1889

1889 was the 18th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

Richard Hawes

• May 23: Richard Hawes was convicted of murdering his family.
• Avondale was incorporated.
• Avondale Lodge No. 476 was chartered.
• Birmingham annexation brought thousands of residents within the city limits.
• The Blount County seat was moved to Oneonta.
• E. E. Forbes & Sons Piano Company was founded.
• A. O. Lane began purchasing land on the southern slopes of Red Mountain, which is now Lane Park.
• The Johns post office was established.
• Property for Shadow Lawn Cemetery was purchased.
• The National Farmers Alliance and the Agricultural Wheel voted to merge during joint meetings in Birmingham, forming the Farmers' and Laborers' Union of America.

Business

• February: Sloss Furnace No. 4 was blown in.
• April: Bessemer Furnace No. 2 and Trussville Furnace were blown in.
• April 29: Ensley Furnace No. 1 was blown in.
• May 27: The Birmingham Brewing Company was incorporated.
• July 16: The Birmingham Athletic Club was incorporated.
• The Clifton Land Company reorganized as the South Birmingham Land Company.
• The Evening News changed its name to The Daily News.
• Blossburg Hollow Coke Ovens opened.
• Emil Loeb joined Loveman & Joseph, changing the company name to Loveman, Joseph, & Loeb.
• Mary Pratt Furnace was rebuilt to increase capacity from 15,000 to 20,000 tons per year.
• Mortimer's Dime Theatre closed.
• The Red Mountain Railroad Line opened.
• Attorneys James Weatherly and Walker Percy partnered in the firm of Weatherly & Percy.
• The Weekly Herald began publication.
• The Blount County News-Dispatch was founded.
• The Denechaud House hotel and restaurant closed after two years.
• Erlick & Lefkovits department store opened in Bessemer.

Religion

• March 1: Alexander Phillips became pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church.
• August 4: Brother Bryan was installed as Third Presbyterian Church's first permanent pastor.
• J. E. McCann became pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church.
• W. L. Pickard became pastor of First Baptist Church of Birmingham.
• Methodist minister Solon Robertson founded the Southside Mission.
• St Anthony's Church was founded in Ensley.

Sports

• The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs fell apart with the death of its founder.

Individuals

• Attorney John Altman left his partner J. R. McIntosh to join a firm headed by John McQueen.
• Inventor Mary Anderson moved to Birmingham.
• John L. Parker arrived in Birmingham.
• Louis Pizitz emigrated to the U. S. from Poland.
• Samuel Ullman was elected vice-president of the Birmingham Board of Education.

Births

• July 17: Guy Tutwiler, baseball player
• September 7: Bill Holden, baseball player
• October 17: Arthur Roberts, WWI aviator
• Roderick Beddow, criminal defense attorney
• Geneva Mercer, sculptor

Graduations

• Brother Bryan, theology degree from Princeton University
• Sterling Foster, B. A. from South West Presbyterian University
• Morris Newfield, B. D. from Theological College of the University of Budapest
• William Oliver, law degree from Alabama School of Law

Mortimer Jordan, Jr

Marriages

• February 27: Judge Samuel Greene to the former Mosa Miller.
• March 27: Sid Lee to Minnie Coleman.
• July 10: Mayor of Tuscaloosa William Jemison to the former Clara Roberts in Talladega.

Deaths

• February 5: Mortimer Jordan, Jr, physician
• April 5: John Manning, Bessemer police officer
• December 25: Edouard Sidel, architect

Works

Buildings

1889 Jefferson County Courthouse

• Caldwell Hotel
• C. C. Dubose residence
• Eubanks Mercantile building
• Paul Hayne School addition
• Highland Town Hall
• Holy Rosary Catholic Church
• Jefferson County Courthouse
• Overseer's House
• Peerless Saloon
• South Highland Presbyterian Church's first church building
• Temple Emanu-El
• Zion Lutheran Church's first church building

Context

In 1889, what would later become the Coca-Cola Company was incorporated. The Eiffel Tower was completed. The Wall Street Journal was established. Nintendo was founded to produce and market Hanafuda playing cards. North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington were admitted to the United States.

Notable books published in 1889 included Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome, Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain. Notable music released included "Oh, Promise Me" by Clement Scott and Reginald de Koven, "The Thunderer" and "The Washington Post" by John Philip Sousa, and comic opera The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Notable births in 1889 included film director Victor Fleming, actor and director Charlie Chaplin, dictator Adolf Hitler, aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky, actor Claude Rains, astronomer Edwin Hubble, and farmer Walter Knott. Notable deaths included outlaw Belle Starr, Father Damien, former Confederate president Jefferson Davis, physicist James Prescott Joule, and poet Robert Browning.

1880s

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