Patron Past Stories

PATRON + Immigrant introduces Japanese camellias from wife’s dowry to Mobile in 1917

Kosaku Sawada was born in Osaka, central Japan Oct. 21, 1882. and pursued an education at Osaka University, graduating with a degree in agriculture. In 1906, he immigrated…

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UPDATED WITH PODCAST – Gunpowder explodes in warehouse at Mobile and destroys half the town. [pictures & list of wounded soldiers]

On April 12, 1865 the Civil War ended when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his command to U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant at…

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UPDATED WITH PODCAST Huntsville pioneers settled around “The Big Spring” revealed to them by the Cherokee and Chickasaw

  Big Spring Park in Huntsville, Alabama is named after a large, underground karst spring, referred to by the indigenous Cherokee and Chickasaw as "the…

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UPDATED WITH PODCAST -Actress Lillian Russell discovered the anguish of chigger bites in Alabama – funny story

Jackson Hotel at Blount Springs ca. 1900  Blount Springs - summer resort in rural setting “Blount Springs's mineral springs and rural setting made it…

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The Last Confederate Reunion in Alabama was held in September 1944 – all the men were in their 90s [see story & photographs]

(This has been exactly transcribed as written in 1944  in The Alabama Historical Quarterly) LAST CONFEDERATE REUNION What will probably prove to be the last…

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PATRON + UPDATED WITH PODCAST Did you know that actor Mickey Rooney had two children that were born in Alabama?

Betty Jane Rase, was a teenager from Phillips High School in Birmingham, Alabama, then she became Miss Birmingham, Miss Alabama and was suddenly propelled onto the…

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UPDATED WITH PODCAST -An early resident (ca.1829) of Mooresville, Alabama reflects on the town, its citizens and surroundings

RECOLLECTIONS OF CAROLINE LEADINGHAM Transcribed from The Alabama Historical Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 03, Fall Issue 1956 -- Continued below Our home and the…

New Stories

UPDATED WITH PODCAST – A lady from Birmingham became the First Lady of Costa Rica and is now living in Montgomery, Alabama

Not a Fairy Tale Does the title of this story sound like a fairy tale or too far-fetched to be true? It really happened in the…

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UPDATED WITH PODCAST -[film] Did you know the first Alabama radio broadcast made to Thomas Edison from Auburn University?

First Radio in Alabama The state of Alabama did not have a licensed radio station until 1922. The first Alabama's radio broadcast was made to Thomas…

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One man’s passion for a school, revealed in this personal account from 1919, changed hundred’s of lives if not thousands.

This minister's passion for a school changed many lives. The Story Of The Downing Industrial School by Reverend J.M. Shofner Brewton, Alabama 1919 While…