George B. Ward

His parents, George R. and Margaret Ward, operated the Relay House hotel along with his grandparents William and Jane Ketchum.

He narrowly missed a bullet fired into a mob rushing Birmingham's Jefferson County Courthouse to lynch murderer Richard Hawes on December 8, 1888.

In 1900 Ward returned to the National Bank of Birmingham, leaving after a year's time to form a new investment company with John M. Caldwell.

He worked to cultivate the city's revenue base, leaning on lucrative short-term utility franchises, raising fees, and investing in public projects with anticipated returns.

Ward codified and published the Birmingham Municipal Code for the first time, and mailed a copy of the city's sanitation laws to every household.

He also invested in sewer construction and worked hard to help the Birmingham City Schools keep pace with the rapidly growing student population.

Ward urged utilities to bury their services underground and instituted city-wide clean-up days to beautify downtown.

Nevertheless, in August 1907, while Ward was on a six-week tour of Europe, the Board of Aldermen voted 10-7 to reorganize as a City Council with John L. Parker as President and Acting Mayor.

Parker filed suit against Ward, and won a judgment from the Alabama Supreme Court giving the Council control of the city.

The anti-Ward faction's main goal of loosening restrictions on saloons, however, was pre-empted by the popular election for prohibition which took effect at the same time.

He spent a great deal of money on his campaign and expected a victory based on polls taken in advance of the election, but ended up losing badly to Walter McAdory.

The Alabama legislature only grudgingly prepared a bill for referendum that would allow Birmingham to increase its municipal income tax rate from 1% to 1.5%.

East Lake physician Nathaniel Barrett was his primary opponent, smearing Ward, an Episcopalian, as part of a supposed "Roman Catholic conspiracy".

During the President Warren Harding's 1921 visit to Birmingham, Ward rode alongside African American barber Frank McQueen in the lead car, representing the "Pioneers of 1871" who had lived in the city since its founding.