1887
1887 was the 16th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham in 1871.
In 1887 the city limits of Birmingham included the 252-block area between 9th Avenue North and Avenue H and between 13th and 27th Streets. The city was divided into four wards. The First Ward included the area between 13th and 18th Street. The Second Ward included the area between 18th and 20th Street. The Third Ward included the area between 20th and 22nd Street, and the Fourth Ward the area between 22nd and 27th Street.
Events
- The Birmingham News was founded
- April 27: Leeds was incorporated
- Avondale founded
- The Birmingham Southern Railroad was extended to Ensley
- The Coalburg Coal and Coke Company is sold to the Sloss Iron and Steel Company
- Edward M. Tutwiler is married to the former Margaret Lee Chewning
- Parisian Dry Goods & Millinery Company founded
- Howard College moves to East Lake
- Hall-Kent Elementary School founded
- September 20: John Henry competes in a legendary contest against a steam hammer
- Birmingham Trust and Savings Company founded
- Loveman & Joseph founded
- Birmingham Chamber of Commerce founded
- A. H. Parker arrives in Birmingham
Births
- August 4: Kelly Ingram, World War I hero
- November 19: Jack Nabors, baseball player
Deaths
- Theophilus Jowers, furnace worker
- William Brodie, labor leader
Buildings
Sports
- The Birmingham Barons began playing professional baseball.
Books
- Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama: Historical and Biographical by John Witherspoon Dubose
Context
1887 was the year of the first Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Anne Sullivan was hired to teach Helen Keller. Gottleib Daimler completed his first automobile. Queen Victoria celebrated her golden jubilee after 50 years on the throne. Flooding of the Yellow River in China killed 900,000. 1887 births include Chico Marx, Fatty Arbuckle, Marc Chagall, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Marcus Garvey, Le Corbusier, Chiang Kai-shek, and Georgia O'Keefe. Deaths included Henry Ward Beecher, Dorothea Dix, and Emma Lazarus.