Bradford
- This article is about the northern Jefferson County community, for other uses, see Bradford (disambiguation)
Bradford (previously also known as Dixiana or Old Dixiana) is a small unincorporated community in northern Jefferson County, north of Self Creek and west of Alabama State Highway 79.
The community was centered around the Bradford Mine, a slope mine established in 1880 by "two old Irishmen". The slope was operated by the Birmingham Furnace & Manufacturing Company, and later by the Imperial Coal & Coke Company and the Alabama Byproducts Corporation. Mine foreman Jim Justice is credited for naming the community after the West Yorkshire coal town. Because the state already had a Bradford Post Office, the name "Dixiana" was used for the facility in Bradford which operated from 1880 to 1984.
Hap Harper lobbied Alabama Gas Company to extend service to the community. The Birmingham Water Works began serving the community in the 1970s. The Northeast Jefferson Civitan Club developed a park on land leased from the Alabama Byproducts Corporation.
Kermit A. Johnson Elementary School, a Jefferson County elementary school feeding into Pinson Middle School, is located in the Bradford community.
The Full Gospel Fellowship occupies the building formerly known as Hughes Chapel and Bradford United Methodist Church on Bradford Road. Harmony Baptist Church, and the Bradford Sanctuary of Praise are also notable congregations located along the same road in Bradford. Hughes Memorial Baptist Church is on Bradford-Trafford Road.
References
- Foscue, Virginia O. (1989) Place Names in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 081730410X