1949
1949 was the 78th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.
Events
Education
- Shades Valley High School opened, taking the place of Shades Cahaba High School, which became Shades Cahaba Elementary School.
Sports
- December 3: Auburn upset Alabama, winning the 1949 Iron Bowl 14-13, Auburn's second win of the season.
People
Births
- January 2: Phyllis Wyne, Birmingham Board of Education member
- January 18: Steve Zaslofsky, educator
- March 2: Stan Bailey, bank executive
- April 2: Hank Erwin, state senator
- April 18: Addie Mae Collins, bombing victim
- April 24: Carole Robertson, bombing victim
- April 30: Cynthia Wesley, bombing victim
- May 14: Jim Folsom, Jr, Governor of Alabama
- May 26: Delores Manyama, educator
- June 1: William Bell, Mayor of Birmingham
- June 9: Dian McCray, educator and children's book author
- June 14: Roy L. Wood, Jr, television news anchor
- June 28: Clarence Davis, professional football player
- July 2: Curtis Rowe, professional basketball player
- July 28: Vida Blue, professional baseball player
- August 10: Ron McGuffie, law enforcement agent and dispatcher
- August 11: Lynn Edwards Angell, librarian and terrorist victim
- August 22: Eli Capilouto, college administrator
- October 6: Lonnie Johnson, inventor
- December 6: Virgil Ware, murder victim
- Barbara Allen, educator
- Gwendolyn Bell, school counselor
- Homer Brown, business owner and table tennis player
- Dyer Carlisle III, educator and assistant college football coach
- Bill Foisy, transportation director
- Jay Glass, coroner
- Keith Harrelson, commercial writer, photographer, and club owner
- Jim Neel, sculptor, photographer, and art instructor
- Bo Smith, meat market manager and murder victim
- Brenda Spahn, non-profit founder
- Burke Swearingen, Homewood Chief of Police
- Bill Terry, Jr, Vietnam War soldier killed in action
- Lou Zaden, business owner
- Evan Zeiger, Jr, neurosurgeon
Deaths
- February 10: John Adams, mining engineer and executive
- May 11: B. H. Cooper, furniture dealer and civic leader
- November 27: Lloyd Noland, physician and public health advocate
Works
Buildings
- Alabama State Fair cattle barn
- John Gleissner residence
- Jefferson County Courthouse Bessemer Division expansion
- Shades Valley High School (original campus)
- Bernice Wright residence
Context
In 1949, Los Angeles, California received its first recorded snowfall. Harry S. Truman began his second term as President, which was his first elected to the position. The first Emmy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Athletic Club. Grady the Cow got stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garnered national media attention. English astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the term "Big Bang" during a BBC Third Programme radio broadcast. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was founded. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed, creating the NATO defense alliance. Israel was admitted to the United Nations as its 59th member. The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, code named "Joe 1". The People's Republic of China was officially proclaimed. A typhoon struck a fishing fleet off Korea, killing several thousand.
Television shows that debuted in 1949 included Hopalong Cassidy.
Notable births in 1949 included chef Wolfgang Puck, boxer George Foreman, actress Linda Lovelace, comedian Andy Kaufman, singer Robert Palmer, singer Steve Perry, actor John Belushi, actor Brent Spiner, game designer Danielle Bunten Berry, businesswoman Ivana Trump, wrestler Ric Flair, musician Eddie Money, actor Erik Estrada, musician John Oates, actress Jessica Lange, musician Billy Joel, singer Hank Williams Jr, actor Jim Varney, musician Lionel Richie, actres Meryl Streep, composer Alan Menken, musician Mark Knopfler, actress Shelley Long, musician Rick Springfield, musician Gene Simmons, actor Richard Gere, political commentator Bill O'Reilly, musician Bruce Springsteen, actress Sigourney Weaver, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, musician Bonnie Raitt, actor Jeff Bridges, musician Tom Waits, actor Don Johnson, musician Maurice & Robin Gibb, and actress Sissy Spacek.
Notable deaths included football player Bradbury Robinson, actor Seymour Hicks, actor Wallace Beery, former Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, cartoonist and entrepreneur Robert Ripley, author Margaret Mitchell, composer Richard Strauss, Supreme Court Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge, dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and musician Lead Belly.
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