1883

1883 was the 12th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• January 16: The Brevard post office was established.
• February 21: The Elyton Land Company transferred ownership of the land for Central Park to Birmingham.
• April 21: The Phoenix Club was organized.
• The Birmingham Female College, founded by Kate Thompson and Mrs P. E. Scott, opened with 140 students.
• November 15: The Relay House hosted hearings of the United States Senate Committee on Relations Between Labor and Capital.
• The Elyton Land Company Band was organized by Fred Gambs.
• Forest Hill Cemetery was established.
• The Birmingham Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and Animals was founded.
• The Bellevue Academy was founded in Birmingham.
• The Magic City Guards were formed by James Scott.
• Writer Joe Mulhatton visited Birmingham and read an account of a small flowing stream discovered by a well-driller in the city.
• The former Elyton Courthouse, later used as a paint factory, was destroyed by fire.

Business

• March 29: The Mary Pratt Furnace Company was incorporated.
• April: Mary Pratt Furnace was blown in.
• July 24: Alice Furnace No. 2 was blown in.
• August 17: Woodward Furnace No. 1 was blown in.
• October: Sloss Furnace No. 2 was blown in.
• Several of the independent lime operations merged into the Alabama Lime Company.
• The Cahaba Coal Company completed an 8.2 mile railroad connector.
• After a period of great uncertainty, the Elyton Land Company emerged in to the black.
• Ill health forced Frank Evans to resign as president of the Iron Age Publishing Company.
• Charles Ferguson began editing the Alabama Law Journal.
• The George Raps & Co. Saloon was opened by George Raps.
• Sorsby & Smith booksellers was founded.

Education

• High school students from the Free School were moved to leased rooms in the Wright Building.
• An academy in Springville was established by James Hugh Blair Hall.

Government

• John Altman was appointed as a district court judge.
• Campbell Wallace was elected chair of the Georgia Railroad Commission.

Religion

• First Baptist Church of Mount Olive was organized.
• Henry Lazarus succeeded Abe Wise as president of Temple Emanu-El.
• William Pettiford became pastor of 16th Street Baptist Church.
• Temple Emanu-El's Sunday School was founded by Isaac Hochstadter.

Individuals

John Phillips in 1887

• Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company executive James Bowron became an American citizen.
• John Carmichael began teaching.
• George Cruikshank moved to Birmingham to become editor of the Birmingham Chronicle.
• Samuel Greene moved back to Birmingham from Jasper.
• Physician Mortimer Jordan Jr was elected president of the Alabama Medical Association.
• William Mudd was forced to retire as circuit judge due to health problems.
• John Phillips became the first superintendent of Birmingham City Schools.
• Architect Edouard Sidel immigrated to the United States to pursue his fortune.
• Merchant and entrepreneur John Westbrook moved to Birmingham.
• E. C. Wingfield succeeded William W. Wilson as principal of Powell School.

Births

Jimmie Jones

• April 14: Arthur Bairnsfather, artist
• May 4: John Gallalee, President of the University of Alabama
• September 18: Jimmie Jones, Mayor of Birmingham
• Bem Price, architect

Graduations

• John Gillespy from the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Sid Lee from the Eastman School of Business in Poughkeepsie, New York.
• William Oliver from Verner College Preparatory School in Tuscaloosa.

Marriages

• September 19: Isaac Hochstadter to the former Carrie Lebolt of Dayton, Ohio.
• October 10: Physician John Gillespy to the former Eugenia Owen.
• Businessman Nimrod Scott to the former Estelle Samples.

Deaths

• December 10: James Powell, former Elyton Land Company president and Mayor of Birmingham
• Wallace McElwain, iron-maker
• Mollie Mustin
• Alexander Godwin
• John Oliver
• John Quinlan, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Mobile
• Thomas Rowan

Works

Buildings

• First Baptist Church of Mount Olive
• Mary Pratt Furnace
• Wright Building

Context

In 1883, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States civil service, was passed. The Ladies' Home Journal began publication. Oxygen was liquefied for the very first time. The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City was completed. The last quagga died at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam. The Krakatoa volcano exploded. The Orient Express began operation. The Kroger Company was founded.

Notable books published in 1883 included Also sprach Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, and Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Notable music released in 1883 included Symphony No. 3 by Johannes Brahms.

Notable births in 1883 included army general Joseph Stilwell; actor Lon Chaney, Sr; architect Walter Gropius; writer Franz Kafka; cartoonist Rube Goldberg; animator Max Fleischer; fashion designer Coco Chanel; and actress Edna Goodrich. Notable deaths included composer Richard Wagner, philosopher Karl Marx, painter Édouard Manet, scientist Edward Sabine, and circus midget General Tom Thumb.

1880s

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