Oxmoor Road

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Oxmoor Road is an approximately three and three-quarters mile long street running mostly roughly northeast-southwest through Homewood between Independence Drive (U.S. Highway 31) and West Oxmoor Road. It is part of a road dating back to at least the 1860s which was previously known as Oxmoor-Irondale Road and connected the Cahaba Iron Works in Irondale with Oxmoor Furnace in Oxmoor, hence the road's name.

History

In the 1860s, Oxmoor-Irondale Road was used to haul pig iron from both Irondale and Oxmoor south to Selma. The road was also important for early settlers of Shades Valley as it was easier to use it to access the two furnace's commisary stores for supplies than to cross Red Mountain to Elyton, or later Birmingham, for them. It was along this road that the settlements that would eventually become Homewood took shape. At some point in the first half of the 20th century, the road became known simply as Oxmoor Road.

Mining camps along Oxmoor Road were used as filming locations for the 1925 silent feature Coming Through.

Most of Oxmoor Road was resurfaced in 1949.

During the late 20th century, two bypasses were created along Oxmoor Road. First, during the 1970s, Oxmoor Boulevard was built north of Oxmoor Road to provide light industry that appeared on West Oxmoor Road a multi-lane route to I-65 and avoid a residential area. Oxmoor Road intersects both ends of Oxmoor Boulevard. Second, during the late 1980s, Palisades Boulevard and Palisades Drive routed traffic through the Palisades shopping center to Green Springs Highway. In this case, direct access into the residential section along Oxmoor was cut off as Oxmoor feeds directly into the two Palisades roads.

Road description

Oxmoor Road is one of the primary east-west roads through Homewood, although the majority of it, except for some left turn lanes at select intersections, is two-lane road. Oxmoor is a five-lane road between Columbiana Road and east end of Oxmoor Boulevard (near Green Springs Highway and Interstate 65) and between the west end of Oxmoor Boulevard and West Oxmoor Road. At the intersection with the west end of Oxmoor Boulevard, Oxmoor Road makes a 90-degree turn to the south. It then forms a fork with West Oxmoor Road and becomes West Oxmoor for those traveling south. The eastern end of Oxmoor Road becomes Hollywood Boulevard.

Just south of the Palisades, Oxmoor Road is on the Birmingham-Homewood border. Between Oxmoor Boulevard and West Oxmoor Road, portions of Oxmoor Road are fully in Birmingham while others are again along the Birmingham-Homewood border.

Notable locations

For an alphabetical list of locations, see the Oxmoor Road category.

Edgewood Business District

Road continues

References

  • Summe, Sheryl Spradling. (2001). Homewood: The Life of a City. Homewood, AL: Friends of the Homewood Public Library.
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