Historic 45-acre Birmingham municipal park built around a man-made lake opened in 1887, where the body of eight-year-old May Hawes was discovered in 1888 in one of the city's most notorious early-history murders.
8101 4th Avenue North, Birmingham, AL 35206
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public park.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved walking paths around the lake; mostly level.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1886 · One of Birmingham's earliest planned resort developments (1886-1887) · Site of the 1888 discovery of the Hawes murder victims, a nationally covered case · Dedicated as a public park in 1918, one of the city's first major municipal park acquisitions
The East Lake Land Company was incorporated on July 6, 1886 by James Van Hoose, Robert Jemison Sr., and Rufus Hagood with $200,000 in capital and 2,000 acres of land along Village Creek roughly three miles east of downtown Birmingham. The company's plan was to develop a residential and resort neighborhood that would attract men who had come to Birmingham in the 1870s to work in the city's growing steel industry.
Engineer A. W. Haskell designed the 30-acre (later expanded to 45-acre) artificial lake — originally called Lake Como — created by damming Roebuck Springs and Village Creek. The basin measured roughly 2,200 by 800 feet and ranged from four to 14 feet in depth. Water was turned on at noon on November 25, 1887. The East Lake Railroad began bringing visitors to the area on June 14, 1887, and a streetcar line followed soon after.
The land company built a resort hotel, a dance pavilion, pleasure-boat docks, an open-air theater, a Ferris wheel, and a shooting gallery on the grounds. The park quickly became one of Birmingham's major recreational destinations during the 1890s and early 1900s.
Following decades of private operation, the City of Birmingham purchased East Lake Park for $65,000 on July 14, 1917 and dedicated it as a public park on May 10, 1918. It remains an active 45-acre municipal park with a paved walking loop, fishing access, ballfields, and a historical marker installed by the Alabama Historical Association.
Sources
On the morning of Tuesday, December 4, 1888, local teenaged boaters John Keith and Ben Culbalson discovered the body of a young white girl floating in East Lake. Jefferson County Coroner Alfred Babbitt ruled the death a murder. The body was placed for viewing at Lockwood & Miller's funeral parlor, where after thousands of viewings a local butcher identified her as May 'Mamie' Hawes, daughter of Birmingham railroad engineer Richard R. Hawes and his wife Emma. Witnesses placed Richard and May together aboard an East Lake-bound rail line the evening before, with Richard returning alone less than an hour later (Bhamwiki Hawes Murders; Alabama News Center).
The bodies of Emma and Irene, the younger sister, were recovered four days later from nearby Lakeview Park, weighted with railroad iron and bound with curtain cord. The crime triggered a riot on December 8, 1888 in which roughly 1,000 to 3,000 Birmingham residents attempted to storm the Jefferson County Jail; ten people died in the violence, including the city's postmaster (Bhamwiki; Alabama Pioneers). Richard Hawes was convicted at trial in April 1889 and executed.
Local ghost-lore developed around the lake as East Lake Park became a public space in the early 20th century. Visitors to the shoreline at dusk have reported seeing a small girl in a long pale dress playing at the water's edge, wading into the shallows, or slipping beneath the surface — a figure locals call the 'Child of the Lake' or, more romantically, the 'Mermaid of East Lake' (Southern Spirit Guide; Bhamwiki May Hawes entry). An informal annual remembrance with flowers takes place on October 30 each year. In April 2024 a permanent grave marker was finally installed at Oak Hill Cemetery for May, Emma, and Irene Hawes — 136 years after the murders (WBRC).
Notable Entities
Walk the 1.5-mile loop around the man-made lake; the East Lake Park historical marker tells the founding story, and the shoreline near the western boathouse is where May Hawes's body was discovered in 1888.
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