Birmingham Arms & Cycle Co.

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Interior of the Birmingham Arms & Cycle Co.

The Birmingham Arms & Cycle Co. or Birmingham Arms and Hardware was a sporting goods store and gun dealer which opened in 1887 in a 25'x100' two-story brick building at 1904 2nd Avenue North. The founder was Asheville, North Carolina-native C. J. Chunn, who had previously operated a gun shop in Baltimore, Maryland.

The business was incorporated as the Birmingham Arms Company in 1889 and reincorporated on January 11, 1895, at which time Robert Baugh was co-owner and general manager. It was located at 2023 2nd Avenue North in the 1890s, 2524 7th Avenue North in 1895, 1916 2nd Avenue North in the early 1900s, 1919 3rd Avenue North in 1914, at 2017 3rd Avenue North in the 1920s, with a second location at 103 20th Street North in 1925.

In addition to athletic goods, guns, hunting and fishing supplies and bicycles, the shop sold fireworks, watches, razors and hammocks. The store was also involved in organizing shows for the Birmingham Kennel Club. Ernest Loosley headed the company's bicycle repair shop in the 1890s.

In the 1920s the store was a licensed retailer for A. J. Reach & Co., Stall & Dean, and A. G. Spalding & Bros. equipment.

In 1925 the business was reincorporated as the Birmingham Arms & Hardware Company with J. E. Lewis, T. A. Lappage, and T. B. Marshall as executives. Later that year it was acquired by Beach Chenoweth, who continued to operate it as a division of his B. M. Chenoweth Co.