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Jefferson County |
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Jefferson County |
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DeBardelben Coal and Iron Furnaces |
Berney Bros. Bank Block |
FIFTEEN months ago there was not a house or building on the site of Bessemer proper, save the rude, temporary structure hastily erected from which to hold the first sale of lots, and here and there an old loghouse in the midst of small clearings, the habitations of original owners or squatters. True, on the reservation were the two immense furnaces in process of construction (now completed, the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company's commissary building, boardinghouses and quarters for its employees, and we might add the beginning of lines of huge stone walls of the most substantial construction, the foundation of a series of extensive coke ovens.
On the 12th day of April, 1887, the first sale of lots had been advertised in what was to be Bessemer. Several hundred people were in attendance. Many of them were strangers to the section and to the country, having been probably primarily attracted by the "boom" just then apparently on the wane in Birmingham. The larger number, however, were from Birmingham and contiguous places. The people found the site of the prospective Bessemer located in a beautiful valley, or rather on an elevated plateau, with an agreeably undulating surface, with numerous springs and streams of pure, clear, cool water, found here and there between extended ranges of mountains, or rather high ridges or hills on the northeast and southwest.
The site indicated was covered with a heavy but richly varied forest growth, through which for some distance rectangular stretches had been cut, indicative of the lines of streets and avenues. Huge stumps, cut timber and fallen debris obstructed passage or made it difficult. The material prospect for prominent and immediate and visible change was not promising. The people wandered over the site and finally gathered at the rude stand to await the opening sale.
The feeling dominant was not speculative. Had the time been six months or three months sooner, the impulse of that wonderful era of rapidly, enormously enhancing values and wild speculation, which entered and found its apotheosis in the city of Birmingham but a few weeks before, would have led to blind and indiscriminate purchasings. But now conservative and prudent judgments had to be confronted and convinced.
What was it, then, that was offered to the people to enlist their interest and to secure their co-operation and investment? The site over which all had wandered, and upon which they stood, was pleasing to the eye; the forest growth was rich, varied and beautiful; the soil was light, but fertile and productive; the surface superbly adapted for perfect drainage, the water supply ample and pure; the most eligible and picturesque locations for residences abounded, and all the conditions for perfect health and pleasant habitation seemed to exist.
To the northeast, less than a mile distant, hardly a stone's throw, was the Red Mountain, from which the rich red ores that supplied the Birmingham furnaces were taken. Looking still to the north and east, only three miles distant, was Redding, from which was regularly shipped the ore that supplied the Chattanooga furnaces. The whole range to the south and west and to the north and east was but one enormous vein of rich iron ore.
To the southwest was the Rock Mountain range. Just beyond it—impinging almost upon its summit—commenced the vast, exhaustless Black Warrior coal measures.
Nearly in the same direction, but more to the south, only a few miles distant, were immense beds of limestone.
Already these sections had been linked together—become as one for industrial purposes—by a network of railways.
The conditions for the most economical and an enormous production of iron, the great factor in modern industrial progress, could not more favorably or happily exist.
The DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company, the stockholders of which were the principal projectors and founders of Bessemer, were the owners of thousands and tens of thousands of these iron ore, coal and limestone lands surrounding and in proximity to Bessemer.
To-day—fifteen months from the day of the first sale of lots—Bessemer is a city, with a regular municipal government; with a population of between 2,800 and 3,000people; with over two hundred and fifty houses and buildings, some of them as fine and as elaborate in design and construction as there are in the State, with various industries in operation; with regularly graded streets, with a complete system of waterworks under contract and in process of construction; with a perfect network of railroads centering here, and everything about it teeming with life, activity and progress.
The Progress of Fifteen Months
The history of this country will show no parallel to the growth of Bessemer. Frequently new towns are started with a great flourish of trumpets, and for the time being show spasmodic or mushroom progress. But there was no flare of trumpet in Bessemer's inception, and there has been nothing spasmodic in her progress. Commencing at the close of the past business season she passed through a summer which elsewhere was of unusual dullness, steadily progressing—each day adding to her resources and to her population.
A Brief Reveiw of To-Day
The industries of Bessemer established and now in process of rapid construction are:
The Bessemer Land and Improvement Company, with a capital stock of $2,500,000, with a surplus of $800,000 cash, and assets in the treasury. This Company is the founder of Bessemer, and is full of all that kind of enterprise which guarantees success. It has done, and is doing, the major part of the improving, thus relieving owners of property of all city taxes, save a very small—indeed, a nominal—assessment for police, etc.
The DeBardeleben Coal & Iron Company, with a capital stock of $4,000,000. Their belief in Bessemer is emphasized by the four huge furnaces now being erected, a further notice of which will be found.
A large rolling mill of the best improved and most perfect machinery, employing over 600 skilled hands, and converting daily over 100 tons of pig iron into products of two, three and four times their value.
Bessemer Steel and Iron Company, capital $1,500,000, are erecting two coke furnaces, with a capacity of 125 tons iron per day.
The Little Belle Iron Company, capital $200,000, a charcoal furnace, sixty tons capacity.
Bessemer Fire Brick Works, with a capital of $50,000.
The Carolina Real Estate Company, with a capital stock of $300,000, who have built already forty odd houses for homes, a business block and several handsome storehouses.
The Orleans Land and Building Company, with a capital of $200,000, who are also engaged in putting up substantial homes and business blocks. More than twenty of their houses are already erected and occupied.
The Natchez Land and Improvement Company, with a capital stock of $300,000, whose houses rival in elegant appointments, exterior and interior, the buildings of the companies from Charleston and the Crescent City. Twenty odd of their buildings are already completed and being used for commercial and living purposes.
The South Bessemer Homestead and Improvement Company, whose capital stock will be expended in beautiful grounds and handsome buildings.
The Adler & Harris combination, whose attractive cottages, twenty-six in number, are now rented and occupied, and who are now building five brick storehouses.
Where else is so much capital beautifying, improving and upbuilding? More than ten million dollars, as has been enumerated, is being liberally and intelligently utilized in building a city. And this sum total, magnificent though it be, does not include the heavy investments of the eight railroads which center in this " Marvel City."
The First National Bank of Bessemer is located in a splendid building of stone and brick, at the corner of Nineteenth street and Second avenue.
There are seven lines oi railway graded to Bessemer, as follows:
The Alabama Great Southern.
The Louisville & Nashville.
The Bessemer & Huntsville.
The Bessemer & Tuscaloosa.
The Kansas City, Memphis & Bessemer.
The Georgia Pacific.
The Bessemer & Birmingham Dummy Line.
The following are located and being graded :
The Mobile & Bessemer.
The Georgia Central.
The following is projected and the route provisionally
surveyed:
The Bessemer & Selma.
There is the Charleston Block, costing $125,000; the Nabers & Morrow three-story block; the Adler Block; the Jenkins Block, and the Berney Bros,' National Bank Building—all of brick, cutstone and terra cotta. Other brick blocks and buildings have been commenced.
The Montezuma Hotel, a grand structure of superb and beautiful architecture, fifty rooms capacity, has been completed at an expense of $35,000, and opened to the public.
The Grand Hotel—a magnificent building of brick, cutstone and terra cotta—has been completed. It cost over $50,000, and has a capacity for one hundred guests.
The public school building, an elegant frame structure, will provide comfortable quarters for two hundred pupils.
Several church edifices have been erected.
Over one hundred men are now regularly employed in grading the streets.
By contract the waterworks are to be completed soon, and to furnish an ample water supply for a population of 25,000 people.
The Bessemer Electric Light & Power Company have their plant of a capacity of 500,000 candle power.
The Price of Lots
The price of lots for sale by the Bessemer Land and Improvement Company range from ten to twenty-five dollars per front foot for residence lots, and from twenty-five to seventy-five dollars per front foot for business lots. The terms are one-fourth cash; balance in one, two and three years, with eight per cent, interest.
The South Bessemer Homestead Company has placed its property on sale, payable in monthly installments, or in case of valuable improvement, without cash payment, at prices ranging from ten to forty-five dollars per front foot.
The Bessemer Company gives concessions in land and in stock to all reputable industries.
Prominent Business Men
Coal and Iron
THE DeBARDELEBEN COAL AND IRON COMPANY.—The mineral wealth of the State of Alabama is enormous, and there is no State in the Union where can be found such extensive and rich beds of the choicest iron and coal deposits—of the former to furnish the world with steel for centuries—and all lying within a few miles of this city. Among the leading corporations engaged in the mining and shipping of coal and iron ore, and the manufacture of pig iron and burning of coke, special mention should be made of the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company, whose operations are conducted upon such an extensive scale. The Company owns a wide area of mineral lands—comprising over thirty thousand acres, tested and known to afford an inexhaustible supply of the ore for making pig iron and coal for making coke. The Company was established June 1st, 1886, with H. F. DeBardeleben President and General Manager, and Andrew M. Adger Secretary and Treasurer. The furnaces, two in number, have a daily capacity of 125 tons of pig iron, and give employment to a large number of men. The mining of coal and the numerous coke ovens require a large force, and altogether the varied interests of this plant make it a most important factor in the development of the mineral wealth of this section.
The President and General Manager, Mr. Henry F. DeBardeleben, is the most prominent figure in iron manufacture to be found in the South. In this work he is a pioneer, and the leading spirit in developing the mineral wealth of this section of Alabama. Mr. DeBardeleben was the first to discover that coke could be made from Birmingham coal, and accordingly he built the Pratt Mines Railroad, and this led to the founding of this city. In addition, he opened the Henryellen mines, and established the Alice Furnace and the Marv Pratt Furnace. These are all named for his relatives, and are in successful operation. Mr. DeBardeleben is a sagacious, energetic and public-spirited man, and one who has proven himself an indispensable factor in the mineral development of this section and the growth and progress of Birmingham, as well as Bessemer.
Mr. Andrew M. Adger, Secretary and Treasurer, is a South Carolinian by birth, having been born and reared in Charleston. For twelve years he was engaged in the cotton and phosphate business of that city, from which place he came directly to Birmingham, and thence to Bessemer. He is an efficient officer, an able financier, and withal a most genial and popular gentleman.
With such men at the helm it is no wonder that the DeBardeleben Coal and Iron Company is a credit to its management and its honor to the State.
Real Estate
N. H. SEWALL—Mr. Sewall is a native'of Iberville Parish, Louisiana. Having suffered financially from repeated overflows of the Mississippi River, and from other causes so disastrous to planters and farmers in the riparian districts of Louisiana, attracted by the much-talked-of boom of Birmingham, indeed of the whole of Jones' Valley, he came to Alabama with the determination of making his home in this prosperous State. When Bessemer first made its appearance on the tapis, Mr. Sewall moved bag and baggage to this little "city in the woods, now the Marvel City of North Alabama, and was one of the first to be established in the real estate business in Bessemer—a real estate pioneer, in fact.
Mr. Sewall is a firm believer in the future of Bessemer, considering it no trouble to show visitors over the city, calling their attention to the best bargains, etc. He also established the Pioneer Hardware Store of R. H. F. Sewall, and the lumber business run in connection with it, and is manager of his brother's interests in Bessemer, as Mr. R. H. F. Sewall resides in Birmingham. Mr, Sewall does not by any means confine his attention and time to Bessemer, but takes in the whole of Jones' Valley, and has many choice bits of real estate bargains, to which he would call the attention of all wishing to invest in this portion of the county, so replete with mineral wealth. Any one desirous of information in reference to mineral and timber lands, town lots, investments in buildings, paying handsome interests, would do well to correspond with him. Properties range all the way from four dollars an acre to one thousand a front foot.
Mr. Sewall is also a member of the Board of Trade of Bessemer, and can give valuable information in all mercantile matters.
Mr. Sewall married a daughter of the late Ex-Governor P. 0. Herbert, of Louisiana.
Mrs. Sewall accompanied her husband, "roughing it" with him in the early days of Bessemer, when the place was a mere wilderness and waste.
References:
Birmingham National Bank, Birmingham, Alabama.
John
D. Murrell, Bayou Goula, Louisiana.
Blanks & Cornwell, Smithland,
Louisiana.
I. G. Batchelor, Dr. A. A. Batchelor, Smithland, Louisiana.
S.
J. Norwood, Simmsport,
Louisiana.
Druggists.
NABERS, MORROW & HENDON, the leading drug firm of Bessemer, have held that position from the date of their opening. This was the natural result of the wide-spread reputation of the Birmingham firm of Nabers & Morrow.
Mr. L. A. Hendon, the junior partner of the Bessemer firm, had been connected with the firm at Birmingham for seven years previous to Bessemer's birth. With their usual enterprise they saw in Bessemer a city of promise, and at once erected a large three-story brick building, part of which they use for their own business. This building is on the principal thoroughfare, Nineteenth street, between Second and Third avenues. The Bessemer Dummy Line passes in front of the door. The storeroom occupied by the firm is handsomely furnished and cominodiou&ly arranged for the transaction of their large and growing business. Its whole appearance reminds one of the large stores of metropolitan cities. The prescription department, to which especial attention is given, is under the direct supervision of Mr. Hendon. The reputation of this gentleman as a skillful and careful compounder of drugs has gone abroad through that section, and elicits the patronage of that large class of people who value safety and reliability in dealing with articles which by even a slight mistake may prove fatal. This firm being largely identified with the interests of Bessemer, receive, as they deserve, the respect and patronage of the people at large, and will no doubt in Bessemer, as in Birmingham, rank always as a solid, enterprising and reliable adjunct to the commercial interests of the city.
Bankers.
BERNEY BROS.—In the handsome Berney Block, corner of Nineteenth street and Second avenue Messrs. Berney Bros, have their banking house. Mr. Wm. Berney, the senior member of the firm, is President of the Berney National Bank of Birmingham an institution which holds the confidence and a large share of the patronage of Birmingham people. He is also President of the Bessemer Land and Improvement Company, and has been largely instrumental, by its untiring energy and interest, in the making of Bessemer. The confidence of this firm in the future of Bessemer is well shown in the magnificent building bearing their name and the magnificently appointed bank for Bessemer's custom. The depositors in this bank belong not only to Bessemer, but come from surrounding sections and many hamlets which, previous to the organization of this bank, left their deposits in Birmingham. Mr. C. Berney, the junior member of the firm, has a handsome residence in Bessemer, and is highly esteemed both in social and business relations.
CHAS. F. HARD & CO., Real Estate and Insurance.
GEO. L. ROOT & CO., Real Estate.
R. L. CROOK & BRO., Real Estate and Rentals.
T. B. ELLISON, Stationery and Music.
S. E. JONES & CO., Furniture and Undertakers.
BESSEMER DUMMY LINE, Round Trip Tickets between Birmingham and Bessemer, 40 cents.
MARVEL CITY BRICK CO., Capacity, 25,000 daily.
BESSEMER BRICK CO., Capacity, 25,000 daily.
MILLER & MALONE, General Store.
R. M. McADORY & CO., General Store.
M. FORST & CO., Dry Goods and Clothing.
BUCHANAN & LAKE, Groceries and Hardware.
BESSEMER MANUFACTURING CO., Woodworking.
MONTEZUMA HOTEL.
(see cut.)
GRAND HOTEL.
SOUTHERN EXPRESS CO.
UNITED STATES EXPRESS COMPANY.
BALTIMORE & OHIO EXPRESS COMPANY.
WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
JUDSON AGENCY, Real Estate ami Insurance.
THE BESSEMER, Published Weekly.
KENNELLY & ROBERTSON, Groceries.
W. H. HOWELL, Groceries.
CAROLINA REAL ESTATE COMPANY.
NATCHEZ LAND & IMPROVEMENT COMPANY.
Source: Historical and Statistical Review of North Alabama, Library of Congress 1888, Transcribed by C. Anthony
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