1941

1941 was the 70th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• February 28: Two inches of snow fell on the city.
• March 29: The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement came into effect, with WAPI-AM and WSGN-AM moving temporarily to AM 1170 and AM 1340, respectively.\
• June 14: 1941 Docena Mine explosion.
• July 10: 1941 Acmar No. 6 Mine explosion.
• September 29-October 4: 1941 Alabama State Fair
• October 24: Pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff performed in Birmingham.
• December 1: The USS Osmond Ingram was recommissioned as a destroyer, DD-255.
• December 7: Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii, leading the United States to declare war and join the Allied Forces fighting World War II.
• Fraternal Order of Police Birmingham Lodge No. 1 was chartered.
• Twenty-five Chinese elm trees were planted around Glen Iris Elementary School by the Parent-Teacher Association.
• Donald Beatty organized the "Consairway" trans-Pacific cargo system for the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation of San Diego, California.
• The Apollo Boys' Choir relocated to Dallas, Texas.
• Nazareth Bogan Jr moved his Bogan's Birmingham Busters to Los Angeles, California.
• Gustave Courbet's painting "Entrée d'un gave" was seized from Parisian businessman Moïse Lévy de Benzion by the Nazis.
• Hubert Drouais's painting "Les Portraits de MM. De Béthune Jouant avec un Chien" was seized from Parisian art dealer S. R. Founes by the Nazis.
• Addresses on the eastern section of Warrior Road were renumbered to continue the scheme from the western section.

Business

• February 15: WSGN-AM moved its studios to the Dixie Carlton Hotel.
• The Birmingham News and Birmingham Age-Herald adopted Linotype's new "Corona" typeface.
• Emory Jackson took over publication of the Birmingham World.
• Penn Central Airlines inaugurated direct passenger service from Birmingham Municipal Airport to Pittsburgh's Allegheny County Airport.
• The New Ideal department store expanded into the former Sears building on 2nd Avenue North at 18th Street.
• Standard Furniture relocated to the New Ideal building at 111 19th Street North.
• Leo E. Bashinsky sold his stake in the Bashinsky Case Cotton Company to become president of Automatic Machine Products.
• I. L. Fabian, Abe Klotzman and Ralph Blach bought the Empire Hotel at 2130 4th Avenue North.

Establishments

• Tom Martin founded the Alabama Research Institute.
• A & P opened a store at in the former Adamson Motor Company showroom at 1729 5th Avenue North.
• A second Alley's Drugs opened at 5017 5th Avenue South in Woodlawn Heights.
• The Anchorage Restaurant opened in Homewood.
• Ariail Drug Co. opened in Crestline Village.
• The Brooke Hill School for Girls opened.
• The Homewood Public Library was created at Homewood City Hall.
• John Packas Barbecue opened at 414 18th Street South.
• Morris Sher launched the clothing business that evolved into Krown Kredit.
• The Lucky Strike Bowling Alley opened at 2217 3rd Avenue North.
• Stapleton's Fine Foods opened at 2131 7th Avenue South.
• Paul Vaughan and Ferd Weil opened their Vaughan-Weil store at 1816 3rd Avenue North.

Disestablishments

• The Birmingham Civic Symphonic Orchestra was disbanded.

Government

• The U.S. Army Air Corps created the 332nd Fighter Group which trained African-American aviators at the Tuskegee Army Air Field.
• The Alabama Highway Department took over maintenance of the "Rose Trails" along the Florida Short Route.
• September 1: Reservists from the 106th Observation Squadron were assigned to the 66th Observation Group.
• October 13: 1941 Birmingham municipal election

Religion

• Our Lady Queen of the Universe Catholic Church was founded by the Diocese of Mobile.
• St Theresa Catholic Church was founded by the Diocese of Mobile.
• Ensley First United Methodist Church hosted the 1941 North Alabama Methodist Conference.

Sports

• January 1: Morris Brown defeated Wilberforce 19-3 in the inaugural Steel Bowl at Legion Field.
• Frank W. Thomas' 1941 Alabama Crimson Tide football team went 9-2 and was awarded the national championship by the Deke Houlgate collegiate football rating system.

Works

• The Gardendale Elementary School murals were completed.
• The neon sign for the Bright Star Restaurant was installed.
• February 17: The U.S.S. Birmingham (CL-62) was laid down at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company.

Books

• Now Let Us Praise Famous Men by James Agee and photographer Walker Evans.
• The Church and Her Children by Raimundo de Ovies

Buildings

Bessemer City Hall

• Alabama Army Ammunition Plant near Childersburg
• Bessemer City Hall (built by the Works Progress Administration)
• Five Points West Shopping City
• Sears, Roebuck & Co. store in downtown Birmingham
• Gantt Machinery Co.
• Hanger C, 101st Observation Squadron, Birmingham Airport
• Inglenook Park was dedicated.
• McAdory High School in McCalla (built by the Works Progress Administration)
• Joe Money Machinery Co.
• Dam at Lake Tranquility, Oak Mountain State Park (built by the Works Progress Administration)
• Pilgrim Congregational Church at 1819 8th Avenue North
• Rock Mountain Fire Lookout Tower on Rock Mountain (built by the Civilian Conservation Corps)
• Southtown Court (built by the United States Housing Authority)
• Wharton Lookout Tower on Ruffner Mountain (built by the Civilian Conservation Corps)
• Wigwam Village on Bessemer Super Highway
• Eight-room addition to F. D. McArthur School in Druid Hills
• Expansion and renovation of the Homewood Theatre
• Addition to McElwain Elementary School (built by the Works Progress Administration)
• Indoor plumbing was added to Mortimer Jordan High School.
• Expansion of the clinic at Slossfield Community Center
• Remodeling of the Ensley Theatre
• New "Memorial Gateway" at Underwood Park

Demolitions

• March 14: Barker Elementary School was destroyed by fire.
• The Drennen Department Store at 123 20th Street North was destroyed by fire.

Individuals

• June 7: Joseph Vath was ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
• July 20: Joseph Raya was ordained a priest of the Melkite Catholic Church.
• November: F. K. Gamble succeeded G. Fred Cooper as pastor of Avondale United Methodist Church.
• December 7: Milton Grafman succeeded Myron Silverman as rabbi of Temple Emanu-El.
• Douglas Arant was elected chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on the Bill of Rights.
• Mattie Bush began directing the 8th Avenue YMCA.
• George Denny re-assumed the position of President of the University of Alabama on an interim basis following the death of Richard Foster.
• Leon Hicks succeeded William Poe as president of Thompson High School.
• Seybourn Lynn was elected to the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Alabama.
• Ida Moffett assumed management of nurses at Highland Avenue Baptist Hospital and Birmingham Baptist Hospital.
• Avery Parrish left the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra.
• John Persons was promoted to Major General of the Alabama National Guard.
• Erskine Ramsay resigned from the Birmingham Board of Education.
• Oscar Roettger succeeded Ira Smith as manager of the Birmingham Barons.
• Luke Sewell began managing the American League's St Louis Browns.
• Virginia Tyler assumed directorship of the Ensley Community House.
• Margaret Walker began her teaching career at Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Births

Way Bandy

Marty Eagle

• February 1: Giuseppe Bertolone, restaurateur
• March 24: Lester Cobb, drummer, artist, activist, and social worker
• March 25: Ralph Lindsey, Mayor of Kimberly
• March 30: Ocie Burton, Baptist minister
• April 1: Benny Nelson, professional football player
• April 13: Richard Williamson, professional football coach
• April 27: Lee Roy Jordan, professional football player
• May 3: Helen Shores Lee, clinical psychologist, attorney, and judge
• May 25: Jerry Woodard, rockabilly singer and guitarist
• June 8: Frank Parsons, attorney, travel agent, and civic leader
• June 21: Mitty Collier, soul and blues singer and Christian minister
• June 29: Elizabeth Garner, science teacher
• July 5: John Lusco, Latin teacher and dean of students
• August 9: Way Bandy, make-up artist
• August 15: Tommie Reynolds, professional baseball player
• September 6: Melford Espey, college administrator and creator of "Big Al"
• September 26: Bev Head, attorney, business leader, and political aide
• October 7: Thomas Corts, President of Samford University
• October 15: Marty Eagle, bar owner
• November 15: Jimmy Graphos, restaurateur
• December 7: Wayne Rasco, newspaper publisher
• December 8: Bill Battle III, sports licensing pioneer, football coach, and athletic director
• Larry Barton, barber, gospel singer, banker, and Mayor of Talladega
• Bill Morgan Freeman, artist and craftsman
• Mike Froning, educator
• Billy Gandy, Christmas tree farmer
• Donald Green, baseball coach and athletic director
• Barry Ivker, psychotherapist, literary scholar, poet, playwright, musician, dancer, and artist
• Jim Lawrence, real estate executive and poet
• Vincent Oliver, barber
• Albert Pacifico, cardiac surgeon
• Thomas Precise, Methodist minister
• Jim Reed, bookseller
• Dave Roddy, radio personality
• Carole Samuelson, pediatrician and Jefferson County Health Officer

Graduations

• Judge Clarence Allgood completed his bachelor of laws at the Birmingham School of Law.
• Playwright William Berney graduated from the University of Alabama.
• Attorney Samuel Burr earned his bachelor of arts at the University of Alabama.
• Patholigist Joseph Cunningham completed a residency at the Boston University School of Medicine.
• Architect George Gaunt earned his degree at the University of Michigan.
• Historian Virginia Hamilton completed her bachelor's degree in English at Birmingham-Southern College.
• College administrator Harry Lipson Jr earned his master's in business administration at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
• Insurance executive Lee McGriff earned a mathematics degree at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
• Business owner Katherine McTyeire graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.
• Educator Ernest Palmore earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture at Tuskegee Institute.
• Novelist Walker Percy completed an M.D. from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
• Radio announcer Joe Rumore graduated from Ramsay High School.
• Industrialist William Spencer III earned a bachelor of science in chemistry at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
• Businessman Hall Thompson graduated from the Duncan Preparatory School in Nashville, Tennessee.
• Park director Frank Wagner graduated from West End High School.
• U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Louis Wilson Jr earned his bachelor of arts at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi
• UAB President Joseph Volker earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Rochester, New York.

Marriages

• June 21: William Sulzby married Mildred Wood.
• June 28: William Yester married Ruth Anne Mulvaney.
• October 18: Henrietta Boggs married José Figueres Ferrer, head of Costa Rica's Social Democratic Party.
• December 24: Buck Falkner married Lorene Juzan.
• Willie Foster married Thelma Quigless.
• Dorothea Warren married Charles Fox.
• Izzy Jannazzo married Francesca Tombrello.
• B. Davie Napier married Joyce Robertson White.
• Fred Shuttlesworth married Ruby Keeler.

Divorces

• Tallulah Bankhead and John Emery were divorced.
• Lucille Bogan and Nazareth Bogan were divorced.

Retirements

• Lois Wilson retired from acting.

Awards

• Miss Birmingham: Virginia McGraw

Deaths

Julius Ellsberry

• January 19: Logwood Goin, physician
• January 27: Roderick MacKenzie, artist
• January 28: James "Brother" Bryan, Presbyterian minister
• February 28: Wallace Rayfield, architect
• March 11: Harry Breeding, architect
• June 10: John Coe, coal and lumber dealer
• June 14: Five workers were killed in the 1941 Docena Mine explosion.
• July 10: Eleven workers were killed in the 1941 Acmar No. 6 Mine explosion.
• July 12: Birmingham Police motorcycle officer Newton Wolff was killed in a traffic accident.
• July 30: Eugene Enslen, real estate and business investor
• October 14: Herbert Salmon, mining engineer
• December 7: Julius Ellsberry, U.S. Navy crewman
• December 7: Billy McCary, U.S. Navy musician
• Richard Foster, President of the University of Alabama

See also: List of homicides in 1941

Context

In 1941

1940s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works