1918

1918 was the 47th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• February 12: Central High School burned down.
• The first Birmingham magazine was published.
• May 2: Aviator James Meissner scored his first aerial kill, earning the Distinguished Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre.
• May 10: The formerly private East Lake Park was dedicated as a public park.
• May 19: The Steel Cities Chemical Company Ensley plant was destroyed by fire.
• Camp Winnataska was founded by the Birmingham Sunday School Association.
• October 7–12: 1918 Alabama State Fair
• October 9: The Lincoln Branch of Birmingham Public Library opened to black patrons
• October: The 1918 influenza pandemic hit Birmingham, causing hundreds of deaths.
• December 3: Capitol Park was renamed in honor of President Woodrow Wilson.
• Powderly Elementary School was destroyed by fire.
• The Labuco Post Office was established.

Business

• January 1: The Connors Steel Company was organized.
• Joe Goldstein opened the first New Williams store on 3rd Avenue North
• Lauren Bloch bought the Parisian department store.
• Drilling of the vertical shaft Pyne Mine began.
• Rob G. and Roy. A. Dawson founded Dawson Bros. Cycling Co.
• Construction of the North Birmingham By Products Coke Oven Plant began.
• Jefferson Peek sold the Rye-Ola Company to Ben Barbour and Harry Speaker.
• The Motlow Distilling Company closed in advance of national prohibition.
• First National Bank of Pell City was renamed Union State Bank.
• The Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Company was forced into receivership.
• The Wide-Awake ceased publication.
• Thompson's Cafeteria opened in the Nabers, Morrow & Sinnige building on 20th Street North.
• The Southern Railroad opened a Railroad Fuel Company coal mine in the vicinity of Parrish.
• The architectural firm of Salie and Mewhinney split.
• James Forman joined the firm of Percy, Benners & Burr.

Education

• May 30: The Birmingham College and Southern University were merged into Birmingham-Southern College.

Government

• April 30: The Town of Wilton was incorporated.
• Tarrant City was incorporated.
• The Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta was established.
• The Jefferson County Medical Milk Commission was established.

Sports

• The Alabama Crimson Tide football team did not play due to World War I.

Individuals

• March 9: LeRoy Percy joined the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
• July 24: Satchel Paige was transferred from Councill School to the Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs for shoplifting and truancy.
• September 1: Joseph Ware succeeded Wilmer Poyner as rector of St Andrew's Episcopal Church.
• December 6: Robert A. Brown was elected president of the American Association of Fairs and Expositions.
• Jacob Mendelsohn succeeded A. Feinsilver as rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• W. A. Withington succeeded T. J. Cason as Mayor of Leeds.
• James T. Miller succeeded David Pegues Jr as pastor of Trinity Methodist Church (Southside).
• Wallace Wade began his coaching career at Fitzgerald and Clarke Military School in Tullahoma, Tennessee.
• William McQueen became was named president of the Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company.
• Ted Brownell was elected president of the newly-organized Birmingham Motor Trades Association.

Births

Sammy Lowe, born May 14, 1918

Kathryn Tucker Windham, born June 2, 1918

• February 22: Charlie Finley, Major League Baseball executive
• February 23: Jim Carlin, Major League Baseball player
• March 11: Lyman Bostock Sr, Birmingham Black Barons infielder
• March 12: Joseph Vath, Bishop of Birmingham
• March 13: John Rhoden, sculptor
• March 22: A. H. Woodward Jr, Woodward Iron Company executive
• May 6: Henrietta Boggs-MacGuire, First Lady of Costa Rica
• May 14: Wimpy Quinn, Major League Baseball player
• May 14: Sammy Lowe, jazz trumpeter and arranger
• May 16: Joseph Eaton Jr World War II bomber pilot
• June 2: Kathryn Tucker Windham, writer and storyteller
• June 6: Jean Glenn, librarian
• June 14: Andrew Hodges, insurance executive and Operation New Birmingham president
• June 29: J. D. Hill, grocer
• July 25: Herman Frank Cash, truck driver and bombing suspect
• August 18: Hank Penny, musician and entertainer
• August 24: Marion Yester, dental prosthetist
• August 27: Jack Meyer, hotel executive
• September 1: James Martin, U.S. Representative
• September 9: Colonel Stone Johnson, Union leader, Civil Rights activist and guard
• September 29: Sherman Kao, restaurateur
• October 21: Alvin Vogtle, CEO of Southern Company
• October 22: Harry Walker, Major League Baseball player and manager
• November 1: Arris Jebeles, restaurateur
• November 8: Michael Matsos, restaurateur
• November 2: Bill Cather, president of the A. H. Cather Publishing Company
• December 3: Marie Jemison essayist and Birmingham Public Library director
• December 6: G. Reid Doster, Alabama Air National Guard commander
• December 11: Elmer Moree, school administrator
• Willie Brantley, voting rights activist
• Sara Clark, attorney and law professor
• Ken Faulkner, department store manager
• James Kidd Jr, president of Sunnyland Refining Company
• Charles Patrick, mail carrier, furnace worker and cook
• Joe Rhodes, police sergeant and chaplain
• J. P. Rotton Jr, wholesale grocer and racing promoter
• James Walbert, Gospel composer and arranger

Graduations

• Clarence Allgood graduated from Ensley High School.
• Blanche Dean earned a teaching certificate at Valparaiso University.
• Luther Patrick completed his law degree at the University of Alabama School of Law.

Marriages

• June 6: Emilu Fox married George Bailes Sr.

Deaths

• Civil engineer William Merkel died.
• February 14: Writer John DuBose was killed in a railway accident.
• August 2: Infantry officer Mortimer Jordan III died from combat wounds at Sergy, France.
• October 9: Infantry lieutenant Orville Coston died from combat wounds near Cornay, France.
• October 14: Circus performer Elma Moore died from the "Spanish" influenza.
• October 18: Aviator Arthur Roberts was shot down over Issoudun, France
• October 25: M. C. Martin and William Mimms died in a rock fall at the Eureka No. 4 Mine.
• November 14: Aviator John R. Williams was killed in a training accident near Salisbury, England.
• November 15: Plantation owner and Elyton Land Company partner William Nabers died.

Works

• "The Barricade" by George Bellows
• "Flags" by Theodore Butler
• October 15: The USS Osmond Ingram was laid down at Quincy, Massachusetts.

Buildings

• Sardis school was established in Gardendale
• Gorgas Steam Plant second unit
• Viola Roden-Redin residence at 1256 Whitaker Street

Context

1918

Notable births in 1918 included . Notable deaths included

1910s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works