Memories of Irondale, 1925 to 1942, Part V

by H. Bishop Holliman

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

Bishop Holliman surveys 1^st Avenue of Irondale, Alabama in November 2010.  The café and buildings are still present but with different names and automobiles from the days of his childhood.  The Model A Fords are gone.  His brother-in-law’s Daly Hardware Store closed in 1960.

  

The Street Car…I can barely remember riding the street car that came into Irondale on 2^nd Avenue North.  It ran one block to 20^th, went down the short hill…past Ina Powell’s barber shop and Mr. Gaddis’ blacksmith shop, turned right on 1^st Avenue North in front of the grocery store, drug store and hardware store.  Then back up the slight hill on 19^th Street and headed back to town.  It must have been 1927 that they replaced the street car with the bus.  The fare was seven cents."

Below in 1976 Alvin W. Hudson and Harold E. Cox published a history of street cars in Birmingham, Alabama.  In this work they stated that the rail line service extended in April 1913 to 'the newly developed town of Irondale'.  In 1927, the cars ceased running and as Bishop Holliman notes, buses replaced them.

"Riders were given a free transfer from the bus to street cars in Woodlawn for completion of our ride into downtown Birmingham.  In Woodlawn we transferred to No. 27 or No. 2 that would take us into town and/or Ensley or West End, all for seven cents!

Most folks rode street cars/busses in the 1920s and up into the 1930s, and again during World War II.  Daddy (Ulyss S. Holliman) worked for the street car company (Birmingham Electric Company).  The first street car ride I remember was to East Lake Park when I was about six years old."  

Below, from the work 'Street Railways of Birmingham', is the route from Birmingham to Irondale.  Although undergoing development as a work class suburb in the 1910s and 20s, Irondale as a settlement predates the much larger Birmingham.

"We transferred to the First Avenue car going to East Lake where there was an amusement park with a merry-go-round, and several other rides.  I think we went two summers.  I guess it was the Depression beginning in 1929 that brought an end to that entertainment.  The street car was a big part of my life until I left in 1941 for the War.  I rode it nearly every day to Birmingham Southern College and any time I went to town."

The last street car to run in Birmingham was April 18, 1953 and an era ended.

 More Irondale, Alabama memories in next post....

Memories of Irondale, 1925 to 1942, Part IV

by H. Bishop Holliman

This is the fourth in a series of reflections on an earlier Irondale, Alabama by my father, Bishop Holliman, born 1919. Below he continues to remember the grocery stores in the small community. - Glenn N. Holliman

"The chain stores eventually came and Mr. Davis could not compete with Hill grocery Company nor with the A & P.  J. T. Ramsey stayed in business much longer. Another grocery opened on 1^st Avenue, I am not sure of the year, by Ed Fortenberry.  We know he was in business when I went off to war, and I don’t know how long he was there.  But Hill’s and A & P, I am sure, soon took all the business from local merchants.

At one time, though, there were two grocery stores there on First Avenue, North.  Hill’s was in the same block as the A & P and Fortenberry’s Grocery  where the drug store, operated by Dr. Brock and the hardware store owned by Mr. T. C. Burgess.  In 1943, Mr. Burgess retired and his store bought by Robert Daly, Sr. (my brother-in-law) and his brother, George Daly.  

The announcement of the Daly Hardware opening is on the right. Below is Robert W. Daly, a Woodlawn, Alabama banker. From early 1930s until 1946, he and his wife, Vena Holliman Daly, lived in the 2300 block of 3rd Avenue, North in Irondale.  When the war ended they built a larger home on the east side of Irondale adjacent to the current location of the United Methodist Church.  The house was demolished in 1969 for a business complex.

In 1947, the building next to the Robert and George Daly Hardware Store in Irondale collapsed.  Below are photos of the event.

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Also in the same block was Bess Fortenberry’s hamburger stand that gained fame as the ‘Whistle Stop Café’.  We young boys always bought our baseball equipment each spring from the hardware store and Dr. Brock helped us young men fill out the questionnaire we received from the draft board in 1940 and 1941. 

Incidentally, the chain grocery stores provided about the only job opportunities available at that time for boys.  I worked at Hill’s on Saturdays ‘off and on’ almost to the time I left for the Navy.  I was going to Birmingham-Southern at the time and was paid $2.50 for working from seven in the morning until 10 that night.  Three cents was withheld for Social Security!"

More memories of Bishop Holliman next posting....

Memories of Irondale, 1925 to 1942, Part III

by H. Bishop Holliman

This is the third article of my father’s memories of growing up in the small suburb of Birmingham, Alabama during the 1920s and 1930s, a time of economic deprivation prior to World War II. - Glenn N. Holliman

"Grocery Stores…I remember the two stores that provided food for Irondale folks in the 1920s and early 1930s.  We traded with R.H. Davis and Sons, located on 2^nd Avenue North and 19^th Street.  I remember stopping by the store when I was in the first grade and buying a nickel package of juicy fruit chewing gum and trying to chew it all before I reach home.  I did not succeed.  And I never did that again. 

Our groceries were bought on credit and Daddy  (Ulyss S. Holliman, 1884 – 1965) would pay the bill every two weeks. Mr. Davis would give him a little sack of candy each time, and my sister Virginia (Holliman Cornelius, 1922 – 2011),  brother Ralph (Holliman, 1924) and I looked forward to that treat.  Mr. Davis had a small truck he used to deliver groceries, and it could be used for other purposes, such as taking us once to ‘Blue Hole’. "

Above, Bishop Holliman, born 1919, in 2010 standing by the Irondale, Alabama tracks he crossed many times in the 1920s and 1930s.

"This was a small swimming hole created from the artisan well that flowed on the west side of town where 30 to 40 years later the East Side Mall was built.  ‘Lokey’ was a black man who worked for Mr. Davis.  He would come by the house to take grocery orders then he would deliver them later in the day or the next day.  We all learned to love Lokey.  He was highly regarded by our family, Grandma Lula Caine and Aunt Maud Cook’s family.  He always came into the house through the back door, as was the custom of that era.

The other grocery store was J. T. Ramsey and Son, located on south side of town by the Seaboard tracks in a large brick building that was still standing the last time I looked (2010).  We never did trade there.  I guess because it was farther away from our house.  At one time, I don’t remember the year that it opened or closed, the Jane Griffin family (Eloise, Janie, Joyce and Gerry) operated a store on the corner of 1^st Avenue South and 20^th Street.  I remember buying a cap pistol from Mrs. Griffin when I was about eleven years old, for 25 cents!"

Bishop Holliman’s brother-in-law, above right, Charles T. Ferrell, worked at a Birmingham,  Alabama A & P grocery of the late 1920s.  Charles would graduate from Birmingham-Southern College and Yale Divinity School, be ordained a Methodist minister and in 1935 marry Loudelle Holliman of Irondale. Photo courtesy of Charles H. Ferrell.  This store was similar to the Irondale groceries recorded above.

Next posting, more memories of an earlier Irondale, Alabama....