1896 Birmingham municipal election

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The 1896 Birmingham municipal election was held in December 1896 to elected a Mayor of Birmingham and a Birmingham Board of Aldermen made up of representatives from the city's 9 voting wards. Frank V. Evans was elected to his first and only term as Mayor.

Election

Registrars in each ward were responsible for qualifying voters for the election, under the guidance of Birmingham City Attorney Richard Evans. Registration was open from November 10 to November 20 and each qualified voter was given a ticket to present on election day. The registrars were listed as:

Frank Evans ran for election as a representative of the Democratic Party. Various opposition parties gathered in advance of the election and drew up "tickets" to run on a unified platform. They routinely nominated individuals who were not present, and later had to be notified by a reporting committee that they had been put forward for election. As a result, some individuals were nominated by more than one party and substitutions had to be made for those who declined nominations.

Citizens Reform ticket

The Citizen's Reform Party was organized by a group of about 75 citizens who met at Erswell's Hall on November 9. William Graves chaired the meeting, at which Benjamin Roden was initially elected as their candidate for mayor over Christian Enslen. When Roden declined to accept the next morning, former mayor James Van Hoose was reached by telephon. He also declined to be nominated unless Enslen had dropped out of consideration. He had not, so Enslen became the nominee.

Citizens Independent ticket

At their party meeting at Engineers Hall on November 9 the Citizens Reform Party nominated Alva Lowery as their candidate for mayor.

Endorsements

The Birmingham News endorsed the candidacy of Christian Ensley, questioning the integrity of Frank Evans in relation to a bond deal undertaken during his tenure as City Treasurer. The News also endorsed a slate of Aldermanic candidates drawn from both Evans and Enslen's tickets:

In its editorial, the News explained that the city is a "municipal corporation" whose affairs were "simple business matters" requiring the attention of officers with the "capacity and character" for public service, rather than any political or religious affiliations. At the same time, the paper suggested that, "there are some otherwise admirably equipped candidates for Aldermanic duties, whose positions as to a water works deal, pool rooms, etc. tend to handicap their chances and will probably defeat them."

R. A. Mosely attended a meeting of Black voters for the sole purpose of assuring that the group did not endorse Frank Evans in the election. He reported that the group made no endorsements at all.

Results

At the regular December 3 meeting of the Board of Alderman, Christian Enslen moved for the Board to count and canvass the citywide vote immediately, but it failed on a 9-3 vote with Van Hoose recusing. William Kettig then moved to appoint a committee to canvass the returns, and that motion was carried, with J. M. Gillespie, James Meade and John L. Parker appointed to the committee. Additionally an Arbitration Committee was formed to review irregular ballots and make a determination as to the voter's intent. John Towers, Asbury Thompson and Walter Moore made up that committee.

The Arbitration Committee reported that the boxes for the 1st and 7th Wards had been brought without poll lists. They were able to determine the intent of 25 irregular votes from the 5th Ward. In general "only two or three boxes were regular as required by law," but the overall result being clear, the irregularities were determined to be moot.

Mayor

The Canvassing Committee returned after a 30-minute recess and made this report:

    • 1st Ward: Evans 250, Ward 243, Wheeler 243, Doyle 98, Hardeman 96, Enslen 73, Lowrey 35, Van Hoose 1
    • 2nd Ward: Ashford 250, Rambow 250, Evans 213, Enslen 212, Herrick 163, Lee 143, Lowrey 32
    • 3rd Ward: Kerr 170, McKnight 136, Evans 74, Jones 66, Enslen 64, Lowrey 61, Van Hoose 1
    • 4th Ward: Meighan 116, Moore 81, Enslen 64, Evans 61, Clisby 61, Lowrey 21, Baldwin 15, Purvis 13, Copeland 5
    • 5th Ward: Drennen 346, Evans 305, Williams 289, Enslen 287, Bennie 284, Townley 217, Moody 66, Lowrey 61, Van Hoose 1
    • 6th Ward: Altman 124, Graham 117, Evans 115, Gathright 81, Jackson 79, Enslen 74, Lowrey 49, Connors 39
    • 7th Ward: Pearce 263, Hamilton 254, Evans 216, Sinnige 112, Enslen 96, Lowrey 28, Erswell 35, Van Hoose 1
    • 8th Ward: Gray 246, McCartin 200, Evans 193, Enslen, 130, Fowlkes 95, Jernigan 71, Bright 51, Lowrey 44, Morris 29
    • 9th Ward: Hentschell 211, Harrington 145, Evans 143, Enslen 114, Church 110, Lowrey 34, Matthews 33, Woods 18

Though Evans only won outright in one of the city's 9 wards, he amassed the most total votes, with 1,570 to Enslen's 1,117 and Lowrey's 363. Several other candidates enjoyed strong support in only one ward.

Aldermen

With the boxes counted, the following Aldermen were sworn in

Inauguration

Evans and his board were sworn in on the spot by outgoing mayor Van Hoose, who "wished the new administration prosperity and hoped they would deal well with the cows, hogs and cattle running at large."

In his inaugural address, Frank Evans promised that no animosity would be preserved from the "bitter contest" just decided, and that "the people of Birmingham, regardless of party, color or conditions, will put their shoulders together for the interest of this great and growing city." He warned his board of the precarious financial condition of the city and its meagre revenues and poor credit. He promised "this administration will economize, retrench if possible," in part by seeking to eliminate sinecures and reduce the public payroll.

References

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