St. Mark's Catholic Church, 1040 Tenth Avenue West, Thomas, Jefferson County, AL. Surveyed as HABS ALA,37-THOS,1-, with a 306-word written history.
“Mark' s is possibly one of few churches constructed of bee-hive coke oven stone.”
Written record, HABS ALA,37-THOS,1- survey. Machine-read text.
Surveyed by the federal HABS program as HABS ALA,37-THOS,1- · the record runs 306 words · one of 208 surveyed structures published for this county.
The headings the report itself prints. Each one jumps to where it begins.
Source document Quoted word for word from HABS ALA,37-THOS,1-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.
St. Mark' s is possibly one of few churches constructed of bee-hive coke oven stone. Project Information This report is based upon written documentation donated by the Birmingham Historical Society, reformatted to HABS/HAER guidelines.
Description
The site contains a stone church, frame church, rectory, stone bandstand-gazebo and restrooms.
Historical Overview
At the turn of the century, Italians from tiny, rural communities of Sicily and southern Italy had immigrated to the Birmingham District and, by 50 families lived in Thomas and East Thomas. The bishop of Mobile sent Father Canepa, a native of Genoa, to build a Catholic church at Thomas and the Republic Company donated land outside the original Thomas tract for the site of St. Mark's Catholic Church, the first Italian church in the South outside the district of New Orleans. Construction of the handsome church with a central entry and bell tower began in using stones from obsolete beehive ovens built by the Pioneer Company at the adjacent Thomas works.
Additional historic buildings on the site include stone gazebo, bandstand and restrooms with Italian inscriptions and the original frame church, which was converted to a rectory in
| Thomas, Alabama | The place record: every map, photograph and survey of this town. |
| Jefferson County, Alabama | 218 topographic sheets across the county. |
| Library of Congress record | The original filed report as the survey filed it. |
The federal surveyors worked through Thomas building by building. These are the other structures they measured and filed a report on, longest report first.
| Sheet | Structure | Survey | Report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6- | 15,566 words | |
| Thomas Worker Housing | HAER ALA,37-THOS,7- | 4,608 words | |
| Thomas Presbyterian Church | HABS ALA,37-THOS,2- | 42 words | |
| Wade Sand & Gravel Company | HAER ALA,37-THOS,8A- | 41 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6B- | 39 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6I- | 39 words | |
| Wade Sand & Gravel Company | HAER ALA,37-THOS,8B- | 38 words | |
| 219 Second Street (House) | HAER ALA,37-THOS,2- | 37 words | |
| 303 Third Street (House) | HAER ALA,37-THOS,4- | 36 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6D- | 36 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6E- | 36 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6F- | 36 words | |
| 223 Second Street (House) | HAER ALA,37-THOS,3- | 36 words | |
| 214 Second Street (House) | HAER ALA,37-THOS,1- | 35 words | |
| 355 Third Street (House) | HAER ALA,37-THOS,5- | 35 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6C- | 35 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6G- | 35 words | |
| Wade Sand & Gravel Company | HAER ALA,37-THOS,8- | 35 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6H- | 34 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6J- | 34 words | |
| Thomas By-Product Coke Works | HAER ALA,37-THOS,6A- | 32 words |
Block