1925

1920 was the 54th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• Spring: The Ku Klux Klan sponsored a minstrel show at Municipal Auditorium to raise funds for Birmingham City Schools.
• Miss Fancy knocked over a cookhouse at Avondale Park and kicked over a couple of water hydrants before heading up the hill into Forest Park.
• King Spring in Avondale was channeled into a culvert below Spring Street.
• Green Springs Park opened to the public.
• Camp Coleman near Trussville was established by the Cahaba Girl Scout Council.
• McElwain School was taken over by the Jefferson County Board of Education.
• WAPI-AM debuted when Alabama Polytechnic Institute took over equipment from Alabama Power Company's defunct WSY-AM station and merged it with its own WMAV-AM.
• Birmingham City Hall (1901) was heavily damaged by a fire.
• Joe Giattina and his Bama Cardinals began performing live on WBRC-AM.

Business

• April 27: Loew's Temple Theater opened.
• May 1: The Redmont Hotel opened to guests.
• May 2: Clarence Saunders opened the first four Birmingham area Piggly Wiggly stores.
• July 1: The Central Park Family Theater opened.
• Charles Carraway founded the Norwood Clinic.
• Shook and Fletcher took over operations at Champion Mine and Taits Gap Mine.
• Henry Cobb founded the Union Realty Company to construct the Thomas Jefferson Hotel.
• Dixie Field closed as Glenn Messer moved his flight school to Messer Field.
• WBRC-AM was founded.
• Giuseppe Moretti's first marble quarry in Talladega County failed.
• Bill and Pete Koikos became part-owners of the Bright Star Restaurant.
• W. A. Watts organized the Birmingham Building and Loan Association.

Government

• August 18: The Birmingham City Commission officially adopted the Flag of Birmingham designed by Idyl King Sorsby and made "Birmingham Day", December 19, an official holiday.
• November 2: Jimmie Jones succeeded David McLendon as President of the Birmingham City Commission. William Cloe, William Dickson was re-elected Commissioner of Public Improvements and John H. Taylor succeeded William Cloe as Commissioner of Public Safety.

Religion

• October 1: Vernon McMaster succeeded Joseph Ware as rector of St Andrew's Episcopal Church.
• Louis Pizitz succeeded Max Roseman as president of Temple Beth-El.
• Lemuel Dawson became pastor of Edgewood Baptist Church.
• Benjamin Chaimovitz became rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.

Sports

• 1925 Birmingham Barons
• Birmingham Barons Stuffy Stewart led the Southern Leagues with 53 stolen bases.

Works

• Reddy Kilowatt was envisioned by Ashton Collins

Films

• Coming Through
• Phantom of the Opera

Books

• May 1: "A Park System for Birmingham" report by the Olmsted Brothers
• Bigger and Blacker by Octavus Roy Cohen

Buildings

• Alabama Power Building
• Barrett Elementary School, new wing
• Birmingham International Raceway grandstand
• Central Park Family Theater on Bessemer Road
• Commercial block on 52nd Avenue North
• Hewitt-Trussville High School
• Jackson Building
• J. S. Jackson residence
• Martin Office Building
• Massey Building
• Merchants Bank & Trust building
• Mt Calvary Presbyterian Church sanctuary in Clay
• Munger Bowl stadium at Birmingham-Southern College
• Phillips High School, second unit
• Pioneer Building)
• Pizitz building
• President's House at Birmingham-Southern College
• Redmont Hotel
• Service station at 600 24th Street South
• South Highland Presbyterian Church educational wing
• Tuscaloosa High School
• Verner Elementary School in Tuscaloosa
• Vestavia estate
• June 1: Construction of the 24th Street Viaduct began.
• Construction of the Florentine Building began.

Individuals

• Hugo Black separated himself from the Ku Klux Klan.
• Hugh Morrow became president of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company.

Births

• February 14: Buddy Lively, baseball player
• February 27: Hardrock Gunter, rock and roll musician
• March 31: Harry Brock, Jr, banker
• July 31: Harry Malmberg, baseball player
• December 12: Leonard Weil, business executive and civic leader
• Clay Smith, former insurance executive and book collector
• Joe Stone, former ATF agent

Deaths

• April 19: Edward M. Tutwiler, industrialist and developer
• July 22: Drew Morris
• September 9: W. H. Coleman, police officer, shot in the line of duty
• A. C. Oxford, photographer
• Benjamin Franklin Riley, Howard College president

Context

The year 1925 saw Benito Mussolini take dictatorial powers over Italy. The New Yorker magazine published its first issue. The Tri-State Tornado, the deadliest in U.S. history, rampaged through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people and injuring 2,027. The Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Chrysler. Tennessee high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100. The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) was established. Mount Rushmore National Memorial was dedicated in South Dakota. The weekly country music-variety radio program Grand Ole Opry was first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, as the "WSM Barn Dance".

1920s

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