Piper, Alabama

Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States

33°05′22″N 87°02′29″W / 33.08944°N 87.04139°W / 33.08944; -87.04139CountryUnited StatesStateAlabamaCountyBibbElevation

509 ft (155 m)Time zoneUTC-6 (Central (CST)) • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)Area code(s)205, 659GNIS feature ID156903^[1]

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.^[2] The Little Cahaba Coal Company operated two mines at Piper.^[3] Combined with nearby Coleanor, the two towns had a combined population of nearly 2,500.^[4] Coal was shipped from Piper to Birmingham on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The last mine in Piper was closed in the 1950s.^[5]

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.^[6]

Six miners were killed in a mining accident in Piper on May 31, 1925.^[7]

A post office operated under the name Piper from 1905 to 1955.^[8]

Notable native

Piper Davis, Negro league baseball player from 1942 to 1950 for the Birmingham Black Barons.^[9]

References

^ "Piper". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
^ Foscue, Virginia (1989). Place Names in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press. p. 112. ISBN 0-8173-0410-X.
^ Alabama. Department of Archives and History (1923). Alabama Official and Statistical Register. Brown Printing Company. p. 489.
^ "Piper/Coleanor". The Historical Marker Database. HMDB.org. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
^ Harris, W. Stuart (January 26, 2024). Dead Towns of Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-8-173-1125-4.
^ James Sanders Day (June 24, 2013). Diamonds in the Rough: A History of Alabama's Cahaba Coal Field. University of Alabama Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8173-1794-2.
^ "Piper, AL Little Cahaba Coal Co Mine Accident, May 1925". GenDisasters.com. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
^ "Bibb County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
^ Brent Kelley (March 3, 2005). Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations with 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960. McFarland. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-7864-2279-1.