Jimmie Jones

This article is about the mayor. For similarly named people, see James Jones (disambiguation).

James M. "Jimmie" Jones, Jr (born September 1883; died 1940) was President of the Birmingham City Commission (de facto Mayor of Birmingham) from 1925 until his death in 1940.

Jones worked as a brakeman for various railroads as a young man, but took up the study of finance after losing a leg in a train accident. He worked for Nathaniel Barrett in the East Lake municipal government and followed him to Birmingham after the Greater Birmingham annexation of 1910.

Jones' campaign in the 1925 Birmingham mayoral election was supported by the Ku Klux Klan, then an influential political organization. Despite narrowly making the runoff, he soundly defeated his opponent in the general election. After taking office, Jones refused to show favoritism to the Klan or to other groups and earned respect for his incorruptibility.

Preceded by: David McLendon

President of Birmingham City Commission 1925–1940

Succeeded by: Cooper Green

References

• "Cooper Green To Make Race For Commission Post Of Jimmie Jones." (1940) Birmingham Age-Herald
• "Three mayors of Birmingham were East Lake natives." (1957) East End News
• Vick, Mary-Helen (1965) A Survey of the Governing Body of Birmingham, Alabama, 1910-1964. Master's thesis. Alabama College.