December 17, 2018
Lee Fuller
Today in Alabama history was the incorporation of the City of Birmingham. The act called for the governor to appoint the first mayor and eight aldermen and allowed the mayor to require all male inhabitants ages 18-45 to work five days each year on the streets and roadways of the city – archives.alabama.gov
In 2019 Alabama will celebrate its 200th birthday. To help celebrate, the Alabama Library System has encouraged all the libraries to help mark this historic occasion. Our local Jacksonville Public Library will be holding a special event each month in 2019. To start of this monthly event, Kimberly O’Dell, Alabama Historian and author will be speaking. Mrs. O’Dell is the author of Images of America: Calhoun County, Anniston, and Anniston Revisited. Autographed copies of these books will be available for sale by cash or check. 
We spoke to Ms. O’Dell and she was very excited for this event. She stated that Jacksonville has always embraced her with open arms and she enjoyed the opportunities to speak to the residents. She is a lifelong Calhoun County resident and her family has resided in the area since the 1830’s. She plans to speak for approximately 45 mins and to focus on the time period of 1832-1899 prior to the courthouse moving to Anniston. She will be focusing on the education, religion, public square, and public services of the area. She will also have a pictures on display from the time period discussed. The primary geographic areas to be discussed will be Jacksonville, Oxford, Anniston, and Piedmont.
Please join the library on Saturday, January 26th at 2:00 pm for this interesting event and to learn many fascinating little known facts about our community and its past.
Each month The Jacksonville Journal will share the library featured event for the coming month.
