1902

1902 was the 31st year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

Shiloh Baptist Church in 1902

• September 17–19: The 1902 National Baptist Convention ended with more than 100 people dying in a stampede following remarks by Booker T. Washington at Shiloh Baptist Church.
• December 21: The South Ensley streetcar line went into service.
• Robert Munger purchased Arlington Home.
• The town of North Birmingham was incorporated.
• West End Lodge No. 753 was chartered.

Business

• June 13: Thomas Furnace No. 3 was blown in.
• The Daily Ledger returned to its earlier name, The Birmingham Ledger.
• The Oxmoor Furnaces were rebuilt again by TCI.
• The Peoples Bank and Trust Company was founded in Selma.
• Shook and Fletcher Supply Company was founded.
• The Sloss Iron & Steel Company acquired the assets of Sheffield Iron Company, becoming the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company.

Education

• John Abercrombie succeeded William Wyman as President of the University of Alabama.
• Booker City High School was founded.
• Andrew P. Montague succeeded Frank M. Roof as president of Howard College.

Government

• Russell Cunningham was elected Lieutenant Governor of Alabama.
• William Jelks, after succeeding William J. Samford as Governor of Alabama after Samford's death, was elected to a full term as Governor.
• Robert A. Morris was elected auditor of Jefferson County.

Religion

• October 12: First Lutheran Church dedicated their second sanctuary at Avenue B and 19th Street South.
• Charles Beckwith succeeded Robert Barnwell as Episcopal Bishop of Alabama.
• Lorenzo Patterson succeeded Francis Brandon as pastor of Trinity Methodist Church (Southside).
• A Sunday School mission on Southside was started by John Murray, rector of the Church of the Advent, concurrent with a group of Advent parishioners forming the Brotherhood of St Andrew.

Sports

• October 18: The Alabama Polytechnic Institute defeated the University of Alabama 23-0 at the Slag Pile in a still-budding cross-state rivalry.
• The Birmingham Barons became part of the Southern Association baseball league in its inaugural season.
• Howard College fielded its first football team. Houston Gwin was the school's first football coach.
• Harry Vaughn returned to playing baseball after two years away.

Individuals

• June: Future Fire Chief Alf Brown joined the Birmingham Fire Department.
• W. P. G. Harding succeeded N. E. Barker as president of First National Bank of Birmingham.
• Miller Reese Hutchison patented the "Acousticon" electrical hearing aid.
• Crawford and Caroline Johnson moved to Birmingham.
• Artist Roderick MacKenzie was commissioned to execute an official depiction of the Edward VII's coronation in Delhi as Emperor of India.
• John Phillips became president of the National Council of Education.

Births

• January 31: Tallulah Bankhead, actress
• February 5: Gordon Persons, Governor of Alabama
• April 24: Ernest Ferrara, warehouse and repair station manager
• September 12: Clarence Allgood, judge
• December 20: Walter Roland, blues musician
• Morris Benson, community leader
• Orville Schanbacher, Loveman's president

Graduations

• Bem Price from the University of Mississippi with an engineering degree.

Marriages

• Banker William Berney to his second wife, the former Fiorella Robertson.

Deaths

• August 28: John Flowers, Bessemer police officer (killed)

Works

Buildings

• 2320 Arlington Avenue
• Avondale Marble Works building
• Bibb County Courthouse
• Birmingham Ledger building
• Birmingham Medical College
• Birmingham Trust building (original)
• Booker City High School
• Lee Bradley residence
• First Lutheran Church (second building)
• Robert Jemison, Sr residence, Glen Iris Park
• Lot 4 Hamilton's Additions
• Meadows Mill Bridge (original)
• Moody Annex
• Pell City courthouse
• Third Presbyterian Church (current building)
• Virginia Mines
• Woodward Building

Context

In 1902, the first college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, was held in Pasadena, California. The British won the Second Boer War, annexing the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Electric Theatre, the first movie theater in the United States, opened in Los Angeles. Cuba gained independence from the United States. Lord Salisbury retired as British prime minister. Edward VII was crowned King of the United Kingdom.

1900s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works