Piper is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Bibb County,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, 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. The Little Cahaba Coal Company operated two mines at Piper. Combined with nearby Coleanor, the two towns had a combined population of nearly 2,500. Coal was shipped from Piper to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

on the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

. The last mine in Piper was closed in the 1950s. In February 1934, members of the

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing work ...

called a strike at the Piper mines. Governor

Benjamin M. Miller Benjamin Meek Miller (March 13, 1864 – February 6, 1944) was an American United States Democratic Party, Democratic politician who served as the 39th Governor of Alabama from 1931 to 1935. Early life Miller was born in Oak Hill, Alabama, ...

called in the

Alabama National Guard The Alabama National Guard is the National Guard of the U.S State of Alabama, and consists of the Alabama Army National Guard and the Alabama Air National Guard. (The Alabama State Defense Force is the third military unit of the Alabama Mil ...

to maintain order. Six miners were killed in a mining accident in Piper on May 31, 1925. A post office operated under the name Piper from 1905 to 1955.

Notable native

Piper Davis Lorenzo "Piper" Davis (July 3, 1917 – May 21, 1997) was an American professional baseball player who played in the Negro American League from 1942 to 1950 for the Birmingham Black Barons. His nickname was the name of the mining town he was from ...

Negro league The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

baseball player from 1942 to 1950 for the

Birmingham Black Barons The Birmingham Black Barons were a Negro league baseball team that played from 1920 until 1960, including 18 seasons recognized as Major League by Major League Baseball. They shared their home field of Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, wi ...

References

Unincorporated communities in Bibb County, Alabama Unincorporated communities in Alabama {{BibbCountyAL-geo-stub