1934

1934 was the 63rd year after the founding of the City of Birmingham. It occurred in the midst of the Great Depression, during which Birmingham was particularly hard-hit.

Events

• January 16: Birmingham's Lane Park was dedicated.
• February: The United Mine Workers of America called a strike at the Piper mines.
• March 10: A massive fire destroyed the Loveman, Joseph & Loeb department store building.
• March 27: The Elyton-West End Civic Club was founded.
• May 14: Ave Maria Grotto opened to the public.
• June 23: Homewood's Shades Creek Park was dedicated.
• November 18: President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech at Woodrow Wilson Park.
• Coleman Cooper founded the Apollo Boys' Choir.
• The Avondale Zoo at Avondale Park closed and its animals were sold off.
• The South Elyton Civil League was established as an affiliate of the Alabama State Federation of Colored Civic Leagues.
• The Birmingham Kiwanis Club, Birmingham City Commission and Birmingham Park and Recreation Board resumed efforts to find a suitable location to display the Vulcan statue.
• The City of Homewood began leasing the pool at Hollywood Country Club during the summers.
• The Talley mounds were excavated by David DeJarnette of the Alabama Museum of Natural History.
• Corinth Cemetery in Trussville was established.
• Birmingham Age-Herald columnist John Temple Graves kept up a lively discussion with readers regarding Ginkgo trees.

Business

• The Weiss Brothers acquired Gus Mayer of New Orleans, Louisiana.
• Lucille Cobb bought the theater in Fayette founded by her grandfather, Jefferson Richards, which became the first in the Cobb Theatres chain.
• Ben Weil re-acquired Mayer Electric Supply from Max Mayer.

Establishments

• March 29: "Happy" John Bollas Barbecue was incorporated by John Bollas, Nicholas Mitchell, and Peter Jebeles.
• Alabama Telco Credit Union was chartered.
• Highland Avenue Baptist Hospital opened in the former Gorgas Hospital Hotel on Highland Avenue.
• Murray Smith and James Hardwick opened Smith & Hardwick booksellers in the Clark Building.
• Frank Merrill opened the Charcoal Steak House on 4th Avenue North.
• Tom Cumming opened the Empire Steak House on 1st Avenue North.
• Charlie Pilleteri opened the Supreme Super Market on 4th Street North in Smithfield.
• The Birmingham News acquired WKBC-AM and launched WSGN-AM.
• Charles and R. Hugh Daniel founded the Daniel Construction Company.
• George and Clarence McDorman incorporated the Pandora Cafeteria.
• Mitchell and Theresa Romeo opened Romeo's restaurant on 20th Street South.

Disestablishments

• The Gorgas Hospital Hotel closed.
• The Birmingham Reporter ceased publishing.
• Mason Cemetery in North Birmingham closed.

Education

• Westfield High School opened in Fairfield.
• The Margaret Allen School on Highland Avenue closed.
• The Homewood Civic Club helped to star a kindergarten class at Edgewood Elementary School.
• Thomas Boulware supervised Alabama's first OB/GYN residency at Hillman Hospital.

Government

• March 31: The Civil Works Administration was dismantled.
• 1934 general election
  • Bull Connor won his first election, to the Alabama State House of Representatives.
  • Sidney Smyer was elected to the Alabama State House of Representatives.
  • Archibald Carmichael won re-election to represent the 8th Congressional District of Alabama.
• The Jefferson County Health Department lobbied successfully for ordinances requiring rabies inoculation for dogs and for the trapping and impoundment of stray animals.

Religion

• All Saints Episcopal Parish was created.
• Tennessee-Alabama District of the Pilgrim Holiness Church was established.

Sports

• July 4: Satchel Paige pitched a no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Crawfords against the Homestead Grays.
• July 29: The 1934 National Balloon Race launched from Legion Field
• Southern University joined the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• 1934 Alabama Crimson Tide football team
• Ted Radcliffe became the first Black manager of white players as he took charge of the independent, racially-integrated Jamestown Red Sox in North Dakota.

Works

• Brother Bryan statue, designed by William Grant and sculpted by Georges Bridges
• A. Clinton Decker was awarded a patent for a portable cylindrical outhouse or storage shed constructed of steel.

Books

• Calico Ball by Emma Gelders Sterne
• The Church and Family Relations, collected columns by Raimundo de Ovies

Buildings

• Hayden Bridge in Locust Fork
• Ryan Baptist Church near Montevallo
• Shades Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant
• Westfield High School in Fairfield
• Wilton Town Hall
• The Civilian Conservation Corps, Company 487 began building road access from Montgomery Highway to what would become Oak Mountain State Park on Double Oak Mountain.
• A second runway was added to Birmingham Municipal Airport.
• Renovations to St Clair County Courthouse.
• The Peggy Hale Dress Company moved into the renovated former Trianon Theatre.

Demolitions

• March 10: Loveman, Joseph & Loeb burned down.
• Cofer Bridge in Cullman County

People

• January 15: B. O. Hargrove became chief of the Birmingham Fire Department.
• January: Luther Hollums was appointed chief of the Birmingham Police Department.
• Mayor of Homewood W. C. Bryant resigned and was succeeded by Earl Bloom.
• William Ed Lewis joined the Kings of Harmony gospel quartet.
• William Bankhead was elected as majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Governor Benjamin Miller commuted the murder sentence of Willie Peterson.
• Arthur Shores became principal of Dunbar High School.
• Marvin Franklin succeeded J. Stewart French as pastor of Highlands United Methodist Church.
• Frank Samford Sr became president of Liberty National Life Insurance Company.
• Fred Sington made his Major League debut with the Washington Senators.
• Hugh Wallace took the pulpit of 11th Street Baptist Church.
• William Monroe Harris returned to the pulpit of Mt Vernon Methodist Church.

Births

• January 6: Oliver Adams, Bessemer Police chief
• January 9: Bart Starr, professional football player and coach
• January 20: John Brophy, professional hockey player and coach
• February 8: Earl Trammell, auto body shop owner
• February 17: Willie Kirkland, professional baseball player
• February 18: Norma Bumpus, educator
• February 20: Lee Walls, newspaper publisher
• March 18: Charley Pride, country singer
• April 10: George Atkins, professional football player
• May 6: Richard Shelby, U.S. Senator
• June 24: Jim Pfaffman, architect
• July 4: Elijah Gilliam, professional baseball player
• July 16: Tennant Smallwood, Jefferson County Circuit Court judge
• July 22: Louise Fletcher, actor
• August 8: Ezekiel Hameen, restaurateur
• August 20: Clarence Lewis, soul and blues singer
• September 9: Sonia Sanchez, poet
• September 15: Fob James, Governor of Alabama
• October 19: Richard Arrington, Mayor of Birmingham
• November 15: Sam Pointer Jr, U.S. District Court judge
• December 12: Abe Gustin, founder of Applebee's International
• December: Lou Scripa Jr, endurance champion
• Odessa Ashley, educator
• John Bomer, radio executive
• Edward Burgess, chemist
• Bettye Fine Collins, Jefferson County Commissioner
• Betty Corona, Sun Valley Neighborhood Association president
• Charles Denaburg, attorney
• Joseph Ellwanger, Lutheran minister
• Heager Hill, HUD official and consultant
• Bobby Hoppe, football player and coach
• Ronnie Marchant, auto and appliance dealer
• Don Newton, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce president
• Cordray Parker, sculptor
• Leroy Stover, Birmingham Police officer
• Marvin Whiting, archivist and historian

Marriages

• July 31: Samuel Barker to Justine Rogers
• October 26: Satchel Paige married Janet Howard
• Pastor C. L. Franklin to Alene Gaines
• Walter Henley to Marie Smith Whitaker

Awards

• Miss Alabama:
• Osburn Zuber's editorial, "Why We Have Lynching in the South", earned honorable mention from the Pulitzer committee.
• William Warren was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.

Graduations

• Anesthesiologist Alfred Habeeb graduated from Mississippi College.
• Bandleader Erskine Hawkins earned a junior college diploma from Alabama State Teachers College.
• Real estate executive James Sulzby Jr earned a certificate from the American Banking Institute.
• Conductor Dorsey Whittington graduated from the Boguslarvski College of Music.
• Labor organizer Hosea Hudson completed a 10-week Communist Party USA training program in New York City.
• Educator John Monro graduated from Harvard College.
• Librarian William Hoole earned his Ph.D. at Duke University.
• Building materials supplier Ed Sprague graduated from Ensley High School.
• Chemist and environmentalist Bob Burks graduated from Ramsay High School.
• Civic leader Julia Crowder graduated from Howard College.
• U.S. Representative Laurie Battle graduated from [{Birmingham-Southern College]].
• Newspaper editor and columnist Duard Le Grand graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.

Deaths

• January 10: Franklin Glass, Birmingham News editor
• January 26: Zennie Tomlinson, stenographer and purchasing agent
• February 14: Pedro Gusman, wallpaper hanger
• March 13: Louis Clark, insurance executive and real estate developer
• April 23: Dumas Phillips, Birmingham Police officer
• June 4: William Luquire, undertaker
• August 23: George Taylor was lynched at Stockham Park.
• September 27: Driver Elfrieda Mais died while performing a stunt at the Fairgrounds Raceway.
• October 6: William Leslie Welton, architect
• November 1: A robber was killed and his partner wounded in a shootout at the Redmont Hotel.
• November 25: Gail Joyce, motorcycle dealer
• December 3: Conrad Austin, Birmingham Police chief
• December 7: William Brandon, Governor of Alabama
• Elizabeth Johnston, founder of the Alabama Boys Industrial School
  • See also: List of homicides in 1934

Context

President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Gold Reserve Act and set a statutory price of $35 per ounce. Bruno Hauptman was arrested and charged for kidnaping Augustus Lindbergh Jr. A fabricated photograph, purported to show the Loch Ness Monster, was published in London's Daily Mail. The German Nazi party purged its left-wing membership by murder and Adolf Hitler took the title of Führer, with the nation's military swearing personal allegiance to him. 90% of Germans voting in an August 19 referendum approved of the change, celebrated at the 6th Nuremberg Rally. Persia was renamed Iran.

Arthur Henderson was awarded the Nobel Peace Price for chairing the Geneva Disarmament Conference. Italy won the World Cup over Czechoslovakia. "It Happened One Night" dominated the Academy Awards while the technicolor musical "Kid Millions" led the box office. "Flash Gordon" debuted on comics pages. Notable literary works included Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, I, Claudius by Robert Graves. The St Louis Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Horton Smith won the first Master's golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

Notable figures born in 1934 include actors Alan Arkin, Brigitte Bardot, Judi Dench and Florence Henderson; architect Michael Graves; baseball player Roberto Clemente; consumer activist Ralph Nader; cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin; cult leader Charles Manson; fashion designer Giorgio Armani; feminist Gloria Steinem; film director Sydney Pollack; inventor Robert Moog; musicians Pat Boone, Leonard Cohen, Dave Grusin, Del Shannon, and Frankie Valli; Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega; writers Joan Didion and Audre Lorde; and zoologist Jane Goodall.

Notable deaths in 1934 included those of King Albert I of Belgium; King Alexander of Yugoslavia; animator Winsor McCay; composers Louis Gottschalk and Gustav Holst; scientist Marie Curie; and outlaws John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.

1930s

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