The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-12
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Those of us who have seen Birming- | ham grow out of its village stage into <, town and later into a great city have right to be proud of it's present status.
 ] am sure that some of you who read
 this will recall the old Relay House and the time when all we had to show
 in the way of depot was box car. The town was built down the valley, | but by degrees it began to creep up
 the hilIsdes, both on the north and on the south.
 Fountain Heights and the South His lands came long before some of the nc well-known subdivisions like [ Norwood, Glen Iris Park. Milner
 Heights. MouA.ein Terrace and even i CuIlom Place were even thought of. I am frequently accused of being too
 fond of the old days and the old
 families more often spoken of as the
 ''mossbacks." Well, I plead guilty to
 the charge.
 It's a long trail which leads from First avenue, veritable sea of red mud, on which OK carts, mule wagons,
 horse drawn drays, buggies and few carriages used to struggle to asphalted | streets over which high powered cars dash to the risk of life and limb to slow footed or slower witted pedestri- 1 ans. (Tll concede that the stretch 1 | 111o 41 o1rn for 10 time past has not been any better than the mud with it's holes. but it's being remedied.) | have seen the town grow physically i but of it's crude stage into a Magic I City with it's skycrapers, it's great in dustrial plants. it's beautiful homes it's
 commodious churches, it's attractive amusement houses it's lovely parks; but, I begin to sense in the air the coming of civic center in which will | be grouped our public buildings, court 1 houses, a library and, the most needed | of all, an auditorium. for Morris Bush says the matter will be taken up de l finitely in February
 1 I have watched it grow out of the | boisterous fighting era into city of ! law abiding and God-fearing people I l where the preachers are more respect 1 ed and exert so great an influence l both in religious and public matters. Then great change has come over our public schools. I remember when we ! used to make pilgrimages over to the Paul Hayne on the southside to admire it as our highest achievement in arch l itecture. We are just now on the eve l of a great building programme which will open our eyes, for the latest thing i in educational structures will rise in
 our midst.
 More than quarter of a century
 ago Howard College moved from Mar ion to East Lake. It had acquired a large acreage and work was begun on a central building The Baptist lead
 CTS of the day talked then great deal about it as if it had arrived at l it's final home; but now there is much
 in the air about "A Greater Howard with it's possible removal to a site I closer in, for instead of talking in l terms of thousands, it's friends are now
 speaking of millions to be invested. |
 l It hasn't been so very long ago that
 the Methodists in this district got busy 1 and whenever they make up their mind 1 to do a thing you can just put it down | as an accomplished fact, for they are a 1 great and resourceful people. Owenton l was soon able to boast that Brming- 1 ham College was ready for business l The site is one of the most beautiful 1 in. Jefferson county, and the buildings l erected so far in keeping with the | larger plans which have come with l the consolidation of the Birmingham | institution with that of the Southern at Greensboro. Just keep your eye on i the Birming gha m Southern, for it's com 1 ing strong.
 I have lived here long enough to l see a similar development take place
 in the matter of church buildings. I came here in the era of houses of wor- l ship built of wood, but saw them de- velop into the brick and the stone age. The First Methodist congregation was 1 the pioneer in erecting a worthy place | of worship, and the one built Eas not | yet been SuTpdSSeu dltnOuSH CdluOllCS, Episcopalians. Baptists. Presbyterians, Christian Israeltes. Christian Scient-
 ists and other denominations have es- | tablished religious homes fitting to | their size and influence in the com munity
 The various secret orders, and the
 hospitals have also kept pace with the
 growth of the city. The Masonic Temple, the Elks Home. the Fraternal l Hall show that Birmingham has passed
 the stage when lodges are content to
 have their homes above stores. In sl the matter of hospitals we have the St. l Vincent, the Hillman, and number
 of high class private sanatoriums The
 Mercy Home, the Catholic orphanage,
 and the Children's hospital and other
 private charities. Up the valley are
 found the state institutions, the Boys
 Industrial Home and the Training School for Girls.
 The growth of the city in social
 way is shown in nothing better than in it's clubs. I hark back to the time
 when no social organization had a | home of any kind, but met in homes or public halls. Then came the old Ala | bama, the Comus. now known since | their amalpamation as the Southern