Early Days in Birmingham

Early Days in Birmingham (published September, 1968) is a collection of 24 papers presented by members of the Pioneers Club, made up of women who had lived in Birmingham before the December 31, 1873 "Calico Ball".

Beginning in 1914 the club met twice annually and presented papers on assigned historical topics. As eyewitnesses -- and often participants -- in the events described, the women's papers comprise a singular resource for historians.

In anticipation of Birmingham's 1971 Centennial the papers were published in 1968 by the Southern University Press. A brief biographical sketch of the author was added as an epigram to each chapter. The Birmingham Publishing Company printed and bound the 102-page book in a hardback edition of 500 copies.

Chapters

1. "Earliest Pioneer Days of Birmingham" by Ella Cheek Hawkins
2. "A Few Pioneers" by Annie Linn Henley
3. "Pioneer Women of Birmingham" by Dora McCree Francis
4. "The Cholera" by Susan Dillard Luckie
5. "Civic Improvements" by Ellen Linn Watts
6. "The First Physicians" by Florence Earle Jordan
7. "Early Churches and Pastors" by Margaret E. Ward
8. "Lawyers of the Early Days of Birmingham" by Minnie Terry Lane
9. "Birmingham's Early Play Houses" by Dannie McBride O'Brien
10. "Mode of Transportation in the Early Days of Birmingham" by Jessie Crawford Bonner
11. "The Young Men of the Early Seventies" by Margaret Cummins Nixon
12. "The First Merchants" by Sue Kerr Allen
13. "Early Life in Society" by Sallie Harrison Pearson
14. "First Industries" by Mary Willis Lide
15. "The First Three Mayors of Birmingham" by Arabella Morris
16. "First Schools" by Ella Didlake Roden
17. "Major Thomas Peters" by Matilda E. Cressman
18. "The Beginning of the Drug Business" by Catherine Smith Erswell
19. "History of the Elyton Land Company" by Gustrine Key Milner
20. "Birmingham's First Railroads" by Sallie Hoke Jackson
21. "A Few Reminisces of the Early Days" by Lucy A. Miles
22. "Early Industries of Birmingham" by Mary E. Kelley
23. "An Early Altar" by Carrie Phelan Beale
24. "The Calico Ball" by Jessie Crawford Bonner