1908

Aftermath of the 1908 tornado

1908 was the 37th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• January 1: Local prohibition went into effect in Jefferson County.
• March 18: The Birmingham Motorcycle Club held a hill-climb contest on 7th Street North in Fountain Heights.
• April 24: The 1908 tornado killed 35 and injured 188 more along its 105 mile-long path.
• May 19: An eastbound train derailed and damaged a steel bridge over the Cahaba River 15 miles east of Birmingham.
• May 30: The first passenger train stopped at the Birmingham Terminal Station platform, with the station building still under construction.
• June 9–11: The 1908 Reunion of the United Confederate Veterans was held in Birmingham.
• July 8: Miner Porter Bickert's house was bombed in Lewisburg.
• September 8: The first Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic Railway train pulled into Birmingham Terminal Station.
• November 7: 4 people were killed in a shootout at a suspected shot house in Smithfield.
• November 15: 8 miners were killed in the 1908 No. 3 Mine fire.
• The original 16th Street Baptist Church building was condemned.
• Local prohibition was enacted in the City of Birmingham.
• Frank P. O'Brien succeeded George Ward as Mayor of Birmingham.
• The Birmingham Art Club was founded.
• Alberta City founded outside Tuscaloosa.
• The Birmingham Police Department initiated a bicycle corps for patrols.

Business

• May 8: Vanderbilt Furnace No. 2 was blown in.
• July 8–August 30: The 1908 United Mine Workers strike idled 18,000 workers.
• July 9: Pete Perolio, Charles Perolio, John Brocket and Frank Damastri incorporated the Pratt City Transfer Co.
• Charles Carraway founded the Carraway Infirmary in Pratt City.
• Gunn's Pharmacy was incorporated.
• J. C. Marks & Company, a wholesale wine, liquor and cigar dealer, moved to Louisville, Kentucky following local prohibition.
• James McWane joined ACIPCO as a vice-president.
• Architect Wallace Rayfield relocated his practice to Birmingham.

Education

• Collegeville's Hudson School was established.
• James Hall retired from teaching, closing his Zelosophian Academy in Oak Grove.
• Oak Grove Elementary School was founded in what later became part of Homewood.

Religion

• October 18: St Barnabas Catholic Church, remodeled from Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was formally dedicated.
• Temple Beth-El was founded by former members of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• Central Park Methodist Church was established.

Sports

• May 5: Bill Foxen made his Major League debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.
• August: Carlton Molesworth took over as manager of the Birmingham Barons.
• The Birmingham Giants claimed the title of "Colored Champions of the South".
• The University of Alabama and Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn) failed to agree on a meal stipend for players, thus ending their rivalry until the legislature required them to play each other again in 1948.

Works

Mary Cahalan statue

• Mary Cahalan statue by Giuseppe Moretti

Buildings

• Construction of a second Alley School in Elyton began.
• Avondale Library
• Expansion of Canaan Missionary Baptist Church in Bessemer
• The Clark Building on 20th Street and 4th Avenue North
• Elyton Elementary School
• Ensley High School
• The second Woodlawn City Hall
• Brown Marx Building expansion
• The first North Birmingham Elementary School
• William Merritt residence at 2020 Highland Avenue
• A. B. Loveman residence
• 324 21st Street North
• Hueytown School was rebuilt on Dabbs Avenue

Publications

• Views of Birmingham Alabama: With A Glimpse at Some of The Natural Resources of the Birmingham District and the Industries Based Thereon (1908) New York: Isadore Newman & Son Bankers

Individuals

Alice Chalifoux, born in 1908

• Blanche Dean began teaching at a local church school.
• William Bell began teaching Greek and mathematics at Miles College.
• John A. Carroll came to Birmingham to open a furniture store.

Births

• January 22: Alice Chalifoux, harpist
• March 15: Alice Pigman, educator and social worker
• April 20: Lionel Hampton, jazz vibraphonist and bandleader
• July 14: Harry Curl, theater manager
• July 15: Lee Erwin, organist and composer
• July 29: Felix Gaines, artist
• August 18: Veterans Day founder Raymond Weeks
• September 8: Emory Jackson, Birmingham World editor and NAACP leader
• September 13: Earnest Mostella, miner, preacher and luthier
• October 2: Ed Ramage, Presbyterian minister
• October 9: Governor Jim Folsom Sr was born in Elba, Coffee County.
• October 9: Photographer A. C. Keily
• December 9: Walter Gewin, federal circuit court judge
• Robert Bragg, Chief of the Irondale Police Department
• Clarence Hanson Jr, Birmingham News publisher
• John Jemison Jr, investment banker
• Augusta Williams, murder victim

Deaths

• February 23: Benjamin Roden
• March 6: M. J. Hurst, wife of Edward Hurst
• June 4: Oliver Marble, architect
• June 6: Y. E. Holloway, physician
• June 8: J. Q. A. Wilhite, former pastor of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church
• July 8: P. J. Powell, judge
• July 9: C. J. Martin, Ensley Works employee
• July 9: August Lavell, Ensley Works employee
• July 17: Charles Gardner
• August 4: Labor organizer Will Millin was lynched in Brighton
• August 21: Chambers McAdory
• November 7: John Little, Birmingham Police officer
• December 11: James Luckie, physician
• List of homicides in 1908

Graduations

• Blanche Dean, from Lineville High School

Context

1908 was a leap year. It was the year that the Grand Canyon was made a National Monument. The Boy Scouts of America was founded by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. The first Model T rolled off the Ford Motor Co. assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan. The Cubs earned their most recent World Series victory over Detroit. Taft was elected President over William Jennings Bryan. And an earthquake in Sicily killed more than 75,000 people.

External links

• "Views of Birmingham, Alabama with a glimpse at some of the natural resources of the Birmingham District and industries based theron." published by Isidore Newman & Son, Bankers (New York, New Orleans) and copyrighted in 1908.

1900s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works