Editing Homewood, Alabama (section)

===Early history and development===
In 1800, the first settlers arrived in the area that is now known as Homewood. However, the area's population would not grow significantly until a [[cholera]] epidemic ravaged the city of Birmingham in 1873, an issue only made worse by the financial crisis brought on by the [[Panic of 1873]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Owen |first=Thomas McAdory |url=http://archive.org/details/historyofalabama01owen |title=History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography |last2=Owen |first2=Marie Bankhead |date=1921 |publisher=Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company |others=Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center |pages=140}}</ref> (See [[Timeline of Birmingham, Alabama]]).

Seeking new beginnings and safer living spaces, many Birmingham residents began moving out of the city, buying up land and developing communities in the surrounding areas. Many of the smaller communities which would eventually become Homewood were developed during this time period, including Rosedale, Grove Park, Edgewood, and Oak Grove.

Edgewood saw the greatest amount of development. The community had an [[electric railway]] leading to downtown Birmingham by 1911 and a man-made lake by 1915.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Homewood {{!}} Encyclopedia of Alabama: History|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3120|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama|access-date=July 27, 2015}}</ref> The lake was created by the construction of a dam along Shades Creek near Columbiana Road. Two parallel roads were graded on either side of the lake with the intention of creating a race track around the lake, however these plans never came to fruition. The roads eventually became Lakeshore Drive and South Lakeshore Drive.