Piper, Alabama

{{Short description|Unincorporated community in Alabama, United States}} {{Use American English|date=September 2024}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Piper, Alabama |settlement_type = Unincorporated community |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_seal = |image_map = |pushpin_map = Alabama#USA |pushpin_label_position =  |pushpin_map_caption =Location within the state of Alabama |pushpin_mapsize =250 |coor_pinpoint = |coordinates = {{coord|33|05|22|N|87|02|29|W|display=inline, title}} |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_name1 = Alabama |subdivision_name2 = Bibb |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |established_date = |area_magnitude = |area_total_km2 = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_km2 = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_km2 = |area_water_sq_mi = |elevation_ft = 509 |elevation_m = |population_as_of = |population_footnotes = |population_total = |population_metro = |population_density_km2 = |population_density_sq_mi = |timezone = Central (CST) |utc_offset = -6 |timezone_DST = CDT |utc_offset_DST = -5 |postal_code_type = ZIP code |postal_code = |area_codes = 205, 659 |blank_name = GNIS feature ID |blank_info = 156903<ref>{{cite gnis|156903|Piper}}</ref> |blank1_name = |blank1_info = |footnotes = |website = }} '''Piper''' is an unincorporated community in Bibb County, Alabama, United States.

==History== Piper was named for Oliver Hazzard Perry Piper, who founded the Little Cahaba Coal Company and was a business partner of Henry F. DeBardeleben.<ref>{{cite book |last=Foscue |first=Virginia |date=1989 |title=Place Names in Alabama |location=Tuscaloosa |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |page=112 |isbn=0-8173-0410-X}}</ref> The Little Cahaba Coal Company operated two mines at Piper.<ref name="History1923">{{cite book|author=Alabama. Department of Archives and History|title=Alabama Official and Statistical Register|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=acYGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA489|year=1923|publisher=Brown Printing Company|pages=489}}</ref> Combined with nearby Coleanor, the two towns had a combined population of nearly 2,500.<ref>{{cite web |title=Piper/Coleanor |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=83225 |website=The Historical Marker Database |publisher=HMDB.org |access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref> Coal was shipped from Piper to Birmingham on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. The last mine in Piper was closed in the 1950s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=W. Stuart |title=Dead Towns of Alabama |date=January 26, 2024 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=978-0-8-173-1125-4 |page=98}}</ref>

In February 1934, members of the United Mine Workers called a strike at the Piper mines. Governor Benjamin M. Miller called in the Alabama National Guard to maintain order.<ref name="Day2013">{{cite book|author=James Sanders Day|title=Diamonds in the Rough: A History of Alabama's Cahaba Coal Field|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SpsuWXE4Y5sC&pg=PR11|date=24 June 2013|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-1794-2|page=133}}</ref>

Six miners were killed in a mining accident in Piper on May 31, 1925.<ref>{{cite web |title=Piper, AL Little Cahaba Coal Co Mine Accident, May 1925 |url=http://www.gendisasters.com/alabama/8260/piper-al-little-cahaba-coal-co-mine-accident-may-1925 |website=GenDisasters.com |access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref>

A post office operated under the name Piper from 1905 to 1955.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=AL&county=Bibb&searchtext=&pagenum=3 | title=Bibb County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=9 March 2020}}</ref>

==Notable native== * Piper Davis, Negro league baseball player from 1942 to 1950 for the Birmingham Black Barons.<ref name="Kelley2005">{{cite book|author=Brent Kelley|title=Voices from the Negro Leagues: Conversations with 52 Baseball Standouts of the Period 1924-1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rjhc26_k-HwC&pg=PA132|date=3 March 2005|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2279-1|pages=132}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Unincorporated communities in Bibb County, Alabama Category:Unincorporated communities in Alabama