The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-29
LOCAL FIRMS GET
 WORK FOR COREY Street Improvement Contracts
 Aggregate $400,000 GRADING HAS BEGUN Rs. RuzY n
GRADING HAS BEGUN
Five Hundred Men VIII Re Busy Site of New City Before the End of the Pres ent Week

Home industry was patfoiilHeu ar
 most exclusively in the placing of con- tracts for the street improvement work
 of Corey, the large industrial city
 which is being built adjoining the plants of the United States Steel cor
 poration at Ensley. E Four of the five successful bidders are Birmingham firms, and the fifth IS
 a Bessemer firm. They are Southern
 Bitulithic company, Dunne Lallande
 Brothers, Copeland Brick company
 Graves Matthews Paving company, all of Birmingham and Sullivan & Long, a big Bessemer firm.
 These five firms have placed large forces of men to work on the Corey property and as each firm will have a different section of the work it will all be rushed to completion with the greatest speed.
 | This is the first announcement of the successful bidders for this work,
 which is thought to be the largest street improvement contract ever let in the south, amounting to $400,000 with 1 still a large additional amount of work to be let in the near future. | The firms all put forces of men to
 work yesterday morning and by to- lmorrow or Thursday there will be 500 men and scores of teams busy on the Corey property. Over 1S5,G00 wagon | loads of dirt will be moved within the next SIX weeks or two months dur | ing the grading work, and following the grading gangs will be large gangs | laying street Improvements, which will | consist of storm and sanitary sewer | age to the amount of more than 10 | miles over 16 miles of combination | cement curb and gutter; miles of cement curb: over 20 miles of cement | sidewalks; several blocks of brick paw | ing; about miles of asphalt macadam and tarvia paving, and 1h miles of bitulithic paving.
 | In addition there will be a largo number of houses erected by the Corey Land company for the immediate use
 of the employees of the American Steel and Wire company, which is erecting q plant which will cost over $3,000,000 and will employ upward of 1900 men. | The company will also erect a three story brick hotel, 100x100 feet, on one Of the most prominent corners of the city of Corey. This hotel will have | 50 rooms with baths on the second and third floors and the ground floor will
 be devoted to the lobby, hotel office and stores. It will be the first of the | business property to be improved and | will represent an expenditure of about | $50,000.
 | Six weeks will see this work so far progressed that the Corey company will then be able to announce definitely when the property will be for sale
 and the prices. It is stated there is
 much inquiry for this property from
 all parts of the country, especially from people who invested at Gary, Ind, where large profits, some as high as 1200 per cent, were made by those who
 bought when the property first went
 on the market.
 | The officers of the Corey Land com
 pany are Robert Jemisnn, Jr., president; Walker Percy, vice president; A. B. | Tanner, secretary.
 | The directors are W. F. G. Hard
 ing, Henry B. Gray Lee c. Bradley, Otto Marx, John L. Kaul, Walk Percy, Robert Jemson, Jr.
 Announcement was made yesterday afternoon that J. Houston Johnson had been appointed engineer in charge of all the privement work at Corey. This | is regarded. s an important fact in
 
 who know MT. Johnson consider tn at he is the right man in the right place. MT. Johnson has resigned his position with the Graves Ma tthews Shale Brick company to accept the new place, and his long connection with that firm, it | Is believed, has given him a special training in street improvement work
 that will prove invaluable in the con- struction work of Corey. For many years MT. Johnson was division en- gineer for the Louisville and Nash vile railroad and later for the Illinois Central railroad
 MT. Johnson will have city office
 with the Jemison Real Estate and h. | surance company and one in an office building that will be erected at Corey
 MT. Johnson and the several contractors have been associated in the past on large jobs and it Is believed they will therefore be able to work together to the best advantage.