List of Birmingham firsts

This list is incomplete and may never satisfy any subjective standard for completeness. You can help Bhamwiki by expanding it.

This list of Birmingham firsts is drawn from Bertha Bendall Norton's 1970 book Birmingham's First Magic Century: Were You There?, with a few additions:

People

• First boy born in city: Richard Powell McAnally (November 11, 1871)
• First girl born in city: Mamie Morrow (fall 1871)
• First Jewish settler: Henry Simon (1871)
• First Mayor, Robert Henley (appointed by Governor Robert Lindsay)
• First Birmingham Police Department officers to die in the line of duty: On March 27, 1900 Officers George Kirkley and J. W. Adams were killed in a shootout following a robbery of the Standard Oil office.
• First Birmingham Fire Department firefighters to die in the line of duty: Gip Spruiell and E. B. Huffman were killed when the Birmingham Paper Company building on Morris Avenue collapsed on them during a pre-dawn blaze on July 3, 1905.

Industry

• First railroad: Alabama Central Railroad pulled into Birmingham around 10:00 PM on November 6, 1871
• First coke iron: 1874, by the Experimental Coke Company
• First blast furnace in the city: Alice Furnace No. 1, into blast on November 23, 1880
• First coke oven: 1880 at Alice Furnace
• First wrought iron: June 30, 1881 at the Birmingham Iron & Steel Co.
• First steel: at Henderson Steel on March 8, 1888

Government

• First voting place: 21st Street North and 2nd Alley North
• First Jefferson County Courthouse: 21st Street and 3rd Avenue North
• First Mayor of Birmingham: Robert Henley, sworn in on December 19, 1871
• First Birmingham City Hall: 20th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue North
• First post office: 19th Street and 3rd Avenue North
• First public school: Powell School, 24th Street and 6th Avenue North

Buildings

• First "house": William Nabers shop, built in 1869 on what became 1st Avenue North
• First elevator: Caldwell-Milner Building, 1887 (or possibly the Florence Hotel, built in 1883-1884)
• First hydraulic elevator: Steiner Building, 1890
• First "skyscraper": Woodward Building, 1902

Retailers

• First grocery store: Allen's Grocery (present site of Empire Building)
• First dry goods store: F. E. Taylor's Dry Goods (20th Street and 3rd Avenue North)
• First hardware store: R. H. Roberts' (2nd Avenue North)
• First drug store: 20th Street and 3rd Avenue North
• First furniture store: 21st Street and 3rd Avenue North
• First woman-owned business: Mrs John Lunsford's millinery shop on the 200 block of 21st Street North in 1874

Services

• First bank:
• First hotel: unknown hotel before the Relay House opened in 1871
• First public school: Powell School (1874)
• First gas service: October 1882
• First public school for non-whites: 15th Street Colored School (1883)
• First hospital: Hillman Hospital
• First telephone exchange: In the Terry Building, established May 8, 1882 with 26 subscribers.
• First air mail flight: March 24, 1925 (demonstration flight), December 1, 1928 (regular service)

Media

• First newspaper: Birmingham Sun (formerly the Elyton Sun, published weekly in 1871, daily for a brief time in 1872)
• First successful daily newspaper: Birmingham Iron Age (1874)
• First radio stations: WSY-AM (1922) and WBRC-AM (1925). Dud Connolly claimed that another station, set up in 1923, had its equipment knocked over in a sleet storm and was never re-erected. (link)
• First "talkie": Newsreel of President Coolidge welcoming Charles Lindbergh to New York, played at the Ritz Theatre in 1927

Sports

• First Alabama-Auburn football game: Auburn 32, Alabama 22, on February 22, 1893 at Lakeview Park
• First parimutual horse race: The "Birmingham Inaugural Stakes" held at the Birmingham Turf Club on March 3, 1987.
• First Olympic event: Olympic soccer, 1996
• First title boxing match: Wilder vs. Molina, June 13, 2015 at Bartow Arena

References

• Norton, Bertha Bendall (1970) Birmingham's First Magic Century: Were You There?. Birmingham: self-published/Lakeshore Press