1931

The Palm Leaf Hotel and Brock's Drug Company in 1931.

1931 was the 60th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• March 9: "Alabama" with words by Julia Tutwiler and music by Edna Gockel Gussen was adopted as the official state song.
• March: Leon Medlock and two other guardsmen were assigned to protect the suspects in the "Scottsboro Boys" prosecution.
• March: Homewood bought 16 acres of land along Shades Creek for a future public park.
• Spring: Miss Fancy, the elephant at Avondale Park Zoo, broke her chains and barreled through trees up Red Mountain until she was caught on Overlook Road.
• May 31: The $1 million Birmingham Airport opened with day-long ceremonies and an air show.
• December 29: The 1931 Overton No. 1 Mine explosion resulted in five deaths.
• Donald Beatty led a J. P. Morgan-financed scientific expedition into the interior of the Amazon.
• The Homewood City Council established racial zoning in Rosedale.
• Robert Jemison, Jr donated a pair of swans to Avondale Park.
• The Southern Club closed.
• Thirty-six paintings by Birmingham artist Carrie Hill were exhibited at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.
• Harry M. and Nettie Buten of Merion, Pennsylvania began collecting Wedgwood.
• Robert Van de Graaff demonstrated his high-voltage generator for the American Insitute of Physics in Schenectady, New York.

Business

• Houston Brice, Sr founded the Brice Building Company.
• Torme's Associated Foods opened.
• The Liberty National Life Insurance Company purchased the Liberty National Building.
• WAPI-AM applied to the FRC for permission to boost its transmission to 50 Kilowatts.
• WBRC-AM increased its power to 5 kilowatts and moved to a "Crystal Studio" on the mezzanine of the Temple Theater.
• Joe Giattina and his Bama Cardinals ended a six-year run on Sunday afternoons on WBRC-AM.
• The Lyric Theatre closed.
• The Birmingham, Selma & Mobile Railroad shut down.
• Birmingham National Air Carnival
• George Brownell, Jr became president of Brownell Travel.
• The Birmingham Vending Company was incorporated.
• Douglas McConnell and Leslie F. McConnell founded the McConnell Sales and Engineering Corporation.
• The Sunnyland Refining Company began producing oleomargarine.
• East Lake Cemetery was sold.
• Tallulah Bankhead signed with Paramount Pictures.
• Julian Aland opened the Emily Shop at Five Points South.

Government

• January 19: Benjamin M. Miller succeeded Bibb Graves as Governor of Alabama.
• January 19: Hugh Merrill succeeded William C. Davis as Lieutenant Governor of Alabama.
• January 19: James Hawkins succeeded W. O. Downs as Jefferson County Sheriff.
• March 4: John H. Bankhead, II began serving in the U.S. Senate.
• Cooper Green was elected to the Alabama State House of Representatives.
• Charles Kennamer was appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Religion

• A group of members left First Presbyterian Church and founded the Congregational Community Church.
• Louis Pizitz succeeded Harry Berlin as president of Temple Beth-El.
• John C. Fletcher became pastor of St John's Episcopal Church for the Deaf.
• Milton Grafman was ordained as a rabbi.
• William Lantrip succeeded L. F. Stansel as pastor of Avondale Methodist Church.
• Paul Hardin was ordained an Elder in the Methodist Church.

Education

• E. E. Sechriest succeeded E. E. Smith was principal of Ensley High School.
• Brooks Dickens succeeded Mack Burley as president of Miles College.

Sports

• January 1: Coach Wallace Wade's 1930 Alabama Crimson Tide football team defeated the Washington State Cougars 24-0 in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, finishing the year with a 10-0 record and claiming a national championship.
• May 10: Art Weist hit a Birmingham Barons record three home runs in a game against Nashville. He also set records for consecutive home runs (3) and home runs in an inning (2).
• John Cortazzo set a Birmingham Barons record for being hit by pitches 15 times during the 1931 season.
• Wallace Wade left Alabama to become head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. Frank W. Thomas succeeded him as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.
• August 6: Pitcher Satchel Paige made his debut with the Crawford Colored Giants.
• August 15: Pitcher Ivy Andrews made his debut with the New York Yankees.
• The 1931 Birmingham Barons, managed by Clyde Milan, won the Southern Association pennant.
• September 25: The 1931 Birmingham Barons beat Texas League champion Houston Buffaloes in the "Dixie Series" 4 games to 3.
• The Dunbar High School Blue Devils began their football program under coach Mule Knox.
• The Seattle Indians traded infielder Stuffy Stewart to the Knoxville Smokies.
• Langston University joined the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• Pitcher Bob Adams was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent.

Individuals

• Douglas Arant began serving on the Alabama State Bar's Board of Commissioners.
• A. N. Barrentine succeeded S. D. Kilgore as Walker County Sheriff
• Hugo and Josephine Black moved in with her parents in the Sterling Foster residence.
• Scholar Harvie Branscomb began a two-year Guggenheim Fellowship.
• Bear Bryant accepted a scholarship offer from Alabama Crimson Tide football assistant coach Hank Crisp.
• Alice Chalifoux became principal harpist with the Cleveland, Ohio Orchestra.
• E. T. Leech became editor of The Pittsburgh Post
• Joseph Loveman briefly retired from Loveman, Joseph & Loeb.
• Sidney van Sheck took a job at Bechtel-McCone.
• Helen Walpole debuted on Broadway.

Births

• January 6: Don Morrison, architect
• March 7: Sonny Penhale, Mayor of Helena.
• March 20: Henry Aizenman, Holocaust survivor
• March 27: Ken Forbes, Jr, Presbyterian minister and head shop owner
• April 4: John Porter, pastor of 6th Avenue Baptist Church
• May 6: Willie Mays, Hall of Fame outfielder
• May 10: Robert Vance, federal judge
• May 25: Bill Holdefer, surgeon
• May 29: John Baumgartner, baseball player
• November 6: Gil Hill, actor and Detroit City Council president
• November 15: Sonny Smith, Auburn Tigers basketball coach
• Bobby Allgood
• Joel Bearden, dairy farmer and Shelby County Commissioner
• Ira De Ment, District Court judge
• Camille Desmarais, Episcopal priest
• Gage Bush Englund, ballerina and civic leader
• Glenn House, artist and papermaker
• Bob Moody, interior designer and artist
• Homer Smith, Alabama Crimson Tide football coach
• Richard Vigneulle, banker and pastor

Marriages

• Anne Woodward to James Burt, Jr.
• Martha Anne Sanders to William Hoole

Graduations

• Educator Mildred Brown graduated from Miles Memorial Teachers College at age 16.
• Educator Delos Culp graduated as valedictorian of Isabella High School in Maplesville.
• Pathologist Joseph Cunningham completed a bachelor of arts at the Catholic University of America.
• Restaurateur John Holcomb, Jr graduated from Phillips High School.
• Librarian William Hoole completed his master's in English at Wofford College.
• Sporting goods dealer Fred Sington completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Alabama.

Deaths

• February 11: William Weir, former Birmingham Chief of Police
• May 23: W. W. Rose, architect and former mayor of Kansas City, Kansas
• August 4: Jennie Wood and Augusta Williams died after being shot during an outing on Leeds Highway.
• November 27: Sumter Bethea, real estate broker
• December 14: William Jelks, former Governor of Alabama
• December 29: George Bodeker, former Birmingham Police and founder of Bodeker's National Detective Agency.
• December 29: 5 miners were killed in the 1931 Overton No. 1 Mine explosion.
• Thomas Walter III, architect
• There were 148 homicides reported in the city during the year. See List of Birmingham homicides in 1931.

Works

• Roderick MacKenzie completed the fresco murals in the rotunda of the Alabama State Capitol.

Buildings

• Avondale United Methodist Church, new sanctuary
• Avondale Villa at Avondale Park
• Birmingham Municipal Airport
• Dr Pepper Building
• Hill Elementary School, two-room annex
• Jefferson County Courthouse at Woodrow Wilson Park
• Jefferson County Home
• McAdory High School additions
• Medical Arts Building at Five Points South, developed by the Kamram Grotto
• Pickwick Club at Five Points South, developed by the Kamram Grotto
• Railroad Reservation grade separation
  • 14th Street underpass
  • 18th Street underpass
  • 19th Street underpass
  • 20th Street underpass
• Stockham Woman's Building at Birmingham-Southern College
• Willis Rushton residence

Music

• Gene Autry recorded "Birmingham Daddy"

Context

1931 was

1931 saw the births of

Literature of 1931

1930s

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