1925

Norwood School opened in 1925

1925 was the 54th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

The April 23, 1925 fire at Birmingham City Hall

• March: Benton MacKaye founded the Appalachian Trail Conference in Washington D. C.
• March 24: Glenn Messer and Jack Turner made a demonstration air mail flight from Roberts Field to Marr Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee and back.
• April 23: Birmingham City Hall (1901) was heavily damaged by a fire.
• Spring: The Ku Klux Klan sponsored a minstrel show at Municipal Auditorium to raise funds for Birmingham City Schools.
• May 31: Seven people were kiled in the 1925 No. 2 Mine explosion.
• August 6: Governor William Brandon commuted the death sentences of Odell and Pearl Jackson, convicted in the 1920s axe murders.
• November: The remains of Mr & Mrs William Pullen were moved from a grave site near 6th Avenue South in Avondale to Forest Hill Cemetery.
• December 10: 53 people were killed in the 1925 Overton No. 2 Mine explosion.
• 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.
• Joe Giattina and his Bama Cardinals began performing live on WBRC-AM.
• Norwood Elementary School opened.
• Convicts began work on Lakeshore Drive.
• A Kilgen opus 3459 size 2/4 theater organ was installed at the Lyric Theatre.
• Hill Crest Hospital was founded by James Becton.
• Tuscaloosa's Jemison School vacated the former John Drish residence.
• Charles Birdges recruited Ed Sherrill from the Rolling Mill Four to join his new Birmingham Jubilee Singers.
• Alberta City School in eastern Tuscaloosa opened, taking students from the former Valley View School, Hopewell School and Alberta School.
• Parrish High School opened.
• Epp Sykes, editor of the Crimson White began calling for a new fight song for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.

Business

• April 27: Loew's Temple Theater opened, taking over the Loew's Vaudeville circuit from the Bijou Theatre.
• 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.
• October 21: A new battery of Koppers-Becker coke ovens went into operation at Thomas furnaces.
• 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.
• Charles Mehr opened a second location of Mehr's Music Store & Novelty Shop.
• W. A. Watts organized the Birmingham Building and Loan Association.
• Ernest House, W. T. Estes and Jelk Cabiness founded the Radio Products Corporation, manufacturer of "Superflex" radio receivers
• Woolworth's opened on 20th Street South at Five Points South.
• Marino's grocery opened on Avenue E Ensley.
• The Eureka No. 4 Mine was closed.
• The Young & Vann Supply Company purchased a former Anheuser-Busch warehouse on 1st Avenue North.
• A fire destroyed the Bluff Park Hotel during renovations.
• The Robertson Hardware Company was incorporated.
• The Watkins Brick Co. was incorporated.

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.
• 1925 Birmingham municipal election
• 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

• April 5: Edgewood Baptist Church reorganized and Lemuel Dawson was called as its pastor.
• 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.
• Benjamin Chaimovitz became rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.

Sports

• The 1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team won the Southern Conference with a 9-0-0 record.
• A reading of telegraphed calls from the September 6 game between the Auburn and Birmingham-Southern was the first broadcast on WMAV-AM.
• Johnny Dobbs succeeded Stuffy Stewart as manager for the 1925 Birmingham Barons.
• Birmingham Barons Stuffy Stewart led the Southern Leagues with 53 stolen bases.

Works

• Reddy Kilowatt was conceived by Ashton Collins.
• The Boswell Sisters made their first recordings for Victor Records.
• John Beecher's poem "Report to the Stockholders"
• Jimmie Tarlton wrote the lyrics for "Birmingham Jail" while serving time in the Birmingham City Jail
• Trixie Smith and her Down Home Syncopaters recorded "Mining Camp Blues"
• Coot Grant and Wesley Wilson recorded "Come on Coot, Do That Thing"

Films

• Coming Through
• Phantom of the Opera
• Things You Ought to Know About Birmingham was a feature-length documentary, jointly produced by the Imperial Film Company and the Trianon Theater

Books

• May 1: "A Park System for Birmingham" report by the Olmsted Brothers
• Bigger and Blacker by Octavus Roy Cohen
• The Message of Jesus by Harvie Branscomb

Buildings

• Alabama Power Building
• Avondale United Methodist Church Sunday School building
• Bank of Alabama on Avenue E Ensley
• Barrett Elementary School, new wing
• Birmingham Athletic Club building on 3rd Avenue North, later the YWCA Building
• Birmingham International Raceway grandstand
• Cascade Plunge
• Central Park Family Theater on Bessemer Road
• Commercial block on 52nd Avenue North
• East Lake United Methodist Church Christian Education Building
• Gates-Bellew House, Manhattan Street, Homewood
• Hewitt-Trussville High School
• High Ore Line Railroad was completed by the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company.
• Jackson Building on 21st Street North
• Stonewall Jackson Elementary School in Arlington-West End
• J. S. Jackson residence
• Jemison Building
• Johnston's Log Cabin, Karl Daly Road
• Robert E. Lee Elementary School
• Martin Office Building
• Massey Building
• Merchants Bank & Trust building
• Mt Calvary Presbyterian Church sanctuary in Clay
• Munger Bowl stadium at Birmingham-Southern College
• Norwood School
• O'Neill Building on 3rd Avenue North
• Parrish High School
• Phillips High School, second unit
• Pioneer Building, known soon later as the Liberty National Building
• Pizitz building on 2nd Avenue North
• President's House at Birmingham-Southern College
• Redmont Hotel
• Rock Manor, Vestavia Drive, Vestavia Hills
• 6th Avenue Presbyterian Church
• Service station at 600 24th Street South
• South Highland Presbyterian Church educational wing
• Tuscaloosa High School
• Verner Elementary School in Tuscaloosa
• Vestavia estate and Sybil Temple
• Nathan Bedford Forrest Klan No. 60 meeting hall
• William Warren residence on Milner Street
• June 1: Construction of the 24th Street Viaduct began.
• Construction of the Florentine Building began.
• Construction of the new Leeds High School began.

Individuals

• Hugo Black separated himself from the Ku Klux Klan.
• Harvie Branscomb joined the faculty of the Duke University School of Divinity
• James Saxon Childers joined the faculty of Birmingham-Southern College, teaching literature and creative writing
• Carlton Molesworth became a scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Hugh Morrow became president of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company.
• L. D. Patterson succeeded J. F. Sturdivant as pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church.
• J. D. Williams succeeded Robert Allgood as principal of Avondale Elementary School.

Births

• January 3: Jesse Lewis, publisher of the Birmingham Times
• January 23: Bettie Hurd, realtor
• January 27: John Cross, pastor of 16th Street Baptist Church
• February 6: Asa Trammell, ALabama AFL-CIO president and Alabama Labor Commissioner
• February 7: Oscar Adams Jr, Alabama Supreme Court justice
• February 14: Buddy Lively, baseball player
• February 27: Hardrock Gunter, rock and roll musician
• March 9: Al Awtrey, firefighter and homebuilder
• March 31: Harry Brock Jr, banker
• April 5: Les Longshore, professional tennis player and coach
• April 8: Perry Hooper Sr, Alabama Supreme Court chief justice
• April 15: Ryan deGraffenried Sr, State Representative
• April 23: Gene Crutcher, bookseller
• April 29: Alan Drennen, insurance executive and Birmingham City Councilor
• May 2: John Ritchie, Chelsea City Councilor
• May 29: Basil Hirschowitz, gastroenterologist and inventor
• July 25: Benny Benjamin, drummer for The Funk Brothers
• July 31: Harry Malmberg, baseball player
• August 7: Helen Nies, Federal judge
• September 4: Asa Carter, radio host, speechwriter, Klan leader and novelist
• September 4: Sam Fiorella, bookmaker
• September 19: Maurice Branscomb, Episcopal priest
• September 20: Bobby Nunn, boxer and doo-wop singer
• October 11: Jimmy Murphy, country and rockabilly musician
• October 13: Emmett Weaver, Birmingham Post-Herald entertainment editor
• November 15: Buddy Hendrix, attorney and "Mickey Mouse" portrayer
• November 30: Maryon Allen, U. S. Senator
• December 12: Leonard Weil, business executive and civic leader
• December 26: Gordon Holmquist, architect
• Benny Carle, Children's television host
• Jason Dean, Bessemer City Councilor
• Revis Hall, Jefferson County Schools superintendent
• Vasser Hemphill, Tuscaloosa civic booster
• Homer Jackson, treasurer of the Alabama Republican Party
• Laura Knox, dancer and community activist
• Scotty McCallum, UAB president and Mayor of Vestavia Hills
• Billy Martin, advertising executive
• Morris Mayer, University of Alabama marketing professor
• Clay Smith, former insurance executive and book collector
• Charles Speir, co-founder and CEO of Brookwood Medical Center
• Joseph Stein, founder of Birmingham Iron & Metal
• Joe Stone, former ATF agent

Graduations

• Garnet Leader earned a bachelor of arts at Maryville College.
• Jimmie Ethel Montgomery earned a bachelor of science in medicine at the University of Alabama.

Awards

• Alabama Hall of Fame: Helen Keller and Roderick MacKenzie
• Birmingham Allied Arts Club / Birmingham News-Age-Herald scholarship to the Grand Central School of Art: Richard Blauvelt Coe
• Miss Birmingham: Nellie Kincaid
• University of Alabama Pan-Hellenic Loving Cup: Epp Sykes

Deaths

• February 1: Marvin Wise, cinema owner
• February 10: Orion Dozier, physician, inventor and poet
• April 19: Edward M. Tutwiler, industrialist and developer
• April 20: William McQueen, president of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company
• May 31: Seven people died in the 1925 Piper No. 2 Mine explosion
• July 22: Drew Morris
• September 9: W. H. Coleman, police officer, shot in the line of duty
• September 30: A. C. Oxford, photographer
• December 10: 53 people died in the 1925 Overton No. 2 Mine explosion
• W. W. Garrett, trustee of Trinity Methodist Church
• Moses Joseph, partner in Loveman, Joseph & Loeb department store
• Benjamin Franklin Riley, Howard College president
• Marvin Wise, theater operator

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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