1913

The City Federal Building (1913)

1913 was the 42nd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• George Ward succeeded Culpepper Exum as President of the Birmingham City Commission.
• George Huddleston, Sr succeeded Oscar Underwood as Representative for the 9th Congressional District of Alabama.
• A tornado damaged St Andrew's Episcopal Church.
• Howard College admitted its first female students.
• The Birmingham Public Library Board succeeded the Birmingham Public Library Association.
• St Stanislaus Parish was established in Wylam.
• St Joseph's Catholic Church was established in Ensley.
• Miss Fancy was purchased from a failed circus by the Birmingham Advertising Club and displayed in Avondale Park.
• Henry Edmonds became pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church.
• Lloyd Noland was hired by the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad Company to reorganized their employee health department.
• John Wesley Gilbert succeeded William A. Bell as president of Miles College.
• A. Feinsilver succeeded J. T. Loeb as rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• Calera Lodge No. 445 began meeting at the Bondurant and Burke Drug Store.
• February 6: The Rotary Club of Birmingham was chartered.
• October 1: The USS Birmingham (CL-2) was recommissioned and sent to carry officials of the Panama-Pacific Exposition on a South American tour.
• Patti Ruffner Jacobs addressed the annual convention of the National Woman's Suffrage Association in Washington D. C.
• Dean William B. Oliver left his position with the University of Alabama School of Law.
• The Avondale Regional Library joined the Birmingham Public Library system.
• Adna Moore became pastor of the Pilgrim Church.
• The city of Brent was incorporated.
• November 18: 24 miners were killed in the 1913 Acton No. 2 Mine explosion.

Business

• February 21: The dormant Oxmoor Furnaces were put back into blast to supply iron for World War I.
• August 3: The Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Company began servicing the No. 7 Wylam-Bush Hills streetcar line.
• December 23: The Birmingham, Selma & Pensacola Railroad was acquired by Birmingham, Selma & Mobile Railroad.
• The Oak Hill Memorial Association took over management of Oak Hill Cemetery.
• George Crawford and Robert Jemison, Jr began planning construction of the Tutwiler Hotel.
• H. M. Newsome purchased the Bonita Theater, later rebuilding it as the Rialto.
• The Birmingham Tidewater Railway began passenger service between Ensley and East Lake.
• Hand picks supplanted mechanical coal cutters at the Brookside mine.
• Actor Henry Walthall signed a contract with Reliance-Majestic Studios in Los Angeles, California.
• Ranson & Son Grocery opened.
• Browdy's delicatessen opened.
• Franklin Glass was appointed to fill the vacant seat left by the death of Senator Joseph Johnston, but was not confirmed. Francis White was seated in 1914.
• A. H. Cather founded the A. H. Cather Publishing Company in Birmingham.

Sports

• 1913 Birmingham Barons
• The 8-0 Auburn Tigers won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship.
• Guy Tutwiler played his final season for the Detroit Tigers.
• Lonnie Noojin played his final season in the minor leagues.
• Howard College went 5-3-1 under coach Lonnie Noojin.
• Harry Coveleski recorded a Southern Association-leading 28 victories for the Chattanooga Lookouts

Works

Buildings

• Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rosedale
• Comer Building on 2nd Avenue North
• Ensley First United Methodist Church
• Howell-Porter House
• Pythian Temple (Alabama Penny Savings Bank building)
• Ridgely Apartments (now the Tutwiler Hotel)
• Trianon Theatre
• The Roden Hotel was begun, but construction was halted and the steel frame demolished for scrap.
• Rebie Hall was destroyed by fire.
• Sterling Foster residence on Niazuma Avenue

Individuals

• Former Mayor of Ensley, D. F. Sugg, was appointed the city's postmaster.
• Isaac McAdory retired as Superintendent of Education for Jefferson County

Births

• January 10: Haywood Henry, jazz saxophonist
• January 31: Don Hutson, football player
• February 14: Mel Allen, sports announcer
• March 12: Loulie Jean Norman, operatic soprano
• April 1: Buster Bray, baseball player
• June 20: Al Gallodoro, saxophone player
• July 1: Wedo Martini, baseball player
• July 16: George Seibels, Mayor of Birmingham
• August 17: Rudy York, baseball player
• September 11: Paul "Bear" Bryant, football coach
• October 13: Kenneth Daniel, ACIPCO president
• September 14: Nina Miglionico, Birmingham City Council president
• October 27: Robert Waldrop, Mayor of Homewood
• December 20: Carl Elliott, U. S. congressman
• Frank Bettencourt, musician and bandleader
• Jack Brazleton, comptroller and aviator
• Ninette Griffith, fashion director at Loveman's
• Jessie Johnson, daughter of Crawford and Caroline Johnson.
• Nelson Weaver, real estate developer
• Nell Williams, socialite and murder victim

Awards

• Tom Stewart was admitted to the Alabama Bar.
• Octavus Roy Cohen was admitted to the South Carolina Bar.
• Kirkman O'Neal graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy.

Deaths

• May 16: Louise Wooster, madame
• August 8: Joseph Johnston, Governor of Alabama and U. S. Senator
• November 26: Rufus Cobb, Governor of Alabama
• Charles Drennen, physician

Context

The year 1913 saw the ratification of the 16th and 17th amendments, allowing income taxes and the direct election of senators. Woodrow Wilson succeeded William Taft as President. King George I of Greece was assassinated. The all-purpose zipper was patented. Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" caused riots at its Paris debut. Harry Brearley invented stainless steel. The Panama Canal was completed. Ford introduced the moving assembly line. The Mona Lisa, recovered in Italy after a bold theft, was returned to France. Winston and Salem, North Carolina merged.

Notable 1913 births include those of presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, actors Lloyd Bridges, Hedy Lamarr, Vivien Leigh and Danny Kaye, author Albert Camus, civil rights figure Rosa Parks, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, designer Oleg Cassini, bandleader Woody Herman, coach Vince Lombardi, and athlete Jesse Owens.

Deaths in 1913 included those of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, financier J. P. Morgan, emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, and retailer Aaron Montgomery Ward.

1910s

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