1913

The City Federal Building (1913)

1913 was the 42nd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• February 6: The Rotary Club of Birmingham was chartered.
• April 24-25: The 1913 Potlatch was put on by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce to heal dissension among local political leaders.
• June 11: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Pawnee Bill’s Far East paraded through downtown Birmingham and put on shows at Smith's Park.
• July 24: Donald Kenney and Christopher Gustin died during an initiation ceremony at Birmingham Lodge No. 432, Loyal Order of Moose.
• October 1: At Mayor Culpepper Exum's direction, Birmingham began enforcing laws against brothels in what had previously been reserved as a "restricted district" on Avenue A.
• October 1: The USS Birmingham (CL-2) was recommissioned and sent to carry officials of the Panama-Pacific Exposition on a South American tour.
• October 10–18: The 1913 Alabama State Fair took place.
• November 18: 24 miners were killed in the 1913 Acton No. 2 Mine explosion.
• November 25–26: Wildfires burned large areas on Red Mountain and Shades Mountain.
• The Avondale Regional Library joined the Birmingham Public Library system.
• The Birmingham Public Library Board succeeded the Birmingham Public Library Association.
• The city of Brent was incorporated.
• Calera Lodge No. 445 began meeting at the Bondurant and Burke Drug Store.
• Miss Fancy was purchased from a failed circus by the Birmingham Advertising Club and displayed in Avondale Park.
• A tornado damaged St Andrew's Episcopal Church.

Business

• February 21: The dormant Oxmoor Furnaces were put back into blast to supply iron for World War I.
• August 3: The Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Company began servicing the No. 7 Wylam-Bush Hills streetcar line.
• December 23: The Birmingham, Selma & Pensacola Railroad was acquired by Birmingham, Selma & Mobile Railroad.
• Hand picks supplanted mechanical coal cutters at the Brookside mine.
• Browdy's delicatessen opened.
• A. H. Cather founded the A. H. Cather Publishing Company in Birmingham.
• H. M. Newsome purchased the Bonita Theater, later rebuilding it as the Rialto.
• The Oak Hill Memorial Association took over management of Oak Hill Cemetery.
• Ranson & Son Grocery opened.
• George Crawford and Robert Jemison Jr began planning construction of the Tutwiler Hotel.
• George and Annie Covollos opened the Wylam Cafe.
• The Hygeia Building Company was formed by W. S. Cobb, R. J. McGarook and F. W. Stange to erect a 16 or 18-sotry building on 4th Avenue North.
• E. D. Henley founded the Birmingham Electric Battery Co.

Education

• John Wesley Gilbert succeeded William A. Bell as president of Miles College.
• Howard College admitted its first female students.

Government

• Franklin Glass was appointed to fill the vacant seat left by the death of Senator Joseph Johnston, but was not confirmed. Frank White was seated in 1914.
• George Huddleston Sr succeeded Oscar Underwood as Representative for the 9th Congressional District of Alabama.
• George Ward succeeded Culpepper Exum as President of the Birmingham City Commission.

Religion

• Henry Edmonds became pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church.
• A. Feinsilver succeeded J. T. Loeb as rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• Adna Moore became pastor of the Pilgrim Church.
• St Joseph's Catholic Church was established in Ensley.
• St Stanislaus Parish was established in Wylam.

Sports

• February 1: A soccer match between "All-Star" teams from Atlanta, Georgia and the Birmingham District was held at Rickwood Field. Birmingham won 4-0.
• The 8-0 Auburn Tigers won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football championship.
• Guy Tutwiler played his final season for the Detroit Tigers.
• Lonnie Noojin played his final season in the minor leagues.
• Howard College went 5-3-1 under coach Lonnie Noojin.
• Harry Coveleski recorded a Southern Association-leading 28 victories for the Chattanooga Lookouts
• 1913 Birmingham Barons

Individuals

• Lee Bidgood was appointed to the economics faculty of the University of Alabama.
• Patti Ruffner Jacobs addressed the annual convention of the National Woman's Suffrage Association in Washington D. C.
• Lloyd Noland was hired by the Tennessee Coal Iron and Railroad Company to reorganized their employee health department.
• Dean William B. Oliver left his position with the University of Alabama School of Law.
• Former mayor of Ensley D. F. Sugg was appointed the city's postmaster.
• Actor Henry Walthall signed a contract with Reliance-Majestic Studios in Los Angeles, California.

Births

• January 10: Haywood Henry, jazz saxophonist
• January 15: Buddy Cooper, labor attorney
• January 23: Leslie Wright, president of Samford University
• January 31: Don Hutson, football player
• February 14: Mel Allen, sports announcer
• March 9: Joseph Volker, first president of UAB and first Chancellor of the University of Alabama System
• March 9: Ruby Gainer, teacher and civil rights activist
• March 12: Loulie Jean Norman, operatic soprano
• March 13: Tat Bailey, electrician and landscape artist
• April 1: Buster Bray, baseball player
• May 6: Angelo Herndon, labor organizer and Communist political activist
• June 9: Cotesworth Lewis, Episcopal priest
• June 20: Al Gallodoro, saxophone player
• July 1: Wedo Martini, baseball player
• July 16: George Seibels, Mayor of Birmingham
• August 13: Matt H. Murphy, attorney
• August 14: Rocco Sanfilippo, speed shop owner
• August 17: Rudy York, baseball player
• September 11: Paul "Bear" Bryant, football coach
• September 30: Cholly Atkins, Motown choreographer
• October 1: G. E. Kidder Smith, architecture writer and photographer
• October 13: Kenneth Daniel, ACIPCO president
• September 14: Nina Miglionico, Birmingham City Council president
• October 27: Robert Waldrop, Mayor of Homewood
• November 12: Grace Goode, repeat killer
• December 20: Carl Elliott, U.S. congressman
• Frank Bettencourt, musician and bandleader
• Jack Brazleton, comptroller and aviator
• Ninette Griffith, fashion director at Loveman's
• Jessie Johnson, daughter of Crawford and Caroline Johnson.
• Cecil Johnson Roberts
• Nelson Weaver, real estate developer
• Nell Williams, socialite and murder victim

Awards

• Tom Stewart was admitted to the Alabama Bar.
• Octavus Roy Cohen was admitted to the South Carolina Bar.

Graduations

• Kirkman O'Neal graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy.
• Frank Spain earned his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law.

Marriages

• April 3: Rosalie Joseph married Edgar Leventritt.
• November 12: Beach Chenoweth married Nouna Illges in Muscogee County, Georgia.

Retirements

• Isaac McAdory retired as Superintendent of Education for Jefferson County

Deaths

• February 4: Llewellyn Johns, mine engineer
• March 19: Former Mayor of Avondale Freeman Daniel stepped into an open elevator shaft at the Young & Vann Building and died from the resulting skull fracture
• May 16: Louise Wooster, madame
• May 18: David Fox, Mayor of Birmingham
• June 30: Thomas O'Byrne, liquor distributor
• July 24: Donald Kenney and Christopher Gustin died during an initiation ceremony at Birmingham Lodge No. 432, Loyal Order of Moose.
• August 8: Joseph Johnston, Governor of Alabama and U.S. Senator
• August 15: James Powers, president of the University of Alabama.
• October 23: John Sutcliffe, architect
• November 26: Rufus Cobb, Governor of Alabama
• December 30: Bob McKinley, Mayor of East Lake
• Charles Drennen, physician
  • See also: List of homicides in 1913

Works

Buildings

• ACIPCO YMCA
• Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Rosedale
• Comer Building on 2nd Avenue North
• Ensley First United Methodist Church
• Addition to Hillman Hospital on 20th Street South
• Sterling Foster residence on Niazuma Avenue
• Howell-Porter House
• Pythian Temple (Alabama Penny Savings Bank building)
• Ridgely Apartments (now the Tutwiler Hotel)
• Sentinel Apartments, S. Scott Joy architect
• Snow Rogers Elementary School
• William Sessions residence at 2930 Rhodes Circle
• Trianon Theatre

• October 13: The Convent of Perpetual Adoration and Blessed Sacrament Academy in West End were dedicated.

Demolitions

• Rebie Hall was destroyed by fire.
• The Roden Hotel was begun, but construction was halted and the steel frame demolished for scrap.

Context

The year 1913 saw the ratification of the 16th and 17th amendments, allowing income taxes and the direct election of senators. Woodrow Wilson succeeded William Taft as President. King George I of Greece was assassinated. The First Balkan War ended. Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" caused riots at its Paris debut. The Second Balkan War began and ended. Harry Brearley invented stainless steel. The Panama Canal was completed. The Lincoln Highway, the first American trans-continental automobile road was dedicated. Ford introduced the moving assembly line. The all-purpose zipper was perfected. The Mona Lisa, recovered in Italy after a bold theft, was returned to France. Winston and Salem, North Carolina officially merged.

Notable fiction published in 1913 included The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 'The Poison Belt by Arthur Conan Doyle, Der Tunnel by Bernhard Kellermann, Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence, The Valley of the Moon by Jack London , Eldorado by Baroness Orczy, and Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter. Non-fiction included the final volume of Principia Mathematica by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell.

Notable music released in 1913 included "Ballin' The Jack" by Chris Smith and James Henry Burris; "Danny Boy" (now set to the music of "Londonderry Air") by Frederick Weatherly; "El Cóndor Pasa" by Daniel Alomía Robles; "On the Old Fall River Line" by Harry Von Tilzer, William Jerome & Andrew B. Sterling; "The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine" by Harry Carroll and Ballard MacDonald; and "You Made Me Love You" by James V. Monaco and Joseph McCarthy.

Notable births in 1913 included those of presidents Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon, actors Lloyd Bridges, Hedy Lamarr, Vivien Leigh and Danny Kaye, author Albert Camus, civil rights figure Rosa Parks, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, designer Oleg Cassini, bandleader Woody Herman, coach Vince Lombardi, and athlete Jesse Owens.

Deaths included those of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, financier J. P. Morgan, emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, and retailer Aaron Montgomery Ward.

1910s

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