2005

Natalee Holloway, disappeared in May 2005

2005 was the 134th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• January 6: Tapestry went on the air.
• February 8: Birmingham signed a Sister City agreement with Guédiawaye, Senegal.
• February 22: The Magic City Flickr Group was founded.
• March 12: The Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site was dedicated.
• April 20: Canaan Missionary Baptist Church and West End Hills Missionary Baptist Church were added to the National Register of Historic Places.
• May 6: Birmingham signed a Sister City agreement with Plzeň, Czech Republic.
• May 30: Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba.
• June 17-19: 2005 City Stages.
• June 28: Richard Scrushy was acquitted of 36 counts of fraud and conspiracy.
• July 1: Bessemer State Technical College merged into Lawson State Community College.
• July 16: Brandee Skinner's BMW plunged into the Cahaba River, killing her two children.
• September 28: Forever Wild's acquisition of the 48-acre Turkey Creek-Thomas Tract expanded the Turkey Creek Nature Preserve.
• October 9: A "Friendship bell" was donated to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens by the Osaka Central Rotary Club of Japan.
• October 13-15: 2005 NOMA convention at the Sheraton Birmingham.
• October 26: Indictments in the Siegelman Scrushy corruption case were unsealed.
• November 9: Birmingham signed a "trilateral" Sister Cities agreement with Rosh Ha’Ayin, Israel and Al-Karak, Jordan.
• Friends of Magic City Children changed its name to the TumTum Tree Foundation.

Business

logo for ServisFirst Bank

• January: MedTown Pharmacy opened on 20th Street North.
• March: The Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta lost 70 jobs.
• April 20: Jubilee Joe's seafood restaurant opened in Hoover.
• May 2: Tom Broughton founded ServisFirst Bank in Birmingham.
• June: Bryant Bank was founded.
• June: WBHJ-FM moved its transmitter to Red Mountain from a site near Vance.
• August 15: Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa opened.
• September 23: The Birmingham Post-Herald published its last edition.
• October: SouthPoint Bank opened.
• October 24: SouthTrust Bank merged with Wachovia.
• November: Mudtown Eat & Drink opened in Cahaba Heights.
• November 20: The Alabama Southern Railroad began operating between Birmingham and Columbus, Mississippi.
• The Crestwood Tavern opened on Crestwood Boulevard.
• Ed and Mary Gurney opened Playhouse Costume on 3rd Avenue North.
• Big Sky Bread Company opened a 10,000 square-foot bakery and warehouse at the Cahaba Valley Business Park.
• Kingwood Church bought the former Meadowlark Farms restaurant.
• The House of Love Records label was founded.
• World Auto Sales was incorporated.
• Sarris Café moved from Hoover to Pelham.
• Bruce Lanier founded Standard Creative architects.
• Ken and Kenny Camp founded Organic Harvest grocery.
• Cecelia Pearson launched Lifestages Media.
• Jan Cobb and Susie Hammers acquired the former Chinaberry Antique Shop space in Crestline Village to open the Crestline Christmas Shoppe
• Eissmann Automotive opened an automobile interiors manufacturing plant in Pell City.
• Colon & Rectal Surgical Associates of Birmingham was founded.
• John Poole founded Poole & Company Architects.

Religion

• March 27: 10,000 attended a special Easter service hosted by Gardendale First Baptist Church at the BJCC.
• April 20: St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Montevallo dedicated new worship and education buildings.
• July: The Universist Movement was chartered as a religious non-profit corporation in Alabama.
• December: Life Changers Christian Church bought the former Forestdale United Methodist Church on Tomahawk Road.

Sports

• March: The first North Alabama Whitewater Festival was held at King's Bend on Locust Fork.
• October 29: Alabama A&M beat Alabama State 31-28 in the Magic City Classic
• November 19: Auburn beat Alabama 28-18 in the 2005 Iron Bowl
• December: The Tragic City Rollers were formed

Individuals

• March 19: Avery Johnson succeeded Don Nelson as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.
• April 15: John Ed Willoughby retired from daily radio hosting.
• November 1: Bryan Noe was appointed as the first dean of the UAB Graduate School.
• December 19: Army Sergeant Noah Galloway was injured in an IED attack in Iraq, losing his left arm and leg.
• Abdurrahim El-Keib left the faculty of the University of Alabama.
• Ray Melick began writing sports columns for the Birmingham News.
• Vijay Misra was named director of the UAB Heart and Vascular Center cardiac catheterization laboratory.
• Doris Powell was elected chair of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority.
• Dian Perryman took over management of Jim & Jim's Body Shop in Homewood.
• Muzaffar Sheikh retired from Vestavia Hills High School after 35 years.

Births

• Tamani, an African elephant, at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida.
• Matt, a male Komodo dragon at the Birmingham Zoo
• August 25: Akili, an African lion at the Birmingham Zoo

Graduations

• Spencer Horn, PhD in education technology from UAB

Awards

• Alabama Lawyers Hall of Fame: Oscar Adams Jr, Douglas Arant, Hugo Black, Harry Toulmin
• Miller Gorrie, Auburn Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award
• Birmingham Business Hall of Fame: William Blount, Thomas Corts, James Head, Charles Linn, Frank Samford Sr, and Frank Samford Jr
• Miss Alabama: Alexa Jones
• Miss Shelby County: Susannah Higgins
• Sam "The Great Kaiser" Tenenbaum was inducted into the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame

Deaths

J. B. Stoner, died April 23, 2005

• January 18: Kevin McGowin, author
• February 5: Elton B. Stephens, businessman and philanthropist
• February 24: George Gaunt, architect
• March 1: Houston Brice Jr, businessman
• March 14: Randy Marsh, Alabama School of Fine Arts teacher and Birmingham Festival Theatre co-founder
• March 28: Tom Bevill, former U.S. Representative
• March 29: Howell Heflin, former Alabama Supreme Court justice and U. S. Senator
• April 23: J. B. Stoner, founder of the National States Rights Party
• May 3: Carl Salter, artist
• June 2: Maynard, Birmingham Zoo lion
• June 10: Joseph Raya, Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop
• June 21: Louis Wilson Jr, U.S. Marine Corps Commandant
• June 24: Lyman Bostock Sr, first baseman for Birmingham Black Barons
• July 9: Daryl Harms, entreprenuer
• July 16: Ashlyn and Bryson Skinner, children of Brandee Skinner, died when her car plunged into the Cahaba River.
• July 19: Jefferey Farrow, firefighter and solider
• July 21: Theodore Lawson, educator
• August 2: Sloan Bashinsky Sr, Golden Flake CEO
• August 2: Loulie Jean Norman, singer
• August 9: C. Pat Reynolds, restaurateur and former mayor of Vestavia Hills
• August 19: Tom Egan, BBS sysop
• September 3: John Claypool, Episcopal rector
• October 4: Alice Pigman, educator and social worker
• October 12: Baker Knight, songwriter
• October 13: Vivian Malone, the first black graduate of the University of Alabama
• October 13: Andrew Hodges, insurance executive and Samford University trustee
• October 28: Alston Callahan, ophthalmologist
• November 8: "Big Hearted Eddie" Wright, used car dealer
• December 5: Ocie Burton, pastor of Mt Hebron Missionary Baptist Church
• December 18: Linda Manning, country singer and radio host
• December 23: Harold Ruttenberg, founder of Just For Feet and Amalgamated Concepts

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 2005

Works

• Princeton BMC Healing Garden
• Boxcars on 1st, Vol. I, compilation album by Skybucket Records
• Killing Christian, film by Wastebasket Productions
• Chords of Relief, compilation album for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts
• Ken Tumin launched his Bank Deals Blog.

Books

• Birmingham's Theater and Retail District, book by Tim Hollis
• To You Through Me: The Beginning of a Link of a Journey of 400 Years, book by Joe Minter
• Slouching towards Birmingham, book by Michael Swindle
• Levin, Jerry (2005) West Bank Diary: Middle East Violence as Reported by a Former American Hostage. Pasadena, California: Hope Publishing ISBN 9781932717037

Buildings

• January 4: Homewood Middle School
• March: United Methodist Center at Birmingham-Southern College
• May: Alys Stephens Center Phase III
• August 5: FBI director Robert Mueller III dedicated the FBI Birmingham Field Office Building on 18th Street North.
• October 9: The Ensley Library reopened after renovations.
• Colonial Promenade Alabaster
• Cullman Casting
• The Radisson Hotel of Birmingham closed for renovations.
• Ground was broken for the Birmingham Social Security Administration Center.
• Lakeshore Village
• Muirfield Village shopping center in Homewood was renovated as Independence Corner.
• Southside Townhouses
• Tuscaloosa's Coleman Coliseum was extensively remodeled.

Demolitions

• May 26: Mount Lebanon Baptist Church was destroyed by fire.

See Also

• 2005 City Stages
• 2005 Birmingham Barons (82-57, 2nd in Western Division)
• 2005 Birmingham Steeldogs (2-14)
• 2005 UAB Blazers (5-6)

2000s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works