Click image to enlarge. As the broad outlines of the new industrial city called Birmingham began to fill out and take form, its early leaders responded to calls to create a free school system for the children of the city’s workers. Capt. James R. Powell, Birmingham founder and president of the Elyton Land Company, donated four blocks for the city’s first public school in 1873. The first building used for the school, named Powell School but also known as the “Free School,” was replaced in 1888 with the current structure, which retained the name.
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