1910

Opening day at Rickwood Field

1910 was the 39th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

1910 "Shorpy Higginbotham" photograph by Lewis Hine

• January 1: The Greater Birmingham annexation increased the city's area from 3 to 48 square miles and more than doubled the population.
• April 20: 40 miners were killed in the 1910 Mulga Mine explosion.
• May 5: 90 miners were killed in the 1910 Palos No. 3 Mine explosion.
• June 20: Birmingham voters approved moving from a Mayor-Aldermen form of government to a three-member Birmingham City Commission.
• June 30: Lipscomb was incorporated.
• November 3: Five miners were killed in the 1910 Yolande No. 1 Mine explosion.
• November 14: Eugene Ely became the first to fly an airplane off of the deck of a ship, the USS Birmingham (CL-2).
• Culpepper Exum became Mayor of Birmingham.
• Fairfield was founded.
• Lewis Hine photographed 13-year-old greaser Henry Higginbotham for a report on child labor conditions in Alabama.
• Industrial High School moved to the Lane's Auditorium building.
• Italians were Birmingham's largest single ethnic group.
• Patti Ruffner Jacobs founded the Birmingham Equal Suffrage Association.
• A tent city was erected in what would later be Lane Park for the care of tuberculosis patients.

Business

• June: The damming of Shades Creek and creation of Birmingham Speedway around the resulting lake were proposed.
• July 26: The Birmingham, Selma & Pensacola Railroad was incorporated
• The Hood Building was converted to the 100-room Bencor Hotel.
• Ingalls Iron Works was established.
• Lollar's Cameras was founded.
• The Virginia was refurbished and renamed The Shubert Theater.
• South Highlands Infirmary was established.

Religion

• Cecil V. Cook and then Willis W. Lee became pastor of Ruhama Baptist Church.
• Moses Joseph became president of Temple Emanu-El.
• The St Elias Maronite Church parish was established.

Sports

Harry Coveleski in 1910

• July 17: Birmingham Barons pitcher Harry Coveleski threw a no-hitter through 9 innings, but the Barons lost in extra innings.
• July 31: Birmingham Barons pitcher Harry Coveleski threw another no-hitter.
• August 18: The Birmingham Barons played their first game at the newly built Rickwood Field.

Works

Buildings

• Eugene Enslen residence
• F. D. McArthur School
• Pratt Elementary School
• Rickwood Field
• Rosedale Pump House
• Sixth Avenue Baptist Church
• Studio Arts Building
• Thomas School

Individuals

• George Bodeker became Chief of the Birmingham Police Department.
• R. E. Tidwell became principal of Ensley High School.

Births

• May 10: Louis Buck, radio announcer
• June 29: Stead Baxendale, realtor
• September 4: Jere King, Jr, historian
• September 24: Fred "Dixie" Walker, baseball player
• September 25: Shug Jordan, Auburn football coach
• October 23: Miriam Norville, clothing designer
• November 13: William Bradford Huie, writer and journalist
• December 29: Gump Ariail, football player and soldier
• Joseph Cunningham, physician

Deaths

• January 12: Rufus Rhodes, founder of The Birmingham News
• June 20: William H. Morris, businessman and former Mayor of Birmingham
• September 12: Frank O'Brien, Mayor of Birmingham (in office)
• December 6: Henry F. DeBardeleben, industrialist and founder of Bessemer
• December 25: Ollie Battle, Jefferson County deputy

See Also

• 1910 Birmingham Barons
• 1910 Birmingham mayoral election

Context

In 1910, Halley's Comet visited the inner solar system. George V became King of the United Kingdom. The Union of South Africa was created. African-American boxer Jack Johnson defeated caucasian boxer James J. Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match, sparking race riots across the United States.

Notable births in 1910 included those of William Shockley, Joan Bennett, David Niven, Claire Trevor, Artie Shaw, Robert Cummings, Jacques Cousteau, Gloria Stuart, William Hanna, Jane Wyatt, Mother Teresa, and Bonnie Parker. Notable deaths included those of Mark Twain, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Robert Koch, O. Henry, Florence Nightingale, Jean Henri Dunant, and Leo Tolstoy.

1910s

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