Bhamwiki:Did you know?

Did you know? is a feature on the Main Page intended to spur interest in exploring BhamWiki further. Suggestions can be made at Bhamwiki talk:Did you know?, and previously-highlighted facts are archived below.

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...that Woodlawn's "La Quemada" neighborhood was once known as "Eastwood"?
...that Chris Fryar, drummer for the Zac Brown Band, grew up in Gardendale?
...that Brother Bryan Park was originally called Magnolia Park?
...that the Coosa River is the most developed river in Alabama, and most of its length in the state is impounded by one of seven dams?
...that nationally-touring comedian Carrot Top lost most of his props in a fire at the Comedy Club on Greensprings Highway during Winter Storm '93?
...that Shades Cahaba is the only Homewood elementary school not to have suffered a major fire?
...that Louise Wooster's sister was also a noted Birmingham madam, under the name Maggie Bracken?
...that the Indian Springs School once boasted a "Truth House", a tilting classroom used to demonstrate physics concepts?
...that Samford Bulldogs men's basketball coach Scott Padgett scored 1,874 points during his 7-year NBA career?
...that an effigy of future president William McKinley was set on fire downtown after the 1892 general election?
...that the "Birmingham Semi-Centennial" was little more than a giant bag of gas?
...that Triple Crown winner Secretariat's breeder, Christopher Chenery, also founded Sonat?
...that before the Red Mountain cut, the possibility of a tunnel was considered?
...that Hardrock Gunter lost his prize guitar at the Battle of the Bulge?
...that Birmingham City Commissioner Arlie Barber was a member of the Socialist Party?
...that Larry Langford finished 5th in the 1979 Birmingham mayoral election?
...that the Birmingham Botanical Gardens has a "Moon Tree"?
...that Shelby County is older than Jefferson County?
...that hockey teams called the Birmingham Bulls have competed in four different leagues?
...that Watkins Book Shop started as a Little Professor?
...that Barry Beckett produced two Bob Dylan albums?
...that Birmingham has over 3000 parking meters?
...that the Country Club of Birmingham introduced the game of golf to Birmingham?
...that the Ritz Theatre was the largest cinema in Birmingham for only 16 months?
...that playwright and former Birmingham City Council member Bert Miller waited tables at Dreamland Bar-B-Que at Phelan Park?
...that Birmingham Giants founder C. I. Taylor helped create the first Negro National League?
...that downtown Birmingham has a block-long memorial to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks?
...that M & B Hangers is Leeds' largest employer?
...that Chicago Cubs pitcher Al Lary holds the Alabama Crimson Tide single-season record for touchdown receptions?
...that "Cousin Cliff" Holman and Bobby Bowden were both members of Woodlawn High School's Class of 1948?
...that Edgewood Lake once covered the area south of Lakeshore Drive, inluding the current-day site of Homewood High School?
...that a bridge over the Black Warrior River is named for Bear Bryant?
...that Hardrock Gunter's "Birmingham Bounce" (1950) was arguably the first rock and roll record?
...that the Florence Hotel was named for the late wife of William S. Mudd who lived at Arlington?
...that the Birmingham Zoo's Babec was the first gorilla to receive an artificial pacemaker?
...that the automatic railroad car coupler was invented by Andrew Beard in East Lake?
...that the city of Jasper was a major center for coke production?
...that actress Louise Fletcher's father, John C. Fletcher, founded hundreds of churches for the deaf across the South?
...that Samuel Ullman served as Lay Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El?
...that photographers A. C. Oxford and A. C. Keily were both freemasons?
...that "Borat" was asked to leave a dinner party in Helena?
...that Blount County has three covered bridges, more than any other county in Alabama?
...that Craig T. Nelson played Russ Fine in a 1993 USA Network movie?
...that Timothy Leary earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Alabama?
...that James Spann became a weather anchor the same week Hurricane Frederic hit Mobile?
...that Hugh Martin wrote four versions of his song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Chirstmas" ?
...that Loulie Jean Norman "sang" the theme for the original Star Trek television series?
...that the Roden Hotel, though never finished, netted investors $150,000 when the steel frame was sold for scrap?
...that Mayor Bernard Kincaid promised that "we will attack this problem from every responsible angle to reduce the number of homicides that occur in our city" in his 2006 State of the City address?
...that the parents of Condoleezza Rice and Freeman Hrabowski both taught at Ullman High School?
...that Condoleezza Rice and Freeman Hrabowski were classmates at Ullman High School?
...that short-lived magazine I Cover the War interviewed legendary pop band The Primitons in their debut issue?
...that Hazel the Mummy, star attraction at the Bessemer Hall of History has since been cremated?
...that Birmingham native David F. Friedman produced dozens of exploitation films, including Blood Feast?
...that former Birmingham Stallions owner Marvin L. Warner served 18 months in prison'?
...that West Park was renamed "Kelly Ingram Park" for WWI hero Osmond Kelly Ingram?
...that Police Chief Annetta Nunn was valedictorian of her class at Jackson-Olin High School?
...that the sensational Hawes murders made national headlines in 1888?
...that Terrell Owens' Amani Raha bar is named for the Swahili words for "peace" and "happiness"?
...that Bull Connor was present when the nation's first 911 call was made in Haleyville, Alabama?
...that downtown's Joy Young Restaurant began serving Chinese food in Birmingham in 1919?
...that Arnold Schwarzenegger earned a Golden Globe for the 1976 film Stay Hungry, filmed in Birmingham?
...that during local prohibition in Bessemer a cluster of saloons opened in unincorporated "Whiskeytown" just east of the city limits?
...that the Nation of Islam was driven out of St Clair County in 1970?
...that Cinema City 8 was the largest multiplex in the nation when it opened in 1978?
...that in the 1930s all Dr Pepper syrup distributed east of the Mississippi was made in Birmingham?

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