20th Street North: Difference between revisions

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(→‎Notable Locations (south to north): Getting ahead of myself (Sojourns)?)
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** 217: formerly Orange Julius and [[Sojourns]]
** 217: formerly Orange Julius and [[Sojourns]]
** 219: [[Bon Ton Hatters]], formerly Thom McAn shoes
** 219: [[Bon Ton Hatters]], formerly Thom McAn shoes
** 221: [[MedTown Pharmacy]]
** 221: [[MedTown Pharmacy]], formerly [[Liggett's]]
* [[3rd Avenue North]] intersection
* [[3rd Avenue North]] intersection
** former location of [[Butler's Shoe Store]]
** former location of [[Butler's Shoe Store]]

Revision as of 17:02, 2 September 2010

looking south on 20th Street North in 2002
looking north on 20th Street North, c. 1910-11

20th Street North is a north-south street in the center of downtown Birmingham which functions as Birmingham's "main street". It is sometimes called Birmingham Green after a rehabilitation project of the early 1970s.

20th Street begins at the northern end of 20th Street South at the Railroad Reservation. From there it first crosses Morris Avenue, and then continues for seven blocks to Park Place where it is terminated by Linn Park.

Short 20th Street is the one-block section of 20th Street between Birmingham City Hall and Linn Park. It was named Nina's Way in honor of Nina Miglionico in 2008. Twentieth Street previously resumed its path to the east between Municipal Auditorium and the Birmingham Museum of Art to the present site of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. After the I-20/59 bridge was built, this section was closed to traffic and eventually converted into a landscaped walk and fountain. There are other short sections of the street in North Birmingham, north of Oak Hill Cemetery and near Finley Boulevard.

Birmingham Green

1970 rendering for Birmingham Green

Beginning the the late 1960s, a volunteer committee made up of Temple Tutwiler, Reese Murray, Marshall Haynes and Joseph Farley, began studying ways to beautify the downtown area. One of their recommendations, presented to the public by Operation new Birmingham, was to widen sidewalks and add planters and benches to downtown streets, beginning with the seven blocks of 20th Street North, making it more friendly and attractive to pedestrians. New signage, lighting and street furniture would be included in the design. The additional space would be taken from parking and bus lanes.

As proposed, $500,000 pledged to the project by business and property owners would be supplemented with equivalent city funds in order to qualify for an additional $1 million in federal grant money. When completed, the $2 million project would also include 19th Street North between 1st and 3rd Avenue North and 2nd and 3rd Avenue North between 18th and 21st Street.

Architect James Adams prepared preliminary designs, saying of the proposal "We are knitting the fabric of the central business district with high quality thread -- that thread being the visual impact of the street scene." Planners hoped to attract more people to spend time downtown shopping and strolling. ONB would organize special committees to preserve the budget and to approve the design of specific additions, such as newspaper boxes and telephone booths.

The 20th Street portion of the Birmingham Green project was completed in 1973 at a cost of $5 million.

Notable Locations (south to north)

For an alphabetical list of locations, see the 20th Street North category.

North Birmingham locations

References

  • "New look for our big town" (August 18, 1970) Birmingham News - via Birmingham Rewound
  • Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (1976) Century Plus: A Bicentennial Portrait of Birmingham, Alabama 1976 Birmingham: Oxmoor Press, p. 16.

External links

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