1904
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1904 was the 33rd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.
Events
- January 28: A rare snowfall brought 8.1 inches to Birmingham.
- April 15: A large fire destroyed 18 houses in Wylam.
- April 26–28: The 1904 Conference for Education in the South was held at the Jefferson Theatre.
- April 30-December 1: Giuseppe Moretti's statue of Vulcan represented the mineral wealth of the Birmingham District at the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy at St Louis, Missouri's Louisiana Purchase Exposition (World's Fair).
- June 7: The newly-assembled Vulcan statue was christened with water from the Cahaba River at the World's Fair in St Louis, Missouri.
- July 11: By order of producer Mabel Whitman, the Jefferson Theatre agreed to open its dress circle and parquet seats to African-American patrons for performances of the Whitman Sisters' New Orleans Troubadours on July 23.
- August: The 1904 National Convention for the United Association of Plumbers, Gas and Steamfitters was hosted by UA Local 91 in Birmingham.
- September-October: A severe drought affected the entire state.
- The Woodlawn Library was established by the Women's Club of Woodlawn at Woodlawn City Hall.
- Birmingham City Physician Charles Whelan Jr enforced a new city ordinance requiring smallpox vaccination.
- December 28: A major fire damaged several businesses on the 200 block of 20th Street North.
Business
- January 28: The Ferd Marx Dry Goods Co. was reorganized.
- February 17: John Frye's Traders National Bank opened.
- October: Banner Mine, owned by Pratt Consolidated Coal Company, went into operation.
- December 3: The Seaboard Air Line Railway opened a freight office staffed by agent H. R. Pinney on 20th Street South.
- December: The Pratt Consolidated Coal Company was incorporated in Delaware.
- December: The former Trotwood Park land was sold by the Birmingham Matinee Club, but the buyer never made payment.
- The architecture firm of Breeding & Whilldin was founded and commissioned to design a new Birmingham High School.
- The Birmingham Mineral Railroad was subsumed into the Louisville & Nashville Railroad system.
- The Empire Coal Company was organized.
- Insurance brokerage Molton & Stickney moved to Dr Smith's Block at the corner of 19th Street and 2nd Avenue North.
- Jesse Motlow and Spoon Motlow founded the Motlow Brothers Distilling Company in Birmingham.
- Porter's Clothing Company opened.
- Surface work began at Valley View Mine.
- The law firm of Walker, Tillman, Campbell & Morrow became Tillman, Grubb, Bradley & Morrow
- The first barber shop opened in the space still in use as the Hippodrome barber shop in Woodlawn.
- John Hough bought the Klein Brothers Pharmacy.
Education
- February 22: Lauderdale College opened in Collegeville.
- June 3: Industrial High School graduated its first senior class.
- A. H. Parker became principal of Industrial High School.
- A. O. Lane completed his third term as president of the Birmingham Board of Education.
- St Joseph's School was founded in Brookside.
- Elyton's Alley School was reorganized as part of the Jefferson County Schools system.
Government
- April 25: Russell Cunningham was sworn in as acting Governor of Alabama while William Jelks was hospitalized out of state.
- Attorney John Altman was appointed to sit on the Northwestern Chancery Division of Alabama.
- Frank Gamble Blair succeeded William Cochrane as Mayor of Tuscaloosa.
- Bibb Graves retired from the Alabama House of Representatives to unsuccessfully challenge incumbent Ariosto Wiley to represent the Second Congressional District of Alabama.
- D. F. Sugg defeated incumbent Charles Camp in the election for chief of the Ensley Police Department.
- Birmingham City Physician Charles Whelan Jr appointed twelve doctors to carry out a city ordinance requiring smallpox vaccinations.
Religion
- January: Trinity Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in Collegeville.
- March 27: Bethel Baptist Church was organized in Collegeville.
- The Birmingham Baptist College was founded by William Pettiford and Charles Boothe.
- St Mark's Catholic Church in Republic was established by John Canepa.
- James Coyle became pastor of St Paul's Cathedral.
- W. W. Dorman succeeded E. B. Norton as pastor of East Lake United Methodist Church.
- Adolph Loveman succeeded Simon Klotz as president of Temple Emanu-El.
- J. C. Persinger succeeded W. T. Andrews as pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church.
- St Andrew's Episcopal Mission purchased a lot at 11th Avenue South and Center Street for a new church building.
- St Mark's Catholic Church was founded in Republic.
- Rev. Yasgour served as rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
Sports
- March 23: The New York Giants led by "Iron Man" pitcher Joe McGinnitty, played an exhibition against the Birmingham Barons, called "Iron Men" that night, to raise funds for Vulcan's completion.
- C. I. Taylor organized the Birmingham Giants baseball team.
- Mike Donahue became the head coach for the Auburn Tigers football team.
- Auburn won the Iron Bowl 29-5 at West End Park.
- Harry "Farmer" Vaughn succeeded Tom O'Brien as manager of the Birmingham Barons.
- 1904 Birmingham Base Ball Club
Individuals
- June 23: Richard White bought a Wittnauer watch for his bride, Olga at F. W. Bromberg.
- Laura Burton received her medical license and opened a practice in the Watts Building.
- B. B. Comer was elected to the Alabama Railroad Commission.
- Culpepper Exum was elected president of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.
- Hill Ferguson became president of the University of Alabama Alumni Society.
- William Gussen was elected first president of the Alabama Music Teachers Association.
- Lloyd Noland was appointed to assist William Gorgas to control disease in the Panama Canal zone.
- John Persons began as a cashier and accountant for Colonel G. T. Bush.
- G. H. Stevenson purchased what would become known as the G. H. Stevenson residence.
Births
- January 14: Robert Chambliss, terrorist
- January 22: John Beecher, activist poet
- February 29: Wilson Driver, jazz drummer
- March 22: Frank Yeilding Jr, banker
- June 11: Pinetop Smith, boogie-woogie pianist
- September 1: Johnny Mack Brown, football player and actor
- September 25: Arthur Shores, attorney and Birmingham City Council member
- November 24: Victor Josselyn, gymnast and writer
- October 5: Sammy West, baseball player
- October 20: James Head, business owner and civic leader
- November 13: Albert Boutwell, 22nd Mayor of Birmingham
- December 6: Carlyle Tillery, novelist
- December 20: Spud Davis, baseball player
- Richard Blauvelt Coe, artist
- Alice Johnson, daughter of Crawford Johnson
- Clarence Price, president of South Elyton Civic League
- Buster Waits, bookkeeper and baseball mascot
- Jennie Wood, socialite and murder victim
- Osburn Zuber, Birmingham News columnist
Marriages
- November 23: Bem Price married Lutie Bragg.
- Charles Carraway married Maggie Lacey of Pratt.
- Rick Woodward married Annie Jemison.
- Furniture magnate Rosa Zinszer married physician W. H. Wilder.
Deaths
- January 24: Mitchell A. Porter, attorney
- February 1: Flora Turner, wife of architect Joseph Turner
- April 17: Thomas Parsons, Jefferson County Commissioner
- April 21: Reinhard Wilda, founder of the Birmingham Steam Laundry
- July 10: William Walker Jr, attorney
- July 28: Patrick O'Reilly, rector of St Paul's Catholic Church
- September 26: Daniel Fulenwider, business owner and investor
- November 7: Paul Chamborden, saloonkeeper
- J. W. McMahon, hotelier and murder victim
- Jesse Pearson
- Mamie Lou Coleman Brown
Works
- 1904 Moretti bas-relief by Giuseppe Moretti
- Vulcan by Giuseppi Moretti
- William Elias B. Davis statue, also by Moretti
- Portrait of Lady Helen Vincent by John Singer Sargent
- Improved automatic railroad car-coupling, U.S. Patent No. 761,056 by Andrew Beard
- "An Industrial Review of the General Business Interests of Birmingham and the cities and towns comprising the great state of Alabama" (1904) Birmingham: Post B, Alabama Division, Travelers Protective Association
Buildings
- 11th Avenue United Methodist Church
- 2200 2nd Avenue North
- Alabama A&M University library
- Buck Creek Mill mill building
- Clarkson Bridge in Cullman County
- Country Club of Birmingham clubhouse at Lakeview Park
- Douglas Building
- Ensley Works additional blast furnace and bessemer converter
- Gingold Building at 2214 2nd Avenue North
- Lacke Building
- Terence Mackin residence
- Richard Massey residence
- Thomas Rowan residence additions
Gallery
Dissection of a cadaver at the Birmingham Medical College
Plaster cast for Vulcan at Moretti's studio in Passaic, NJ
Context
1904 was a leap year. A January fire destroyed 1,500 buildings in Baltimore, Maryland. The Russo-Japanese War broke out in February. Longacre Square in New York City became Times Square in April. Cy Young threw the modern game's first perfect game in May, the same month that FIFA was established. St Louis, Missouri hosted the Games of the 3rd Olympiad. Teddy Roosevelt defeated Alton Parker to serve a first full term as President.
Ivan Pavlov won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Puccini's Madame Butterfly debuted in Milan and Mahler's Symphony No. 5 premiered in Cologne. The New York Giants won the National League pennant, but declined to participate in a second-ever World Series against the Boston Americans.
Notable 1904 births include those of actors Ray Bolger, Peter Lorre and Cary Grant; choreographer George Balanchine; gangster Pretty Boy Floyd; musicians Count Basie, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Fats Waller; authors Theodore Seuss Geisel and Joseph Campbell; artists Salvador Dalí and Willem de Kooning, physicist Robert Oppenheimer; and Chinese leader Deng Xiaopeng.
Deaths in 1904 included those of Queen Isabella II of Spain; composer Antonín Dvořák; photographer Eadweard Muybridge; authors Anton Chekhov, Kate Chopin and Lafcadio Hearn; and sculptor Frédéric Bartholdi.
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