Frank O'Brien

Frank P. O'Brien, sometimes spelled O'Brine (born 1844 – died September 12, 1910) was a builder and early civic leader of Birmingham, serving on the Board of Aldermen, as Jefferson County Sheriff, in the Alabama House of Representatives and as Mayor of Birmingham.

O'Brien, a veteran of the Civil War, was one of the first people to reside in the newly-founded City of Birmingham in June 1871.

As a member of the second Board of Aldermen, he stayed in the city and was involved with helping the victims of the 1873 cholera epidemic, but resigned to attend to his growing private business interests before his term was completed. In 1875 he served on the committee that helped establish the Experimental Coke and Iron Company that demonstrated the viability of Birmingham's mineral resources for ironmaking. O'Brien was contracted to construct the coke ovens at the rebuilt Oxmoor Furnace, which went into blast the following February. In 1879 he was among the charter directors of the Birmingham Gas Company.

Though once a business failure to the tune of $62,000, O'Brien made good all his debts and eventually enjoyed healthy returns on his investments in Birmingham real estate. He built the 1,200-seat O'Brien Opera House opposite what was then a cornfield on the corner of 1st Avenue North and 19th Street in 1882. He later purchased the morning Birmingham Age-Herald which he published, sometimes at a loss, as part of his efforts to boost civic feeling. He sold the paper later to W. P. Pinckard. In the mid-1890s he served in the Alabama House of Representatives.

Continually active in Democratic politics, O'Brien campaigned for New York Senator David Hill in the 1892 presidential election and for Grover Cleveland in 1896. He told a reporter for The New York Times that the Southern delegation to the 1896 convention would strongly favor a "sound currency" (against Benjamin Harrison's policy of restricting the free coinage of silver).

O'Brien was Jefferson County Sheriff from 1896 to 1900. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor against incumbent George Ward in the 1907 mayoral election. He was elected in the 1909 Birmingham mayoral election and served one term as mayor, before his death in 1910. He supported the Greater Birmingham proposal to bring outlying suburbs into the city, but did not live to see it pass in the legislature.

O'Brien was married to Indiana H. O'Brien. Their daughter, Bossie, was a leading lobbyist for women's suffrage in the early 20th century.

O'Brien is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Preceded by: George Morrow	Jefferson County Sheriff 1896–1900	Succeeded by: Andrew Burgin
Preceded by: George Ward	Mayor of Birmingham 1909–1910	Succeeded by: Culpepper Exum

References

• Cruikshank, George H. (1920) History of Birmingham and Its Environs: A Narrative Account of Their Historical Progress, Their People, and Their Principal Interests 2 volumes. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
• Henckell, R. B. (December 1951) "City will celebrate 80 magic years of progress", Birmingham News [1]