1896
1896 was the 25th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.
Events
- October: The Alabama Girls' Industrial School opened to students.
- The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama began the Old Rotation agricultural experiment.
- Brookside was incorporated.
- The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs folded for a second time.
Business
- The Birmingham Age-Herald was sold to an upstart rival, The Daily State, and became the Daily State Herald.
- The company that would become Royal Cup Coffee was founded.
- Southern Banknote was founded as a division of Roberts & Sons.
Education
- A.D. Smith succeeded Arthur W. McGaha as president of Howard College.
Government
- September 1: Frank P. O'Brien succeeded George Morrow as Jefferson County Sheriff.
- December 1: Joseph F. Johnston succeeded William C. Oates as Governor of Alabama.
- Truman H. Aldrich succeeded Oscar Underwood as Representative of the 9th Congressional District of Alabama before being recalled.
- Frank Evans succeeded James Van Hoose as Mayor of Birmingham.
Religion
- William A. Hobson became pastor of Ruhama Baptist Church.
- John Murray succeeded Thomas Beard as rector of Cathedral Church of the Advent.
Sports
- The Birmingham Bluebirds played a single season of baseball.
Individuals
- May 30: James Coyle was ordained a priest.
- Richard McNally was admitted to the bar.
- Hugh Morrow became an assistant solicitor for Jefferson County.
Births
- January 5: Dick Griffin, U.S. Marshal
- May 20: Jaybird Coleman, harmonica player
- July 2: Frank Calloway, artist and mental patient
- July 20: James Meissner, aviator
- August 13: Asa Rountree, Jr, Director of the Alabama Department of Aeronautics
- November 23: Henry Higginbotham, miner
- December 30: Homer Norton, college football coach
- Abraham Bengis, rabbi
- Afton Lee, Sr, businessman
- Durward Nickerson, messenger
- Willie Peterson, suspected murderer
- George Turner, architect
- Sidney van Sheck, artist and engineer
Graduations
- Hill Ferguson from the University of Alabama.
- Wallace Rayfield from Howard University.
Deaths
- December 22: Bessier Parker, second wife of A. H. Parker
- George R. Ward, innkeeper
Works
Buildings
- Buck Creek Mill
- Two new wings added to Temple Emanu-El
- Woodlawn Infirmary
Context
In 1896, Utah was admitted as a state. The first modern Olympic Games were held. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson was decided, upholding segregation as "separate but equal." Charles Dow published the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. A tornado struck downtown St. Louis, Missouri, killing more than 255 and injuring over 1,000 people. An earthquake and tsunami in Sanriku, Japan killed 27,000. The Atlantic City rail crash killed 50 and seriously injured approximately 60. Republican William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan in the presidential election.
Notable births in 1896 included comedian George Burns, baseball player Rogers Hornsby, film director Howard Hawks, physicist Robert S. Mulliken, actress Hope Summers, inventor Léon Theremin, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, singer and actress Ethel Waters, baseball player Bucky Harris, baseball player Jimmy Dykes, and lyricist Ira Gershwin. Notable deaths included journalist Thomas W. Knox, photographer Mathew Brady, author Harriet Beecher Stowe, composer Anton Bruckner, inventor George Washington Gale Ferris Jr, and inventor Alfred Nobel.
1890s |
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