Huffman neighborhood

This article is about the neighborhood, for the larger division in Birmingham's Community Participation Program, see Huffman community.

The Huffman neighborhood is a part of northeast Birmingham's Huffman community.

The original community, known as Oak Grove, was founded by a group of settlers who traveled down the Georgia Road from Virginia and South Carolina in the early 1820s. "Silver Billy" Reed built a sawmill on Five Mile Creek in 1821 that provided building materials for the growing community. Five Mile Presbyterian Church was established in 1841, followed by Oak Grove Methodist Church.

The Alabama & Chattanooga Railroad began running through Jones Valley in the 1870s. Huffman, accessible through Sadler's Gap, was not a site for mining or manufacturing, but the overall growth of the area around Birmingham boosted the community. A post office was established in 1885 and Robert W. Huffman served as Postmaster. The community adopted his name within a few years. His son, Robert M. taught at the Oak Grove School, and it was renamed Huffman Academy when he died in 1889. The population of the school district feeding into the Huffman Academy was 748 in 1910, 1,016 in 1920, and 1,621 in 1930.

Construction of East Lake Park and the golf course at Roebuck Country Club brought Birmingham's leisure class within reach of Huffman. Plans for suburbs along Tarrant-Huffman Road were dropped during the Great Depression. The Roebuck Lumber Company became one of the area's major employers in the 1930s. The improvement of U.S. Highway 11 and Alabama State Highway 75 in the 1950s spurred more development in the area. Huffman was annexed into Birmingham in 1954, and enjoyed improved services, followed by development of the Roebuck Shopping City commercial center.

The Huffman Neighborhood Association meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the Cornerstone School on Huffman Road.

Presidents

Moss, Florence Hawkins Wood (1947) Building Birmingham and Jefferson County. Birmingham: Birmingham Printing Company.
Newman, Jonathan D. (2002) "Huffman Community" in The Heritage of Jefferson County, Alabama. Clanton: Heritage Publishing Consultants. ISBN 1891647547, p. 46-47