1937

1937 was the 66th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• August 30: A "Reunion of Former Slaves" was held at Avondale Park, featuring sing-alongs and sermons.
• October 15: The 1937 Mulga Mine explosion cost 34 workers their lives.
• Montgomery Highway was improved, utilizing sections of East Avenue with gentler grades and curves on the slopes of Shades Mountain, and leaving bits of "Old Montgomery Highway" off of the main route.
• The Revolutionary War Veterans Memorial was moved to Woodrow Wilson Park from Five Points Circle.
• John Emery and Tallulah Bankhead were married at her family's "Sunset" estate in Jasper and hosted a rousing party afterward at the Tutwiler Hotel's "Continental Room".
• William Leslie Welton's collection of 1,500 mounted photographs of architectural subjects was donated to the Birmingham Public Library by his widow.
• Hosea Hudson founded the Right to Vote Club to educate black citizens about their voting rights and coordinate efforts to defeat practices set up by poll workers to disenfranchise them.

Business

• The Southern Natural Gas Company acquired the Alabama Gas Company and the Birmingham Gas Company.
• A. L. Gilliland's Alabama Ride Company debuted a new touring carnival, dubbed the, "Garden of Rides and Congress of Dare Devils."
• The "Rainbow Room" lounge opened at the Redmont Hotel.
• Parisian department store moved into the renovated Caheen Building and adjoining Roden Block at 20th Street and 2nd Avenue North.
• Ed Norton and Thad Holt purchased WAPI-AM and boosted its broadcast power to 50,000 Watts.
• Huffstutler's Hardware moved from 18th Street Homewood to 29th Avenue South.
• The Little Southerner Supper Club opened on 29th Avenue South.
• Eliose Smith took over WBRC-AM after the death of her husband.
• The Southern Worker ceased publication.
• Graffeo Brothers Grocery Store moved from Pratt City to Ensley.
• Grady and Margaret Sharp founded Greg's Cookies.
• William Rushton Jr became president of the Protective Life Insurance Company.
• The Palm Leaf Lunchroom and Harlem Shoe Shop opened in the Brock Drugs building.
• Bob Williams opened the Little Savoy Cafe.
• Jane Speed's Book Store opened on 5th Avenue North.

Education

• John Bryan was made Superintendent of Jefferson County Schools.
• The Alabama State Training School for Girls opened on the former "Matsuyama" estate in Chalkville.
• Ullman High School was created from the former Ullman Grammar School.

Government

• January: The City of Pleasant Grove was incorporated.
• May 18: Bull Connor and Jimmy Morgan were elected to the Birmingham City Commission.
• Legal liquor sales returned to Alabama with the creation of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
• The Alabama State Legislature passed a law allowing public entertainments to be staged in Jefferson County on Sundays. (Birmingham already had an exemption to the blue laws).
• Richmond Hobson succeeded William Oliver as U.S. Representative for the 6th District of Alabama.
• Luther Patrick succeeded George Huddleston Sr as U.S. Representative for the 9th District of Alabama.
• The Birmingham City Commission relieved Birmingham Motion Picture Council chief inspector Harriett Adams of her responsibility to prohibit the screening of films which violated community standards.
• The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the parking meters used by the city of Birmingham exceeded its legal authority to collect revenues and ordered them removed.

Religion

• John Buchanan succeeded James Dillard as pastor of Southside Baptist Church.
• Alex Klein became rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• Joseph Solomon succeeded Jacob Allen as president of Temple Emanu-El.
• Harold Cook succeeded Wick Broomall Jr as president of the Birmingham School of the Bible.
• United Church of Birmingham merged with the Congregational Community Church to form Pilgrim Congregational Church.
• John Goodgame Jr succeeded his father as pastor of Sixth Avenue Baptist Church.

Sports

• January 1: The 1936 Auburn Tigers football team played Villanova Wildcats to a 7-7 tie in the 1937 Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba.
• The Birmingham Black Barons joined the newly-formed Negro American League.
• Satchel Paige recruited several Negro Leagues stars as ringers for "Los Dragones" of Ciudad de Trujillo, a baseball club owned by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo.
• The 1937 Alabama Crimson Tide football team won the Southeastern Conference championship, earning a spot in the 1938 Rose Bowl.

Works

• Black Earth, novel by Thomas Rowan
• "For My People", poem by Margaret Walker
• "Birmingham, Alabama: The City of Perpetual Promise", Harpers Magazine feature by George Leighton
• Richard Blauvelt Coe began painting the Sidney van Sheck-designed mural "Youth's Strife in the Approach to Life's Problems" on the proscenium of Woodlawn High School's auditorium.

Buildings

• Denny Stadium was expanded to 18,000 seats.
• Engle-Armstrong House on Roseland Drive
• S. H. Kress & Company Building
• Caheen Building and Roden Block renovations for Parisian.
• Works Progress Administration projects:
  • Birmingham Jail
  • Locust Fork High School
  • Mortimer Jordan High School gymnasium
  • Smithfield Court public housing project
  • Wilton Pump House

Demolitions

• The 1889 Jefferson County Courthouse was torn down.

Movies

• Stage Door", starring Gail Patrick

Music

• Erskine Hawkins signed a record contract with RCA Victor's Bluebird label.
• Hank Penny formed the Radio Cowboys swing band.
• Forbes Piano Company employees Johnnie Catalina and Larry Yester founded a 25-person Forbes Accordion Band.

Individuals

• August 12: President Franklin Roosevelt nominated Senator Hugo Black to the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Mel Allen successfully auditioned for an announcing job on the CBS Radio Network.
• Stanleigh Malotte began his tenure as house organist at the Alabama Theatre.
• Alf Brown succeeded B. O. Hargrove as Chief of the Birmingham Fire Department.

Births

• January 8: Jabo Waggoner Jr, state representative
• January 30: G. B. Burt, blues musician
• February 22: Sid Ingram, school administrator
• April 12: J. D. Weeks, health officer and author
• June 1: Ellen Simonton, interior designer
• June 2: Jimmy Jones, R&B singer
• June 18: Gail Godwin, novelist
• July 2: Polly Holliday, actor
• July 31: T. C. Cannon bar owner
• August 13: Charles Crowder, judge
• October 20: William Cobb, novelist
• December 3: Bobby Allison, race car driver
• Martin Bell, private investigator and Episcopal priest
• Keith Blayney, UAB administrator
• Ed Boutwell, recording studio owner
• Jane Comer, owner of The Elegant Earth
• Thomas Hearn, president of Wake Forest University
• Burl Lawson, furniture designer
• Willie Maye Jr, school administrator
• Terry Oden, Mayor of Mountain Brook
• Tony Ruffino, concert promoter
• Rex Shotts, electrician
• Edna Snow, Homewood City Schools administrator
• Cleve Wester, Auburn football player and tire dealer
• William Wilson, Anglican bishop
• Ray Woodard, soccer coach

Marriages

• Alice Chalifoux to John Gordon Rideout.

Graduations

• Kenneth Daniel earned an engineering degree at the University of Alabama.
• Jessie Hale Downs earned a teaching certificate at Livingston State Teacher's College.
• Marvin Harper graduated from Tuscaloosa County High School.
• George Seibels earned a history degree at the University of Virginia.
• Barbara Dorough Thomas graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.
• Evelyn Williams graduated from Ensley High School.

Deaths

• May: Leon Friedman, Birmingham News editor
• October 15: 15 workers died in the 1937 Mulga Mine explosion.
• Edna Gockel Gussen, music educator
• M. D. Smith Jr, owner of WBRC-AM.

1930s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works