1947
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
1947 was the 76th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.
Events
- January 2: The USS Birmingham (CL-62) was decommissioned.
- June 26: The 1947 Dairy Month Parade was held in downtown Birmingham.
- Arthur Shores filed the first legal challenge to Birmingham's segregated zoning laws on behalf of Samuel Mathews.
- August 18: The home of Samuel Mathews in North Smithfield was targeted by a racially-motivated bombing.
- November 11: Birmingham put on the nation's first Veterans Day celebration.
- The North American Numbering Plan went into effect, giving Alabama the 205 area code.
- The Birmingham Children's Theatre was founded.
- The City of Birmingham acquired the Alabama State Fairgrounds property.
- The Federated Women's Club purchased the former W. S. Brown residence on Highland Avenue.
- Birmingham won a Jaycees' National Safety Award for its "Light for Life" road safety beacon (Vulcan's neon torch).
- James Sulzby Jr founded the Alabama Historical Association.
- The American Heritage Foundation canceled the "Freedom Train"'s planned visit to Birmingham due to local segregation ordinances.
- Epp Sykes donated the copyright to his song, "Yea Alabama!" to the University of Alabama.
- The Robert R. Meyer Foundation was established.
- The Birmingham Bird Club became the Birmingham Branch of the National Audubon Society.
- The Southern Negro Youth Congress was labeled as "subversive" by U.S. Attorney General Thomas C. Clark.
Business
- January 2: "The Club" was incorporated.
- The Alhambra Restaurant opened on 5th Avenue North.
- The Birmingham Electric Company began using 47 new PCC-type streetcars.
- Busch's Jewelers purchased Brackin's.
- Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company began manufacturing slag wool at its North Birmingham Furnaces.
- Citizens Trust Bank joined the Federal Reserve.
- La Paree was incorporated.
- Charles Byrd purchased George Ward's former Vestavia estate and converted it into a restaurant.
- Emmett Ware purchased the 270-acre Spring Lake Farms from Robert Jemison Jr and developed the Twin Lakes subdivision around it.
- The St Louis–San Francisco Railway acquired the assets of the Muscle Shoals, Birmingham & Pensacola Railroad.
- Alabama Fuel & Iron purchased the Swann & Co. Building for its headquarters offices.
- The Shades Mountain Country Club lost its state liquor license.
Establishments
- Belcher Evans Millwork was founded.
- Cobb Theatres was founded.
- The College Theatre opened in East Lake.
- Newman Waters opened the Downtown Club.
- The Fox Theater in Brighton opened.
- Sam Raine opened the Lincoln Theatre in Bessemer.
- Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood was founded.
- Gus's Hot Dogs opened on 4th Avenue North.
- Induron Protective Coatings was founded.
- Raymond's Five Points Market opened.
- Roy Lumber opened in Bessemer.
- Spivey Hobby, Toys & Gifts opened on Tuscaloosa Avenue
- The Douglas Clinic opened in the former Frank Lathrop residence on 14th Avenue South.
Government
- January 20: Jim Folsom Sr succeeded Chauncey Sparks as Governor of Alabama.
- January 20: James Inzer succeeded Leven Ellis as Lieutenant Governor of Alabama.
- May: Residents of Homewood and Mountain Brook approved a 5-mill property tax to support development of Shades Valley High School.
- December: The Homewood City Council rezoned the site of the future Valley View Apartments.
- Fultondale was incorporated.
- Mulga was incorporated.
- Trussville was incorporated.
- The Alabama State Fair Authority was established by the Alabama Legislature as a successor to the Alabama State Fair & Exhibit Association.
- Homewood deeded land on Shades Creek Parkway to the Armory Commission of Alabama for a Homewood National Guard Armory.
- The Jefferson County Planning Commission was established.
Education
- John Carroll Catholic High School opened.
- Wenonah Elementary School opened.
- Southeastern Bible College acquired the former Frank Nelson residence on Pawnee Avenue.
- The Alabama Supreme Court's ruling on the estate of Harvey Woodward allowed planning for the Indian Springs School to move forward.
Media
Religion
- June 21: Joseph Adams was appointed pastor of Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church.
- Garywood Assembly of God was founded as El Bethel Assembly of God.
- Trinity United Methodist Church began holding services in an army chapel building bought as surplus from Camp Sibert near Gadsden.
- Edward Gardner became pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church, Kingston.
- Al Mathes became pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church.
- William Vines succeeded J. Ivey Edwards as pastor of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
- West End Hills Missionary Baptist Church purchased the site for their present church building on 19th Place Southwest.
Sports
- January 1: Tennessee State defeated Louisville Municipal College 32-0 in the 1947 Vulcan Bowl.
- January 28: Izzy Jannazzo lost his last boxing match to Steve Belloise.
- The Birmingham Skyhawks began play in the Professional Basketball League of America
- The Birmingham Vulcans began play in the Southern Professional Basketball League
- The Bessemer Whiz Kids began play in the Southern Professional Basketball League
- Red Drew succeeded Frank W. Thomas as coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.
- Coke McKenzie caught a world record bluegill at Ketona Lakes.
Individuals
- September 1: John Caldwell succeeded Arthur Harman as President of the University of Montevallo.
- October 2: Stanleigh Malotte returned to the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ at the Alabama Theatre.
- Henry Badham Jr was made a Brigadier General and given command of the 514th Troop Carrier Wing and the 319th Bombardment Wing at Birmingham Municipal Airport.
- Laurie C. Battle succeeded Luther Patrick as Representative of the 9th Congressional District of Alabama.
- Harvie Branscomb was appointed chair of the first United States Advisory Commission for Education Exchange.
- Orville Schanbacher succeeded Joseph Loveman as president of Loveman's.
- Roy Downs became president of Central State Bank of Calera.
- John Gallalee succeeded Raymond Paty as President of the University of Alabama.
- Robert Johnson succeeded W. B. Johnson as principal of Parker High School.
- Dorothy Love left the Gospel Harmonettes.
- Willie Ruff and Dwike Mitchell formed the Mitchell-Ruff Duo.
- Hugh Thomas became dean of the Birmingham Conservatory of Music.
- Texas A&M Aggies football coach Homer Norton was fired.
- Hank Crisp began coaching the Tulane Green Wave football team.
- Grady Price succeeded Hayes Parnell as Mayor of Leeds.
- W. C. Patton became president of the Alabama NAACP.
- G. B. Baggett succeeded Powell Hamner as Walker County Sheriff.
Births
- January 4: Tim Rooney actor / voice actor
- February 1: Ira Chaffin, sculptor and hotel keeper
- February 2: Henry Lovoy, vocalist
- February 4: Wallace Potts, film director / screenwriter / archivist.
- February 11: Roy Moore, Alabama Supreme Court chief justice
- February 22: Richard North Patterson, attorney / novelist
- February 23: George Curry, newspaper columnist
- March 1: Tom Hinson, accountant / embezzler
- March 11: Pat Morrow, high school band director
- March 22: Lamar Green, professional basketball player
- April 2: Emmylou Harris, singer / songwriter
- April 21: Barbara Park, children's author
- April 24: Ann Kelley, vocalist
- May 4: Dick Pigford, architect
- May 12: Patrick Cather, publisher and book collector
- May 18: Gail Strickland, actor
- June 7: Eric Wieschaus, Nobel prize-winning biologist
- June 13: Richmond Flowers Jr, professional football player
- June 18: Sandy Posey, vocalist
- July 3: Mickey Rooney Jr, actor / musician / television producer
- July 23: John Katopodis, Birmingham City Council member
- August 13: Dowd Ritter, CEO of Regions Bank
- October 26: Wade Black, director of the Birmingham Pledge Foundation
- November 18: Saleh "Sol" Bajalieh, restaurateur
- December 7: Garry Unger professional hockey player / coach
- December 28: Spencer Bachus, former U.S. Representative
- Leroy Bandy, Birmingham City Council member
- Bill Billits, Graysville City Council member
- Sandra Brown, Birmingham Board of Education member
- Tom Cosby, development director
- Edward Crenshaw, Ramsay High School band director
- John Dedrick, Homewood City Schools administrator
- Scott Douglas, director of Greater Birmingham Ministries
- Carolyn Featheringill, attorney and law professor
- Elias Hendricks, Birmingham City Council member
- Rob Henrikson, CEO of MetLife
- Janet King, nurse
- Robert Luckie III, advertising executive
- Jerry McIntosh, Irondale Police Department chief
- Diane McNaron, cabaret singer
- Joe Meadow, Birmingham Zoo Express conductor
- Mona, Birmingham Zoo elephant
- Larry Naves, judge
- Fred Plump, firefighter and youth sports promoter
- Garth Potts, artist, Levite Jewish Community Center director
- Mike Rasmussen, attorney
- Johnny Robinson, victim of racial violence
- Fred Shuttlesworth Jr
- Susie, Birmingham Zoo elephant
- Gwen Sykes, Birmingham City Council member
- Barry Taylor, vocalist / building inspector
- Jack Trawick, murderer
- Jairo Vargas, newspaper publisher
- Ted vonCannon, industrial recruiter
- Bill Waites, Pleasant Grove Police and Fire Department chief
- Mike Warren, business executive
- Sam Wehby, real estate executive
- Ron Yarbrough, concessionaire
Graduations
- Oscar Adams Jr earned his law degree at Howard University.
- Bill Bolen graduated from Albert G. Parish High School.
- Joseph Braswell graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.
- Eric Embry earned his degree at the University of Alabama School of Law.
- Harry U. Gilmer completed a degree in chemical engineering at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
- Leven Hazlegrove completed a chemistry degree at Howard College.
- Jim Hillhouse graduated from Marion Military Institute.
- Glenn Ireland II graduated from the University of Virginia.
- Autherine Lucy graduated from Linden Academy in Marengo County.
- Jack Nelson graduated from Notre Dame High School in Biloxi, Mississippi.
- William Powell graduated from Phillips High School.
- Frank Samford Jr graduated from the University of Alabama.
- Ezra Sims completed a bachelor of arts at Birmingham-Southern College.
- Martha Sykes graduated from Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
- Dewey White completed his medical degree at the University of Virginia.
Marriages
- August 8: Rosamond McDuff married Mary Evelyn Morgan at the First Pentecostal Holiness Church in North Birmingham.
- October 12: Satchel Paige married Lahoma Brown in Hays, Kansas.
- Virginia Pounds married William Bestor Brown.
- Robert Guillot married Patty Shirley.
- John Patterson married Mary Jo McGowin.
- Ed Jones married June McGowen.
Awards
- Erskine Hawkins was given an honorary doctorate by Alabama State University.
- John Rhoden was awarded a Rosenwald Fellowship for sculpture at Columbia University.
- Miss Alabama: Peggy Elder
Retirements
- Carlton Molesworth retired from baseball.
Deaths
- January 3: Lewis Barrett, newspaper publisher
- January 8: Dyer Talley, surgeon
- February 6: Oscar Spiegel, First Christian Church pastor
- April 17: Frank Hartley Anderson, architect / artist
- May 16: Robert Aland, founder of New Ideal department store
- July 15: Archibald Carmichael, U.S. Representative
- October 31: Robert Meyer, hotel owner
- Ella Graham
Works
- Annals of the Southside Baptist Church by James Sulzby Jr
- Colonial Stores introduced their "rooster" logo.
Buildings
- 1 Wood Manor in Tuscaloosa
- Ans-O-Phone building on 6th Avenue North
- John Carroll Catholic High School
- College Theatre in East Lake
- Crestline Heights Shopping Center in Crestline Village
- Edgewood Elementary School auditorium
- Elmore's on 18th Street South in Homewood
- Exchange Bank Building on 20th Street South
- Home Baking Company renovations
- Parham Apothecary Building in Fairfield
- Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory on 6th Avenue North
- South Elyton Baptist Church
- Legion Field south end zone grandstands
- Wenonah Elementary School
- WJLD building on Bessemer Super Highway
Music
Film, Radio and TV
- Walter Lantz Productions made a series of Reddy Kilowatt cartoon shorts.
Context
1940s |
<< 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 >> |
Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works |