1903

1903 was the 32nd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

Clay model for Vulcan

• September 1: The first official observation was taken at the Weather Forecast Office Birmingham.
• The Birmingham Commercial Club assumed the planning of Birmingham's exhibit for the 1904 World's Fair. They commissioned Giuseppe Moretti, who began designing the statue of Vulcan.
• The Birmingham Public Library moved to the 4th floor of Birmingham City Hall from the Enslen Building.
• The Country Club of Birmingham and Birmingham Golf Club merged.
• The Holt post office was established.

Business

• April 1: The American Trust and Savings Bank opened.
• August 1: Holt Furnace was blown in.
• Edwin Adams founded Adams Produce.
• A. & A. Ash Jewelers was established by brothers Aaron and Albert Ash selling jewelry from a horse-drawn cart.
• The Commercial Printing Co. was founded.
• The Gadsden Distilling Company was founded.
• William Gussen purchased the Birmingham Conservatory of Music from Benjamin Guckenberger.
• Spoon Motlow and his brother Lem launched the Gadsden Distilling Company with W. S. Boyd.
• Rountree Publishing Company was incorporated.
• Physician Courtney Shropshire established a practice in Birmingham.
• The Bank of St. Clair County was chartered.
• Law firm Walker, Tillman & Campbell became Walker, Tillman, Campbell & Morrow with the addition of Hugh Morrow.
• The Wylam streetcar line to downtown Birmingham was established.

Education

• Ensley High School graduated its first class, which was two students.
• Payne Institute became Payne University.

Government

• With the reinstatement of the office, Russell Cunningham became the first Lieutenant Governor of Alabama since the post was abolished by the Alabama Constitution of 1875.

Religion

• April 1: Sterling Foster succeeded J. J. Grier as pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church.
• December 2: Five Points Methodist Episcopal Church was organized.
• First Baptist Church of Birmingham dedicated its third building on their site at the corner of 6th Avenue North and 22nd Street.
• Pilgrim Congregational Church was organized.
• A pipe organ was installed at South Highland Presbyterian Church.
• G. W. Reed became pastor of Ensley First United Methodist Church.
• The Church of the Advent's Brotherhood of St Andrew merged with a Sunday School mission of the church to form a St Andrew's Mission.

Sports

• October 23: The University of Alabama upset the favored Alabama Polytechnic Institute 18-6 in the 1903 Iron Bowl.
• W. T. O'Hara succeeded Houston Gwin as the head football coach of Howard College.

Individuals

• July 18: Charles Ferguson was appointed to the City Court of Jefferson County.
• November 10: Mary Anderson received a patent for windshield wipers.
• Russian-emigre Simon Goldstein settled in Ensley.
• William Gussen became the director of the Birmingham Conservatory of Music.
• Kelly Ingram entered the U. S. Navy.
• Attorney Jere King and his wife, Martha, moved to Birmingham.
• William Mailly was elected executive secretary of the Socialist Party of America.

Births

• March 17: Edgar Mims, architect
• April 25: John Wilson, baseball player
• April 26: Dorothy Sebastian, actress
• May 16: William Hoole, librarian and historian
• August 6: Virginia Foster Durr, Civil Rights activist and lobbyist
• October 16: Big Joe Williams, blues artist
• November 7: Paul Hardin, Methodist bishop

Graduations

• March 31: Laura E. Burton graduated from the Louisville Medical College of the University of Kentucky.
• Football coach Mike Donahue graduated from Yale University.
• Lloyd Noland graduated from Baltimore Medical College.

Marriages

• Carlton Molesworth to Ethel Irene Harris

Deaths

• February 12: Jabez Curry, former congressman and president of Howard College
• William Elias B. Davis, gynecologist

Works

Buildings

• Allen & Jemison Warehouse was built in Tuscaloosa.
• Barker Elementary School opened to students.
• The Birmingham Athletic Club erected a three story brick-clad building with a full basement on 20th Street North.
• First Baptist Church of Birmingham dedicated its third building on their downtown site.
• First Christian Church replaced their second wooden tabernacle at 2100 5th Avenue North with a more substantial red brick structure.
• The First National Bank Building was completed.
• The Birmingham Country Club and golf course was built on the site of Lakeview Park.
• Hillman Hospital was built.
• The first Knesseth Israel Synagogue was constructed on the southwest corner of 17th Street and 7th Avenue North.
• The first burial took place at Midway Cemetery in Adamsville.
• The Title Guarantee Building was completed.
• Tuggle Institute was founded.

Context

In 1903, the first transatlantic radio broadcast was made between the US and England. The teddy bear was introduced. The US took possession of Guantanamo Bay. Maurice Garin won the first Tour de France. Pope Pius X was crowned. Panama gained recognition for its independence from Colombia. The Wright Brothers made their first successful flight. The Curies won the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Notable births in 1903 included Benjamin Spock, entertainer Bing Crosby, comedian Bob Hope, baseball player Lou Gehrig, John Dillinger, author George Orwell, and Walker Evans. Notable deaths included Paul Gauguin, James McNeill Whistler, and Pope Leo XIII.

1900s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works