Marvel, Alabama

Marvel, Alabama
Unincorporated community
The old Marvel Water Tower, photographed in 1993
Marvel, Alabama Location within the state of Alabama
Coordinates: 33°08′48″N 87°00′11″W / 33.14667°N 87.00306°W
Country	United States
State	Alabama
County	Bibb
Elevation	522 ft (159 m)
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Area code(s)	205
GNIS feature ID	122348[1]

Marvel is an unincorporated community in Bibb County, Alabama, United States.

History

The community was named for the poet Andrew Marvell by Elizabeth Roden, wife of the operator of the mines at Marvel.^[2] Marvel was founded by Benjamin F. Roden, who was the founder of the Roden Coal Company. Roden was an early business owner who was instrumental in the rapid growth of Birmingham. He operated a grocery company in Birmingham, established the first street car system in Birmingham, and founded the city of Avondale.^[3] The Roden Coal Company operated two mines in Marvel.^[4] The coal company also operated a company store in the community, which included a candy, drug, and tobacco department.^[5] An explosion at the mines in October 1916 killed 19 miners.^[6]

A post office operated under the name Marvel from 1907 to 1973.^[7]

References

1. "Marvel". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
2. Foscue, Virginia (1989). Place Names in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press. p. 92. ISBN 0-8173-0410-X.
3. Armes, Ethel (1972). The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama. Birmingham: The Book-Keepers Press. p. 235-6.
4. Statistics of the Mineral Production of Alabama for 1915. Geological Survey of Alabama. 1917. p. 4.
5. J. D. Weeks (1999). Birmingham: In Vintage Postcards. Arcadia Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-7385-0333-2.
6. Causey, Donna. "On this date in 1916, a tragedy took place in Bibb County, Alabama". Alabama Pioneers. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
7. "Bibb County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved 10 December 2015.