I Remember Old Tuscaloosa, April 1, 1971

April 1, 1971.pdf

Title

I Remember Old Tuscaloosa, April 1, 1971

Subject

History--Tuscaloosa (AL)
Maxwell, Fred (Frederick Richard Jr.), 1889-1988

Description

Fred Maxwell wrote "I Remember Old Tuscaloosa" for a weekly newspaper in Tuscaloosa called The Graphic from December, 1970 through December 1971. The Graphic was founded, owned and published by Maxwell's daughter Camille Elebash and her husband Karl Elebash beginning in 1957. It was sold to The Tuscaloosa News in 1976 and ceased publication sometime later.

To see the complete article enlarged click on the image.

Creator

Fred Maxwell

Source

Camille Elebash

Publisher

The Graphic

Date

April 1, 1971

Contributor

Brenda Harris (Description)
Tuscaloosa Public Library

Type

Document

Identifier

1570

Coverage

Tuscaloosa (AL)

Text

THE steamboat landing or wharf between the two bridges on the Black Warrior River served Tuscaloosa for many years.

When Locks 10, 11, and 12 were completed a new and better wharf was developed just above the “pump house” (for city water supply) and was named “White’s Landing.”

The local street car system when extended to serve Holt developed an amusement complex consisting of a dance hall, swimming pool, dressing rooms, etc., at White’s Landing in order to increase street car traffic. This amusement area was named Riverview and this name has prevailed ever since.

The facilities at Riverview to handle river freight were greatly improved and/or augmented to handle the increased traffic both from the steamboats and the tow of barges.

The City of Tuscaloosa erected a warehouse and installed a 15-ton crane, or derrick, for loading and unloading. The Tuscaloosa Railway and Utilities Co. installed a spur track to the river bank and warehouse thereby connecting railroad to river. The crane served boat, railroad car and warehouse in any combination.

Large steel containers were obtained to handle cargo such as sugar, flour, grain or other freight that needed protection. They were fabricated so that four of them could be placed on a railroad flat car and give it the dimensions or configuration of a box car. As an example, a container could be loaded with sugar (or any other commodity) at St. Louis and shipped by boat to Tuscaloosa, be transferred to railroad flat car by the crane, and thence (along with three other containers) routed to Atlanta or any other destination served by rail.

Original Format

Newspaper