1888
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1888 was the 17th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.
Events
- Summer: Giuseppe Moretti first moved to the United States, arriving in New York.
- September 1: Joseph Smith succeeded Samuel Truss as Jefferson County sheriff.
- October: Sloss Furnace No. 3 was blown in.
- October 31: South Highland Presbyterian Church was organized
- November: President Grover Cleveland visited Birmingham.
- December 4: The body of May Hawes was found floating in East Lake by two boaters.
- B. A. Thompson succeeded Judge A. O. Lane as Mayor of Birmingham.
- Benjamin Franklin Riley accepted the presidency of Howard College.
- Bethel A.M.E. Church was founded in Rosedale.
- The city of Bessemer was incorporated.
- John Hearst Miller began his law practice in Birmingham.
- Mary Pratt DeBardeleben married attorney Walker Percy.
- The town of Oneonta was given its name as the Birmingham Mineral Railroad was constructed through it.
Business
- February 1: Buffalo Rock founder Sid Lee moved to Birmingham.
- March 14: Rufus Rhodes published the first edition of the Birmingham Evening News.
- April 9: Ensley Furnace No. 4 was blown in.
- May 15: Thomas Furnace No. 1 was blown in.
- June 5: Ensley Furnace No. 3 was blown in.
- June: Bessemer Furnace No. 1 was blown in.
- November 8: The Daily Age and Daily Herald merged to form the Birmingham Age-Herald.
- December 1: Ensley Furnace No. 2 was blown in.
- William Berney became president of the Bessemer Land and Improvement Company.
Works
- Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical (1888) Birmingham: Smith & DeLand
Buildings
- Bessemer Block
- Birmingham Free School
- Birmingham Water Works Tunnel was dug through Red Mountain
- Trevillick was laid out as a cooperative worker's community.
- Ensley Works, Thomas Furnace and Bessemer Furnaces went into blast.
- First Watts Building (demolished 1927)
Individuals
- The Georgia Pacific Railroad hired James Weatherly as its full-time assistant general counsel.
Births
- April 5: Raymond Rochell, Grapico bottler
- Oscar Adams, Sr, AME Zion minister and Birmingham Reporter publisher
- George Bender, Tutwiler Hotel assistant manager
- Clarence Going, assistant superintendent of Birmingham City Schools
Marriages
Deaths
- July 19: Liza Montgomery, 19, the first person to be buried in Red Mountain Cemetery.
- August 18: John Westbrook, a farmer, merchant and entrepreneur.
- December 1: Emma Hawes, May Hawes, Irene Hawes
- December 8: Maurice Throckmorton
- Elisha Peck, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice
Context
1888 was a leap year. It was the year of the invention of the ball-point pen and typewriter ribbon and the founding of the National Geographic Society. Jack the Ripper terrorized London. A March blizzard was blamed for more than 400 deaths on the Atlantic seaboard. The Washington Monument opened in October and Benjamin Harrison took the electoral college to defeat popular vote leader Grover Cleveland in the presidential election.
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