1905
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1905 was the 34th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.
Events
- April 26: The Confederate Soldiers & Sailors Monument in Linn Park was formally dedicated.
- August 6: Urban folklore claims Hazel Farris killed her husband, three policemen, and a deputy sheriff.
- October 22: Sells & Downs Shows ended its run in Sylacauga and then wintered in Birmingham.
- October 24: President Theodore Roosevelt visited Capitol Park and the Alabama State Fairgrounds.
- December: A group of women secured the donation of the site for the future Bessemer Public Library.
- Alice Furnace No. 1 was torn down.
- Birmingham Temple Lodge No. 636 was chartered.
- The development of Booker, later called Docena, began.
- Horse Creek was renamed Dora in honor of Dora Freil.
- Pawnee Bill's Historic Wild West wintered in Birmingham.
- An explosion at the Virginia Mines killed over 100 miners.
- Vulcan was returned to Birmingham from St. Louis and dumped beside a railroad siding on Red Mountain.
Business
- April 28: Ensley Furnace No. 6 was blown in.
- June 23: Woodward Furnace No. 3 was blown in.
- October 9: American Cast Iron Pipe Company was incorporated by John Joseph Eagan.
- Truman Aldrich bought back the Montevallo Mining Company.
- Mary Anderson's attempt to sell the rights to her windshield wiper through Dinning and Eckenstein was rejected.
- Commercial photography studio Birmingham View Company was founded.
- Blach's moved to a larger store on the northwest corner of 3rd Avenue North and [[19th Street North|19th Street].
- Engel Realty Company was founded as an insurance underwriter.
- The Florence Hotel was leased by R. D. Burnett, Sr and completely refurbished.
- E. L. Huey Furniture Company was started in Bessemer by E. L. Huey and Chambers McAdory.
- The Majestic Theatre opened.
- The Columbia Amusement Company secured a lease on the O'Brien's Opera House and renamed it the Gayety Theatre.
- Peek Beverage Company was established by chemist Jefferson J. Peek.
- Wiseola was established.
- The Milner & Kettig Company was acquired by the Crane Company of Chicago, Illinois and was operated as that company's Birmingham branch.
- John Walker Percy and Augustus Benners founded the law firm of Percy & Benners.
Education
- February 28: The first class of Hillman Hospital's Training School for Nurses was graduated.
- William Drennen became president of the Birmingham Board of Education.
- A. H. Parker was elected president of the Alabama State Teacher's Association.
- St Mark's School was damaged by a fire.
Government
- March 5: William Jelks resumed office as Governor after contracting tuberculosis.
- May 4: George Ward succeeded Mel Drennen as Mayor of Birmingham.
- The head of the Weather Bureau's Birmingham Station Agency, W. A. Mitchell, was replaced by W. F. Lehman.
- Will Walton succeeded Thad Mullin as Chief of the Birmingham Fire Department.
Religion
- January 20: St Mark's Catholic Church was established in Thomas.
- July 1: Raimundo deOvies became the first rector of St Andrew's Episcopal Church.
- December: St Andrew's Episcopal Church was formally incorporated.
- George Bates succeeded Arthur Burrill as pastor of Pilgrim Church.
- James Duncan became pastor of First Methodist Episcopal Church South.
- First Congregational Christian Church moved from 26th Street and 3rd Avenue North to the 600 block of 15th Street North.
Sports
- November 18: Alabama beat Alabama Polytechnic Institute by a score of 3-0 in the 1905 Iron Bowl played at West End Park before a then-record crowd of 4,600.
- Davis Stakely coached the Howard Bulldogs to a 1-2-1 season.
Individuals
- September 27: Arthur Brown married Mamie Nellie Adams.
- William Bankhead moved to Jasper.
- A. G. Gaston moved to Birmingham as a boy with his mother.
- Erskine Ramsay purchased the Caldwell Bradshaw residence.
- Rick Woodward became vice president of the Woodward Iron Company.
Births
- January 6: Richmond Beatty, literature scholar
- February 24: John Weld, stuntman and writer
- April 9: Ida Moffett, nurse
- August 8: Heman Drummond, founder of the Drummond Company
- August 30: John A. Austin, US Navy chief warrant officer killed at Pearl Harbor
- September 9: Charlie Perkins, Major League baseball pitcher
- October 3: Epp Sykes, Air Force general and "Yea Alabama!" composer
- November 1: Dupree Greer, architect
- November 19: Garnet Leader, painter
- December 9: Snitz Snider, Olympian, football player, and football coach
- December 4: James Sulzby Jr, businessman
- Eugenia Woodward Hitt, art collector
Graduations
- Elizabeth Hale, from the Hillman Hospital Training School for Nurses.
Marriages
- May 21: Bob Wharton married Leslie McKinstry.
- Culpepper Exum married the former Lestra Kinney.
- Giuseppe Moretti married Dorthea Long.
Deaths
- January 21: John Altman, attorney and Chancellor
- January 25: Charles Hooper, merchant
- July 3: Firefighters Gip Spruiell and E. B. Huffman were the first members of the Birmingham Fire Department to be killed in the line of duty when the Birmingham Paper Company building on Morris Avenue collapsed on them during a pre-dawn blaze.
- August: Thomas Hillman, partner in the Alice Furnaces
- August 28: H. A. Wilson, U.S. Commissioner and newspaper publisher
- August 30: Paul Gilardoni, chef and restaurateur
- August 30: Joseph Riley Smith, physician and landowner
- October 20: William Berney, banker
- December 10: "Too Slick", a workhorse for the Birmingham Fire Department
- List of homicides in 1905
Works
Buildings
- 214 – 216 20th Street North
- 218 20th Street North
- Paper warehouse at 1720 2nd Avenue North (now part of Railroad Square)
- Original Birmingham Fire Station No. 6
- Birmingham Realty Company building at 2118 1st Avenue North
- Dobbins Building at 1506 Ridge Road
- James Duncan residence at 705 Huntsville Avenue in Tarrant
- W. S. Brown Mercantile Building at 2223-2225 2nd Avenue North
- Goodall-Brown building at 2200 1st Avenue North
- Highland View Apartments at 1300 21st Street South
- Majestic Theatre at 1808-10 3rd Avenue North
- Massey Business College building at 2024 3rd Avenue North
- Parker's Mill Ford Bridge over the Little Cahaba River
- Paper warehouse at 1720 2nd Avenue North
- The original St Andrew's Episcopal Church
- Thomas Rowan residence at 1900 Montevallo Road Southwest in Leeds
- Jayfe Ware residence on Old Springville Road in Clay
- Sylacauga Baptist Church
Demolitions
Gallery
Drish House c. 1905
Chalifoux Building c. 1905
Context
In 1905, the play The Scarlet Pimpernel opened at the New Theatre in London with a new final act. The Cullinan Diamond was found near Pretoria, South Africa. Rotary International was founded. President Theodore Roosevelt began a full term. Albert Einstein published his paper On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the production and transformation of light, in which he explained the photoelectric effect using the notion of light quanta. In India, the 1905 Kangra earthquake hit the Kangra valley, killed 20,000, and destroyed most buildings in Kangra, Mcleodganj and Dharamshala. Albert Einstein submitted his doctoral dissertation On the Motion of Small Particles..., in which he explained Brownian motion. Las Vegas was founded. Norway gained independence from Sweden. Albert Einstein published the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies where he revealed his theory of special relativity. The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were established. Albert Einstein submitted his paper Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content? in which he developed an argument for the famous equation E = mc². The Russo-Japanese War was ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth in New Hampshire. The Russian Revolution of 1905 took place, forcing Tsar Nicholas II to establish the Duma.
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