Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Memories of Irondale, 1925 to 1942, Part VII by H. Bishop Holliman

This is the seventh in a series of reflections on an earlier Irondale, Alabama by my father, Bishop Holliman, born 1919. - Glenn N. Holliman

The Great Depression…"I was too young to remember the beginning of the Depression and the havoc it wrought to so many. In my young mind, times had always been hard and some people had always been without work. Daddy (Ulyss Holliman) was off from the job just six weeks in the summer of 1933. Many folks we knew were out of work.

It was not uncommon for men to come to the house asking for food and/or other forms of help. Some children went to school bare footed. Loudelle (Holliman Ferrell) and Euhal (Holliman) were still at home. Melton (Holliman) had married in 1932, but he had been living away from home before his marriage and had worked full time. Like us, many folks in Irondale kept chickens or a cow and put in big gardens and managed to get by."


Ulyss S. Holliman of 2300 3rd Avenue, North in Irondale poses in the middle 1920s in his large garden. A native of Fayette, Alabama, Ulyss moved his growing family to this suburb of Birmingham during World War I to take advantage of employment opportunities. During the 1910s, the population of Irondale almost doubled as more and more lots were sold on the hill side overlooking the railroad yard.


During World War II, Pearl Caine Holliman wrote her son, Bishop Holliman, who was in the U.S. Navy, promising to save a Sunday chicken for the day he would return home from the war. As with gardens, many in Irondale raised their own chickens. For several years in the late 1930s, the Ulyss Hollimans even had a milk cow.


"The WPA (Works Progress Administration) and other New Deal projects soon provided menial jobs for the unemployed. In 1936 the sewer systems were installed, and we began to enjoy
indoor plumbing. An early New Deal project was the building of sidewalks through most of the town. Though not a New Deal project (as far as I know) the streets were paved during World War II, and I think Frank Williams was mayor at the time.



 
I have already alluded to the hobos who rode the freight trains during these years----In my mind, hobos had always ridden them. Central heating had not come into vogue so it was still my job each day to bring in coal and kindling for Daddy to start a fire each morning. We had a heater in the middle bed room and later, one in the living room. After the War, they managed to get central gas heat."
 
Population statistics reveal the calamity of the Depression. In 1920, by which time the Hollimans had moved to Irondale and were about to construct a home at 2300 N. 3rd Street, the population was 809. As the Montgomery subdivision kept growing, the number of people living in the town almost doubled in ten years to 1,517 in 1930. Irondale must have felt like a thriving and booming place in the "Roaring Twenties".

During the Depression, growth stopped and the population even dropped to 1,486 in 1940. By 1970, the population reached 3,166 but in the four decades since, the numbers living in Irondale have quadrupled to 12,349 in 2012. Source Historical Populations, Wikipedia, Irondale, Alabama

More of Memories of Irondale, Alabama in next post....

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Memories of Irondale, 1925 to 1942, Part VI by H. Bishop Holliman

This is the sixth in a series of reflections on an earlier Irondale, Alabama by my father, Bishop Holliman, born 1919. - Glenn N. Holliman


Above, Bishop Holliman rode a bus similar to this one from Irondale to Shades Cahaba School in Homewood leaving at 7:30 am every school morning for a 30 minute, non-stop ride.  Photo from the Shades Valley Alumni web site.


"Schools…Irondale schools were among the best in Alabama.  I remember all my teachers and events that occurred in each grade.  Mr. Houk was principal when I entered in 1927.  Later, George S. Millsap was made principal.  He was a good teacher but very, very strict, as were all of the teachers.  Irondale students competed very well at Shades Cahaba with students from other schools and from families more prosperous than Irondale families. "

Below a page from the 1940 The Owl, the yearbook of Shades Cahaba High School.  Far left is Bishop Holliman's sister, Virginia.  On the back row, standing behind and right of the student typing, is Walter Cornelius (wearing the tie).  Virginia and Walter would marry in 1942.  Virginia's brother, Ralph Holliman, was on the staff also.  He may be in the photo back row, 2nd from right, next to Walter, his future brother-in-law.

"In 1937, the year of my graduation, I was editor-in-chief of the annual and my closest friend, Charles Pugh, who lived a few doors from us on the hill, was president of the senior class and valedictorian.  Some other names that come to mind after all these years are Cecil Giddens, Jean LaFurgy, the two Gaylor boys, the Hurtt girls, Sadie Mae Burgess and Corely Odum.

Irondale students were well-behaved at Shades Cahaba, not entirely due to family upbringing, but also to the strict teachers at Irondale.  At the end of the school year in 1933 I was double promoted to the 9th grade, which was the senior year of Junior High. 

There were five of us: Clementine Shurbert, George Sorrell, J.H. Ratliff, Oscar Lee Hurt and myself.  I am the only one of that circle still living.  Our teachers in junior high were Mr. Millsap who taught 9th grade algebra, Miss Margaret Hanes, math and science and Mrs. Joe McClendon English and civics. "

Built in 1920 and renewed several times, Shades Cahaba is now a Homewood, Alabama elementary school.  Note the concrete owl on top of the building.

"In retrospect, I think skipping the 8th grade was one of the worst things that could have happened to me.  Why?  Well, it simply took a year out of my life and it put me in high school and college a year younger than my peers.  I don’t think I every caught up, as I always felt insecure when with classmates who were a year older.  And also I did not get a good foundation in math by being introduced to 9th grade algebra minus 8th grade math.

In 9th grade civics each Friday we read and discussed the Weekly Reader, a compilation of current events.  On this particular Friday one student, Clyde Godwin, was reading from the paper an item about President Roosevelt’s visit somewhere.  He meant to read, “The President wore a flower in his button hole.”  Instead he read, “The President wore a flower in his bottom hole.”  Well, the class exploded! 

Even Mrs. Mac (as we were allowed to call her) lost her dignity and laughed along with us.  At that age, now soon becoming 15 I was very conscious of how my hair looked, and to make sure it was combed neatly I put a lot of hair oil on it every day.  At graduation in May each member of the class was given a gift of dubious value accompanied by some sort of explanation.  For me, the gift was a small can of pure lard with the accompanying verse: “To keep your hair down, we know it is hard, so we give to you this compound lard!”

A sad thing happened soon after school opened again in September, principal Mr. Millsap, who was only 31 years old, one morning before 8 o’clock wrapped a towel around his head, put a gun up to it and pulled the trigger.  His death was a big blow to all of us and was not easy for his current students and the most recent graduating class to get over.  

Glenn Barrow was made principal and remained in that position until death in the Army in 1943.  Photo below.
                                                                        
 Above, Glenn Barrow died in 1943, much too young.  He had a deep influence as a principal and teacher.  Bishop Holliman in 1946 would name his only son after him.

Next posting, more memories of pre-war Irondale, Alabama....