Morris Avenue

Morris Avenue in June 2005

Morris Avenue is a narrow avenue between 1st Avenue North and the Railroad Reservation. Because of its adjacency to railroad depots and services, it rapidly developed into an early commercial and warehouse district in Birmingham's early days. The avenue is named for Josiah Morris, a banker and one of the initial shareholders in the Elyton Land Company who proposed the name "Birmingham" for the new city.

Sections of Morris Avenue can be found between Center Street and 2nd Street North in Elyton, and for a short distance west of 41st Street North and between 42nd and 45th Streets in Avondale. The main section, however, is downtown, between 14th and 25th Streets. Of that section, the area east of 21st Street is the best-preserved late Victorian district in the city.

Downtown district

Morris Avenue, c. 1911

By the late 1880s Morris Avenue was lined with three and four-story brick warehouses from 21st to 25 Streets.

In 1965 the concept of making the downtown section of Morris Avenue into a protected historic district was presented as one of the recommendations of the "Design for Progress" created by Harland Bartholemew & Associates of Atlanta along with the Birmingham League of Architects.

The district was created in 1972 by the Jefferson County Historical Commission and on April 24, 1973 the downtown section of Morris Avenue and 1st Avenue North, between 21st and 24th Streets, became the first site in Birmingham to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Granite cobblestone pavers were re-laid and gas light fixtures replaced along the sidewalks to impart a historical feeling. The area was promoted by the city as an entertainment district.

Nigel Harlan, owner of the Bachelor's Showboat was abducted from his nightclub in 1977 and murdered. His body was later found in Shelby County. The sensational nature of the crime, along with the loss of one of the most active club owners, spelled doom for the fledgling entertainment district.

A large parking lot, a accentuated with lighting, benches and planting islands, was installed on the south side of the avenue in 1988.

In the 1990s the area was at the center of the first residential loft development downtown. Professional offices started moving in by the middle of the decade and the district has evolved into a tight-knit mixed use neighborhood. In 1994 On the Avenue moved from 3rd Avenue North to the former Gatsby's location and Larry Levine opened Larry's Place in the train cars that currently house Zen.

A new $4.5 million parking deck was built in the late 1990s as the city's contribution to the renovation of the John A. Hand Building for the headquarters of The Bank of Birmingham. A wide pre-cast concrete arch bridges over Morris Avenue on the east side of 20th Street to connect the building to the parking deck. Morris is also bridged by the 21st, 22nd and 24th Street viaducts.

James A. Taylor placed a vintage red London telephone box at the northeast corner of the intersection. The relic was heavily damaged on April 26, 2006 and subsequently hauled away.

Notable locations

• 1735: Birmingham Central Station (former location of Banana Warehouse)
• 1809: S. J. Bennett Professional Building
• 1819: Birmingham Amtrak Station
• 1900-2000: former site of Linn's Park
• 1929: Two North Twentieth (formerly the Bank for Savings Building. Former site of the L & N Station, and prior to that, of the Relay House hotel)
• 2001: John A. Hand Building parking deck (former site of the Elyton Land Company building)
• 2014: Morris Avenue Eye Care
• 2016: The Peanut Depot (formerly Caldwell Printing Company)
• 2015: Lacke Building
• 2018: Arendall & Associates attorneys. (formerly a grocery warehouse, later the lower floor was opened up as a drive-through lane for MetroBank)
• 2024-2026: Re-Print Corporation (formerly a grocery and produce store)
• 2017: Kinetic Communications, (formerly C. S. Simmons produce company, later Diamond Jim's nightclub)
• 2019-21: formerly Higdon and McCrary produce company
• 2023-25: Zen. Originally the McLester and Van Hoose produce company, later Victoria Station, Larry's Place, and The Station.
• 2100 block: former locations of Oak Street and Old Town Hall nightclubs
• 2123: formerly W. M. Cosby Wholesale Flour and Feed warehouse
• 2125: Najjar Denaburg, P.C., attorneys
• 2126: Hendon & Huckestein Architects
• 2201: Adams Design Associates, architects
• 2213: Nimrod Long & Associates, landscape architects
• 2229: former location of Freada's Five O'Clock Club
• 2301: Liberty House, Morris Avenue Legal Center

Unknown location

• Eclectic Theater (formerly Frontier Lounge, The Cavern, Dr Jekyll's, and The Cavern (Mark II))

References

• White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.
• Archibald, John (September 28, 1997) "Morris Avenue reborn: The one-time entertainment district is again teeming with activity, now as offices and residential lofts." Birmingham News.
• Barber, Dean (December 12, 1993) "Night life will return." Birmingham News

External links

• Morris Avenue photographs from the Magic City Flickr Group.