1928

O. V. Hunt photo of c. 1928 work on Birmingham Electric Company streetcar lines on 20th Street North.

1928 was the 57th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• May 4: "The Jazz Singer" with Al Jolson had its Birmingham premiere at the Strand Theater.
• June 7: The Little Garden Club was organized.
• July 5: Tuskegee Institute scientist George Washington Carver spoke on the industrial uses of the sweet potato and the peanut at the Empire Theater.
• August 3: The Birmingham Amateur Movie Association was founded.
• August 5: The Empire Theater hosted an amplified live radio address from Jehovah's Witnesses leader Joseph Rutherford, broadcast from Detroit, Michigan.
• August: The Nathan Bedford Forrest Klan No. 60 burned an effigy of Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith at a political rally in Wahouma.
• October 1: The Empire Theater reopened as Birmingham's primary MGM exhibitor with the premiere of "While the City Sleeps"
• December 1: St Tammany & Gulf Airlines began carrying regular air mail service to Birmingham.
• The community of Alden was built as a camp for workers at the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company's Flat Top Mine.
• An 83-acre parcel was added to Elmwood Cemetery.
• A 5-acre parcel was acquired from the Jones Valley Land Company for a playground and athletic fields at Jones Valley High School.
• A 1-acre parcel was added to Shades Valley Cemetery.
• The Alabama Power Company connected Harpersville to its distribution grid.
• James Head co-founded the Alabama chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.
• The Alabama Association of Mayors and City Commissioners was renamed the Alabama League of Municipalities.

Business

• September 1: The St Louis–San Francisco Railway acquired the assets of the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad.
• WAPI-AM relocated from Auburn to Birmingham.
• M. D. Smith Jr purchased WBRC-AM.
• The A. N. Chappell & Co. began doing business as the Bama Company.

Establishments

Irwin's Tie Shop, opened 1928

• Christopher Chenery founded the Southern Natural Gas Corporation.
• W. S. Edwards Sr, Mark Hodo and W. D. Phillips founded the Exchange-Security Bank.
• The Birmingham Colored Golf & Country Club was incorporated.
• Marvin "Doc" Gilchrist opened Gilchrist Drug in Mountain Brook Village.
• Emmett Montgomery opened a hot dog stand that eventually grew into the Irondale Cafe.
• Irwin Koplon opened Irwin's Tie Shop.
• Hudson & Associates engineers was founded.
• Redmont Tire Company was incorporated by George Menefee.
• Fairfield Furnace No. 5 and Fairfield Furnace No. 6 went into blast.
• The Shades Valley Times began publication.
• The Brock Drug Company opened.
• The Gulf States Paper Mill in Alberta opened.
• Bob Harbin founded Harbin Discount Pharmacy.
• E. L. Higdon founded the Highway Advertising Company.
• Hopewell Cemetery opened in Hueytown.
• Lincoln Memorial Cemetery opened in McCalla.
• Watkins Brick Co. began production.

Disestablishments

• April 8: The Alabama Traveler ceased publication
• September 15: Loew's Temple Theatre closed.
• The architectural firm of Denham, Van Keuren & Denham split back into Denham & Denham and the E. B. Van Keuren & Co.
• The The Grasselli Chemical Company was acquired by E. I. Du Pont de Nemours Co.

Education

• Bessemer Colored High School was renamed for poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
• Hall-Kent Elementary School opened.
• Hemphill Elementary School expanded into the former Birmingham Fire Station No. 15.
• Holman School opened.
• Fairfield High School opened.
• Mountain Brook Elementary School opened.
• Wilson Elementary School opened.

Religion

• All Saints Episcopal Church was organized.
• Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church was founded.
• Unity of Birmingham was chartered.
• Union Hill Methodist Episcopal Church changed its name to Canterbury Methodist Episcopal Church.

Sports

Snitz Snider in 1928

• September 8: Jimmy Johnston set a still-standing Birmingham Barons record by stealing 3 bases in one inning vs. Mobile.
• Stuffy Stewart set a still-standing Birmingham Barons record with 138 runs over the course of the season.
• The 1928 Birmingham Barons won the Southern Association championship
• Snitz Snider competed in the 400-meter race and Ed Willis Barnett competed as a fencer at the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.

Works

• Hilltop in the Rain, novel by James Saxon Childers
• The Light Shines Through, Florian Slappey Goes Abroad, and Spring Tide, novels by Octavus Roy Cohen
• A neon Buffalo Rock sign was erected on the Shepherd-Sloss Building.
• "Birmingham Jail No. 2", record by Tom Darby and Jimmie Tarlton
• "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie", record by Pinetop Smith
• Miss Iwate, friendship doll
• A replica of the 1830 "Best Friend of Charleston" locomotive was constructed at the Finley Yard shops.
• Dorothy Sebastian co-starred alongside Joan Crawford in "Our Dancing Daughters".
• Two paintings by Carrie Hill were exhibited at "Le Salon" by the Société des Artistes Français.
• Ernest Henderson began producing the "Flying to Fame" syndicated comic strip.
• Charlie and Ira Stripling made their first records at Bankhead Towers.
• Lucille Bogan released several records under the name "Bessie Jackson".

Buildings

Protective Life Building

• Avondale Elementary School addition
• Barrett Elementary School addition
• Birmingham Fire Station No. 15 in Arlington-West End
• Drug Co. Building on 1st Avenue North
• Birmingham Southern Railroad freight depot on 14th Street North
• Corner High School addition
• Councill Elementary School addition
• Dr Pepper Bottling Plant on 2nd Avenue South
• Easley Bridge over the Dub branch of Calvert Prong in Blount County
• East Lake Library on Oporto-Madrid Boulevard South
• Edgewood Elementary School lunchroom addition
• Edwards Motor Co. Building on 3rd Avenue North
• Ensley School
• Fitzgerald Apartments on 19th Street South
• Gibson Elementary School addition
• Glen Iris Elementary School addition
• Hall-Kent Elementary School in Homewood
• Fred Jones Building at Five Points South
• Hillman Hospital School of Nursing Residence and New Hillman Building on 7th Avenue South
• Holman School in Woodlawn Highlands
• Homewood City Hall on 29th Avenue South
• Homewood Theatre
• Jackson Elementary School addition
• Maring Ford on 1st Avenue North
• Martin Biscuit Building on 2nd Avenue South
• Montevallo Mining Co. Store at Aldrich
• Mountain Brook Elementary School
• Mountain Brook Model Estate on Mountain Brook Parkway, purchased by Herbert Tutwiler
• Munger Building at Five Points South
• Munger Hall at Birmingham-Southern College
• Newton Manor apartments on 20th Street South
• Norwood Elementary School addition
• Parisian building on 3rd Avenue North
• Pioneer Memorial Chapel at Oak Hill Cemetery
• Protective Life building on 1st Avenue North
• The entrance building at Rickwood Field opened.
• Ruthlon Apartments on 33rd Street South
• Shepherd-Sloss Building at Five Points South
• Sixth Avenue Baptist Church education building
• St Clement Catholic Church in Woodlawn
• Steele School in Steele
• Trinity United Methodist Church in Edgewood
• University of Alabama College of Commerce building
• Watts Building on 20th Street North
• Wheelock Building on 2nd Avenue South in Lakeview
• Wilson Elementary School in Bush Hills
• Ground was broken for Hunter Street Baptist Church's sanctuary building
• Ground was broker for Bigg Graves Hall at the University of Alabama
• Work resumed on the stagnant Thomas Jefferson Hotel

Demolitions

• Ensley City Hall
• First United Methodist Church of Bessemer burned down
• Leeds High School, still under construction, was heavily damaged by fire
• The mine tipple at Bayview was dismantled and moved to Whitwell, Tennessee.
• The stacks at Oxmoor Furnaces were dismantled.

Individuals

• January 8: Lillian Truss became house organist of the Alabama Theater's Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ.
• August 11: Jesse Russum, Jefferson County Coroner, assumed the remaining term of Jefferson County Sheriff J. Chris Hartsfield, who died in office.
• December: Bert Hollowell took over as manager of the Empire Theater.
• Jenks Gillem began coaching the Birmingham-Southern football team.
• H. A. Leibovitz began serving as rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• Wash Bishop was elected president of the Jefferson County Board of Revenue.
• Claude Ritter served as national president of the Loyal Knights of the Round Table.
• Paul Cole was promoted to Chief of Detectives for the Birmingham Police Department.
• John J. Connolly took disability retirement from the St Louis–San Francisco Railway.
• George Bailes Sr accepted an appointment to serve as Solicitor of Jefferson County.

Births

Thornton Dial, born September 10, 1928

George Lindsey, born December 17, 1928

• January 7: Rufus Billups, Air Force major general
• January 16: Ezra Sims, composer
• January 30: Dorothy Love Coates, gospel singer
• February 2: Frank Adams, jazz musician, bandleader and educator
• March 10: James Earl Ray, murderer
• March 15: Demetrius Newton, Alabama State Representative
• March 19: John Buchanan Jr, Baptist minister and U.S. Representative
• May 4: Francis Bryant, custom home builder
• June 1: Paul R. Jones, federal official and art collector
• June 25: Jim Houston Day, optometrist
• July 2: Tex Ellison, restaurateur
• July 7: Dennis Washburn, food writer and publisher
• July 30: Joe Nuxhall, Major League pitcher and sports announcer
• August 3: Tom Jernigan, founder of Marathon Corporation
• August 10: Simpson Pepper, educator, coach and sports announcer
• August 10: David Vann, Mayor of Birmingham
• August 16: James Myers, minister and educator
• August 28: Ed Salem, football player and restaurateur
• August 30: Mary Allen Jolley, political activist
• September 10: Thornton Dial, artist
• September 20: Jack Edwards, attorney and U.S. Representative
• September 25: Vic Gold, attorney and author
• September 26: Al Lary, Major League pitcher
• October 7: Abraham Woods Jr, minister and Civil Rights activist
• October 26: Albert Brewer, Governor of Alabama
• November 9: Yolande Betbeze, Miss America 1951
• December 8: Charles Alford, infectious disease specialist
• December 17: George Lindsey, actor
• Yaacov Agam, Israeli artist
• Bill Bolen, newscaster
• Tom Bradley, chief of the Hoover Fire Department
• Joseph Braswell, interior designer
• Tommy "T. Buff" Buffington, advertising character
• Aldrich Gunn, Birmingham City Councilor
• Ethel Hall, educator and Alabama State Board of Education member
• Jim Hillhouse, architect
• Jean Hodo Miller, president of the Junior League of Birmingham and the Women's Alabama Golf Association
• William James, Catholic priest
• Betty Jensen, Birmingham Police sergeant
• Bill Lumpkin, sportswriter and newspaper editor
• Roscoe Robinson, gospel and soul singer

Graduations

• Richmond Beatty earned a master's of arts at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
• Albert Boutwell graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law.
• Mabel Creel graduated as valedictorian of her class at Mortimer Jordan High School.
• Margaret Fitzpatrick graduated from Woodlawn High School.
• Robert Van de Graaff completed his doctorate at Queen's College, Oxford.
• Lawrence Whitten completed his bachelor's degree in architecture at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

Marriages

• Helen Friedman married Frank Mosher.
• Alice MccKeithen married Gordon Persons.
• Henrietta Fontaine McCormick married Lister Hill.
• Florence Evans married James A. Simpson.

Deaths

Henry Higginbotham, died January 25, 1928

• January 25: Henry Higginbotham, mine laborer
• March 3: Elsie Lewis, Birmingham Police officer killed on duty.
• March 19: Robert A. Morris, Jefferson County auditor
• May 6: Myrtle Bicknell, "The Four-Legged Girl", circus freak
• July 3: Jack Bethea, newspaper reporter and novelist
• August 11: J. Chris Hartsfield, Jefferson County Sheriff
• August 25: James Bowron, TCI and Gulf States Steel executive
• September 7: Richard McNally, attorney and first boy born in Birmingham
• December 14: Jesse Huey, namesake of Hueytown
• December 17: George Eubank, dentist
• Mary Forbes, wife of E. E. Forbes
• Frank Nelson Jr, founder of Empire Coal Co.
• See also: List of Birmingham homicides in 1928

Context

In 1928 the Ford Motor Co. opened their massive River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan. The Winter Olympics were held in St Moritz, Switzerland and the Summer Games in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Regular television broadcasting began in Schenectady, New York. Amelia Earhart completed a trans-Atlantic flight. Alexander Fleming rediscovered Penicillin. Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei. Haile Selassie was crowned king of Abyssinia. The International Red Cross was founded. Turkey introduced a new western-inspired alphabet. Herbert Hoover defeated Al Smith in the 1928 U.S. presidential election.

Wings won Best Picture at the first Academy Awards while The Singing Fool, Street Angel, Lilac Time, Four Sons and Noah's Ark were the top-grossing films. Mickey Mouse made his film debut in "Steamboat Willie". Books published in 1928 included Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, Coming of Age in Samoa by anthropologist Margaret Mead. The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Bertolt Brecht's "Die Dreigroschenoper" opened in Berlin and Maurice Ravel's "Boléro" premiered in Paris.

Notable births in 1928 included actors James Coburn, James Garner, Shirley Temple and Adam West; artists Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, and Andy Warhol; astronaut Jim Lovell; composer Ennio Morricone; director Stanley Kubrick; hairdresser Vidal Sassoon; hockey star Gordie Howe; Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon; revolutionary Che Guevara; singers Burt Bacharach, Rosemary Clooney, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Serge Gainsbourg, and Tom Lehrer; television hosts Fred Rogers and Ruth Westheimer; vice president Walter Mondale; and writers Maya Angelou, Philip K. Dick, Maurice Sendak, and Elie Wiesel.

Notable 1928 deaths included writer Thomas Hardy, British prime minister H. H. Asquith, composer Leoš Janáček, explorer Roald Amundsen, and Patriarch Gregory IV of Antioch.

1920s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works