1968

1968 was the 97th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• February 16: The nation's first 911 call was taken at the Haleyville police station.
• Birmingham voters approved $400,000 in bonds for the purchase of land to expand the Birmingham Museum of Art.
• Branchville was incorporated.
• Green Valley elected to incorporate but was struck down after challenged by nearby Hoover.
• Margaret Walker founded the Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People.

Business

• July: South Central Bell was founded as a split from Southern Bell.
• BASS was founded by Ray Scott in Montgomery.
• Big B Drugs began operation as part of Bruno's Supermarkets.
• Cinema West opened.
• Mercy Home was renamed Gateway.
• Sol's Sandwich Shop opened on the bottom floor of the John A. Hand Building.
• SMI Steel merged with CMC Steel Alabama.
• Sikes & Youngs Shoe Company opened in Vestavia Hills.
• Thunderbird Drive-In opened.

Education

• Helen Fuller succeeded Estelle McNutt as principal of Edgewood Elementary School.
• Robert F. Henry succeeded Howard M. Phillips as president of Birmingham-Southern College.
• Ann Jordan succeeded Aleen Mitchell as principal of Hall-Kent Elementary School.

Government

• May 7: Albert Brewer was appointed Governor of Alabama upon Lurleen Wallace's death.
• June: Attorney Arthur Shores became the first black Birmingham City Councilor after being appointed to fill the seat vacated upon the death of R. W. Douglas.
• Edward Ernest succeeded Don Watts as Mayor of Hoover.

Religion

• Reverend John Cross left as pastor of 16th Street Baptist Church.
• Philip Silverstein became rabbi at Temple Beth-El.

Sports

• May 23: Groundbreaking was held for Talladega Superspeedway.
• September 22: A NFL regular season game was played at Legion Field.
• December 3: Auburn lost to Alabama by a score of 24-16 in the 1968 Iron Bowl at Legion Field.
• The final NASCAR race was held at Birmingham International Raceway.

Individuals

• April 1: John Garrett became a traffic engineer for the City of Birmingham.
• Charles E. Bugg and William Bridgers accepted positions at UAB.
• Bull Connor was re-elected as Alabama Public Service Commission director.
• Newton H. DeBardeleben succeeded John A. Hand as CEO of First National Bank of Birmingham.
• Reverend Edward Gardner became president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.
• Leonard and Bettie Lawley purchased the R. F. McKibbon residence in Montevallo.
• Don Morrison served as president of AIA Birmingham.
• Sonia Sanchez married poet Etheridge Knight.
• Muzaffar I. Sheikh arrived in the United States for graduate study.
• Judge Robert Vance led the first racially mixed Alabama delegation to a Democratic National Convention.
• Marvin Warner was appointed a delegate to the 23rd General Assembly of the United Nations.

Births

• January 3: Thomas Rayam, football player and coach
• February: Thomas Robey, chef
• April 20: DeDee Nathan, Olympic heptathlete
• April 24: Todd Jones, baseball player
• May 6: Tyler Layton, actor
• May 27: Frank Thomas, baseball player
• June 14: Slade Blackwell, lobbyist
• August 6: Siran Stacy, football player
• August 24: Zeb Little, attorney and politician
• August 25: Jeremy Erdreich, architect
• August 27: Randy Sandford, UAB staffer
• September 6: Kevin Dudley, robber
• September 14: DeMond Winston, football player
• November 21: Candace Michelle Brown, Miss Alabama USA 1992
• Johnny Brown, Columbiana police chief
• Ann Hodges Goolsby, Maytown mayor
• Jeff Hager, Jefferson County CFO
• Julie Keith, magazine editor
• Eric Major, politician
• Hoyt Sanders, Mayor of Pinson
• Ken Shaia, retailer
• Pam Siddall, newspaper publisher
• John Trobaugh, photographer

Graduations

• June: Mountain Brook High School's first graduation ceremoney was held.
• Nell Carter from A. H. Parker High School
• Howard Cruse from Birmingham-Southern College
• Richard North Patterson from Ohio Wesleyan University
• Don Siegelman from University of Alabama

Deaths

• April 4: Martin Luther King, Jr, Civil Rights Movement leader
• April 12: Victorine, gorilla
• May 7: Lurleen Wallace, Governor of Alabama
• November 6: Chauncey Sparks, former Governor of Alabama
• December 12: Tallulah Bankhead, actress
• Martha Fort Anderson, printmaker

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1968

Works

Early Days in Birmingham

Buildings

• Calder Building renovated as Citizens Federal Savings Bank's headquarters
• Green Acres Baptist Church education building
• Inglenook Community Center
• Lawson Field

Books

• September: Early Days in Birmingham

Films and TV

• The Alabama Television Corporation, headed by John Jemison, was awarded the broadcast rights to UHF Channel 21 by the FCC.

Music

• Dennis Edwards replaced David Ruffin as lead singer of The Temptations.
• Samford Memorial Pipe Organ was constructed at Southside Baptist Church.
• The Torquays disbanded.

Theater

• Birmingham Dinner Theatre was founded.

Context

1960s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works