1948
1948, a leap year, was the 77th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.
Events
- The City of Trafford was incorporated.
- The Birmingham Municipal Airport was returned by the Army Air Corps to city control after World War II.
- May: Senator Glen Taylor of Idaho was arrested for attempting to speak to the Southern Negro Youth Congress in Birmingham, a violation of the city's segregation laws.
- The last Miss Birmingham pageant was held at the Alabama Theatre.
- Homewood Park was dedicated.
- Birmingham Railway & Electric Company ridership peaked at 93 million passengers.
- A small fire broke out in room 315 of the Tutwiler Hotel.
- Land on Red Mountain was purchased for development of The Club.
- Trinity Lutheran Church in West End was founded by members of First Lutheran Church.
- The Ku Klux Klan raided Camp Fletcher, a Girl Scout camp near Bessemer.
- The State Teachers College was re-named "Alabama State College for Negroes".
- Southeastern Bible School began offering a four-year degree program.
- The Birmingham Film Council was reconstituted by Charles Zukowski, Jr and Mrs E. M. Darton.
- January 23: A snowfall brought 3.8 inches to Birmingham.
- February 1: The Burchfiel Chimes at East Lake United Methodist Church were dedicated.
- April 11: The last streetcar ran on the No. 5 Ensley-Fairfield streetcar line.
- July 17: The inaugural Dixiecrat convention, held at Municipal Auditorium, nominated Strom Thurmond as its presidential candidate.
- August 15: Trackless trolleys took over for streetcars on the No. 7 Wylam-Bush Hills streetcar line.
Business
- Western Supermarkets was founded with a first location at Five Points West.
- Cobb Lane Restaurant was opened by Virginia Cobb in the former Levert Apartments.
- The Pell City Steak House was opened.
- Dichiara's Steak House opened on Avenue F Ensley.
- Uncle Tom's Bar-B-Q opened on 6th Avenue South.
- The Birmingham Labor Advocate ceased publication.
- George's Grill opened in the Altamont Apartments on Highland Avenue.
- Bandleader Dewitt Shaw leased the Hollywood Country Club and took over as manager.
- The Launderwell laundromat opened at Five Points West.
- The Jack O'Lantern dinner club opened on Montgomery Highway in Homewood.
Sports
- The Southeastern Conference moved its headquarters to Birmingham.
- The 1948 Birmingham Barons drew 445,926 to Rickwood Field and won the Dixie Series over Fort Worth.
- The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons won the Negro American League pennant over the Kansas City Monarchs, then lost to the Homestead Grays in the final Negro Leagues World Series.
- Satchel Paige signed a Major League contract with the Cleveland Indians.
- Frank House signed a Major League contract with the Detroit Tigers.
- The Birmingham Vulcans and Bessemer Whiz Kids of the Southern Professional Basketball League played their final seasons.
- Ted McCrary coached the Samford Bulldogs to a 4-4-0 season.
- January 1: Alabama lost to Texas 27-7 in the Sugar Bowl.
- January 1: Central State (Ohio) defeated Grambling State 27-21 in the 7th Vulcan Bowl at Legion Field.
- January 1: Arkansas defeated William & Mary 21-19 in the first Dixie Bowl at Legion Field.
- August 31: Jim Wasdell recorded a Barons record six hits against Chattanooga.
- December 4: The 1948 Iron Bowl, won by Alabama 55-0, was the first to be held at Legion Field.
Works
Books
Buildings
- Camp McDowell
- Camp Sumatanga
- Fair Park Drive-In
- Guaranty Savings and Loan headquarters
- Joe's Ranch House
- Newmar Theatre
- Park Lane Apartments
- Rickwood Field, new ladies' restroom and shorter outfield fence
- Robert Tyler residence
- Vestavia (estate) restoration with new interior murals
- Vestavia Hills Elementary School East
- Wenonah High School
Music
- Phillips High School's Alma Mater was composed by Alfred Mayer
- Hardrock Gunter left the Golden River Boys.
- Jo Jones left the Count Basie Orchestra.
Film, Radio and TV
- WBRC-FM began the transition to become the first television station in Birmingham in 1949.
- The Inside Story, film starring Gail Patrick.
- WJLN-FM was launched as a sister station to WJLD-AM.
- Hank Penny joined the "Hoffman Hayride" television show.
- Dick Hawley joined the WSGN-AM & WSGN-FM broadcasts of the Birmingham Barons.
- Joe Rumore began working at WVOK-AM.
People
- Columnist Clettus Atkinson joined the staff of the Birmingham Age-Herald.
- Cartoonist Charles Brooks joined the staff of the Birmingham News.
- Reporter Clarke Stallworth joined the staff of the Birmingham Post.
- Gus Koutroulakis began working at Pete's Famous Hot Dogs.
- Hoyt Ayers succeeded J. R. Smith as Chief of the Birmingham Fire Department.
- Henry Stanford was named president of Georgia Southwestern College.
- Eugene Zeidman succeeded Max Hurvich as president of Temple Beth-El.
- Samuel Burr entered the partnership of Burr & Forman.
- Edgar Arendall succeeded William M. Vines as pastor of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
- H. C. Crelly was re-elected Mayor of Homewood.
- James Permutt was named president of the Jewish Community Center.
- William Engel succeeded Carl Hess as president of Temple Emanu-El.
- J. Duncan Hunter served as interim pastor at Pilgrim Church.
- Kenneth Daniel was promoted to chief engineer for ACIPCO.
- Henrietta Boggs-MacGuire became First Lady of Costa Rica.
- Tom Bradley joined the Bessemer Fire Department.
- Bill Dorrough succeeded Grady Price as Mayor of Leeds.
Births
- January 31: Mike Kolen, football player
- February 5: Mary Anne Blake, nurse
- February 18: Jimmy Lee III, soft drink bottler
- March 17: Larry Langford, politician
- May 17: Carlos May, baseball player
- July 2: Elvin Ivory, NBA player
- August 3: Ray Reach, jazz pianist
- August 7: John Amari, judge
- September 3: Stan Starnes, attorney and executive
- September 8; Donald Watkins, attorney and banker
- September 11: Phillip Alford, child actor
- September 13: Nell Carter, entertainer
- October 29: Kate Jackson, actress and Henry Parsley, Episcopal Bishop of Alabama
- Ray Bauer, steel executive and long-distance runner
- George F. Bowman, Army general
- Jim Dearth, oncologist and hospital administrator
- Ralph Hicks, server
- David Hunke, planner
- David Pollick, college administrator
Awards
- Birmingham Woman of the Year: Dorothy Thames Schwartz
- Miss Alabama: Martha Ann Ingram/Marjorie Orr
- John Rhoden won 1st prize for sculpture at Columbia University.
Graduations
- George M. Murray from the Virginia Theological Seminary
- Tom King from the University of Alabama with a bachelor's in accounting
- Ward McIntyre from Ramsay High School
- Bill Edmonds from Virginia Military Institute with a bachelor's in civil engineering
- Huland Moore from West Point High School in Cullman
- Bobby Bowden and Cliff Holman from Woodlawn High School
Deaths
- May 27: U. S. Representative William B. Oliver.
- Industrialist Henry T. DeBardeleben
Context
In 1948 the first color newsreel was produced. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated. The winter olympics were held in St Moritz, Switzerland and the summer olympics in London, England. The Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in schools is unconstitutional. The Hell's Angels gang was founded. President Truman signed the Marshall Plan. The U. S. House Un-American Activities Committee held its first televised hearings. The Cleveland Indians won the World Series over the Boston Braves. Harry Truman was reelected over Thomas Dewey and Strom Thurmond. The UN adopted its Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Notable 1948 births include those of musicians Stevie Nicks, Robert Plant, Cat Stevens and Ronnie Van Zant, actors Billy Crystal, Samuel L. Jackson and Rhea Perlman, hockey player Bobby Orr, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, broadcaster Bryant Gumbel, politicians Howard Dean and Al Gore, and fitness guru Richard Simmons.
Among those who died in 1948 were Gandhi, inventor Orville Wright, baseball player Babe Ruth, and former First Lady Edith Roosevelt.
Notable films included The Red Shoes, The Three Musketeers, Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The most popular singles included Pee Wee Hunt's "12th Street Rag" and Art Mooney's "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover". The 1948 Nobel Prize for literature went to T. S. Eliot while the Pulitzer Prize went to James Michener for Tales of the South Pacific. Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Names Desire won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
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