Shades Mountain Country Club

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The Shades Mountain Country Club, originally Club 31, was a private nightclub operated by G. B. Parsons and Frank Tillotson on a 72-acre site near the intersection of Montgomery Highway and Canyon Road in what would soon become the City of Vestavia Hills. The brick-veneer club building, constructed in 1939, enclosed 8,000 square feet on the main floor, with a full basement.

People living in the area came to view the club unfavorably, and won an injunction from Judge George Bailes Sr in December 1945 requiring a moratorium on the sale of liquor. The club continued to operate while it appealed a complaint of contempt. It lost its state liquor license in October 1947. That same month Parsons was convicted of robbing the Perry Jewelry Company and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Roy Adwell took over ownership and operation of the club, which was re-incorporated in April 1949. Ted Brooks was the bandleader and entertainment director of the club, which boasted more than 1,400 members.

One of the goals of incorporating the new city of Vestavia Hills, at least for Verner Adams, the first mayor, was to gain some public control over the activities at the club, which he considered, "nothing but a public nuisance". In 1951 the ABC board again refused to renew the club's liquor license, and in 1952 Adwell fought the state which was trying to condemn the property for improvement of the highway.

On the afternoon of December 24, 1952 the clubhouse burned to the ground. Brooks said that the club would reopen across the highway.

References

  • "Padlocking Of Two Night Clubs Asked" (October 1, 1946) The Birmingham News, p. 13
  • "Two Night Spots Lose Liquor License Plea" (October 10, 1947) The Birmingham News, p. 20
  • "Deed to Parsons Property Sought" (March 2, 1948) The Birmingham News, p. 9
  • "ABC refuses to renew two liquor licenses." (January 4, 1951) The Birmingham News, p. 16
  • Sparrow, Hugh (June 29, 1952) "State spending apparently keeping pace with revenue increase from tax, liquor hike." The Birmingham News, p. C20
  • "Shades Mtn. Country Club, entertainment spot, leveled by fire." (December 25, 1952) The Birmingham News, p. 2
  • Walden, Rebecca Cybulsky (2014) Vestavia Hills. Images of America Series. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Press. ISBN 1439648255
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