1933

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1933 was the 62nd year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• May 5: A tornado struck Helena, took the lives of 13 residents, and destroyed 110 houses.
• November 14: The first segment of Red Gap Branch was abandoned.
• November 17: Sergei Rachmaninoff performed in Birmingham.
• The Birmingham Chamber Music Society was founded.
• Torrential rains overcame the dam creating Edgewood Lake, emptying the lake.
• Jane Speed was arrested after bringing a large group to Kelly Ingram Park after her application for an integrated May Day meeting was denied.
• The Minneapolis Symphony performed at the Temple Theater and recorded the performance for broadcast.

Business

The Ritz Theatre in 1933

• May 20: The Southern Worker was relaunched as a monthly magazine.
• Acme Theatres holding company was formed.
• Art's Barber Shop opened for business.
• The Birmingham Civic Symphony Association was incorporated.
• Burger-Phillips moved to 3rd Avenue.
• Collateral Investment Company was founded.
• Empire Refractory Specialists was founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
• The Grapico Bottling Works added 7-Up to its product line and change the company name to the Orange Crush 7-Up Bottling Company.
• The Jefferson County Building and Loan Association was renamed the Jefferson Federal Savings and Loan Association.
• Lawler Foundry was founded.
• Paramount Cigar & Soda Company opened for business.
• Phoenix Bowling Center opened.
• The Ritz Theatre was sold to Wilby-Kincey Corporation.
• St Mark's Housing Association formed.

Education

• P. H. Polk was promoted to head of the photography division at Tuskegee University.
• Tuggle Institute closed.
• Snitz Snider became the head football coach at Bessemer High School.

Government

• May 1: Cooper Green was appointed Postmaster of Birmingham.
• June: The Birmingham Police Department's first radio dispatch system, WPFM-AM, was inaugurated with the first broadcast by Claude Gray.
• June 19: The Alabaster Water Works was incorporated.
• November 19: The Jefferson County Civil Works Administration was created.
• William Bankhead succeeded Miles Allgood as Representative of the 7th Congressional District of Alabama.
• Archibald Carmichael succeeded Edward Almon as Representative of the 8th Congressional District of Alabama.
• Franklin Glass was appointed to the Board of Federal Mediation by President Franklin Roosevelt.
• Margaret Tingle began working for the Birmingham Park and Recreation Board.

Politics

• Pattie Ruffner Jacobs became the first woman appointed to the Democratic National Committee from Alabama.

Religion

• Jacob Allen succeeded Louis Pizitz as president of Temple Beth-El.
• Arthur Dycer became pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church.
• Ensley First United Methodist Church hosted the North Alabama Methodist Conference.
• First Baptist Church of Irondale was founded.
• Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church split off from Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.
• E. A. Levi succeeded Abraham Bengis as rabbi of Temple Beth-El.

Sports

• Ivy Andrews was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the St Louis Browns after the season closed.
• Baseball player Millard Hayes made his minor league debut with the Atlanta Crackers of the Southern League.
• Mike Higgins led the American League in batting average.
• Ralph "Shug" Jordan became the Auburn University head men's basketball coach.
• Major League baseball player Joe Sewell retired.
• Baseball player Rudy York played for multiple teams during the season.

See also 1933 Birmingham Barons.

Individuals

• Sportscaster Mel Allen began working for WBRC-AM.
• Tallulah Bankhead nearly died from complications after a hysterectomy.
• Ottokar Cadek came to Birmingham to serve as concertmaster and associate conductor for the Birmingham Civic Symphonic Orchestra.
• Worcy Crawford arrived in Birmingham.
• Clifford and Virginia Durr moved to Washington, DC.
• Educator and journalist Emory Jackson returned to Birmingham.
• S. Lawrence Johnson began his ministerial career in Salem, Massachusetts.
• Henry Thornton became the manager of the BYPU Specials.
• Virginia Tyler took a job at the Ensley Community House.
• Sidney van Sheck moved to Birmingham.
• Architect David O. Whilldin was commissioned to create a variety of designs for 4-room "model bungalows" to be built by the St Mark's Housing Association.

Births

Annie Easley, born April 23, 1933

Wayne Rogers, born April 7, 1933

Calvin Woods, born September 13, 1933

• January 19: Jude Johnston, artist and monk
• February 9: Jo Ann Prentice, professional golfer
• February 14: Joab Thomas, University of Alabama president
• February 22: Bonnie Bolding Swearingen, actor and philanthropist
• March 2: Marilyn Tate, 1954 Miss Alabama
• March 5: Joe Dickson, Civil Rights activist, business executive, and publisher
• March 27: Vince Gibson, college football coach
• April 7: Wayne Rogers, actor
• April 23: Annie Easley, mathematician and computer scientist
• May 28: Bob Eskew, contractor and rose expert
• June 10: Rob Lehmeyer, musician and conductor
• June 17: Guy Hunt, Governor of Alabama
• June 21: Gerald Barrax, poet and English professor
• June 22: James E. Martin, Auburn University president
• June 27: Iola Baylor, high school volleyball and basketball coach
• June 28: Lee Styslinger Jr, business owner
• July 4: Baker Knight, songwriter and bandleader
• July 7: John Logue, author and editor
• July 29: Abe Fawal, educator and novelist
• August 13: Tommy Rowe, Ku Klux Klan leader and FBI informant
• August 17: Jim Davenport, baseball player
• August 26: Eddie Aldridge, nurseyman and owner of Aldridge Gardens
• August 31: Max D. Cooper, imunologist
• September: Shelley Stewart, radio personality and station owner
• September 2: Hootie Ingram, football player and coach
• September 13: Calvin Woods, pastor and SCLC leader
• October 10: Jay Sebring, hair stylist
• November 21: Hank Hartsfield, astronaut
• November 25: Cleophus Brown, baseball player
• December 12: Claude Bennett, UAB president
• December 27: James Crutcher, church founder
• Don Drennen Jr, car dealership owner
• Lillie Fincher, educator, talk-show host, and community leader
• Sheldon Hackney, historian and educator
• Wendell Harris, news anchor
• Fred Lamar, minister and professor
• Lois Leonard, Vietnam War widow
• Pete Norris, banker, lawyer, and judge
• Jim C. Parsons, Birmingham police chief
• Bill Ricker, photographer and directory of Operation New Birmingham
• Alfonzo Scales, pastor and SCLC leader
• Ray Scott, Bass Anglers Sportsman Society founder
• Tom Self, photographer
• Ted Tibbs, organist and music professor
• Loxcil Tuck, Mayor of Tarrant
• Yvonne Turner, federal administrator and civil rights & community activist

Graduations

• Joseph A. Durick from St. Bernard College
• Carl Elliott from the University of Alabama
• Robert F. Gibbons from Ashford High School
• Loulie Jean Norman from Birmingham-Southern College
• A dog named Rascal was awarded an honorary degree in "canine jurisprudence" from Cumberland School of Law.
• Hugh Thomas from Birmingham-Southern College

Marriages

• E. E. Forbes to Annie Wilcox Thompson.
• Fred Sington to Nancy Napier.

Deaths

• January: Weenona Hanson, music club founder
• January 4: J. O. Diffay, bank president
• February 17: Isaiah Kigh, pharmacist
• March 7: William Denham, architect
• March 24: T. E. McGiboney, newspaper carrier
• June 18: Charles Allen, building contractor
• June 24: James McWane, businessman
• June or July: Elizabeth Lawrence, school teacher
• August 19: William Tynes, businessman
• October 5: Ulysses Mason, banker and physician

See also 1933 Birmingham homicides and List of homicides in 1933.

Works

• The comic strip Flying to Fame by Ernest Henderson came to an end.

Books

• Amarantha Gay, M.D. by Emma Gelders Sterne

Buildings

• Charles Carraway purchased the T. S. Abernathy residence.
• The Burger-Phillips Building underwent a façade renovation.
• East Lake Library repairs and repainting
• Gilmore-Vines Stadium was completed.
• Green Springs Villa was completed.
• A second wood frame multi-function building with a small auditorium and library was constructed at the site of [[Leeds High School].
• Shades Creek Park was landscaped and a baseball diamond installed.
• Swann Bridge was completed.
• The Thomas Jefferson Hotel underwent a $35,000 improvement project.
• Ware Building was completed.

Demolitions

• Trussville Furnace was dismantled.
• A two story Buck Creek Community House was destroyed by fire.

Music

• The first known recording of "Black Betty" was made.

Context

In, 1933 the Great Depression continued. The Civilian Conservation Corps was established. The Twenty-first Amendment was ratified, repealing Prohibition.

Notable births included....

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Books published in 1933 included...

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The top films of 1933 were...

1930s

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