1892
1892 was the 21st year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.
Events
- March 21: The J. Fox & Sons store on 8th Street and adjacent residence of Alderman David Fox were damaged in a fire caused by an "incendiary device" on the eve of the Mayoral primary won by Fox.
- April 1: An explosion at the Sterling Dynamite Factory in Bessemer killed four.
- June 23: The Alabama Populist Party held their state convention in Birmingham.
- June 23: A spring broke in a pump at the Cahaba Pumping Station, forcing the Birmingham Water Works to rely solely on Village Creek water for some time.
- October 19: A special meeting of the Birmingham Board of Aldermen's judiciary committee brought representatives from Highland, Avondale, Elyton, North Highland, Smithfield and Woodlawn, interested in merging with Birmingham.
- George Edwards began subdividing lots for residences in Woodward Crossing.
- December 7: David J. Fox and his slate of Aldermen won the 1892 Birmingham municipal election without opposition.
- The Miles J. Green Lodge No. 530 was chartered.
- The United Association of Journeymen Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters, and Steam Fitters' Helpers Local 91 was first organized.
- Rose Owen purchased property west of Birmingham which he subdivided and developed as the "Owenton" suburb.
Business
- The Birmingham Ledger was established, published by E. B. Powell and T. A. Wiggs.
- Henry F. DeBardeleben sold his industrial concerns to the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company and was made a vice-president.
- The First National Bank of Shelby County was founded.
- E. E. Forbes opened a second location of his Oxford-based music company in Birmingham.
- Magic City Steam Bottling Works, run by Al Hochstadter, closed.
- The Jefferson County Building & Loan Association was founded by F. M. Jackson.
- The L & N Railroad purchased the Shelby Iron Company's rail spur stretching from Shelby to Columbiana, making it part of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad.
- The McMillan-Lee Grocery Company was established.
Education
- September: A. H. Parker succeeded C. V. Auguste as principal of Cameron School.
- September: James Hall founded the Zelosophian Academy at Oak Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church in present-day Homewood.
- The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama became the first four-year coeducational school in Alabama and women were first admitted.
- Jasper City Schools was established.
- Prof. MacDonald succeeded J. E. Dunn as principal of Avondale Elementary School.
- Milner School opened in Gardendale.
Government
- September 1: George Morrow succeeded Joseph S. Smith as Jefferson County Sheriff.
- John Gillespy was elected Jefferson County Physician.
- George Gutten succeeded Moses Barton as Walker County Sheriff.
- Hudson W. Nelson succeeded William R. Carter as Shelby County Sheriff.
Religion
- Sylvester Blythe succeeded Edgar Glenn as pastor of Trinity Methodist Church (Southside).
- L. A. Fealy received a vision that later led him to start the Altrurian Society.
- Jacob Fies succeeded Isaac Hochstadter as president of Temple Emanu-El.
- Mary Lee Baptist Church was founded.
- H. C. Howard succeeded G. W. Reed as pastor of East Lake Methodist Church.
- New Hope Baptist Church was founded.
- Lemuel Dawson became pastor of Tuscaloosa Baptist Church.
Sports
- February 20: The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama defeated the University of Georgia 10-0 in the South's first intercollegiate football game.
- The first Alabama Crimson Tide football team ended the year with a 2-2 record.
- The first Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama football team (later known as the Auburn Tigers) also went 2-2 for the season.
- The Birmingham Grays played a single season of baseball.
- The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs reorganized.
Individuals
- B. H. Cooper came to Birmingham.
- Metallurgy graduate and future TCI president George Crawford took a job as a draftsman for the Sloss Iron & Steel Company in Birmingham.
- Surgeon William Elias B. Davis served as president of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
- Walter McAdory returned to his assistant postmaster duties at the Bessemer Post Office.
- Frank and Lizzie Romeo immigrated to the United States from Sicily.
Births
- January 11: Tom Stewart, attorney
- February 10: Bethel Whitson, surveyor and cartographer
- May 8: Morris Levy was born in Kilwinning, North Ayshire, Scotland.
- May 13: Leo E. Bashinsky, industrialist, investor and civic leader
- June 7: Holt McDowell, Jefferson County Sheriff
- June 12: Blanche Dean, naturalist, author, and educator
- June 15: Wallace Wade, college football coach
- June 17; E. T. Leech, Birmingham Post editor
- July 4: A. G. Gaston, entrepreneur
- July 14: Nolan Harmon, Methodist bishop
- July 25: Frank Dixon, Governor of Alabama
- August 2: Mervyn Sterne, securities broker and civic leader
- August 10: George Salem Sr, restaurateur
- August 22: Walter Holmquist, architect
- September 19: Jack Bethea, newspaper reporter, and novelist
- Henry Badham Jr, aviator
Graduations
- Sterling Foster from Princeton Theological Seminary with an M. A.
- Charles Glenn from Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama with a master's.
- Cliff Hare from Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama with a master's of science
Marriages
- October: Train yardmaster John J. Connolly married the former Alice Kelly in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Builder Henry Stockmar married the former Emma Cooper Jacobs.
Deaths
- April 1: Ed Boykin, dynamite factory worker
- April 1: Frank Boykin, dynamite factory worker
- April 1: George Hartley, dynamite factory worker
- April 1: Walter Lake, dynamite factory worker
- April 26: Giles Edwards, furnace engineer
- July 26: Samuel Tate, railroad executive and shareholder in the Elyton Land Company
- October 14: Carlos Smith, President of the University of Alabama
- Edward Hurst
- Peter Bryce, superintendent of Alabama Insane Hospital
Works
Buildings
- Four-room addition to Avondale Elementary School
- Caldwell Bradshaw residence
- Fowler-Woods House
- South Highland Presbyterian Church
- St Mark's Academic and Industrial School
- Woodlawn Elementary School
- Joseph Verchot residence
Context
In 1892, Ellis Island began accommodating immigrants to the United States. James Naismith published the rules for basketball. The General Electric Company was established through the merger of the Thomson-Houston Company and the Edison General Electric Company. Abercrombie & Fitch was established by David T. Abercrombie. Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting on the whites-only car in Louisiana, leading to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson court case. The father and stepmother of Lizzie Borden were found murdered in their Fall River, Massachusetts home. Grover Cleveland was elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.
Notable books published in 1892 included The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Notable music released included "After the Ball" by Charles K. Harris, "Daisy Bell" (a.k.a. "A Bicycle Built for Two") by Harry Dacre, "My Old Dutch" by Albert Chevalier and Charles Ingle, and The Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Notable births in 1892 included author J. R. R. Tolkien, film and television producer Hal Roach, actor Oliver Hardy, actor and singer Eddie Cantor, judge Robert H. Jackson, actress Mary Pickford, World War I flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, baseball player Sad Sam Jones, actor William Powell, film producer Jack Warner, physicist Arthur Compton, publisher Alfred A. Knopf Sr, actor Gummo Marx, bodybuilder Charles Atlas, and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Notable deaths included preacher Charles Spurgeon; fashion designer Louis Vuitton; poet Walt Whitman; Bahá'í founder Bahá'u'lláh; poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier; poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson; and financier Jay Gould.
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