Side Note: Lakeview Lake, now on the Highland Park Golf Course, was the site of one of the most heinous murders in Birmingham history. The next time the Iron Bowl was played in Birmingham was in 1902, after Lakeview Park closed. Arguably, the most important event that occurred at Lakeview Park was the first football game between the University of Alabama and Auburn University, which occurred on February 22, 1893. The park also was home the Lakeview Baseball Park which hosted a number of events. In 1901 the Elite Opera Company began performing at the park. In 1897 the theater hosted the Albert Taylor Company and a demonstration of Thomas Edison’s Vitascope (invented two years earlier by Charles Jenkins and Thomas Armat, but marketed by the Edison Company). Promoters advertised additional security for unescorted ladies during the1896 season headlined by Trilby O’Farrell. The Alcazar Opera Company took the stage in 1895. Later seasons fell short of that early high mark. ![]() Pinafore” staged on a replica ship floating in the lake, which was surrounded by electric lights. ![]() The Summer of 1891 featured a lavish performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H. Lakeview Park was the center of many events General Tom Thumb and her Japanese Troupe. The Lakeview Theatre, a covered stage for open-air concerts and performances, opened in November 1890 with a performance by Mrs. A hotel was built at the park in 1887, which was visited by Presidents Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison. One popular attraction at the park was the Lakeview Pavilion, which contained a swimming pool, skating rink, bowling alley, and dance floor. The park was accessible by the streetcar system that ran along Highland Avenue. Various events occurred in the park, including opera performances on an island in the lake. The 43-acre park was laid out in 1884 by the Elyton Land Company around a man-made lake which was created by damming up springs in the area. Lakeview Park was a park in the Lakeview suburb of Birmingham located at the intersection of Highland and Clairmont Avenues. Lakeview Park was located at the intersection of Highland and Clairmont Avenues More than 100 years later, the game would become the state’s great divider. The early years were highlighted by intense, hard-nosed football, promoting the traditional reasons the rivalry became so popular and important to football fans in this state. Support Alabama Pioneers with your Donation, any amount helps!įrom the time of the series’ conception until a 6-6 tie in 1907, Auburn dominated, winning seven of 11 games. The University of Alabama had two brutal plays, the revolving wedge”, a wedge with a feint, and the turtleback wedge, formed by players holding each other’s hips.” 1 On December 2, 1893, the New York Times, declared the flying wedge formation pitted “a half ton of bone and muscle, against a man weighing 160 or 170 pounds. ![]() The teams met a second time that year, on November 30 at Riverside Park in Montgomery, and Auburn won 40-16. This picture (above), taken during the first half by photographer John Horgan, Jr., shows Auburn in its flying wedge formation. Dorsey scored three touchdowns and Tom Daniels two for the Tigers. SEE ALL BOOKS BY DONNA R CAUSEY The First Alabama-vs-Auburn Football Game in Birmingham, Lakeview Baseball Park, Febru(by John Horgan, Jr., Special Collections and Archives, Auburn University Libraries)Īuburn beat Alabama 32-22 on February 22, 1893, before five-thousand fans at Lakeview Park in Birmingham, in the first football game between the two schools. Little did the handful of football fans realize what would develop from the first encounter. The players were even treated to special meals at their hotels and most traveled by train to the game. ![]() That historic game saw Auburn walk away with a 32-22 victory. We do know that the game between the University of Alabama and Auburn took place in Birmingham’s Lakeview Baseball Park on Feb. One gives an estimate of 450 and another says there were 5000. I have found two different accounts with widely contrasting numbers as to how many attended the 1st Iron Bowl game in Birmingham. How many people attended the first Iron Bowl Game?
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