1930

1930 was the 59th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• January 13: Seven miners were killed in the 1930 Peerless Mine explosion.
• January 29: A rare snowfall brought 5.5 inches to Birmingham.
• April 30: The Mountain Brook Club opened to members.
• May 13: The USS Birmingham (CL-2) was sold for scrap.
• May 23: A memorial plaque was placed at Holman School.
• July 29: An all-time record high of 107°F was recorded at the Weather Forecast Office Birmingham's Weather Bureau Building.
• December 10-19: The Birmingham Jug Band recorded nine songs for Okeh Records in Atlanta.
• Four World War I German guns were relocated to Altamont Park from Woodrow Wilson Park.
• A total of 811 first-run motion pictures were screened in Birmingham of which 673 received the Birmingham Motion Picture Council's endorsement.
• The Golden Leaf Quartet recorded for Brunswick Records in Atlanta.
• Inland Lake was created with a dam on the Blackburn Fork of the Little Warrior River.
• Paul Hayne School converted from a high school to Paul Hayne Opportunity High School with R. F. Jarvis as principal.
• Phillips High School expanded down to 9th grade as students from Paul Hayne School were admitted.
• The Roebuck Springs Country Club was purchased by the City of Birmingham.
• Tarrant City Schools broke off from Jefferson County Schools.

Business

• August 16: Communist Party newspaper The Southern Worker began publication.
• American Trust and Savings Bank merged with First National Bank of Birmingham.
• The Bank of Alabama failed and sold its assets to the Ensley National Bank.
• The Bank of Ensley closed.
• The City of Birmingham was forced to withdraw funding from WAPI-AM.
• The Ensley Grill opened for business.
• Ollie Wade McClung joined his father, James Ollie McClung, at Ollie's Barbecue.
• W. Paul Pim created the syndicated feature cartoons Baby Mine and Telling Tommy.
• The Ritz Theatre was bought by the Radio-Keith-Orpheum Company (RKO) and Karl Hoblitzelle was named managing director.
• Oscar Wells retired as president of First National Bank of Birmingham after 15 years. John Persons became the new president.
• Gordon Persons and Howard Pill launched Montgomery's first radio station, WSFA-AM.
• The Republic Steel Corporation acquired all of the Republic Steel & Iron Company's Alabama assets.
• Ben Weil founded the Electric Supply Company, now Mayer Electric Supply.
• Bedford Seale and James Vakakes founded the Seale Lumber Co.
• The Dixie Fire Brick Co. was incorporated.

Religion

• Abraham Bengis became rabbi of the Knesseth Israel Congregation and Temple Beth-El.
• First United Methodist Church of Bessemer added a pipe organ.
• Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church suffered a fire.

Sports

• June 25: Mike "Pinky" Higgins made his Major League debut.
• June 27: Charlie Perkins debuted pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics.
• September 1: Hank Crisp succeeded Wallace Wade as Director of Athletics for the University of Alabama.
• November 27: War Eagle II debuted.
• Ivy Andrews played for the Birmingham Barons.
• Bear Bryant played for the Red Bugs' Arkansas state football championship.
• Joe Sewell completed his 1,103rd straight baseball game, the seventh-longest streak in history.

Works

Buildings

• Five Points Bowling Center
• Montevallo High School
• Mountain Brook Club
• North Birmingham Elementary School addition
• Ramsay High School
• Simon-Buck House
• Theodore Swann residence
• Ware Building
• West End High School
• Joseph Weaver residence on 81st Street South

Music

• "New Birmingham Jail" by Jimmie Tarlton and Tom Darby

Individuals

• George Bender quit as maitre d'hotel at the Tutwiler Hotel and took charge of the dining room at the Bangor Cave Club.
• The Boswell Sisters moved their act to New York City.
• Johnny Mack Brown was given his first starring role in a western movie entitled Billy the Kid.
• Mrs. Cecil A. Carlisle became principal of Edgewood Elementary School.
• R. D. Hurlbert became principal of Gate City Elementary School.
• W. R. McCord became principal of Thomas School.
• Architect John Miller retired.
• Sculptor Giuseppe Moretti moved back to Italy with his wife and assistant.
• John Persons was promoted to Brigadier General in the Alabama National Guard and succeeded Oscar Wells as president of the First National Bank of Birmingham.
• Dorsey Whittington became director of the Birmingham Conservatory of Music.
• L. Virgil Wilder became principal of Wilson Elementary School.

Births

• January 5: Mamie Brown, choir director and healthcare consultant
• January 15: Judy Abroms, boutique owner
• February 3: David Foley, priest
• February 7: Jack Biddle, former Alabama State Senator and Representative
• February 18: Frank House, baseball player
• February 23: Pete Clifford, Methodist minister and Birmingham City Council member
• February 24: Richard Pizitz, retailer
• February 26: Sara Finley, medical geneticist
• March 11: Chuck Morgan, attorney
• March 19: June Fore Shaw, pathologist
• March 31: Peggy Prickett, clothier
• April 5: Nena Biddle, teacher
• April 6: Bettie Doss, bookkeeper and wife of Raymond Doss
• May 28: Douglas E. Jones, professor of geology and college administrator
• June 6: Warren Crow III, real estate executive
• June 12: Jim Nabors, actor
• June 12: Frank W. Bromberg, president of National Woodworks
• June 20: Bobby Frank Cherry, church bomber
• June 20: Thomas Blanton, church bomber
• June 21: C. Molton Williams, real estate and insurance executive
• June 26: Jackie Fargo, wrestler
• July 4: Marion Worth, country music singer
• July 22: Jerry Grundhoefer, nightclub owner
• July 30: A. D. King, pastor and Civil Rights leader
• August 14: Joseph Schreiber, choirmaster
• August 17: Victor Hanson II, Birmingham News publisher
• August 18: Gene Bartow, basketball coach
• August 24: John Grenier, attorney and politician
• September 7: Mable Anderson psychology professor and activist
• September 24: Len Rossi, wrestler
• October 7: Boots Carroll, actress
• November 2: David Orange, Jefferson County Commission president
• December 12: Solomon Kimerling, Alabama Oxygen Co. president
• December 13: Country Boy Eddie, country singer
• December 15: John Claypool, minister
• December 31: Odetta, folk singer
• Nelson Smith Jr, pastor and Civil Rights leader
• Charles Brammer, winemaker
• Frank Dukes, pastor and Civil Rights leader
• Neal Hemphill, record producer
• Annie Lindsay, dance teacher
• Ward McIntyre, broadcaster
• Huland Moore, jewelry repairer
• Bill Myers, Birmingham Police chief
• J. Walden Retan, physician
• Shorty White, football coach
• W. L. Williams, Jr, attorney

Graduations

• Richmond Beatty, PhD in American Literature at Vanderbilt University
• Carl Elliott from Vina High School
• William Bradford Huie from the University of Alabama
• Nina Miglionico from Woodlawn High School
• Virginia Tyler from Birmingham-Southern College, bachelor's degree in English

Marriages

• May 28: Pedro Gusman to Vera Hancock
• Rev. John C. Fletcher to Estelle Caldwell

Deaths

• January 8: Benjamin Wyman, physician
• February 9: Tom Ashford, alderman and business owner
• April 7: William Harding, banker
• April 11: Alexander Dearborn, real estate executive
• April 29: Zebulon Rudolph, attorney
• June 20: Zachariah Nabers Jr, investor
• August 15: Guy Tutwiler, baseball player
• September 24: Moses Ullman, attorney
• November 9: Edley Oden, distiller
• November 13: Rosa Zinszer, furniture dealer
• November 18: Harvey Woodward, real estate heir
• December: Joseph Bishop, miner
• December 12: Al Hochstadter, bottler
• December 18: Robert Terrell, banker
• John Carmichael, chancellor
• Mary Gordon Duffee, historian
• Horace Salter, first Postmaster of Elyton
• James Weatherly, attorney and Birmingham City Commissioner

Context

In 1930, the Great Depression continued. The dwarf planet Pluto was discovered. Mahatma Gandhi led the Dandi Salt March protesting the British-imposed salt tax. The first frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye went on sale in Springfield, Massachusetts. Turkish cities Constantinople and Angora officially became Istanbul and Ankara. Twinkies, Neoprene, and the chocolate chip cookie were invented. The Shadow debuted on radio. Betty Boop debuted in Dizzy Dishes. Karl Landsteiner won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his earlier discovery of human blood types and work in blood transfusions.

Books published in 1930 included As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, and 1066 and All That by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman. The Nobel Prize for Literature went to Sinclair Lewis.

Songs published in 1930 included "Georgia on My Mind" by Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell and "I Got Rhythm" by George & Ira Gershwin. Top hits included "Happy Days Are Here Again" by Charles King and "Puttin' On The Ritz" by Harry Richman.

All Quiet on the Western Front was the top-grossing film and won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (Lewis Milestone). Other top-grossing films included Whoopee!, Hell's Angels, Animal Crackers, and Feet First. George Arliss took the Best Actor award and Norma Shearer was Best Actress.

Notable births in 1930 included film and television executive Roy E. Disney, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, singer Bobby “Blue” Bland, actor Gene Hackman, televangelist Pat Robertson, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, actor Steve McQueen, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, film director Richard Donner, politician Harvey Milk, actor Clint Eastwood, billionaire Ross Perot, businessman George Steinbrenner, astronaut Neil Armstrong, musician Don Ho, actor Sean Connery, entrepreneur Warren Buffett, and musician Ray Charles. Notable deaths included writer D. H. Lawrence; President William Howard Taft; writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; actor Lon Chaney, Sr; and industrialist Herbert Henry Dow.

1930s

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