July 9, 1865

Born on July 9, 1865 in Lebanon, Tennessee, Thomas E. Kilby was a successful entrepreneur, creating many businesses in Anniston. While first making his mark in the steel business, Kilby would go on to serve on the Anniston City Council, as the mayor of Anniston, in the Alabama Senate, as the lieutenant governor and finally as the governor. While serving as governor, Kilby saw many improvements in state services, such as education, mental health and veterans’ benefits. He also created massive change in the Alabama prison system by advocating for better sanitation and sleeping arrangements for prisoners. The state of Alabama would go on to build a new facility that included a dairy, hog farms and a spinning mill. This building was named the Kilby Correctional Facility and still stands today in Montgomery.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Thomas Kilby was inaugurated governor of Alabama in Montgomery in January 1919. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

In February 1919, Alabama Gov. Thomas Kilby signed a bill authorizing the construction of the Alabama War Memorial Building, home to the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH) and the Department of Education. The building remains the home of ADAH. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Kilby Prison was built in the early 1920s in Montgomery and named in honor of Gov. Thomas E. Kilby, who improved prison conditions in Alabama. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Troy University Library)

Portrait of Thomas Kilby, published in 1922. (Alabama Department of Archives and History)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.