First Things First:
Katherine McTyeire Made Time for Community, Business—and Especially Family
By Donna Cornelius
Journal features writer
In 1971, a Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce newsletter ran photos of the organization’s new board members. An accompanying article that focused on Katherine McTyeire, the lone woman in the group of 11, described her as “dimpled and energetic.”
While that description might not fly in today’s politically correct world, it was accurate. The Mountain Brook resident said she rarely said no when asked to serve on a board or help with a community project.
“I volunteered everywhere,” said McTyeire, who recently celebrated her 94th birthday.
During the many years she spent as a businesswoman and civic volunteer, McTyeire often found herself in a pioneering role.
She was the first woman to serve as a director for the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce, the Better Business Bureau of Alabama and First National Bank of Birmingham, later AmSouth. She also was the first woman inducted into the Birmingham Kiwanis Club Business Hall of Fame and to join the Birmingham Rotary Club.
But McTyeire was never just a token member of any board or organization.
“I always had an opinion,” she said.
McTyeire will soon be recognized by her own community. She will receive the Jemison Award for her outstanding citizenship at the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards luncheon Jan. 16.
Suzan Doidge, the chamber’s executive director, said the award is well deserved.
“If there’s one word I’d use to describe Mrs. McTyeire, it’s ‘trailblazer,’” Doidge said. “She made such a difference for so many young women who were getting their start in business.”
McTyeire became a fixture in the Birmingham business community with Iron Art, a retail specialty home furnishings shop. She founded Iron Art in 1949, first opening the store on Birmingham’s Southside and later moving it to Mountain Brook Village.
“There were not that many women business owners at that time,” Doidge said. “Iron Art never had a lack of business. It wasn’t just a hobby for her.”
McTyeire said she was “born on the Southside at 1028 South 26th Street. My grandfather delivered me. He was a doctor.”
McTyeire said her father, Bert Meadow, inspired her love for business. Meadow owned Birmingham Ornamental Iron Co., which was later run by McTyeire’s husband, the late William Walter McTyeire.
Her parents also set a good example when it came to community service.
“You should never neglect your civic duty for the monetary part of life,” McTyeire said. “It’s important to give of yourself. My mother and father were that way. My father often quoted ‘do unto others’ to us, and I quoted it to my employees.”
Kate McTyeire Millhouse, one of McTyeire’s five children, said her mother emphasized the importance of volunteering and fair dealing.
“She instilled that in us,” Millhouse said. “But she was always there for us and for family events.”
While McTyeire ended up in the business world, she at one time dreamed of pursuing another profession.
“I always wanted to be a lawyer. But my father said ladies aren’t lawyers. He wanted me to have a ladylike profession,” she said with a smile.
Iron Art was a natural fit for McTyeire. Friends and relatives often asked her father and husband to create special iron pieces for them, she said.
“I knew there was a need for that type of furniture,” she said. “I wanted to sell the furniture my dad and husband were making. At that time, stores weren’t really selling casual furniture year round. They would show it in the summer and then replace it with Christmas displays.”
To get her business started, McTyeire said, she borrowed $3,000 from her mother.
“My mother told my father, ‘Don’t worry—she won’t last a year,’” McTyeire said. “We lasted 60-something years.”
Iron Art turned into a thriving business and lasted until 2007, when McTyeire and Millhouse decided to close the shop.
Of McTyeire’s three sons and two daughters, Millhouse is the only one who joined her mother at Iron Art.
“Kate and I had a good time working and traveling together,” McTyeire said. “It was the greatest blessing for nearly 30 years.”
McTyeire’s retail success drew acclaim. She earned several industry awards over the years, twice winning the national Apollo Award for Excellence in Manufacturing Casual Furniture from the National Furniture Manufacturers Association.
She was named Woman of the Year by the Birmingham Business and Professional Women’s Association.
“I think I showed people that women could make a difference in business,” she said.
Although Iron Art kept her busy, she made community service a priority, too.
“I just hoped I could contribute,” she said. “I wanted to improve the environment around me and to help others.”
McTyeire said she particularly loved serving as chairman of the Alabama Sesquicentennial Committee when the state celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1969.
“I spent two years with that. I had to travel and represent Alabama,” she said.
As committee chairman, she got to help place an Alabama state flag atop the U.S. Capitol, she said.
McTyeire helped organize the first Mountain Brook merchants’ association and the Emmet O’Neal Library board.
She served on the advisory board and was an Executive in Residence for the Auburn University School of Business. She also helped organize the first advisory board for AU’s interior design program.
An active supporter of Birmingham-Southern College, she was a trustee for the college, which later awarded her an honorary doctorate in law, and was president of the BSC national alumni association.
McTyeire, who’s now enjoying her well-earned retirement, said she considers herself “blessed.”
“I had wonderful parents and children. And my husband was the tops. He was so civic-minded himself,” she said.
Despite her busy work and volunteer schedule, “Home was always first,” she said.
McTyeire said the rewards of civic service outweigh the demands.
“If you make time for your community, you’ll be blessed a thousand times over,” she said. “Volunteers pump energy into communities and cut down on the expenses. Volunteers are the most important thing in America—besides free enterprise.”
