1889

1889 was the 18th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

According to a pamphlet published in September of that year, the district's population numbered 55,000 (about half of whom resided in the city limits). Twenty-five churches were enumerated in the city, with a total of 8,479 communicants. Fifty-five teachers were employed in the public schools, which had an enrollment of 3,115. Monthly payroll of local industrial plants was reported at $1,478,365 with twenty-one furnaces in blast, two thousand men employed at rolling mills, and record output from mines, quarries, and coke ovens.

Events

Richard Hawes

• February 16: Birmingham purchased 80 acres for Red Mountain Cemetery (now Lane Park)
• February 28: The town of Avondale was incorporated by the Alabama State Legislature.
• April: A group described as "gypsies" were encamped in the woods near Avondale for most of the month.
• May 23: Richard Hawes was convicted of murdering his family.
• Avondale Lodge No. 476 was chartered.
• Birmingham annexation brought thousands of residents within the city limits.
• The Blount County seat was moved from Blountsville to Oneonta.
• E. E. Forbes & Sons Piano Company was founded.
• A. O. Lane began purchasing land on the southern slopes of Red Mountain, which is now Lane Park.
• The Johns post office was established.
• Property for Shadow Lawn Cemetery was purchased.
• The National Farmers Alliance and the Agricultural Wheel voted to merge during joint meetings in Birmingham, forming the Farmers' and Laborers' Union of America.
• Milton Light led an initial foray by an offshoot of the Salvation Army into Birmingham.

Business

Street railways in 1889

• February: Sloss Furnace No. 4 was blown in.
• February 19: The Birmingham Female College was formally incorporated.
• April: Bessemer Furnace No. 2 and Trussville Furnace were blown in.
• April: Frank Nabers and George Morrow sold the Iron City Steam Bottling Works to R. W. Mustin and M. M. Fogle.
• April 29: Ensley Furnace No. 1 was blown in.
• May 27: The Birmingham Brewing Company was incorporated.
• July 16: The Birmingham Athletic Club was incorporated.
• September 4: The Red Mountain Railroad began streetcar service to Rosedale.
• C. M. Boulden opened the East Lake Hotel at East Lake Park.
• The Clifton Land Company reorganized as the South Birmingham Land Company.
• The Evening News changed its name to The Daily News.
• The Smith Mining Company was acquired by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company.
• Blossburg Hollow Coke Ovens opened.
• Emil Loeb joined Loveman & Joseph, changing the company name to Loveman, Joseph, & Loeb.
• Mary Pratt Furnace was rebuilt to increase capacity from 15,000 to 20,000 tons per year.
• Mortimer's Dime Theatre closed.
• Attorneys James Weatherly and Walker Percy partnered in the firm of Weatherly & Percy.
• The Weekly Herald began publication.
• The Blount County News-Dispatch was founded.
• The Denechaud House hotel and restaurant closed after two years.
• Erlick & Lefkovits department store opened in Bessemer.
• The Klausman Brewing Company erected a brewery on Morris Avenue.
• Richard Massey founded the Massey Business College.

Religion

• March 1: Alexander Phillips became pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church.
• August 4: Brother Bryan was installed as Third Presbyterian Church's first permanent pastor.
• J. E. McCann became pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church.
• W. L. Pickard became pastor of First Baptist Church of Birmingham.
• Methodist minister Solon Robertson founded the Southside Mission.
• St Anthony's Church was founded in Ensley.
• Grace Episcopal Church was founded as "Cavalry Mission" in Woodlawn.

Sports

• The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs fell apart with the death of its founder.

Individuals

• Attorney John Altman left his partner J. R. McIntosh to join a firm headed by John McQueen.
• Inventor Mary Anderson moved to Birmingham.
• John L. Parker arrived in Birmingham.
• Louis Pizitz emigrated to the U. S. from Poland.
• Samuel Ullman was elected vice-president of the Birmingham Board of Education.
• September 5: George Bodeker joined the Birmingham Police Department as a patrolman.

Births

• June 25: Bill Pierre, baseball player, manager and scout
• July 17: Guy Tutwiler, baseball player
• September 7: Bill Holden, baseball player
• October 17: Arthur Roberts, WWI aviator
• October 18: Raymond Jones, insurance executive
• November 14: Virginia Mayfield, attorney and judge
• Roderick Beddow, criminal defense attorney
• Geneva Mercer, sculptor
• Philip Mewhinney, architect
• Vernon Reaver, theater manager

Graduations

• Brother Bryan, theology degree from Princeton University
• Sterling Foster, B. A. from South West Presbyterian University
• Morris Newfield, B. D. from Theological College of the University of Budapest
• William Oliver, law degree from Alabama School of Law

Mortimer Jordan Jr

Marriages

• February 27: Judge Samuel Greene to the former Mosa Miller.
• March 27: Sid Lee to Minnie Coleman.
• June 20: Katherine Allen to George Bodeker.
• July 10: Mayor of Tuscaloosa William Jemison to the former Clara Roberts in Talladega.

Deaths

• February 5: Mortimer Jordan Jr, physician
• April 5: John Manning, Bessemer police officer
• December 25: Edouard Sidel, architect

Works

Buildings

1889 Jefferson County Courthouse

• Caldwell Hotel
• Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Bessemer
• C. C. Dubose residence
• East Lake Hotel
• Eubank Mercantile Building
• Paul Hayne School addition
• Highland Town Hall
• Holy Rosary Catholic Church
• Jefferson County Courthouse
• Overseer's House
• Peerless Saloon
• South Highland Presbyterian Church's first church building
• Temple Emanu-El
• Zion Lutheran Church's first church building
• The Zinszer Building, for Peter Zinszer's Mammoth Furniture House on 2nd Avenue North

Publications

• Wilda, R. W. A. (September 1889) "Birmingham Alabama: Facts Worth Knowing". Bankers of Birmingham/Caldwell Printing Works

Context

In 1889, what would later become the Coca-Cola Company was incorporated. The Eiffel Tower was completed. The Wall Street Journal was established. Nintendo was founded to produce and market Hanafuda playing cards. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington were admitted to the United States.

Notable books published in 1889 included Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Notable music released included "Oh, Promise Me" by Clement Scott and Reginald de Koven, "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post" by John Philip Sousa, and comic opera The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Notable births in 1889 included film director Victor Fleming, actor and director Charlie Chaplin, dictator Adolf Hitler, aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, actor Claude Rains, astronomer Edwin Hubble, and farmer Walter Knott. Notable deaths included outlaw Belle Starr, Father Damien, former Confederate president Jefferson Davis, physicist James Prescott Joule, and poet Robert Browning.

1880s

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