2008: Difference between revisions

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Skyline of Birmingham framed by a UAB parking deck. April 18, 2008 by DelosJ

2008 was the 137th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

The Birmingham logo, unveiled in 2008

January 1: Mayor Larry Langford's Birmingham Economic and Community Revitalization Ordinance sales tax and business license fees increase went into effect.
January 1: The Birmingham logo was unveiled.
January 2: The Power of God Deliverance Ministry church building was destroyed by fire.
January 6: The rear wall of the S. J. Bennett Professional Building collapsed.
January 11: Groundbreaking was held for Seven Springs Ecoscape.
January 15: V... The Statue was introduced.
January 18: 2008 State of the Region luncheon
January 25: The Bush Hills sinkhole appeared.
February 5: A Jefferson County Commission special election was held.
February 16: The Hoover Crescent Islamic Center opened.
March 14-16: OmegaCon
March: Completion of the Pinhoti Trail connection was celebrated at Hernandez Peak in Cheaha State Park.
April 7: The "Friendship bell" at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens was dedicated.
May 2-3: Crawfish Boil
May 10: 7th annual Buck Creek Festival
May 31-June 1: Magic City Brew Fest
June 1: Preserve Jazz Festival
June 7: Alabaster CityFest
July 16: Birmingham Airport Authority approved renaming the airport for Fred Shuttlesworth.
June 29: 2008 Blackwater Creek plane crash
August 26: 2008 municipal elections
August 30: Alabama Butterbean Festival
August 30 - 31: Southern Heritage Festival
September 5 - 6: Artwalk
October: Bici Cooperative was founded behind Greencup Books
November 7 - 9: Southern disComfort 3
November 21: The last Patti and Dollar Bill show aired on WDXB-FM.
The Ilovecomix online archive was founded by Steve Cottle Jr
Chrys Worley and John Pike founded the A.Skate Foundation
Laborers In Christ Ministry was founded.

Business

Old Car Heaven opened in 2008

January: The former HealthSouth corporate headquarters and incomplete HealthSouth digital hospital was sold to the Daniel Corporation for $43.5 million.
January: Nightclub The Station closed.
January 25: Nightclub Zen opened.
February: Book store and publisher GreencupBooks opened.
February: The Harbert family sold Regions-Harbert Plaza.
February 5: Responsible Media, LLC record label was founded.
February 9: Red Mountain Market opened.
March 29: Edgewood Creamery opened.
April 1: CB&S Bank opened its first Birmingham-area branch.
June 2: Moe's Original BBQ opened a second area location.
June 22: Local Mug Shots began publishing its Birmingham-area edition.
June 27: Nonna's restaurant closed.
July 12: Eve's Leaves closed.
July 16: Sol's Sandwich Shop reopened downtown after a 13-year absence.
July 21: Seafood D'Lite opened downtown.
July 25: Promenade Tannehill shopping center opened in Bessemer.
November: ScooterCo opened on 16th Avenue South.
November: Hawthorn Gallery closed.
December 31: Old Car Heaven opened.
WJLD-FM (partner to WJLD-AM) began broadcasting on low-power FM 104.1.
The Burly Earl closed its doors.
Rica Lewis-Payton became director and CEO of the Birmingham VA Medical Center.
The Music-N-More chain of record stores closed.
The Red Mountain Restaurant Group purchased La Paz from the Atlanta-based chain's owners.
The Alabama Spay Neuter Clinic opened in Irondale.
Ezekiel Hameen opened Z's Restaurant on 17th Street North.
Greg Canfield sold his Canfield Insurance & Financial Services to Nationwide.
Soluble Therapeutics was founded.

Education

June 30: Bill Cleveland replaced the retiring Jodi Newton as superintendent of Homewood City Schools.
Dicky Barlow became assistant superintendent of Mountain Brook Schools.
Ben Hudson replaced the retiring Garry Rickard as principal of Mountain Brook Junior High School.
Don Hulin was hired as principal of Hoover High School.
Kevin Maddox replaced Vic Wilson as principal of Homewood High School.
Martin Nalls replaced Kevin Maddox as principal of Homewood Middle School.
Vic Wilson replaced Dicky Barlow as principal of Mountain Brook High School.

Goverment

Tracey Morant Adams was appointed Director of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development for the City of Birmingham.
Paul Bailey retired from his position as Mayor of Baileyton.
Shelley Tyree succeeded John Lee as chief of police at the University of Montevallo.

Sports

2008 Birmingham Barons
2008 Iron Bowl
2008 SEC Baseball Tournament
2008 BSC Panthers football
2008 Samford Bulldogs football
2008 UAB Blazers football
May 10: The third annual Birmingham Zoo Run was held.
December 3: Tommy Tuberville resigned as the Auburn Tigers football coach.
Basketball coach Chris Graves left Pell City High School for an assistant's job with the BSC Panthers.
Jim McElwain became offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team.

Individuals

Paget Pizitz returned to Birmingham to serve as development director for the Alabama Council for Economic Education.
Patti Wheeler retired from WDXB-FM.
Mark Wilson was promoted to chief of staff of Cooper Green Mercy Hospital.

Births

July 28: Willow, giraffe at the Birmingham Zoo

Graduations

Lawrence Conaway from the Birmingham Theological Seminary.

Marriages

March: High school teacher Andrew Gunn to former Miss America Deidre Downs.

Awards

Alabama Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame: Bert Bank
Alabama Lawyers' Hall of Fame: John Scott, Vernon Crawford, Edward Friend Jr, Elisha Peck
Alabama Military Hall of Honor: Bert Bank
Alabama Press Association Best Opinion Columnist: Joey Kennedy
Leadership Birmingham: 48 graduates
Miss Alabama: Amanda Tapley
Miss Shelby County: Jessica Andrews
Inaugural University of Alabama Health Services Foundation Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research: Dale Benos

Deaths

January 4: Tom Jernigan, founder and CEO of the Marathon Corporation
January 4: Doc Soul Stirrer, entertainer and newspaper columnist
January 6: Geoff Stone, police officer
January 8: Ace Trammell, labor activist
January 11: Stead Baxendale, real estate broker
January 13: Bik Lonnie, music and video producer
January 19: Bronner Burgess, son of Rick Burgess
January 20: Clarence Marble, basketball coach
February 4: Glynn West, business manager
February 15: Morris Mayer, marketing professor
February 16: Lee McGriff, insurance executive and former Mayor of Mountain Brook
February 16: Reverend James Orange
February 22: Don Cornutt, educator and musician
February 27: Bishop Ruby Kile
March 4: Jack Voorhies, voice actor and announcer
March 10: Dennis Irwin, jazz musician
March 15: Henry Aizenman, Holocaust survivor
March 15: Sam Pointer Jr, retired federal judge
March 22: Joe Joseph, developer
March 25: Victor Ellis, newspaper editor
March 27: Martha Wilson, civic and business leader in Gardendale
March 28: Anne Woodward, age 99
March 31: Alfonzo Scales, minister and local SCLC leader
April 7: Bobby Hoppe, former Auburn football player
April 10: Helen Davis, the first female Architect licensed in Alabama
April 11: Babec, Birmingham Zoo gorilla
April 12: Joseph Campbell, former Birmingham News editor
April 15: Charlie Blair, former Birmingham Post-Herald editor
April 15: Billy Martin, advertising executive
April 20: Charles Todel, longtime minister in Gate City
April 27: Rob Lehmeyer, musician, conductor, translator and professor
May 3: C. Paul Perry, physician
May 13: Randy Mixon, Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Captain
May 13: Al O'Brien, painter
May 13: "Big Hearted Eddie" Perry, used car dealer
May 14: Brandee Skinner
May 14: Ben Saxon
May 27: Willie Scoggins, high school basketball coach
June 2: Mary Anne Blake
June 24: Chuck Dryden, World War II pilot and Tuskegee airman
June 27: Clarke Stallworth, newspaper editor and reporter
July 1: Kenneth Daniel, CEO of ACIPCO
July 7: Chick Allen, Hueytown High School choir director
July 9: Leon Vlahos, confectioner
July 31: Alice Chalifoux, harpist
August 2: John Mark Stallings, son of Alabama head coach Gene Stallings
August 7: Simpson Pepper, sports announcer
August 11: Bert Langerwerf, lizard breeder
August 12: Gilles Bilodeau, Birmingham Bulls left winger
August 14: Jackie McDougal, Bessemer municipal judge
August 14: Lou Zaden, proprietor of Lou's Pub and Package Store
August 18: Thomas Hearn, former president of Wake Forest University
August 22: Jason Dean, Bessemer City Councilor
August 26: Charles Alford, UAB doctor
August 28: Jack Bulow, director of the Birmingham Public Library
Late August: Jeffrey Ronilo, bookkeeper for Bessemer Public Library
September 7: David Stiles, former principal of Mountain Brook High School
September 8: "Cousin Cliff" Holman, children's television personality
September 15: Brooksie Lovvorn, Center Point dry cleaner
September 15: George James, long-time football coach for Alabama State University
September 15: Dennis "The Rock" Dumas, musician and bandleader
September 16: Warren Slater and his wife, Angie Felton
September 26: Barbara Shook, philanthropist
October 4: Al Gallodoro, saxophonist
October 6: Sheba, a Birmingham Zoo lioness
October 21: Tom Caldwell, pediatrician
November 7: Abraham Woods Jr, minister and civil rights activist
November 15: William Bowron, former CEO of Red Diamond
November 20: Mary Ross Strudwick, artist
November 25: Thomas Brigham, dentist and ski resort developer
December 2: Odetta, folk singer
December 19: James Bevel, Civil Rights activist

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 2008 and List of Jefferson County homicides in 2008

Works

April 8: "Stough Cross", sculpture by Cordray Parker at Carpenter House
April 13: Seven Springs Ecoscape
April 29: Blaze statue, a brightly-colored concrete mascot for UAB
July 12: Linear Motion, a kinetic sculpture at the McWane Science Center
August 29: Banksy graffiti, a controversial stencil painting in Ensley
"Proceed and Be Bold!, documentary film about Amos Kennedy

Buildings

January: Heritage Hall at UAB and an addition to Covenant Presbyterian Church in Homewood
January: The Birmingham Social Security Administration Center opened.
February: The Hoover Crescent Islamic Center in the former Point of Grace Church and the Rick & Bubba Broadcast Plaza and Teleport at the Vestavia Hills City Center
April: Brewer Plaza at Samford University and the rebuilt Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church in Bibb County
Serra Honda in Ensley
May: Aldi on Gene Reed Road in Roebuck
June: 2600 Highland Avenue and 700 A Condominium, as well as a new Calera High School
July: Alabama National Cemetery
July 25: Colonial Promenade Tannehill
August: Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Trussville warehouse conversion
October: Hewitt-Trussville High School
October 9: Center Point Fire Station No. 5
October 13: Trussville Civic Center
November 18: Bass Pro Shops at Grand River in Leeds
Birchall at Ross Bridge
Buck Creek Greenway
Hoover Fire Station No. 9
John Hudson residence
True Love Church
Washington K-8 School
Ben Erdreich townhouse
Slossfield Community Center was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Holy Family Hospital was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
Mt Olive United Methodist Church, new sanctuary

Demolitions

December 13: The G. H. Stevenson residence, home of Glenn Shadix, was destroyed by fire.

Books

Birmingham, 35 Miles, a novel by James Braziel
Who's Who in Black Birmingham recognizing African-American leaders

See Also

2000s

<< 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 >>

Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works

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2008