Birmingham Athletic Club
- This article refers to the club located at 502 20th Street North, for the more information on clubs with similar names, see Birmingham Athletic Club (disambiguation).
Birmingham Athletic Club was a private club located at 502 20th Street North. It was organized in 1888 and incorporated on July 16, 1889. Its long-time home, a three story brick-clad building with a full basement, was completed in July 1903 at a cost of $57,000. The basement floor housed a rifle range, pressing club, bowling alleys and boilers. The first floor housed offices, lounges, pool and billiards, a library and barber shop. The director's office was on the second floor along with a gymnasium, hand-ball courts, boxing and wrestling rooms and a spectator's gallery.
The club fielded its own entrants in numerous competitive events, including a football team. The club hosted an annual May Day track competition and also hosted a national wrestling championship in 1920
The Regions Center building, constructed as the First National-Southern Natural Building in 1972, sits on the site of the former Birmingham Athletic Club and its neighbor, the Southern Club.
A new Birmingham Athletic Club was opened in the John A. Hand Building in 1999.
Presidents
- 1889-1891: H. L. Underwood
- 1982-1893: Leigh Caroll
- 1894-1904: Solon Jacobs
- 1905: W. D. Nesbitt
- 1906: R. P. Means
- 1907: John F. Fletcher
- 1908: Ed Warren, Jr
- 1909-1910: S. P. Spurgeon
- 1911-1912: Solon Jacobs
- 1913: S. P. Spurgeon
- 1914-1915: Ed Anderson
- 1916-1917: Wiley Alford
- 1918-1919: Herbert Cobbs
References
- Cruikshank, George H. (1920) History of Birmingham and Its Environs: A Narrative Account of Their Historical Progress, Their People, and Their Principal Interests 2 volumes. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections