Brookside, Alabama Search DIRECTIONS TO BROOKSIDE LATEST NEWS COMMUNITY GOVERNMENT RECREATION Category Archives: History HISTORY BROOKSIDE, ALABAMA: AN EARLY RUSYN OUTPOST BY JOHN SCHWEICH AUGUST 18, 2015 Here’s a note about Brookside’s history from the official blog of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. http://rusyncenter.blogspot.com/2015/03/brookside-alabama-early-rusyn-outpost.html HISTORY ST NICHOLAS RUSSIAN FOOD FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 2-3, 2019 AUGUST 18, 2015 Annual St. Nicholas Russian/Slavic Food Festival Brookside, Alabama Saturday November 2, 2019 (10-4) Sunday: November 3, 2019 (12-5) For more information (205) 285-9648 St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church welcomes you to its annual Food Festival held the first full weekend in November of each year. St. Nicholas Church was founded in Brookside in 1894. Tours of the temple are available. The ladies of the Sisterhood of St. Olga have prepared the food and pastries from recipes handed down from relatives and friends who immigrated to Brookside from Western Ukraine and what is now known as Slovakia and Russian members of our Parish. Be sure to visit our Russian Beriozka Store for imported gifts and souveniers. Also, tours of the historic temple are available. RUSSIAN FOOD FESTIVAL HISTORY BROOKSIDE HISTORIAN OCTOBER 2, 2012 BY Robert Carter, North Jefferson News August 9, 2012 Staci Glover may be one of the best kn own figures in Brookside, even though she doesn’t live there anymore. The Gardendale resident is the de facto town historian, thanks to her work over nearly two decades in documenting Brookside’s ups and downs in the past 140 years or so. “I got started when I did my master’s thesis back at UAB, doing a project about the history of the Slovak population in 1997,” she said. “And I’ve kept doing more work [on Brookside’s history] ever since.” Then Staci Simon, her thesis began a relationship with the town that continues today. Brookside began its life as a coal-mining community in the 1880s. Sloss Industries operated the mines, and recruited miners from as far away as Eastern Europe. “Back then, Brookside was a booming town,” Glover said. “People from the area that became Gardendale would actually go to Brookside to shop. Now it’s the other way around.” The mining boom attracted large numbers of Slovak immigrants, which led to the town’s history of Russian Orthodox worshippers. Brookside is still famous for St. Nicolas Church, which was originally built in 1916, and celebrates its heritage with an annual festival. Coal mining in the town ended with a statewide strike in 1920. The strike was settled, but Sloss shuttered the mine. Strip mining returned to Brookside in the 1960s and 70s, Glover said. Glover and her family grew up in Brookside. She now lives in Gardendale with her husband and children, but through her historical work she has kept close ties to her former home. “The thing that has impressed me about the town is how resilient it is,” Glover said. “It has been through large fires, a devastating flood in the 1940s, and then again the flood in 2003. That flood took out much of the old downtown area. And yet it’s still going.” HISTORY BOOK ON COKE OVENS JUNE 11, 2012 Through a grant from Cawaco RC&D Council, The Industrial Archeological Guide to the Coke Ovens of Jefferson County was printed in March 2012. The coke ovens in Brookside are featured in this book written by Dr. Jack Bergstresser Jr. and Francesca Gross. Copies are available through www.cawaco.org. Here is a peek at the cover and Table of Contents: Industrial Archeological Guide to Coke Ovens THE LASTEST NEWS Brookside, Alabama: An Early Rusyn Outpost by John Schweich St Nicholas Russian Food Festival November 2-3, 2019 Aerial Videography of Brookside Search for: The official website for the Town of Brookside, Alabama BROOKSIDE Government Brookside Fire Department Planning Documents Telephone Numbers Brookside Community Center Brookside Police Department Recreation Birding in Brookside Five Mile Creek Canoe Company and Campground Canoe Photo Gallery Camping on the Greenway Five Mile Creek Paddling Routes Community Brookside Churches Unique Heritage Photo Gallery Historic Brookside St. Nicholas Russian/Slavic Food Festival Brookside History Museum Boys and Girls Club Directions to Brookside Latest News Photo Gallery July 31-August 1 2014 Clean Up Proudly powered by WordPress