devil when I'm
gone." According to a letter in the collection of Patrick Cather, federal
funds for the commission initially were not sufficient to include a base
recommended by the statue's designer. A base has since been added
such that the sculpture can be viewed at the appropriate height.

92 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Storybook Mural. This full-wall mural, 27 feet long and 9 feet high, was painted for the Children's Reading
Carrie L. Hill. Mural, oil on canvas, 1937. Room of the East Lake neighborhood library branch. Popular storybook figures, including
Birmingham Public Library East Lake Branch, Prince Charming, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Little Miss Muffet, Old King Cole, the Queen
Birmingham. of Hearts, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Tom Tom the
Photograph, 2004, by Marc Bondarenko, Piper's Son, and three of Snow White's dwarfs escape from the printed page to chat and
Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society. travel along the road between medieval castles. Carrie Hill's likeness can be recognized as
[Status: Extant,restored 1993.] the face of the grand storyteller Mother Goose, center with pointed black hat.

Detail, Storybook Mural.

Carrie L. Hill.
Photograph, 2004, by Marc Bondarenko, Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 93
94 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
 Discovery of America Murals.
Frank Hartley Anderson and Martha Fort Anderson (1885-
1968). Murals, oil on canvas, 1935-36. Installed in the library
of the historic Lakeview School-now Martin Advertising, Inc.,
Building, Birmingham.
Photographs, 2010, by Frank Jefferson Tombrello, Birmingham
Historical Society. Courtesy Birmingham Board of Education
and Martin Advertising, Inc.
[Status: Extant, relocated to halls in 1986; several of the
original panels are missing, including a map that traced the
routes of the explorers.]

These large canvas paintings show the early Viking,

Spanish, French, and British explorers. Using prints
and photographs then available at the local library, the
Anderson team tried to accurately depict the historical
figures. It is thought that Frank did the research and
sketched the scenes; Martha painted the murals.

Vikings Landing on the Coast of America, top left. Columbus Returning to Palos, middle right.
Blond men in horned helmets and gold-bronze armor emerge European men, women, and children in colorful dress appear in
from their sailing craft onto the future American shore. Behind the courtyard of an Italian-style residence as Columbus'ships
them is a sea of cobalt blue. approach the Spanish port city from which he sailed and to which
he returned.
Spaniards Arriving at Tikal, top right.
Working from a photograph of a restored temple, the Andersons Cabot Claiming America for the British, 1497, bottom left.
portrayed the grand Mayan pyramid amid banana trees, palmetto This scene depicts John Cabot and his son Sebastian landing on
fronds, and orchids flanked by an immense stone idol. Two the American coast and preparing to run up the British flag.
Spanish soldiers are poised in discovery. The scene, however, is
Jacques Cartier Exploring the St. Lawrence, 1835, bottom right.
fictitious for the Spaniards never actually reached the Mayan city
The vignette shows two natives carefully paddling a canoe, at the
ofTikal.
bow of which Cartier stands as he patrols the river, brandishing
Christopher Columbus Discovering America, middle left. the French flag and laying claim to the region.
W i t h his flotilla anchored off this tropical shore, Columbus'
outstretched arm and display of Spanish flags and armored
soldiers make clear his authority, and that of the Catholic Church,
over the submissive native couple.

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 95
 Early Settlers Weighing Cotton.
William SherrodMcCall, Jacksonville, Florida.
Mural, oil on canvas, 1939. Montevallo Post
Office, Montevallo, Alabama.
Photograph, 2010, by Frank Jefferson Tombrello,
Birmingham Historical Society.
[Status: Extant.]
Post Office Murals™ reprinted with the permission
of the United States Postal Service. All rights
reserved. Written authorization from the Postal
Service is required to use, reproduce, post, transmit,
distribute, or publicly display these images.

The Montevallo mural reflects the most

popular theme of the 1930s post office
commissions: Americans at work. Here, men
and a woman, with a team of oxen, bear their
split-oak baskets of cotton to be weighed
for sale. The farm vista fills the background.
The Florida artist William Sherrod McCall
received the commission for the mural
based on designs submitted for a Miami
competition. H e visited Montevallo and
chose the cotton theme, the execution of
which greatly pleased the postmaster and the
local citizens, who treated him royally, as he
commented in his final letter to the federal
funding agency.

96 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 Spirit of Steel.
Frank Hartley Anderson and Martha Fort Anderson.
Mural, oil on canvas, 1938. Fairfield Post Office,
Fairfield, Alabama.
Photograph, 2010, by Frank Jefferson Tombrello,
Birmingham Historical Society. [Status: Extant.]
Post Office Murals™ reprinted with the permission of the
United States Postal Service. AH rights reserved. Written
authorization from the Postal Service is required to use,
reproduce, post, transmit, distribute, or publicly display
these images.

Fairfield postmaster William Gandy chose the story

of iron and steelmaking for the mural above his
office entrance. In 1938, nearly everyone in Fairfield
worked forTCI-U.S. Steel's Fairfield Works or its
coal and red ore mines nearby. Fairfield workers
produced bar, plate, and structural steel as well as
wire and nails at this time. From left to center, the
mural shows miners within Red Mountain using
mechanized drills to knock loose the ore from which
iron and steel are made; beside them, workers shovel
coal to stoke the boilers that create the steam to
provide the blast for the furnaces in which iron is
Detail, Spirit of Steel. made from the ore. From right to center, within a
Frank Hartley Anderson and Martha Fort Anderson. coal mine, shown inside the earth beneath two blast
Photograph, 2010, by Frank Jefferson Tombrello, Birmingham Historical Society. furnaces, miners use a pick and shovel to extract the
black gold that fuels the boilers. In the center, laborers
Post Office Murals™ reprinted with the permission of the United States Postal Service. All
rights reserved. Written authorization from the Postal Service is required to use, reproduce, post, stoke the boilers, rod the furnaces, and produce the
transmit, distribute, or publicly display these images. finished rolled steel. As was the convention in such
federally funded murals of the 1930s, the workers
The central motif shows a fiery flare of waste gases that lights up area skies, signaling appear as able-bodied and energetic men who
to residents that the works are operating and there will be money in the dinner pails. accomplish their tasks with dignity and skill.

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 97
98 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Youth's Strife in the Approach to Life's Problems.
Designed by Sidney W.J. Van Sheck (c. 1896-1991), then at Auburn University; painted by Richard Blauvelt Coe; installed by
William Grant. Mural frieze, oil on canvas, 1935-38. Auditorium, Woodlawn High School, Birmingham.
Photograph, 2010, by Frank Jefferson Tombrello, Birmingham Historical Society. Courtesy Woodlawn High School.
[Status: Extant, under restoration.]

The Czech-born and European-educated artist and aeronautical engineer Sidney Van Sheck, who in the 1930s served
on the interior design faculty at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University), designed this massive
allegory with its 9- and 14-foot heroic figures. A boy and girl, center, face life's challenges—industrial exploitation,
war, greed, corruption, spiritual intolerance—ultimately triumphing over life's ills to obtain, through agriculture and
education, a new social order. In their future ideal life, armed with new scientific and technological improvements such
as land terracing, bridges, planning, radio, water power, and speedy transportation, middle left—they forsake industrial
life and support themselves through agricultural pursuit, left. Well schooled and intellectually sharpened by superb
teachers and exposure to the arts, right, the boy and girl prosper with their improved spiritual and intellectual guidance.
A motto crafted by Van Sheck, now painted over, originally surmounted the Woodlawn mural: "Gloried be they
who forsaking unjust riches strive in fulfillment of humble tasks for peace, culture, and equality of all mankind."

Detail, Youth's Strife in the Approach to Life's Problems.

Sidney W.J. Van Sheck and Richard Blauvelt Coe.
Photograph, 2010, by Frank Jefferson Tombrello, Birmingham Historical Society. Courtesy Woodlawn High School.

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 99
 I j T UNTO^I
UNTO4LAND CAME

CULTURE
TIMBER,

Historical Panorama of Alabama Agriculture. Funded by the W P A , Mobile muralist John Augustus Walker created
Designed by John Augustus Walker, Mobile, Alabama; painted these panels for installation at the Alabama State Fair in Birmingham.
by Walker and Richebourg Gaillardjr, Mobile, Alabama. Commissioned by the Extension Service of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute
Ten panels, tempera on canvas, 1939. Created for the Alabama (now Auburn University), they tell the story of Alabama agriculture from its
Cooperative Extension Service Exhibition, Alabama State origins in the cultivation of corn by indigenous people to the arrival of federal
Fair, Birmingham, October 1939. programs of the 1930s advocating scientific and improved practices. Measuring
Photographs, 2006, Courtesy Alabama Cooperative Extension roughly 5 x 7 feet each, the murals were displayed in the agricultural pavilion
System. at the fair and later traveled to other state fairs before being retired to the attic
[Status: Extant, cleaned and remounted, 1985; ownership of the extension service. There, in the early 1980s, they were rediscovered and
transferred to the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, subsequently cleaned, repaired, and briefly exhibited. They were rediscovered
Auburn, Alabama, 2010.] again in 2006, researched, and displayed during Auburn University's
sesquicentennial celebration.

100 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

—7-
A ^ CIVILIZATION

FARM PROQRE55 15 QREAT

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 101

 ^~

Uke COTTON LOAD B"&o HEAVY

Four Panels, Historical Panorama

of Alabama Agriculture.
John Augustus Walker, 1939.

These bright and cheery murals reveal the

philosophical underpinnings of federal
agriculture reform.Through the outreach
efforts of the Extension Service of the
Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, assisted
by the State Agricultural Experimental
Station, farmers will plant several cash
crops (not just cotton) and will raise

102 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

livestock, poultry, and trees, thereby
receiving multiple incomes and becoming
self-sustaining, as well as wiser and
better businessmen who will also protect
their soil. In "Our Agriculture and Our
Fair,"P. O. Davis, Extension Service
Director, states the service's intent to
reveal "these important facts" to the
thousands of fairgoers and to offer them
"a vision of the future" for which "we are
building Alabama into a better and more
prosperous State."

AQRICULTURE
b

ARTISTS ON RELIEF 103

C H A P T E R EIGHT

ON STAGE:
T H E F E D E R A L T H E A T R E P R O J E C T (FTP)
Operating nationally from 1935 to 1939, the WPA's
Federal Theatre Project (FTP) pursued the goals of
employing theatre workers—actors, directors, technicians,
Federal Theatre of Alabama
and writers—and bringing affordable dramatic entertain- Presents
ment to everyday Americans. Headed by Vassar theatre
professor Hallie Flanagan, the program also sought to
ttiiniir in m AMIJ*
encourage the development of plays by local authors on
local topics in places where little or no professional the-
atre existed. With an All Colored Cast
Coordinated from Washington, theatre companies
operated in 22 states and 40 cities. In Alabama, the proj-
ect was sponsored by the State Park and Recreation Board
and was headed by John McGee, former director of the
Birmingham Little Theatre. A total of $55,000 was allo-
1
cated to the Alabama project.
Two units operated in Birmingham: the "senior," or
white, unit and the "junior," or Negro, unit, the latter the
only federally supported African-American theater unit in
Thu., Apr. 16For Colored People
the Deep South. (The two other Negro units in the South-
ern Region operated at Durham and Raleigh in North
Carolina.) Birmingham was also home to the Southern
Play Bureau, which solicited and reviewed script submis-
sions for the region's units, arranged travel, disbursed funds,
Fri., Apr. 17 For White People
and provided other administrative support.
In addition to producing stage plays, the Birming-
8 P.M. Admission 25c
ham project hosted "demonstration" workshops, produced
radio broadcasts, and toured the state with some produc-
tions. The F T P also offered free classes in acting, panto- Home in Glory Poster.
Play poster, Birmingham Federal Theatre Project, 1936.
mime, comedy, theatre history, playwriting, lighting and Courtesy Federal Theatre Project Materials Collection, Special Collections
staging, fencing, music, dance, and ballet. The Federal and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.
Theatre Singers of Birmingham's Negro unit, overseen by
local choir director Harold White McCoo, had their own portray the black scene with realism. One example of the
30-minute radio show, in addition to performing in each latter, Harold Courlander's Swamp Mud, used the plight
of that unit's stage productions. of convict road crews in Georgia as a metaphor for the
Prohibited by a City of Birmingham ordinance from oppressive circumstances of Southern blacks. (Courlander
sharing the same performance space as the white unit, later would sue, and successfully settle with, Roots author
the Negro unit operated at the Municipal Auditorium Alex Haley for plagiarizing his 1967 novel The African?)
and Industrial High School. W i t h an initial allocation of The Negro unit's most ambitious production was an
$5,000, the group's cast included Russell Veal, an expe- "allegory with music" called Great Day, the script of which
rienced actor trained in Birmingham, and soloist Lillie is now lost. Local black playwright Morrison Wood's
Mae Littlejohn. Its productions, under the guidance of drama begins in 4500 B.C. in the jungles of Nigeria and
local director Clyde Limbaugh, ranged from stereotypical follows a tribal prophet and a warrior chief turned slave
depictions of African-American life in the South (Acci- through the Civil War to the Depression, exploring the
dent Policy and Home in Glory) to plays that sought to subjects of slavery, social change, and black leadership.
104 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Riot Scene from the Atlanta Production ofAltars of Steel.
Photograph, 1937. Set design by Joseph Lentz.
Courtesy Federal Theatre Project Photographs Collection, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.

Birmingham's white unit performed under the The Birmingham News published the work in installments
direction of Verner Haldene, of the Montgomery Little leading up to the play's opening. Among the other plays
Theatre, at the famed Jefferson Theatre at 1710 Second produced by the senior unit were a "rousing" melodrama
Avenue, producing a total of nine plays during 1936. (After Dark), a locally authored comedy (Mr. Petruchio), a
The group employed 63 workers, including profession- satire on public education (Chalk Dust), and a courtroom
als Amasa Windham and Sallie Lee Woodall of the Bir- drama by Ayn Rand (The Night of January 16 th).
mingham Little Theatre and Clyde Waddell of the Walter One of the most widely seen and discussed plays of
Ambler Stock Company. The project's high point was the Federal Theatre Project was Altars of Steel, an original
the dramatization of// Cant Happen Here, which opened drama developed by the Birmingham project. The play
simultaneously at 22 federal theatres across the country on depicts the struggle between management and labor at a
October 27, 1936, and was seen by half a million people. Birmingham steel mill that is acquired by "United Steel," a
Based on a novel by Sinclair Lewis, the play portrays the national company based in the northern United States. A
United States under the control of a fascist dictatorship. thinly disguised reference to the acquisition of the locally
ON STAGE 105
owned Tennessee Coal and Iron Company (TCI) by U.S. of the 1930s. Hallie Flanagan described the play as "the
Steel, the play features 21 staged deaths, a workers' riot, most important Southern production." Critics described
and an explosion at the mill. Written under the pseud- it as dangerous and inflammatory—too controversial, per-
onym Thomas Hall-Rogers, the play is often attributed haps, for Birmingham.
to local newspaperman John Temple Graves II. However, Following the demise of the Negro unit, funding for
one recent researcher asserts that the true playwright was its choir was continued under the WPAs recreation pro-
Josiah Bancroft, a physiotherapist at the T C I Hospital gram, and efforts subsequently shifted toward support of
(later Lloyd Noland Hospital) in Fairfield1. recreational activities for the city's African Americans,
Altars of Steel received several public readings in Bir- a cause championed by local park board representative
mingham and was in rehearsal for a January 1937 opening Laura Sharp.
when the city's theatre project was shut down. Funding The Federal Theatre Project in Birmingham rep-
cuts, poor attendance, and the lack of qualified theatre pro- resents a remarkable, if brief, experiment in Southern
fessionals and quality scripts contributed to the decision regional theatre. Through it, both white and especially
to close the Birmingham units. Picked up by the Atlanta black emerging artists gained a venue to explore cultural,
group, Altars of Steel premiered on March 29, 1937, and social, and economic themes and gave many the opportu-
quickly became one of the most discussed Southern plays nity to experience live theatre for the first time.

Osborne, Elizabeth Ann. Staging the People: Revising andReenvisioning Community in the Federal Theatre Project. College Park, M D :
University of Maryland, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/6858.

Production Author Dates (# of performances) Attendance

Home in Glory Clyde Limbaugh April 16-17, 1936 (2) 1,617
Swamp Mud Harold Courlander July 11, 1936(1) 630
Accident Policy Arthur Aker July 31-August 3, 1936(2) 230
Great Day Morrison Wood October 8, 1936

Performance List, Birmingham Federal Theatre Stock Unit (Negro).

Source: John Russell Poole, The Federal Theatre Project in Georgia and Alabama: An Historical Analysis of Government Theatre in the Deep
South. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens, 1995.

Production Author Dates (# of performances) Attendance

After Dark Dion Boucicault May 12-16, 1936 (6) 713
Mr. Petruchio Amasa B. Windham & Mary Mabry May 19-23, 1936 (6) 1,057
The Spider Fulton Oursler & Lowell Brentano May 26-June 6, 1936(12) 2,028
Let Who Will Be Clever Alden Nash June 3-9, 1936(6) 1,134
Chalk Dust Harold A. Clarke & Maxwell Nurnberg June 16-Sept. 21, 1936 (12) 1,640
It Can't Happen Here Sinclair Lewis & John Moffitt Oct. 27-Dec. 2, 1936 (12) 2,024
The Night of January 16th Ayn Rand Nov. 10-14, 1936 (6) 1,198
Distant Drums Dan Totheroh Nov. 17-21, 1936 (6) 642
American Holiday Edwin Barker & Albert Barker Dec. 27-31, 1936(6) 819
Performance List, Birmingham Federal Theatre Stock Unit (White).
Source: John Russell Poole, The Federal Theatre Project in Georgia and Alabama: An Historical Analysis of Government Theatre in the Deep
South. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens, 1995.

106 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 FEDERAL THEATER DRAMA IS PRAISED CAST CHOSEN IN NEGRO PROJECT
"The Night Of January 16th" Given Unqualified First Play Takes Actors From WPA Rolls;
Okeh By Reviewer Parts Are Assigned
For genuine interest and entertainment, "The Night of Twenty-six Birmingham Negroes-whose jobs used to
January 16th," current Broadway theatrical hit offered here range from washing clothes to teaching school-have sud-
by the Federal Theater project, is hard to beat. The produc- denly become actors for the play, "Home in Glory," to be
tion opened last night for afive-dayrun. presented in April by the Negro Repertory Theater, first
It's a murder mystery, not of the weird, gruesome type of the Federal theater projects here.
that for a number of years took first place among dramatic Every afternoon at the colored Y. W C. A. the group,
productions, but rather one which depends upon an intri- selected from the rolls of Works Progress Administration,
cate weaving and interweaving of fact and fancy, plot and rehearses the new roles. A former washwoman was dis-
counter-plot, to create the problem upon which the specta- covered to have the acting ability which put her in the
tor may draw his own conclusions as to the guilt or inno- leading part of Emma.
cence of the principals. The play of Negro life in Shelby County was written
The play deals with the death of a greatfinancier.The as a "symphonic drama" by Clyde Limbaugh, supervisor
death at first is believed to be suicide, but soon develops and director of the project. A chorus of 100 voices will
into murder. The story is told entirely from the witness weave spirituals into the plot.
stand in the trial of the central character, Karen Andre, mis- "This play will be a new start toward developing na-
tress of the dead financier. The jury for the trial is drawn tive drama among Negroes," said Mr. Limbaugh.
from the audience and reaches its conclusions from the "Ever since I helped with the production of 'Roll,
facts presented by prosecution and defense counsel. Sweet Chariot' at Legion Field last year, I've been eager
Last night's performance was sparkling, and individual to see a further opportunity given to Negroes to express
performances of the federal players were masterly and con- themselves through drama."
vincing. Especially those of Miss Helen Stringfellow (Karen Mr. Limbaugh interviewed more than 100 WPA work-
Andre) and Sally Lee Woodall as Nancy Lee Faulkner, legit- ers before choosing the cast for the play. The new actors
imate wife of the dead Faulkner. Miss Stringfellow brought don't know the exact date or building where they will
to the role of the Andre woman much that the creator of make their appearance in April-but meanwhile they are
the character sought to give it. The hushed suspense of the diligently rehearsing the play. In it Emma holds the other
audience while she gave her testimony from the stand was characters at bay with her outbursts of religious fervor-
a silent tribute to her interpretation of the role. amplified by the chanting of such songs as "Certainly,
Clyde Waddell, as the prosecuting attorney, turned in Lord" and "Look Away."
his usually good performance, while Lydia Woodstock, as Mr. Limbaugh's appointment to direct the Negro proj-
a Swedish maid, and Craig Neslo, as a private detective, ect here was announced by John McGee, regional director
took care of the comedy relief in a business-like manner. for the Federal theater project.
Hal Brown, whose interpretation of Deramus in a previ-
ous federal project, was a high mark in histrionics, turns
"Cast Chosen in Negro Project."
around in this performance to create a character that in
Birmingham Post, March 31, 1936. Clipping Files (Birmingham -
many respects is a direct opposite and does it in an equally Theatres - Federal Project), BPL Southern History.
convincing manner.
There's only one way to know about what happened on
"The Night of January 16th," and that is to see the perfor-
mance. This reviewer feels he will be betraying no friend-
ships nor making no enemies in recommending it as a rat-
tling good bit of entertainment-WILLIAM M. HINDS.

Review of The Night of January 16th.

Birmingham News, November 11, 1936. Clipping Files (Birmingham -
Theatres - Federal Project), BPL Southern History.

ON STAGE 107
CHAPTER NINE

DIGGING U P THE P A S T :
A D V A N C E S IN A R C H A E O L O G Y
W i t h its moderate climate and an available large, mostly
unskilled labor force, the Southeast proved fertile ground for
intensive archaeological investigation of prehistoric Native
American sites. During the 1930s, field teams sponsored
by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA),
Civil Works Administration (CWA), Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC), and Works Progress Administration (WPA)
excavated sites throughout Alabama, uncovering thousands
of artifacts that continue to merit study today. The people
who created and sustained the sites as early as 5000 B.C.
left no written records. Hence, it is through archeological
evidence their story continues to be pieced together and told.
Dr. Walter B. Jones, state geologist and director of the
Alabama Museum of Natural History, oversaw expeditions
at Bessemer and Moundville, where Native Americans of
the Mississippian mound-building culture lived. Museum
archaeologist David L. Dejarnette conducted the excava-
tions. A t Bessemer, three large earthen mounds and an
adjoining village area were excavated, using labor and sup-
plies provided by the CWA and WPA. Excavation of the
Moundville site, containing 26 large earthen mounds just
south of Tuscaloosa, took place from 1933 to 1941. The
Moundville museum was also established here in 1939 with
the aid of the C C C (see photographs, page 29). At its peak
in 1350, the complex Moundville site was the largest center
of population in the future United States.
Under Dejarnette's direction, large-scale excavations
were also conducted in the Guntersville, Pickwick, and
Wheeler basins of the Tennessee River, prior to flooding of
these areas for TVA dam construction. A labor force of more
than 1,000 CWA and W P A workers here and elsewhere in
the Southeast operated under TVA supervision. There were
extensive WPA-era excavations in South Alabama as well.
^.^s'-J.&ii^v J'W- ///J
The fruits of the Alabama field work—pottery shards,
projectile points, bone fragments, and other objects—were
sent to the W P A Central Archaeological Laboratory in
Birmingham. Here, under the supervision of lab director
Marion Dunlevy and Alabama Museum anthropologist
Christine Adcock, artifacts were cleaned, photographed,

General View of Archaeological Excavations, Bessemer Site.

Photograph, October 1, 1939.
Courtesy The University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(21Je 14).

108 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

MkHtfMMMMMftfl

DIGGING UP THE PAST 109

cataloged, and studied. Workers at the lab reconstructed
pottery vessels, restored and documented skeletal material,
sketched and categorized artifact forms, and drew maps
depicting the distribution of the objects at their original
locations.
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in town in November
1938 to attend the inaugural meeting of the Southern
Conference for Human Welfare (at which the Birming-
ham lab exhibited), toured the Central Archaeological
Laboratory and was much impressed:

"It is an extraordinarily interesting project,

but what seemed to me remarkable was that this
work which requires so much knowledge and skill
is being done by W P A workers who never before
reconstructed a pottery vase from fragments
found in a burial mound, or rearranged the bones
of skeletons or reconstituted a skull from a variety
of fragments.
. . . In other states archaeological projects such
as these are carried on through the university
laboratories, but in Georgia and Alabama these
facilities did not exist, so this laboratory is a rather
unique contribution to the education of the state
as far as its past is concerned."
Source: Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day" newspaper column,
November23, 1938, http://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers.

That same month, the Birmingham lab hosted the

second meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Con-
ference, a group formed earlier that year to promote infor-
mation sharing among excavators in the region and to
standardize ceramic types. The lab facility operated from
the summer of 1938 until the spring of 1942, when it was
closed due to wartime priorities.
The lab's artifacts and records, as well as those from
the Moundville site, are now housed at the University of
Alabama Museums. The WPA/TVA archeological pho-
tographs and field notes are permanently curated for the
TVA by the Frank H. McClung Museum at the University
of Tennessee, the William S. Webb Museum of Anthro-
pology at the University of Kentucky, and the Univer-
sity of Alabama Museums, with each institution housing
approximately 5,000 images for projects within its bounds.
The photo archive can be viewed online at http://diglib.lib.
utk.edu/wpa/indexphp. Additional photos, particularly of
the Bessemer site, are available through the University of
Alabama Museums' Office of Archaeological Research at "Cleaning Artifacts at the Central Archeological Laboratory in
Birmingham, Alabama."
http://museums. ua. edu/oar/NEH/index.shtml Photograph, September 15, 1938, by James R. Foster.
Courtesy The University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(3CAL) (uam02346).

110 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

"Artifact Analysis at the Central Archeological Laboratory in Birmingham, Alabama."
Photograph, September 1, 1938, by James R. Foster.
Courtesy The University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (1CAL) (uam01971).

"Drafting at the Central Archeological Laboratory in Birmingham, Alabama."

Photograph, September 1,1938, by James R. Foster.
Courtesy The University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (4CAL) (uam01973).

"The Central Archeological Laboratory in Birmingham, Alabama houses data regarding Alabama
archeology and makes it available to archaeologists all over the United States."
Photograph, September 20, 1938, by James R. Foster.
Courtesy The University of Alabama Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama (10CAL) (uam01977).

DIGGING UP T H E PAST 111

112 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Eleanor Roosevelt (thirdfrom
left) visiting Alabama's W P A
archaeological laboratory.
Photograph, November 20, 1938,
by James R. Foster.
Courtesy The University of Alabama
Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(16CAL).

"Exhibit by the Central

Archaeological Laboratory at the
Conference on H u m a n Welfare
on November 20 to 23,1938, in
Birmingham, Alabama."
Interior, Municipal-now Boutwell
Auditorium.
Photograph, November 15, 1938,
by James R. Foster.
Courtesy The University of Alabama
Museums, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
(19CAL).

More than 5,000 Southerners

met here to explore improving
the economy and rigid racial
restrictions. W h e n City officials
enforced segregated seating, the
First Lady moved her chair to the
middle of the aisle.

DIGGING UP T H E PAST 113

CHAPTER TEN

RECORDING OUR HERITAGE:

THE HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS S U R V E Y (HABS)
The nation's first federal preservation program
began in 1933 to document America's architectural
heritage. The initial program set up district offices, hired
unemployed architects, and sent them out to measure,
draw, and photograph pre-1860 structures. Birming-
ham hosted an early district office.
The founding philosophy of the Historic Ameri-
can Buildings Survey (HABS) was more than just
unemployment relief. It noted that comparatively few
structures can be saved by extraordinary effort as his-
toric houses and museums or altered and used for new
purposes. The founder stated that if "the great number
of our interesting and important architectural speci-
mens" must disappear, they could, at least, be recorded
through measured drawings and photographs for a
national collection.
State Advisory Committees worked with district
officers to review the existing literature and other docu-
mentation on the historic buildings in their states, to
select and rank the buildings for the survey, and to gain
the approval of the Washington office.
The HABS collection begun in the 1930s and con-
tinued throughout the years by the Washington-based
agency is now housed at the Library of Congress, where
it is among the most used collections of the library.
Three pre-1860 structures were documented in Bir-
mingham: the Mudd, Walker, and Worthington Houses
in the Elyton and Southside areas of the city. The Mudd
House is now Arlington Historic House and Garden, a
museum of the City of Birmingham. The Walker and
Worthington Houses have been demolished. HABS
photographer Alex Bush made and captioned the pho-
tographs of the three properties on March 4,1937.

"Front Elevation, William S. Mudd-Robert S. Munger House,

built 1842, 331 Cotton Avenue, Elyton."
Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
(HABS ALA37-BIRM, 1-1).
[Status: Preserved and open to the public as Arlington Historic
House and Garden, Birmingham.]

114 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

;<
^8ir.' •"

™~"-'

RECORDING OUR HERITAGE 115

"Front (North) and West Elevation, Mudd House."
Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 1-7).

"Front of Hall (General View), Mudd House."

Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 1-10).

116 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

"Front (North) and West Elevation, William A. Walker House, built 1848,200 Broad Street, Elyton.
Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 2-1).
[Status: Demolished.]

"Stairwell in Main Hall, Walker House." "Looking South at Well, Walker House."
Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937. Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 2-6). Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 2-10).

RECORDING OUR HERITAGE 117

 "Mantel on West Wall of Parlor, Walker House.
Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 2-6).

"Front (North) and West Elevation, Benjamin Pinckney Worthington House, Sixth Avenue South.
Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 3-1).
[Status: Demolished.]

118 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 >
t . t t / • • •-. •. *-t* .f. * • • t'-l

jy
.Jlj-Jtr j.t.,. j . - , l ; t ^ , t , i i
f ¥ ¥ ¥ * . * ' ¥ . ¥ ¥ ¥ - f ¥ ¥ ¥

"Close Up of Main Entrance,

^1 ~^
w Worthington House."
A Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA
37-BIRM, 3-6).

40G^P i •TA "Stairway to Rear of Main

*jpB Hall, Worthington House."

Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
/
/MKS1 ' — • 1 Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA
^Pfck. It 111 37-BIRM, 23-7).

"Rear (South) Elevation, Worthington House."

Photograph by Alex Bush, 1937.
Courtesy HABS (HABS ALA 37-BIRM, 3-2).

RECORDING OUR HERITAGE 119

CHAPTER ELEVEN

B U I L T TO L A S T :
A LEGACY IN S T O N E AT BIRMINGHAM P A R K S
Stonework of the Great Depression appears to seamlessly
fit its setting. And there is good reason that it does.
Construction materials were quarried on site by the stone
cutters who built park structures—the roads and bridges into
the parks, the picnic pavilions and barbecue pits, fish hatch-
eries and piers, and staircases, cabins, and towers that were
popular in the 1930s. Use of local materials cut construction
costs and worked well with federal programs such as the Civil
Works and Works Progress Administrations (the CWA and
the WPA), which provided funds to hire men, not machines
or materials.
A City of Birmingham bond issue in 1931 also provided
funds to hire unemployed workers to build recreational struc-
tures in Birmingham parks, most notably the amphitheatre and
shelter house at Avondale Park, then the city's largest park, and
a pool house at Ensley Park, then the largest western area park.
The CWA funded bridges and drainage improvements at Green
Springs Park—today's George Ward Park and shelter and com-
munity houses and barbeque pits at Lane Park—today's Bir-
mingham Zoo. W P A workers built an arboretum at Lane Park
and developed the fish hatchery ponds here; built bridges and
fishing piers at East Lake Park; and completed the moving and
erecting of the industrial city's symbol, the mammoth cast iron
statue of Vulcan atop a monumental column within the new
Red Mountain park overlooking the city of Birmingham.
Using stone that was available on site is mentioned fre-
quently in write-ups of 1930s projects. Also noted is the reuse of
stone, brick, and lumber from demolished older structures, such
as obsolete schools, coke ovens, and even the former Jefferson
County Courthouse and the Loveman's Department store.
This collection of photographs of stone structures in Bir-
mingham parks was made and printed in 2003 by students in
Professor Pam Venz's January Term Photographic Studio at
Birmingham-Southern College. Birmingham Historical Soci-
ety provided the research and guidance for documentation of
this remarkable legacy.

Swimming Pool-Now Western Maintenance Division, Ensley Park,

above.
Built 1931 with funds from a City of Birmingham bond issuefor parks.
Photograph by Charles Horn, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

Shelter House-Now Picnic Pavilion, Avondale Park, right.

Built 1931 with funds from a City of Birmingham bond issuefor parks.
__^ss^tssassSfc-*e£S i '
Photograph by Andrew Ryan, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

120 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Entrance Gate and Bench, Avondale Park.
Built 1931withfunds from a City of Birmingham bond issuefor parks.
Photograph by Andrew Ryan, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

BUILT TO LAST 121

 a*o

^:

Amphitheatre Stage and Staging Pavilions,

Avondale Park.
Designed by landscape architect RubeeJ. Pearse and built
1931 with funds from a City of Birmingham bond issue
for parks.
Photograph by Andrew Ryan, 2003. Courtesy
Birmingham Historical Society.

Amphitheatre Seating, Avondale Park.

Designed by landscape architect RubeeJ. Pearse and built
1931 with funds from a City of Birmingham bond issue
for parks.
Photograph by Andrew Ryan, 2003. Courtesy
Birmingham Historical Society.

122 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

>>„•'.•(• * i— „ * •

BUILT TO LAST 123

 Drainage Ditch, Green Springs
Park-Now George Ward Park.
Built 1933-34 with funds from the
Civil Works Administration.
Photograph by Adam Colbert, 2003.
Courtesy Birmingham Historical
Society.

124 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 T7T

2b-V

Bridges, Green Springs Park-Now George Ward Park, left and above.
Built 1933-34 with funds from the Civil Works Administration.
Photograph by Adam Colbert, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

BUILT TO LAST 125

 Community House, Lane Park-Now the Lodge at the Birmingham Zoo.
Built 1933-34 with funds from the Civil Works Administration.
Photograph by Annette Kittrell, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

Shelter House, Lane Park-Now Picnic Pavilion at the Birmingham Zoo.

Built 1933-34 with funds from the Civil Works Administration.
Photograph by Booth Wilson, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

126 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Barbecue Pit at the Community
House, Lane Park-Now the Lodge
at the Birmingham Zoo.
Built 1933-34 with funds from the
Civil Works Administration.
Photograph by Jamie Neal, 2003.
Courtesy Birmingham Historical
Society.

$M£^
BUILT TO LAST 127
 Fish Hatchery Basins, Lane Park-Now the Birmingham Zoo Ponds.
Built 1936-1937 by the Works Progress Administration.
Photograph by Booth Wilson, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical Society.

Staircase, Fish Hatchery Basins, Lane Park-Now the Birmingham Zoo.

Built 1936-1937 by the Works Progress Administration.
Photograph by Annette Kittrell, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham Historical
Society.

128 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

BUILT TO LAST 129
 Entrance Gate, Vulcan Park.
Built 1936-1938 by the Works Progress Administration.
Photograph by Charles Horn, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham
Historical Society.

Staircase from Streetcar Stop, Vulcan Park, left.

Built 1936-1938 by the Works Progress Administration.
Photograph by Charles Horn, 2003. Courtesy Birmingham
Historical Society.

130 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 INDEX

A Civil Works Administration D Hill, Carrie L., 88, 92,93

Abercrombie, Joseph H., 86 athletic fields and other school im- Davis, P. O., 103 Hillman Hospital Outpatient Clinic, 78
Adcock, Christine, 108 provements, 14 DeBardeleben, Charles, 64 Historic American Buildings Survey
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), 1 federal expenditure, ix, 5 Dejarnette, David L., 29,36,108 (HABS), v, 2,114-119
airports, 10,11,76,77 Jefferson County projects site map, Dunlevy, Marion, 108 Historical Panorama of Alabama Agricul-
Alabama (Bankhead) National Forest, 4-5 ture,vi, 100-103
19,21,27 opening meeting in Birmingham, ix Historical Records Survey (HRS), 90
Alabama Cooperative Extension Ser- park improvements, 12-13,120, East Lake Library mural, 93 Holmquist, William, 52,56
vice, vi, 84,100-103 124-127 Elliott, Hannah, 88 Holt,Thad,88
Alabama Museum of Natural History, projects, 2,4-17,108 Elyton Village housing project, x, 69-70 Home Owners' Loan Corporation
108 public facility improvements, 6 Emergency Banking Act, 1 (HOLC),l
Alabama State Fair, 100 and Public Works of Art Project, 88 Evans, Walker, v. x, 40 Homewood, 2, 8,12, 82, 83
alphabet agencies, 1 Report of the Civil Works Administra- hospitals and clinics, 2,76,78,79
Altars of Steel, 105-106 tion, Jefferson County Division, 5 housing, 38-71,76
American Guide Series, 3 storm water improvements, 10-11 Fair Labor Standards Act, 3 HousingActofl937,66
Anderson, Frank Hartley, 88, 90, 94-95, street and road improvements, 7 Fairfield, 10,54,55,76, 87, 90, 91, 97 Housing Authority of the Birmingham
97 Civilian Conservation Corps Fairfield post office mural, 90, 91,97 District, 76
Anderson, Martha Fort, 88, 90, 94-95, at Alabama (Bankhead) National For- Farm Credit Administration (FCA), 1 housing projects
97 est, 19,21,27 Farm Security Administration (FSA),v, Central City, x
archaeology, 108-113 camp life, 20-22 2 Elyton Village, x, 66, 69-70
Arlington Historic House and Garden, Camp F-l (Moulton), 21 federal art programs, 2, 88-107 federal expenditures, x, 3
114-116 Camp F-2 (Danville), 19 Federal Art Project (FAP), 88-90 Smithfield Court, x, 66-68
art programs. See Federal art programs Camp F-5 (Double Springs), 22 Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), 2 Southtown, x
athleticfields,14-16 Camp F-6 (Heflin), 19 Federal Communications Commission
Camp F-7 (Chandler Springs), 19,21, (FCC), 2 I
B 22,26 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Index to Alabama Biography, 3
Bancroft, Josiah, 106 Camp F-9 (Andalusia), 24,26,28 (FDIC), 1 Industrial Waterworks System, ix, 76
Bankhead, John Jr., 1,38 CampP-54(Brewton),20,22 Federal Emergency Relief Administra- Inland Lake, ix
Bankhead Farms, 38 Camp P-81 (Bessemer), 19 tion (FERA), 1,108 It Can't Happen Here, 105
Bankhead National Forest. & Alabama Camp S-52 (Chunchula), 27 Federal Housing Administration
(Bankhead) National Forest CampSP-7,24 (FHA), 2, 66 J
beautification efforts, vi, 84-87 Camp SP-8 (Bessemer), 19,29 Federal Music Project, 3, 90 Jefferson County
Beecherjohn, 54 CampSP-15,29 Federal Theatre Project (FTP), 3, 90, tax assessor records, 76
Bessemer, viii, 12,16,19,29,34,43, Camp TVA P-13 (Huntsville), 22 104-107 WPA administrative projects, 76
76-77,108-109 at Cheaha State Park, 23,30-31,35 Federal Theatre Singers, 104 WPA employment, ix
Birmingham at Chewacla State Park, 37 Federal Writers' Project (FWP), 3, 90 Jefferson Hospital, x, 78
bond issue of 1931, vi, 120-123 at Conecuh National Forest, 23,24, Fischer, Homer S., 84 Jefferson Tower. See Jefferson Hospital
city shops and garage, 6,76 25,26,27,28 Fitzpatrick, John Kelly, 88 Jemison, Robert Jr., 2, 64, 66, 85
conditions in the 1930s, ix enrollee pay, 19 Flanagan, Hallie, 104,106 Jones Archaeological Museum, x
federal expenditures, ix fire suppression and forest regenera- Flechner, Robert, 29 Jones, James M. "Jimmie,"x, 66
Southside jail, 76 tion, 24-26 Foster, Charles, 21 Jones, Walter B., 29,36,108
worker housing, 40-49 forest work, 23
Birmingham Municipal Airport, 10, map, 18 K
11,76,77 at Mound State Monument, 29,36 Gaillard, Richebourgjr., 100-103 Kessler, William, 64
Birmingham Municipal Auditorium, at Oak Mountain State Park, 34 Gandy, William, 97
77,104,112-113 at Open Pond Recreational Area, 28 Gardendale Tract, 56-63
Birmingham-The Industrial City Beauti- projects, x, 1,18-37,108 Gee's Bend Farms, 38 Lakeview School murals, 94-95
ful, 86 recreational areas, 28 Gladner, Henry, 34 Lane Park, 13, 80, 86,120,126-129
Birmingham Zoo. See Lane Park road and bridge building, 27 Grant, William, 88, 92, 98-99 Lewisburg, 45,49
Bridges, George, 92 state expenditure, 18 Graves, John Temple II, 106 Lies,J.F.,64
Brooks, Marion Thomas, 84, 85 at Talladega National Forest, 19,24, Graymont National Guard Armory, Limbaugh, Clyde, 104
Brookside, 49,54 26,30-31 76,77 Littlejohn, Lillie Mae, 104
Bureau of Air Commerce, 2 at Weogufka State Park, 23 Great Day, 104
Byrne,T.K.,85,86 Civilian Conservation Corps in Alabama:greenbelt communities, 64 M
A Great and Lasting Good, vi Greenwood subsistence homestead, x, Marshall, Roy S., 85
Coe, Richard Blauvelt, 88-89, 98-99 38,52-53,74 Martin, Sentell, 19
Cahaba Village (Trussville). See Sla- Commodity Credit Corporation, 1 Greer, D. H., 52,56, 64 McCall, William Sherrod, 96
gheap Village (Trussville) Conecuh National Forest, 23,24,25, McCoo, Harold White, 104
Central Archaeological Laboratory, 26,27,28 H McGee, John, 104
108-113 Courlander, Harold, 104 Haley, Alex, 104 McWane, James R.,vi
Cheaha State Park,23,30-31,35 Crape Myrtle Trail, 86-87 Hall-Rogers, Thomas, 106 Montevallo post office mural, 90, 91,96
Chewacla State Park, 37 Hibben, Thomas Jr., v, x, 40,58 Mound State Monument, 29,36
Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), 2

INDEX 131
Moundville, 29,108 Pearse, RubeeJ., 122-123 Rosedale School (Homewood), 82, 83 Trussville, x, 38, 64-65
Moundville Archaeological Museum, x, post office murals, 90, 91 Snow Rogers School, 83 Tuberculosis Sanatorium (Homewood),
29,36,108 Prairie Farms, 38 South Highlands School, 83 78-79
Mount Olive subsistence homestead, v, public housing. See housing projects Springdale School, 17
x, 38,56-63 Public Works Administration (PWA), Tarrant City School, 15, 87 u
Mudd House, William S., 114-116 ix, 1,3,66-70,78 Tarrant High School, 83 unemployment, ix
Munger House, Robert S., 114-116 Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), 2 Tuggle School, 83 United States Department of Agricul-
Municipal Auditorium. See Birming- Puerto Rico Reconstruction Adminis- Warrior High School, 17, 83 ture (USDA), 1
ham Municipal Auditorium tration (PRRA), 3 West End High School, 83 United States Department of Housing
Municipal Stadium, 80 Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), Wilson School, 83 and Urban Development (HUD), 2
murals 88 Woodlawn High School, 83,87, 92, United States Housing Authority
Alabama Cooperative Extension 98-99 (USHA),3
Service, 100-103 R Section of Fine Arts, 2, 90 United States Treasury Department, 2,
in Alabama post offices, 90-91 rammed earth housing, v, 58-63 Section of Painting and Sculpture, 2, 90 88,90
East Lake Library, 93 Ramsay, Erskine, 38, 85 Securities and Exchange Commission University of Alabama Medical Center,
Fairfield post office, 90,91, 97 Recreational Demonstration Areas (SEC), 2
Lakeview School, 94-95 (RDAs),x,3 sewing rooms, 78,79
Montevallo post office, 90, 91, 96 Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1 Shades Valley Sewage Disposal Plant, 6
Woodlawn High School, 98-99 Redmont Gardens (Mountain Brook), Sky Way Motor Way, 30-31,35 Van Sheck, Sidney, 88, 98-99
Muscoda,43,48 66 Skyline Farms, 38 Veal, Russell, 104
Mydans, Carl, v,x, 40,50 Republic Steel, 42 Slagheap Village (Trussville), x, 38, Vulcan Monument, 80, 81, 87,120,130
Resettlement Administration, x, 2,34, 64-65,92
N 38,50,64 Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Com- W
national forests Resettlement Administration photogra- pany, 45 Walker, John Augustus, 100-103
Alabama (Bankhead), 19,21 phers, v, x, 38-65 Slossfield Clinic, 2,76,79 Walker House, William A., 117-118
Conecuh, 23,24,25,26,27,28 Roberts Field, 76 Slossfield Negro Youth Training Center, Warrior airport, 76
Talladega, 19,24,26,30-31 Roebuck Springs Golf Course, 80 76 Warrior High School, 17
National Guard armories, 76,77 Roosevelt, Eleanor, x, 21, 66,109,113 Slossfield Community Center, 76,77 Weogufka State Park, 23
National Industrial Recovery Act, 1 Roosevelt, Franklin D., ix, 18 slum clearance, 66 Williams, Aubrey, 2
National Labor Relations Board Rothstein, Arthur, v, x, 40,50,52,54, Smithfield Court housing project, x, Windham, Amasa, 105
(NLRB),2 56,64 66-68 Wolcott, Marion Post, v, x, 40
National Youth Administration (NYA), Rural Electrification Administration Snow Rogers Community Center, 2,76 Wood, Morrison, 104
2,83 (REA),3 Social Security Board-Administra- Woodall, Sallie Lee, 104,105
Natural Resources Conservation Rushing, Brian, 34 tion, 3 Woodlawn High School mural, 98-99
Service, 1 Soil Erosion Service (SES), 1 Works Progress Administration (WPA)
New Deal landmarks in Birmingham s Southeastern Archaeological Confer- archaeology projects, 108-113
area, x Schools ence, 110 art project, 88-92
North Birmingham, 7 17th Avenue School, 83 Southern Conference for Human aviation projects, 76-77
30th Street School, 83 Welfare, 109,112-113 beautification projects, vi, 84-87
o Southern Play Bureau, 104 Central Archaeological Laboratory,
Alabama Boy's Industrial School, 83
Oak Mountain State Park, x, 34,80
Alabama State Training School for Southtown housing project, x 108
Open Pond Recreational Area, 28
Girls, 16, 87 Springdale School, 17 described, ix, 2,73
P Alley School, 83 St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, drainage and sewer projects, 74-75
Palmerdale subsistence homestead, x, Baker School, 83 49 employment in Jefferson County, ix
38,50-51 Barrett School, 83 state parks. See parks, state expenditures, 73
Park Lane Apartments (Mountain Belview Heights School, 83 subsistence homesteads Industrial Waterworks, 76
Brook), 66,71 Councill School, 82, 83 Bankhead Farms, 38 military projects, 76
Parks, city Curry School, 83 federal expenditures, 38 park projects, 80,120,128-130
ACIPCO Park, 80 CWA school improvements, 14-17 Gee's Bend Farms, 38 projects cardfile,v
Avondale, 80,120-123 Ensley High School, 14 Greenwood, x, 38 projects in Birmingham and Jefferson
Central Park, 80 Fairfield High School, 83 Mount Olive, v,x, 38,56-63 County, 72-83, 87
CWA work at, 12-13 Gardendale School, 83 Palmerdale, x, 38 public administration projects, 76
East Lake, 80,120 Gate City School, 83 Prairie Farms, 38 public building and grounds projects,
Ensley Park, 120 Gibson School, 83 program, 1,38 76-77
Green Springs (George Ward) Park, Gorgas School, 83 rammed earth construction, 58-63 public health and welfare projects,
11,120,124-125 Graymont Elementary School, 83 Skyline Farms, 38 78-79
Hawkins Park, 80 Henley School, 92 Trussville, x, 38, 92 school projects, 82-83
Homewood Park, 12 Hooper City School, 83 street, road, and highway projects,
Lane Park, 13, 80,120,126-129 Huffman School, 83 74-75
McLendon Park, 76,77,80 Hueytown School, 14 Talladega National Forest, 19,24,26, theatre project, 104-107
Municipal (Roosevelt) Park, 12 Industrial High School, 83,104 30-31 Works Project Administration. See
Overton Park (Homewood), 2 Inglenook School, 83 TCI-U.S. Steel, 40,42,43,44, 97,106 Works Progress Administration
Lakeview School, 83, 94-95 Tarrant, 6, 9,15 (WPA)
Vulcan Park, 80, 81,120,130
Lewisburg School, 15,76 theatre. See Federal Theatre Project Worthington House, Benjamin Pinck-
Woodrow Wilson, 80
Lincoln Elementary School, 79, 83 (FTP) ney, 118-119
WPA work at, 80
McAdory High School, 82, 83 Thomas, 42 WPA/TVA Archaeological Photo-
parks, state
Minnie Holman School, 83 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), vi, graphs, vi, 108-113
brochure, 32-33
Mortimer Jordan High School, 17 1,108 Wylam, 54,55
Cheaha State Park, 23,30-31,35
Ramsay High School, 82, 83 Tranquility Lake, x, 3
Chewacla State Park, 37
Riley School, 83
Oak Mountain State Park, x, 34
Weogufka State Park, 23

132 DIGGING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION

 "Hard times come here first and stay longest."
That's how those in Birmingham speak of the Great Depression.
When hard times came to Birmingham in the 1930s and its
industrial engine shut down, so too came more than $1 billion in
today's dollars. Federal programs designed to cut the relief rolls
and ameliorate the lives of area residents built housing, hospitals,
waterworks, local and state parks, public buildings, and roads.
This book provides a visual record of the diverse projects that
put skilled and unskilled workers, paupers and professionals,
to work in the Birmingham area. More than 200 historic

health, recreation, beautification, school improvement,

reforestation, storm drainage, agricultural advances, the arts,
theatre, and archaeology. These images provide a fascinating
AQRICULTURE WbtftA. ONWARD look at the industrial region as it once was—its mines and mills,
urban places, and undeveloped areas.
Federal programs covered include:

t?JJ • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Federal Theatre and Art Projects
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Resettlement Administration (RA)
Subsistence Homesteads Division
Works Progress Administration (WPA)

The story of these efforts, as told through period photographs

and other records, provides a superb demonstration of federal
programs at work during an important period in the development
of our region.

About the Editors

Julius E. Linn Jr., M.D., is former editor-in-chief of UAB Medical
Publications at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Katherine M. Tipton is a professional publication editor.

Marjorie L. White is Director of Birmingham Historical Society

and author of numerous books on the city of Birmingham.

Birmingham Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization whose

ISBN 0 - ^ 3 ^ - 3 5 - 7
50000
and celebrating the city's past while helping to shape its future.
Copies of this publication are available from www.bhistorical.org.
Birmingham Historical Society
One Sloss Quarters
9I780943N994352
Birmingham, Alabama 35222
www.bhistorical.org