1926

1926 aerial view of downtown Birmingham

1926 was the 55th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• January 18: Indiana Little led a large march of Black applicants to register to vote at the Jefferson County Courthouse.
• January 29: 27 people were killed in an explosion at the Mossboro Mine.
• June 22: Camp Margaret Murray Washington began operating in Bessemer.
• August 21: The 13th annual Ex-Slaves of Alabama reunion was held at 32nd Street and 10th Avenue North.
• September: WBRC-AM broadcast a live address by Imperial Wizard Hiram Evans to a statewide Ku Klux Klan convention.
• December 27: Bessie Smith performed at the Frolic Theater.
• The Birmingham Amateur Radio Club was founded.
• Magic City Lodge No. 860 was chartered.
• Mineral Springs Park reopened as the North Birmingham Golf Course.
• The Woodward's Big Four gospel quartet broke up.
• WMAV-AM was licensed to the the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn.
• The Nelson Realty Company purchased Shelby Springs from the family of Ray McMillan.
• The Birmingham Electric Company building on 1st Avenue North suffered damage from a fire.

Business

• William, Robert, Charles and Frank Bromberg joined their father, Frederick Bromberg, as partners in Bromberg's.
• Mason Crow founded the Crow Real Estate & Insurance Company.
• The Empire Theater opened.
• Glenn Messer founded the Southern Aircraft Corporation and opened Messer Field.
• Guaranty Federal Savings and Loan was founded.
• Hollywood was developed by Clyde Nelson.
• The Jemison Company began developing Mountain Brook Estates.
• James McWane founded the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company in Provo, Utah.
• The Norwood Clinic was incorporated.
• Ollie McClung opened the first Ollie's Barbecue near Elmwood Cemetery.
• Lonnie Noojin bought out his brother's interest in the Noojin Supply Company.
• The Piccadilly Theater began screening films.
• Sonny Boy Products was founded.
• Sloss Furnaces was updated with new equipment.
• Leonard Terrell opened the Terrell Store.
• C. I. Taylor's Indianapolis ABCs baseball team folded.
• The Doll House Sweet Shoppe was incorporated by Sigmund and Mildred Nesselroth and Sol Catonzano.
• The Country Club of Birmingham moved to Mountain Brook.
• The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company opened the Fairfield Sheet Mill.
• The Robert E. Lee Klan sold the former Birmingham Athletic Club building on 20th Street North to the Birmingham YMCA.
• Molton, Allen & Williams moved to 2026 3rd Avenue North.
• Raymond Rochell began bottling Orange Crush.
• James Head founded a distribution company.
• The Trianon Theatre closed.
• February 3: WKBC-AM went on the air.

Government

• 1926 general election
• The city of Homewood was incorporated with the merger of Edgewood, Rosedale and Grove Park.
• U. S. Highway 11 was dedicated.
• The 1926 Birmingham Zoning Ordinance reinforced the city's physical segregation.
• Brownville, Tuscaloosa County got a post office.

Education

• Payne University changed its name to Greater Payne University.
• Tuggle Institute entered a partnership with Birmingham City Schools.

Religion

• Trinity Methodist Church (Southside) was dispersed.
• Mt Olive United Methodist Church was organized.
• October 30: Trinity United Methodist Church (Edgewood) was organized.

Sports

• January 1: The 1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team defeated the University of Washington 20-19 in the 1926 Rose Bowl.
• The 1926 Alabama Crimson Tide football team went 9-0 and was invited to the 1927 Rose Bowl.
• The Birmingham Black Barons returned to the field as part of a newly re-organized Negro Southern League.
• April 13: The Birmingham Barons' Sammy West set a team record with 6 hits in a game against Chattanooga.
• Archer Howard Hill won his first of 196 consecutive field tournaments.

Works

The feature film "Men of Steel" was shot in Ensley and premiered at the Franklin Theatre in 1926

.

The Magic City sign, erected 1926

• May 31–July 7: "The Love Story of Vulcan and Electra" by B. U. L. Conner was serialized in The Birmingham Post.
• "Birmingham Boys", song by the Birmingham Jubilee Singers
• The 23-foot "Electra" statue was placed atop the Alabama Power Building.
• The "Magic City sign" was erected in front of Birmingham Terminal Station.
• The feature film Men of Steel, filmed in Ensley, premiered at the Franklin Theatre.
• Bertha "Chippie" Hill's "Pratt City Blues" was released
• The Alabama Power Company's "Reddy Kilowatt" character made his debut
• Epp Sykes wrote "Yea Alabama!" for a contest sponsored by the Rammer-Jammer
• June: "A Love Story of Vulcan and Electra" by B. U. L. Conner ran daily in The Birmingham Post
• An E. M. Skinner organ was installed at Ensley High­lands Presbyterian Church.
• Coot Grant recorded a series of country blues songs with Blind Blake.

Books

• The Deep Seam, novel by Jack Bethea
• Polk's Birmingham City Directory (1926) Birmingham: R. L. Polk & Co.
• George W. Hamilton, ed. (1926) Beautiful Homes and Buildings of Alabama. Turner & McPherson, Architects
• George I. Adams, Charles Butts, L. W. Stephenson, & Wythe Cooke (1926) Geology of Alabama. Geological Survey of Alabama, Special Report No. 14. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press

Buildings

Bottega Favorita, built in 1926

• 1453 Smolian Place
• 24th Street Viaduct over the Railroad Reservation in downtown Birmingham
• Avalon Apartments on Highland Avenue at Rushton Park
• Avon Building at 29th Street and 7th Avenue South in Lakeview
• Bankhead Hotel on 5th Avenue North
• Bethel Baptist Church in Collegeville
• Temple Beth-El on Highland Avenue
• Big Branch Bridge covered bridge near Hanceville
• Birmingham Fire Station No. 4 on 24th Street North in downtown Birmingham
• Birmingham Fire Station No. 10 at 4120 2nd Avenue South in Avondale
• Birmingham Fire Station No. 14 at 210 Graymont Avenue West in Graymont
• Birmingham News building addition
• Black Creek Bridge in Fultondale
• Bottega Favorita building on Highland Avenue
• Central Park Presbyterian Church in Belview Heights
• Councill Elementary School on Avenue M Ensley
• Diana Hall at 525-531 19th Street North Bessemer
• A. G. Dobbins residence
• Donnachaidh residence on Southwood Road in Mountain Brook
• Edgewood Elementary School in Homewood
• Ensley High School addition
• First Baptist Church of Birmingham education building
• Gibson Elementary School in Woodlawn
• Hill Building on 5th Avenue South in Avondale
• Hollywood Country Club in Shades Valley
• Hood-McPherson building (Ensley)
• Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Hillman
• Independent Presbyterian Church on Highland Avenue at Rushton Park
• LaSalle Apartments
• Leeds High School
• Martin Dam in Tallapoosa County
• McElwain Elementary School in Eastwood
• Moore School in Ensley
• Phoenix Building on 2nd Avenue North
• Pratt Elementary School addition
• Ritz Theatre on 2nd Avenue North
• Ruhama Baptist Church in East Lake
• Shades Cahaba School addition
• Shades Mountain Baptist Church on Canyon Road
• Spanish Stores at Five Points South
• West End Masonic Temple on Tuscaloosa Avenue
• Woodlawn High School addition
• Young Men's Hebrew Association building on 18th Street North

Demolitions

• January 22: Minor High School was heavily damaged in a fire.

Individuals

• Tallulah Bankhead made a splash on the London stage as Amy in Sidney Howard's Pulitzer-winning "They Knew What They Wanted".
• Hugo Black addressed a statewide gathering of the Ku Klux Klan.
• Mack Burley succeeded George Word as president of Miles College.
• Oliver Carmichael succeeded Thomas Palmer as President of the University of Montevallo.
• Luther Davis Sr succeeded D. Beatty Robertson as Mayor of Tuscaloosa.
• B. M. Montgomery became principal of Rosedale School.
• J. E. Morris succeeded W. E. Faust as pastor of East Lake United Methodist Church.
• Charles Rice took office as the first Mayor of Homewood.
• W. A. Smart succeeded George Stewart as pastor of First United Methodist Church.
• Irita Van Doren succeeded Stuart Sherman as book editor of the New York Herald Tribune.
• Henry Walthall starred opposite Lillian Gish in The Scarlet Letter.
• Theo Wright became principal of Barker Elementary School.

Births

Lurleen Wallace, born September 19, 1926

• January 24: Everett Lawler, musician, arranger, bandleader and educator
• February 3: Richard Yates, author and educator
• February 8: Rosamond McDuff, Birmingham police officer and computer programmer
• March 5: Henry Blankenship, jazz musician
• March 27: Solomon Zarzour, owner of Sol's Hot Dogs
• April 3: Alex Grammas, professional baseball player
• April 4: Pearl Carlile, co-founder of Carlile's Barbecue
• April 5: Glenn Ireland II, Vulcan Materials executive and Glenwood Health Services founder
• April 14: Harry Gilmer, NFL quarterback
• April 16: Lee Allen, historian and educator
• June 28: Jack Shannon, investment banker and developer
• July 15: Henry Tuttle, pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church
• August 8: Urbie Green, jazz trombonist
• August 9: David Crenshaw Jr, U.S. Steel worker and entrepreneur
• August 9: Everett Shepherd Jr, real estate developer
• September 10: Arthur Jazwinski, traffic engineer
• September 19: Lurleen Wallace, Governor of Alabama
• September 25: Wink Chapman, Center Point City Council member
• September 26: Lynn Hope saxophonist
• September 28: Oliver Dillard, U.S. Army Major General
• October 13: Robert Bell, scholar, librarian and novelist
• October 14: Bill Justis, musician, songwriter and record producer
• Gabby Bell, Birmingham Barons play-by-play announcer
• Roosevelt Bell, Birmingham City Council member
• Tom Caldwell, pediatrician and amateur historian
• David Crenshaw, steelworker and social activist
• Joe Erben, salesman and bar owner
• Angela Hernández, math professor
• Raymond Josof, owner of Raymond's Five Points Market
• Kathryn Lacey, owner of Oak Hill Kindergarten
• Chris McNair, photographer, Alabama State Representative and Jefferson County Commission member
• Clarke Stallworth, newspaper editor, columnist and writing coach
• Jack Voorhies, radio announcer, ad producer and comedian
• Cordell Wynn, president of Stillman College

Graduations

• Clarence Allgood completed his bachelor of science at Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
• Ivy Andrews graduated from Dora High School.
• Hobart Grooms completed law school at the University of Kentucky.
• Mike Higgins graduated from W. H. Adamson High School in Dallas, Texas.
• Ida Moffett completed nursing school at Birmingham Baptist Hospital.
• Virginia Tyler graduated from Shades Cahaba School.
• Robert Van de Graaff earned his bachelor's in physics at Queen's College, Oxford

Marriages

• January: P. H. Polk married the former Margaret Blanche Thompson of Brunswick, Georgia.
• March 13: R. C. Coleman married the former Mable Pate.
• November 24: William Rushton Jr married the former Elizabeth Perry.

Awards

• Miss Birmingham: Vivian McDowell

Deaths

• January 26: A. B. Moore and Ruby Thornton were found murdered near Roebuck.
• June 1: Mel Drennen, Mayor of Birmingham
• August 9: William Hickman, Jefferson County Treasurer
• September 16: Robert Jemison Sr, president of the Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Company and real estate developer
• September 29: Julia Neely Finch, writer and poet
• October 27: W. G. Lunsford, building contractor
• December 2: Alfred Keily Sr, photographer
• December 31: A. A. Peters, endowment secretary of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Alabama.
• Joseph Turner, architect

Context

1926

The top-grossing films of 1926 were

Notables born in 1926 include

Among those who died in 1926 were

1920s

<< 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 >>

Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works