For this researcher anyway, it's impossible to separate getting to know and understand our forefathers from also learning about the times and places in which they lived. Sharing what we know about these enriches all of us and will, in turn, benefit future generations who will utilize (we hope) our genealogical research. It was exactly for this purpose that a book was recently published that covers most of the places (plus many more) recently discussed on the list. Subscribers to this list who are not aware of the book may want to check it out. A copy is at the downtown Birmingham Public Library Southern History Department as well as in several local branches. Although the emphasis is on the years from about 1900 through the 1960s (covering many of the list's recent topics), the book also has several chapters going back in prehistory including Indian mounds in the Birmingham area, a brief history showing how civilization moved into the area, and then how the steel/iron industry caused Birmingham to become The Magic City. A two-page map shows owners in 1870, just before incorporation of the city, of the various parcels of land that would become Birmingham. One early photo is of the 1897 last run of a mule-drawn trolley in Birmingham -- just mentioned by another list member. While the book's title is Central Park & a Bit Beyond, it actually contains history, maps, and photographs (many full page, 8 1/2 x 11, some 450 total!) of places "QUITE A LOT BEYOND." There are chapters with info and pictures of area elementary and high schools with many class photos and ID's; businesses, including a great nighttime view of the western sky lit up by the TCI Fairfield plant; downtown shopping and many department stores including a 1938 Pizitz window display offering a New Orleans Sugar Bowl trip and tickets for a grand total of $36.85!; drive-in theaters as well as downtown theaters (with street locations) including interior views; Lowe's Skating Rink, history provided by Mr. Lowe himself; restaurants including Joy Young's, Britling's, Thompson's, and the distinctive Igloo in Woodlawn; Vulcan at the Fairgrounds and afterwards; State Fair and Fairgrounds; paving of roads by WPA; Kiddieland; and even a chapter with local efforts and experiences during the various wars including work at the Bechtel-McCone Aircraft Modification Plant, food rationing, children's war efforts collecting rubber, metal, etc., and Birmingham's Harold E. Wilson who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The book has been carefully researched with much factual information, but there is also a special chapter with recollections by several former residents who grew up in the 1930s-60s and who shared personal, sometimes sentimental and often amusing, memories of growing up in the area. There's much more -- too much to mention here. All in all, the book is a look back at places that were meaningful to many of our forefathers as well as to many of us -- and to a time that "was." If anyone would like more information, please write me off-list. Pat

At 07:48 PM 10/19/2006, you wrote: >One early photo is of the 1897 last run of a mule-drawn trolley in >Birmingham -- just mentioned by another list member. Yes .... that's the one. I have an original of that one. Carl, in Knoxville, Tennessee