1899

Invitation to the 1899 Rex Vulcan Ball, which was postponed due to winter weather

1899 was the 28th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

Mel Drennen became Mayor of Birmingham in 1899

• February 10-11: A 10" snowfall coupled with -10 degree temperatures turned East Lake into a skating rink and caused the postponement of Mardi Gras festivities until May.
• February 12: Ensley was incorporated.
• February 13: An all-time record low of -10°F was recorded at the Weather Forecast Office Birmingham.
• February 21: Five miners were killed in the 1899 Blocton No. 2 Mine explosion.
• February 23: The legislature revoked the 1897 incorporation of Rosedale.
• February 23: The Regents of the White Shield were incorporated.
• April: United Association of Journeymen Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters, and Steam Fitters' Helpers Local 91 was chartered.
• May 8-9: The Birmingham Carnival Society celebrated Mardi Gras, having postponed the event due to February's blizzard.
• November 6-7: Rear Admiral Winfield Schley, hero of the Spanish-American War made a visit to Birmingham. His party stayed at the Morris Hotel, where a luncheon and dinner reception were held. He also attended a concert by a "Mexican Band" at the Birmingham Auditorium and heard them again at a "smoker" at the Southern Club. The next day, Admiral Schley reviewed a "grand parade" which also marked the opening of the 1899 Alabama State Fair.
• Brookside suffered a typhoid outbreak and was struck by a tornado.
• Cunningham Hospital opened.
• Joseph Riley Smith donated $5,000 toward the construction of St Vincent's Hospital.
• The Tuxedo Park community was platted.
• Ragland and Warrior was incorporated.
• A well-driller for the Alabama Brewing Company at Avenue E and 22nd Street hit a seam of natural gas, which was tapped for use in the brewery.

Business

• March 3: Birmingham Southern Railroad was organized.
• April 12–July 31: The Slayton & Mauldin saloon operated in the Davidson Building on 19th Street North
• May 10: The Bank of Ensley was incorporated.
• May 16: Andrew Beard was granted a patent (no. 624,901) for railcar coupling.
• September 7: The Birmingham Belt Railroad was organized.
• November 23: The first heat of steel was tapped at the Ensley Works.
• Truman Aldrich became a vice-president of the Birmingham Machinery and Foundry Company.
• The Birmingham Board of Trade was formed.
• T. G. Bush became president of the Shelby Iron Company.
• A. L. Fulenwider and Henry Badham, Sr sold the O'Brien Opera House to Joseph R. Smith Jr and Charles J. Smith for $75,000.
• The Grasselli Chemical Company acquired a 100-acre parcel near Hillman for a new chemical works.
• William Pettiford became president of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank.
• Louis Pizitz founded the Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Company.
• John Rountree added The Dixie Manufacturer to his magazine holdings.
• The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company purchased the Ensley Land Company.
• The United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company was formed out of the merger of 12 companies and 14 plants located in eight states.
• Rick Woodward became general superintendent of Woodward Iron Company.
• The J. C. Mayfield Manufacturing Company was founded in Birmingham to manufacture Celery-Cola syrup.
• George Edwards established a lumber business in Bessemer.
• The Republic Iron and Steel Company purchased the properties of the Pioneer Mining and Manufacturing Company and the Gate City Rolling Mill.
• Alabama Consolidated Coal Company acquired the Mary Lee Mines at Lewisburg.

Government

• April 3: J. H. Weldon won Wilsonville's first mayoral election.
• June 1: An Anti-Spitting Law went into effect in Birmingham.
• Mel Drennen became Mayor of Birmingham.
• Ensley held its first municipal election.
• Governor William Samford appointed William Brandon Adjutant General of the Alabama National Guard.

Education

• February 23: The Alabama Legislature chartered the Alabama Boys Industrial School at East Lake.
• The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
• McElwain School was organized.
• A temporary school board was selected to plan a new building for Moore School.
• A. H. Parker was re-hired as a 7th grade instructor at the Lane School.

Religion

• The Knesseth Israel Congregation was organized.
• The Salvation Army Birmingham Area Command was established.
• Charles Brooks became pastor of St Mark's Episcopal Church.
• St Paul Methodist Church was destroyed by a tornado.
• May 15: SS. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church in Brookside was formally dedicated.
• November 21: Birmingham's 1st Church of Christ Scientist was chartered.

Sports

• April 1: Birmingham's first golf course, a 9-hole links for the Birmingham Golf Club in North Birmingham, was dedicated.
• July 24: Harry Vaughn was released by the Cincinnati Reds.
• The Alabama Crimson Tide football team resumed play after a ban on student athletes traveling away from campus was lifted.

Individuals

Wallace Rayfield in 1911

• Basil Allen was elected Grand Exalted Leader of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.
• Lucille Douglass and Ulysses Mason moved to Birmingham.
• Charles Ferguson became a solicitor to the 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama.
• Hill Ferguson left the Birmingham Age-Herald to join the insurance firm of Louis V. Clark & Company.
• Charles B. Glenn became principal of Paul Hayne School.
• Wallace Rayfield became director of the Architectural and Mechanical Drawing Department at Tuskegee Industrial and Normal Institute.
• Junius L. Walthall became Shelby County Sheriff.
• Charles Whelan Jr became Birmingham City Physician.
• Russian-born Simon Goldstein emigrated to the United States.

Howard Hill in a promotional photo for Tembo (1950)

Births

• January 25: Howard Yeilding, Jefferson County Personnel Board president
• February 17: Peahead Walker, football coach
• March 31: Georges Bridges, sculptor
• April 19: James Saxon Childers, novelist
• May 8: Ed Willis Barnett, photographer and Olympic fencer
• November 4: Chris Robino, chaplain
• November 13: Howard Hill, archer
• November 22: Howell Vines, writer
• December 6: John Proferis, restaurateur
• December 16: Eleanor Bridges, artist and civic activist
• R. C. Foster, miner and singer

Graduations

• Logwood Goin from Meharry Medical College with an M.D.
• Wallace Rayfield from Columbia University with a bachelor of architecture
• Elizabeth White from Birmingham Medical College

Marriages

• February 14: Henry Milner to Helen Bishop
• April 11: William McQueen to Lydia Edwards
• Logwood Goin to the former Blanche Thornton of Dallas, Texas
• Richard McNally to the former Nellie Farinas
• Louis Pizitz to the former Minnie Smolian

Awards

• Mardi Gras Royals: Rex Vulcan IV Henry Milner, Queen of Mardi Gras Mary Claire Milner

Deaths

• January 1: William H. Smith, 21st Governor of Alabama
• January 15: Laborer George Meadows was lynched at Pratt Mines on suspicion of the murder of Willie Kellum and the assault of his mother.
• May 28: William Barker, engineer for the Elyton Land Company
• August 18: W. L. Wilson, Methodist minister and probate judge
• List of homicides in 1899

Works

Buildings

• Avondale Elementary School expansion
• The first Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rosedale church building
• The Briary house
• Linville Hotel at 20th Street and 4th Avenue North
• Loveman, Joseph and Loeb building expansion
• S. H. Kress & Co. store on 3rd Avenue North

Context

In 1899, Spanish rule ended in Cuba. The United States took possession of Wake Island. The Philippine-American War began. The Great Blizzard of 1899 brought freezing temperatures and snow as far south as southern Florida. The First Hague Peace Conference took place. The Newsboys Strike takes place when the Newsies of New York go on strike. The Second Boer War began. The Bronx Zoo opened in New York City.

Notable books published in 1899 included Father Goose: His Book by L. Frank Baum, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, Heart of Darkness (serialized) by Joseph Conrad, The Monster and Other Stories by Stephen Crane, and Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy. Notable music released included "Hello! Ma Baby" by Ida Emerson & Joseph E. Howard, "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin, Verklärte Nacht by Arnold Schoenberg, and the Cendrillon ballet by Jules Massenet.

Notable births in 1899 included those of gangster Al Capone, actress Gloria Swanson, animator Walter Lantz, musician Duke Ellington, dancer and actor Fred Astaire, writer E. B. White, actor James Cagney, author Ernest Hemingway, film director Alfred Hitchcock, playwright & composer Noel Coward, and actor Humphrey Bogart. Notable deaths included those of composer Johann Strauss II, orator Robert G. Ingersoll, industrialist Charles Alfred Pillsbury, shipbuilder and philanthropist William H. Webb, and evangelist Dwight L. Moody.

1890s

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