Piper, Alabama

{{Short description|Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States}}

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Piper, Alabama

|settlement_type = Unincorporated community

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|pushpin_map = Alabama#USA

|pushpin_label_position =

|pushpin_map_caption =Location within the state of Alabama

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|coordinates = {{coord|33|05|22|N|87|02|29|W|display=inline, title}}

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_name1 = Alabama

|subdivision_name2 = Bibb

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|elevation_ft = 509

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|timezone = Central (CST)

|utc_offset = -6

|timezone_DST = CDT

|utc_offset_DST = -5

|postal_code_type = ZIP code

|postal_code =

|area_code = 205, 659

|blank_name = GNIS feature ID

|blank_info = 156903{{cite gnis|156903|Piper}}

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Piper is an unincorporated community in Bibb County, Alabama, United States.

History

Piper was named for Oliver Hazzard Perry Piper, who founded the Little Cahaba Coal Company and was a business partner of Henry F. DeBardeleben.{{cite book |last=Foscue |first=Virginia |date=1989 |title=Place Names in Alabama |location=Tuscaloosa |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |page=112 |isbn=0-8173-0410-X}} The Little Cahaba Coal Company operated two mines at Piper.{{cite book|author=Alabama. Department of Archives and History|title=Alabama Official and Statistical Register|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acYGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA489|year=1923|publisher=Brown Printing Company|pages=489}} Combined with nearby Coleanor, the two towns had a combined population of nearly 2,500.{{cite web |title=Piper/Coleanor |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=83225 |website=The Historical Marker Database |publisher=HMDB.org |access-date=10 March 2020}} Coal was shipped from Piper to Birmingham on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The last mine in Piper was closed in the 1950s.{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=W. Stuart |title=Dead Towns of Alabama |date=January 26, 2024 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=978-0-8-173-1125-4 |page=98}}

In February 1934, members of the United Mine Workers called a strike at the Piper mines. Governor Benjamin M. Miller called in the Alabama National Guard to maintain order.{{cite book|author=James Sanders Day|title=Diamonds in the Rough: A History of Alabama's Cahaba Coal Field|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SpsuWXE4Y5sC&pg=PR11|date=24 June 2013|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-1794-2|page=133}}

Six miners were killed in a mining accident in Piper on May 31, 1925.{{cite web |title=Piper, AL Little Cahaba Coal Co Mine Accident, May 1925 |url=http://www.gendisasters.com/alabama/8260/piper-al-little-cahaba-coal-co-mine-accident-may-1925 |website=GenDisasters.com |access-date=10 March 2020}}

A post office operated under the name Piper from 1905 to 1955.{{cite web | url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=AL&county=Bibb&searchtext=&pagenum=3 | title=Bibb County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=9 March 2020}}

Notable native

Piper Davis, Negro league baseball player from 1942 to 1950 for the Birmingham Black Barons.{{cite book|author=Brent Kelley|title=Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations with 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rjhc26_k-HwC&pg=PA132|date=3 March 2005|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2279-1|pages=132}}

References

Category:Unincorporated communities in Bibb County, Alabama

Category:Unincorporated communities in Alabama