Alabama Trivia & Tidbits

Looking for Alabama trivia? Try our list Alabama little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Author Walker Percy, known as a "philosophical novelist," won the National Book Award for his 1961 novel The Moviegoer and published five more novels and three non-fiction works. He was born in 1916 in Birmingham and died in 1990.

first appeared: 11/1/2009

Opened in 1833 as one of three branches of the Alabama State Bank, Old State Bank in Decatur (pop. 53,929) today is preserved as a museum.

first appeared: 10/18/2009

The Watercress Darter National Wildlife Refuge near Bessemer (pop. 29,672) was established in 1980 to protect the endangered watercress darter, a fish found only in a handful of springs in the state.

first appeared: 10/4/2009

The state's worst day for tornadoes was March 21, 1932, when a series of twisters touched down across the state. Accounts vary, but some estimates put the human death toll at more than 300.

first appeared: 9/20/2009

John R. Cook, who founded Cook's Pest Control in Decatur (pop. 53,929), developed Cook's Natural Science Museum in the 1960s to share his private bug collection, which he used for employee training. Today, the 5,000-square-foot museum, built in 1980, is open free to the public and is one of the largest animal and insect museums in the South.

first appeared: 9/6/2009

Pharmacist Danny Cottrell of Brewton (pop. 5,498) created his own economic stimulus plan earlier this year by giving his full-time employees $700 and his part-time employees $300. He asked them to donate 15 percent to charity and to spend the rest locally. Cottrell paid the $16,000 in $2 bills so people in Escambia County (pop. 38,440) could track the dollars.

first appeared: 8/23/2009

Architecture students at Auburn University's Rural Studio in Newbern (pop. 231) learn the social responsibilities of architecture as they design and build homes and community buildings for poor people in rural western Alabama.

first appeared: 8/9/2009

In 1917, Clyde Anderson, 14, opened a newspaper stand on a street corner in Florence (pop. 36,264) to help support his family. His humble stand, built from used piano crates, was the beginning of Books-a-Million Inc., the third largest book retailer in the nation. The company is headquartered in Birmingham.

first appeared: 7/26/2009

—The state's first railroad, the Tuscumbia Railway Co., was incorporated in 1830 and ran about two miles between Tuscumbia Landing at the Tennessee River to Tuscumbia (pop. 7,856).

first appeared: 7/12/2009

—In 1997, Birmingham attorney James E. Rotch wrote The Birmingham Pledge, a statement of principles at the heart of a grassroots effort to eliminate racism and prejudice. People worldwide have signed the pledge, which begins "I believe that every person has worth as an individual."

first appeared: 6/28/2009

—The first structure built on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa (pop. 77,906) was the Gorgas House. Built in 1829, it's one of four campus buildings that survived the Civil War.

first appeared: 6/14/2009

—Self-made millionaire Millard Fuller founded Habitat for Humanity in 1976 to help people living in substandard housing become homeowners through no-interest mortgages, small down payments and their own labor. Fuller, who was born in 1935 in Lanett (pop. 7,897), received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. He died in February.

first appeared: 5/31/2009

—Five long-standing Gulf Coast lighthouses will be featured this year on U.S. postage stamps. The lighthouses are on Sand Island, near the entrance to Mobile Bay in Mobile; Sabine Pass, La.; Biloxi, Miss. (pop. 50,644); Fort Jefferson, also known as Garden Key Lighthouse, west of Key West, Fla., (pop. 25,478); and Matagorda Island, near Port O'Connor, Texas.

first appeared: 5/17/2009

—Luverne (pop. 2,635) is home to the "World's Largest Peanut Boil" each Labor Day weekend, when members of the Crenshaw County Shrine Club and volunteers boil, bag and sell tons of hot goobers.

first appeared: 5/3/2009

–More than a million wire hangers are made each day at M&B Hangers in Leeds (pop. 10,455), one of the last wire hanger manufacturers in the United States.

first appeared: 4/19/2009

—A brick dollhouse is built over the grave of Nadine Earles at Oakwood Cemetery in Lanett (pop. 7,897). The 4-year-old contracted diphtheria and died in 1933 before her father could finish building a promised dollhouse, so the city allowed him to build it around her grave. Residents maintain the furnished structure.

first appeared: 4/5/2009

—The first professional boxer honored on a U.S. postage stamp was Joe Louis. Born Joe Louis Barrow in 1914 in Chambers County (pop. 36,583), he became the world heavyweight champion in 1937. The stamp was issued in 1993.

first appeared: 3/22/2009

—In Rockford (pop. 428), a grave marker behind the Old Rock Jail Museum honors Fred, the town dog who died in 2002. The town adopted the likable stray, who showed up in 1993, and made him parade marshal, gave him his own newspaper column, “A Dog’s Life,” and sold “Fred” T-shirts and coffee mugs.

first appeared: 3/8/2009

—In 1946, Milo Carlton opened Milo’s Hamburger Shop in Birmingham, where he perfected Milo’s Famous Sweet Tea recipe, which still is brewed by the Carlton family at Milo’s Tea Co. plant in Bessemer (pop. 29,672) and sold throughout the South.

first appeared: 2/22/2009

—The tallest Ferris wheel in the Southeast revolves at The Wharf in Orange Beach (pop. 3,784) and is 112 feet tall.

first appeared: 2/8/2009

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