Eugene Enslen

Eugene Flynn Enslen, Sr (born February 11, 1858 in Wetumpka, Elmore County) was a real estate and business investor and long-time member of the Birmingham Board of Aldermen.

Enslen was the son of mercantile owner Christian Enslen. He grew up in Wetumpka and relocated with his father to the newly-founded city of Birmingham in 1871, working in the family business. He was one of the bachelors in attendance at Charles Linn's famous "Calico Ball" on December 31, 1872. He attended a session of the Poughkeepsie Business College in New York in 1877 and took the position of cashier in the Jefferson County Savings Bank, founded by his father in 1885.

He worked as a cashier at the bank and joined the Board of Aldermen in 1888 under Mayor B. A. Thompson and continued to serve under Mayors A. O. Lane, David Fox, James Van Hoose and Frank Evans, who left office in 1899. In 1897 Enslen was elected president of the Birmingham Clearing House. He was a partner in the New York City brokerage Lewis A. May & Company which failed in December 1900. In 1907 he moved into a gracious marble-clad Neoclassical mansion at 2731 Highland Avenue.

Enslen became president of the Jefferson County Savings Bank in 1909 and founded the Great Southern Automobile Company, the first auto manufacturer in the South, that same year. After his father's retirement in 1911 he took chairmanship of the bank, as well. He moved the business into the 25-story Jefferson County Savings Bank building in May 1914. The development became a financial burden for the bank, which suffered a run in January 1915 and closed its doors on January 28 of that year. Enslen was indicted for accepting deposits after the bank's insolvency.

Enslen married the former Delia W. Evans, of LaGrange, Georgia in 1879 and had three children: Julia, Eugene Jr, and Minnie Gip. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.

References

• Dabney, Richard (2006) Birmingham's Highland Park. Images of America Series. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Press. ISBN 9780738543437

[[Category:Birmingham Board of Aldermen