HILLY ACRES DAIRY

THE ICE CREAM PLACE

WEST MAPLE IN WINTER

This photo goes back to the days when Birmingham had snowy winters. Quite often we'd see snow on the ground from Thanksgiving until March. Taken from a little west of the Maple and Chester intersection the picture looks toward the east. At the left is a small portion of the house built by J. Bert and Alta Peabody around 1915. Prior to that time they had been living in what is now referred to as the Ford-Peabody Mansion which is still standing at the corner of Old Woodward and Brown. In the early 20's The Peabodys moved from the relatively new home partially shown here to a spot three houses east of the Grand Trunk Railway on East Maple. A Krogers supermarket is now located on that site. One of the last owners of the house somewhat visible on the far left was Harry Rainey who divided the structure into several rental apartments. An office building is now located on the northwest corner of Maple and Chester.

Hilly Acres Dairy operated a retail store in the white house appearing in the center of the picture. Mr. McDonald, the father-in-law of Mr. Koch, a General Motors Executive who owned Hilly Acres, operated the store which sold dairy products including delicious ice cream cones. Many former students of Baldwin High School, which was located on the south side of Maple, to the right of the cameraman, well remember enjoying refreshments purchased at Hilly Acres. The actual dairy farm was located at the corner of Long Lake and Monnier Roads Its magnificent barn was demolished during a tornado that passed through the area in 1939. Luckily, no one was hurt during that storm and since the cows were in the lower part of the barn, behind heavy stone walls, they, too, escaped injury.

Behind Hilly Acres you can see a cement block single story structure which was the beginning of Jacobson's Women's Store. Beyond that the 3 story Wabeek Building towers rather high.

At the far right is the original St. James Episcopal Church. Beyond it is an old frame house which served as an office for the Rector as well as housing some of the Sunday School classes.

Taken some time in the mid-1940's, this photo is from the Shirley Hersey collection.

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