30 Things I Didn’t Know about Birmingham

I’m sharing interesting tidbits I’ve recently learned about Birmingham and some of her people. These items may be new to you as well or just a reminder. 

Number TEN

In the early 1900s when Ethel Armes arrived in Birmingham, it was not common to meet a woman who made her living as a journalist. But the Washington D.C. native was an accomplished one, having worked at The Washington Post as a reporter and features writer as well as once working for The Chicago Chronicle. She became a member of The Birmingham Age-Herald’s staff upon her arrival.

In 1907, the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce hired Armes to write a history on the state’s coal and iron industries, according to the book “True Tales of Birmingham.”  Armes’ research reached beyond reviewing various books; she got in the trenches herself. “A diligent and meticulous researcher, she put on a miner’s cap and inspected coal and iron sites and communities across the northern Alabama mineral region,” stated “True Tales of Birmingham.”  Armes’ book, “The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama,” was published in 1910.

You can download a free e-copy of Armes’ book here.

The Birmingham Age-Herald building where Ethel Armes briefly worked