1950

1950 was the 79th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• The Birmingham Museum of Art was created by the City of Birmingham.
• The Birmingham Zoo obtained land at Lane Park.
• Birmingham passed an ordinance outlawing communism.
• Bull Connor campaigned unsuccessfully for Governor of Alabama
• The Jimmie Hale Mission moved to 24th Street and 3rd Avenue North.
• A post office was established for Fultondale.
• Marcus Hancock became Birmingham Police Chief.
• Cooper Green was created a Knight of St Olaf by the King of Norway.
• Alton Earl Potts became pastor of McElwain Baptist Church.
• Yolande Betbeze was crowned Miss Alabama at the Alabama Theatre.
• February 27: Archer Howard Hill killed a bull elephant with a bow and arrow for his film Tembo.
• May 25: Shades Valley High School, already opened to students for nine months, was officially dedicated.
• November 8: Vestavia Hills was incorporated. Verner Adams took office as mayor on December 19.
• December 10: Service on the No. 6 Pratt-Ensley streetcar line ended.

Business

• Norris Hadaway took over management of the Alabama Theatre.
• A. G. Gaston shuttered his Brown Belle Bottling Company.
• The Birmingham Post-Herald was formed from the merger of the Birmingham Post and Birmingham Age-Herald.
• Calhoun Shoes was founded.
• Green Acres Cafe opened in North Birmingham.
• WAFM-FM relocated to FM 99.5.
• WBRC 6 began producing live local programs and expanded its nightly newscast.
• WFMH-FM went on the air at FM 101.1 in Cullman.
• The Bond Clothing Company reopened after a fire.

Sports

• Satchel Paige signed with the St Louis Browns.
• Sam Hairston won the Negro American League triple crown with a .424 average, 17 home runs and 71 RBI.
• Alabama State won the Magic City Classic by a score of 16-12.
• Alabama defeated Auburn 34-0 in the 1950 Iron Bowl.

Works

Buildings

Birmingham City Hall

• Rickwood Field was expanded with new box seats and relocated dugouts.
• Temple Beth-El underwent an interior renovation.
• Shades Cahaba High School was converted to an elementary school.
• Birmingham City Hall
• St Elias Maronite Church
• THC Drive In, Adamsville
• Bethel A.M.E. Church reopened after repairs from a 1946 fire.
• Wesley Hall at Trinity United Methodist Church

Music

• The Gospel Harmoneers were re-named the Gospel Harmonettes.

Film

• The Underworld Story with Mary Anderson
• Last of the Buccaneers with Mary Anderson
• Hunt the Man Down with Mary Anderson

People

• Cartoonist Hubert Harper joined the staff of The Birmingham News.

Births

• January 18: Pat Sullivan, Samford Bulldogs football coach
• February 12: Margie George, business owner
• February 10: Lonnie Holley, artist
• March 6: Johnny Musso, football player
• April 8: Jimmy Tillette, Samford Bulldogs basketball coach
• May 4: Jack Baker, baseball player
• May 18: Steve Duncan, homebuilder
• July 11: Larry DeLucas, astronaut and scientist
• August 8: Greg Bass, radio host and studio owner
• August 13: Freeman Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County
• September 2: Lamar Johnson, baseball player
• Anthony Barnes, Birmingham Water Works Board President
• Watson Brown, former UAB Blazers football coach
• Paul Ferrone, Alabama Symphony Orchestra manager
• Billy Gafford, Birmingham Fire Captain
• Tim Lennox, host and producer of For the Record
• Eduardo Neiva, communicologist and UAB professor
• Jim Parkman, attorney
• K. Lee Scott, composer and teacher

Graduations

• Herman Spivey, aeronautical engineering. University of Alabama
• Lillie Fincher from Immaculata High School

Deaths

• Rick Woodward, industrialist and owner of the Birmingham Barons
• June 3: Dolphus Shields, carpenter and Sunday School superintendent.
• June 27: Roy Kracke, first dean of what is now UAB
• June 28: Jaybird Coleman, harmonica player
• September 7: Lonnie Noojin, hardware wholesaler and former coach and athletics director

Context

1950 saw recognition for the People's Republic of China and Israel. The world's population stood at about 2.5 billion. Mt Lamington in New Guinea erupts, killing 5,000. India forms a republic. The Soviet Union successfully tests a nuclear bomb. L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics is published. The Korean War began in June. Uruguay wins the FIFA World Cup. Florence Chadwick swims the English Channel. Pope Pius XII accepts the theory of evolution. Peanuts and Beetle Bailey both debut in newspapers. Truth or Consequences debuts on television. Mother Teresa begins her work in Calcutta. Shirley Temple retires from show business, and Ben Hogan wins the U. S. Open.

Notable 1950 births included Natalie Cole, Julius Erving, Jay Leno, Stevie Wonder, Princess Anne, and Tom Petty. Deaths that year included George Orwell, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Al Jolson, George Bernard Shaw, and King Gustaf V of Sweden.

1950s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works