1943

1943 was the 72nd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• May 11: The Ink Spots headlined a concert at Municipal Auditorium.
• July 11: The "Sergeant Gene Autry" radio variety program aired live from Municipal Auditorium on the CBS Radio Network.
• October 4–19: The 1943 Alabama State Fair was held at the Alabama State Fairgrounds.
• The WPA's Recreational Demonstration Area at Lake Tranquility was donated to Oak Mountain State Park.
• November 9: Brookhaven Methodist Church in Powderly was destroyed by fire.
• November 9: The Rock Mountain Fire Lookout Tower was dedicated to Alabama Wildlife Federation president Tedd Joy.
• November 14: A fire at the Morris Hotel damaged the upper two floors.
• December 9: "The Battle of Music", with the Fess Whatley Orchestra, Bob Harris' Orchestra & Sonny Blount's Band was held at Municipal Auditorium, benefitting the Negro Tuberculosis Association
• The Birmingham Red Cross began operating from the Southern Club building on 20th Street North.
• Free French Air Force cadets graduating from preflight screening at Craig Field in Selma were brought to Van de Graaff Field in Tuscaloosa for primary flight training.
• Ida Moffett organized Alabama's first Alabama Cadet Nurse Corps.
• Montgomery Highway's stone bridge over Lakeshore Drive was dedicated as the R. H. "Bob" Wharton Cloverleaf Bridge in honor of Jefferson County Commission president Bob Wharton.
• The Alabama Army Ammunition Plant in Childersburg began producing deuterium-enriched "heavy water" for use in reactors.
• The annual Starlight Opera series debuted at Birmingham-Southern College's Munger Bowl stadium.

Business

• Newman Waters purchased the Watts Building on 20th Street North, the Phoenix Building on 2nd Avenue North, and the Lyric Building on 3rd Avenue North.
• Sam and Isadore Pizitz took over operation of Pizitz department store.
• O'Neal Steel was awarded a War Production Board contract for gun platforms, ship superstructures for destroyer escorts and landing ships.
• American Cast Iron Pipe Company produced 50,000 airplane engine cylinders per month for the War Production Board.
• Benners, Burr, McKamy & Forman became Benners, Burr, Stockely & McKamy.

Establishments

• Edward Cusick Sr founded the Rock Wool Manufacturing Company in Leeds.
• Frank Hardy founded the Hardy Corporation mechanical contractors.
• Milton Magnus Sr founded M & B Hangers in South Avondale.
• James Sulzby Jr and Thomas Sulzby founded the Sulzby Realty Company.
• Herb Wingard opened Herb's Hardware in Trussville.
• The law firm of Dominick, Fletcher, Yeilding, Wood & Lloyd was founded.
• The Nelson–Brantley Glass Company was founded.
• Dixie Saw Works was founded.

Disestablishments

• The Birmingham City Commission revoked the business license for the Star Barbecue on 5th Avenue North.

Government

• January 19: Chauncey Sparks succeeded Frank Dixon as Governor of Alabama.
• The Works Progress Administration concluded its operations in Birmingham.
• 1943 Alabama legislative session
  • Resolution in support of the creation of a Jewish state.

Education

• Holy Family Catholic High School was founded with John Rice was pastor.
• The University of Alabama's medical program was formalized as a four-year medical college.

Media

• WJLD-AM began airing contemporary gospel music

Religion

• December 5: The Shades Valley Presbyterian Church was organized.
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints purchased the former Little Theater at Caldwell Park out of foreclosure.
• Felix Shevinsky succeeded Louis Levy as president of Temple Beth-El.
• Pleasant View Missionary Baptist Church was organized in Airport Hills.
• Westminster Presbyterian Church was founded as a mission in Titusville.
• Marshall Seifert was made rector of All Saints Episcopal Church.
• Hopewell Road Church of God Cemetery opened.
• Loveless Park Baptist Church was organized as an outreach of 2nd Baptist Church of Bessemer.

Sports

• January 1: Texas College defeated Tuskegee Institute 13-10 in the Vulcan Bowl at Legion Field.
• January 1: The 1942 Alabama Crimson Tide football team defeated the Boston College Eagles 37-21 in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida.
• April 24: John Conway and Charles Aleno set a Birmingham Barons record by taking 3 at-bats in one inning against the New Orleans Pelicans. Conway set his own separate record for recording three hits in that inning.
• The Birmingham Barons Hall of Fame was founded with [Yam Yaryan]], Eddie Wells, and Whitey Glazner as its inaugural class of inductees.
• The 1943 Birmingham Black Barons won the Negro American League pennant.
• Snitz Snider served as Athletics Director and Football Coach for the Howard Bulldogs.

Individuals

• Bobby Bowden was confined to bed for six months with rheumatic fever.
• Luther Bozeman succeeded Bun White as Sheriff of Shelby County.
• Bobby Bragan was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Brooklyn Dodgers.
• Harvie Branscomb succeeded Crane Brinton as editor of The American Oxonian.
• Ottokar Čadek joined the faculty of the University of Alabama School of Music.
• Drummer Wilson Driver took a job with the Chock Full O' Nuts coffee company.
• Bob Evans succeeded Shug Jordan as head coach of the Auburn Tigers basketball team.
• Robert F. Gibbons joined the English department at the University of Alabama.
• Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane were hired by MGM to write songs for "Meet Me in St Louis".
• John Newsome succeeded Luther Patrick as Representative of the 9th Congressional District of Alabama.
• R. B. Nichols succeeded James M. Ward as principal of Shades Cahaba High School.
• Joe Rumore began working at WAPI-AM.
• Charles Todel took vows as a Salesian monk.
• Ronald Weathers and Robert Adams joined the staff of The Birmingham News.

Births

• January 6: Seng-jaw Soong, cancer researcher
• January 9: Jerry Yester, folk musician, songwriter and record producer
• January 15: Glen Browder, U.S. Representative and Alabama Secretary of State
• January 31: Richard Quick, swimming coach
• February 1: Edouard Bruchac, photojournalist
• February 3: Dennis Edwards, singer
• February 3: Robert Bentley, dermatologist and Governor of Alabama
• February 4: Barry Beckett, pianist and record producer
• February 5: Howell Raines, newspaper editor and author
• February 23: Mac Parsons, Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge and Alabama State Senator
• March 16: McNeil Robinson, organist and composer
• March 23: Winston Groom, novelist
• March 23: Lee May, baseball player and coach
• March 28: Joe Minter, artist
• April 9: U. W. Clemon, Alabama State Senator and U.S. District Court judge
• April 25: Cleopatra Kennedy, singer
• April 29: Cleopatra Tucker, New Jersey State Assembly member
• May: Allen Pate, Alabama Department of Labor commissioner and City of Hoover executive director
• May 19: Steve Whitman, social epidemiologist and public health researcher
• May 20: Shorty Long, singer, songwriter and record producer
• May 31: Joe Namath, football player and club owner
• June 8: Thales McReynolds, basketball player
• June 10: Larry Lemak, orthopaedic surgeon
• June 14: James Roberson Sr, educator
• July: Larry House, medical executive
• July 17: Frank Limehouse, Episcopal priest
• August 3: Larry Drummond, vice-chair of Drummond Company
• August 12: Sam Frazier Jr, blue musician and songwriter
• August 16: Woody Peoples, football player and coach
• September 4: Nina Ireland, artist and philanthropist
• September 12: Tennant McWilliams, historian and dean of the UAB School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
• September 17: Charles Ezell, restaurateur
• September 26: Karl Seitz, newspaper editor
• September 29: Lorenzo Pace, artist and author
• October 8: Priscilla Dunn, educator and Alabama State Senator
• October 11: George McMillan, Lieutenant Governor of Alabama and City Stages founder
• November 2: David Vest, pianist, writer and activist
• November 9: Robert Brissie, Jefferson County Coroner
• November 21: Butch Ridley, police detective
• November 24: Margaret Tolbert, chemist
• November 28: Jackie Sherrill, football coach
• December 13: Roberta Baumgardner, tennis player and philanthropist
• December 29: David Barnes, Birmingham Municipal Court judge
• December: Ron Blankenship, shoe repairer and former candidate for Jefferson County Sheriff
• Sara Garden Armstrong, artist and art instructor
• John L. Carroll, dean of the Cumberland School of Law
• Wilson Fallin Jr, Baptist minister and educator
• Eddie Fowler, printer
• Bob Friedman, talk show host and Housing Authority of the Birmingham District commissioner
• John Garrett, traffic engineer
• John Loper, Pentecostal preacher
• Bryan Noe, biologist and dean of the UAB Graduate School
• George Perdue, Alabama State Representative and UAB administrator
• Samuel Pettagrue, Baptist minister
• Bob Rosser, engraver
• Kenneth Spencer, Birmingham Police Department officer
• Patricia Shuttlesworth Massengill
• Bunny Stokes, banker and real estate executive
• Marti Turnipseed, Civil Rights activist
• Van Williams, U.S. Pipe supervisor

Graduations

• Marvin Bass earned a bachelor of science at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
• Asa Carter graduated from Calhoun County High School.
• Ryan deGraffenried Sr graduated from Shades Cahaba High School.
• Roland Frye earned a bachelor of arts at Princeton University.
• Harry Gilmer graduated from Woodlawn High School.
• Robert Guillot earned a bachelor of science at Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
• Revis Hall graduated from Gordo High School.
• Marguerite Harbert graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.
• James Hatcher graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.
• Fred Horn graduated from Phillips High School.
• Caroline P. Ireland graduated from Whittier College in Whittier, California.
• Alexander Lacy earned a bachelor of science in chemistry at the University of Alabama.
• Timothy Leary earned a bachelor of science in psychology at the University of Alabama.
• Alice Lee graduated from the Birmingham School of Law.
• Vaughn Mancha graduated from Ramsay High School.
• Ernest Palmore earned a master's degree in agribusiness at Tuskegee Institute.
• Charles Speir graduated from West End High School.

Marriages

• February 13: Aviator Anne Dickson married James Kidd Jr.
• Jessie Hale Davis married Jimmie Hale.
• Writer Margaret Walker married interior designer Firnist James Alexander.
• Shop clerk Lurleen Burns married George Wallace.
• Fashion consultant Cecil Johnson married David Roberts III.
• Elizabeth Gordon Brock married Eason Balch.
• Minnie L. Gardner married A. G. Gaston.

Divorces

• Pitcher Satchel Paige was divorced from his wife, Janet.
• Publisher Mildred Brown divorced pharmacist S. Edward Gilbert.

Awards

• Miss Birmingham: Toula Hagestratou

Deaths

• March 8: George Watson, Medal of Honor recipient
• March 10: John A. Carroll, furniture dealer and namesake of John Carroll Catholic High School
• April 18: W. W. Walker Sr, founder of Walker Drug Co.
• May 11: 12 workers were killed in the 1943 Praco No. 10 Mine explosion.
• May 13: A. D. Smith, President of Howard College.
• August 3: George Menefee tire dealer
• August 28: 28 workers were killed in the 1943 Sayreton No. 2 Mine explosion.
• August 29: Erwin McCrossin, engineer and mine safety inspector
• October 14: Nimrod Scott, Mayor of Ensley
• November 22: Henry Steagall, U.S. Representative
• Frank Hewitt, Jefferson County Treasurer
• William McAlpine, president of the Alabama State Federation of Civic Leagues
• Max Pizitz, retailer
• See also: List of homicides in 1943 and List of Birmingham homicides in 1943

Works

• January 29: The USS Birmingham (CL-62) light cruiser was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

Books

• Bright Is the Morning by Robert F. Gibbons

Buildings

• Gibson Elementary School in Woodlawn
• Herb's Hardware building in Trussville
• Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in South Avondale
• Northington General Hospital in Alberta City
• Queen City Pool and Pool House in Tuscaloosa
• St Peter Primitive Baptist Church in Bessemer

Renovations

• Birmingham Terminal Station renovations (cleaning, painting and new fixtures)
• Erskine Ramsay Hall at Miles College was renovated to serve as the school's library

Demolitions

• The Drennen's building at 123 20th Street North burned down.
• Wenonah School was destroyed in a fire caused by a lightning strike.

Film, Radio and TV

• "Women in Bondage" with Gail Patrick

Context

1940s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works