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

• January 5: George Washington Carver, chemist and educator
• 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

World War II continued with heavy fighting in Europe and the Pacific. The German Nazi party proceeded with its holocaust of Jews and other groups. Italy surrendered to Allied forces. The ENIAC computer was commissioned. Vicodin and Lortab were invented. Riots broke out in Detroit and East Los Angeles. Chiang Kai-shek took power in China. Lebanon won its independence from France.

Notable books of 1943 include Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince

Noteworthy births of 1943 include those of actors Catherine Deneuve, Robert De Niro, Malcolm McDowell, Joe Pesci, and Christopher Walken; chess master Bobby Fischer; authors R. L. Stine; comedians Chevy Chase, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Harry Shearer; directors David Cronenberg, Mike Leigh, Terrence Malick, Penny Marshall, and Michael Mann; illustrator R. Crumb; journalists Geraldo Rivera and Bob Woodward; musicians John Denver, Gloria Gaynor, George Harrison, Julio Iglesias, Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin, Barry Manilow, Joni Mitchell, Keith Richards, and Sly Stone; politicians John Kerry, Newt Gingrich and Lech Wałęsa; and tennis stars Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King.

Notable 1943 deaths include those of actor Conrad Veidt; author Beatrix Potter; engineer Nikola Tesla; musicians Sergei Rachmaninoff and Fats Waller; and King Boris III of Bulgaria.

1940s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works