2006

2006 was the 135th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• January 10: Bernard Kincaid delivered the 2006 State of the City address.
• February 3: Three Birmingham college students set fire to 9 rural Alabama churches.
• February 20: 16th Street Baptist Church was designated a National Historic Landmark.
• March 15: BhamWiki was launched.
• March 30: Cirque du Soleil made its Birmingham debut with "Delirium".
• May 13: 5th annual Buck Creek Festival was held.
• May 24: Taylor Hicks won American Idol..
• June 2-9: Home Builders Blitz 2006
• June 6: Statewide primary elections and referendum were held
• June 15-22: 217th Presbyterian General Assembly was held in Birmingham.
• June 16-18: 2006 City Stages
• June 17: 1906 Shelby County time capsule was opened.
• June 29: Demolition of Eastwood Mall officially began.
• July 16-19: 2006 National Association of Free Will Baptists convention
• July 18: Statewide primary election runoffs were held.
• August 23: Premiere of Two-A-Days
• September 22-24: LOL won "Best Feature" at the 2006 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
• September 23: 2006 Calera plane crash at the Wings and Wheels Air Show
• September 28: President Bush discussed energy policy in Hoover and hosted a fundraiser for Bob Riley.
• October 1: Miss Alabama USA Haleigh Stidham gave her crown to Rebecca Moore.
• October 4: Operation "Taking It to the Streets", part I
• October 6: Ground was ceremonially broken for the Railroad Reservation Park.
• November 4: Operation "Taking It to the Streets", part II
• November 7: 2006 general election
• November 12: Dedrick Griham was convicted on three federal counts.
• December: List of Christmas parades
• Gage Bush Englund donated nearly 1,000 books on dance to the Amelia Gorgas Library at the University of Alabama.
• The Five Points South YMCA closed.

Business

• March 1: Rob Henrikson was appointed CEO of MetLife, Inc.
• March 20: Torchmark announced their move to Texas.
• May 22: Avondale Mills announced plans to sell or close all its mills.
• May 24: Regions Bank and AmSouth Bank announced plans for a merger.
• August 2: Saks, Inc. sold its Parisian division to Belk, Inc.
• August 10: The Birmingham News moved into its new building.
• Zia Ahsan opened a second Carnaggio's location in Vestavia Hills.
• Silver Coin Indian Grill opened on Lorna Road in Hoover.
• Bessemer Dodge Chrysler Jeep opened on Academy Lane in Bessemer.

Sports

• February 26: ESPN Classic televised a re-created Negro League game from Rickwood Field.
• March 26: Mike Anderson accepted an offer to become Missouri's head basketball coach.
• April 7: Mike Davis was named UAB's new men's basketball coach.
• May 12: The first annual Birmingham Zoo Run was held.
• May 24-28: 2006 SEC Baseball Tournament
• June: BSC Panthers announced they would move from NCAA Division I to Division III in all sports.
• June 12: Brian Shoop announced he was moving from BSC to be UAB's baseball coach.
• June 16-18: 2006 North America Cup, paralympic competition
• June 22: Birmingham Barons 3 - Tennessee Smokes 2 at the 2006 Rickwood Classic
• July 13-16: AVP Hoover Open beach volleyball tournament
• September 5: Jeremy Brown made his MLB debut with the Oakland A's.
• November 25: The UAB Blazers football team finished the season 3-9 with a loss at Central Florida in Watson Brown's final game as head coach.
• December: Neil Callaway was named head coach of the UAB Blazers football team.
• December 23: South Florida defeated East Carolina 24-7 in the inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl.

Works

Buildings

• Berry Middle School
• Birmingham News building (2006)
• Blazer Hall (2006)
• Bloom
• Bristol Southside
• Brown Springs Ecoscape
• Center Point Fire Station No. 1 (2006)
• Clay Community Center
• Doubletree Hotel Birmingham (renovated Radisson Hotel of Birmingham)
• Garden of Hope
• Hilltop Montessori School
• Holy Infant of Prague Catholic Church
• P. D. Jackson-Olin High School
• Mountain Brook School System headquarters
• Plaza Fiesta
• Shoppes at River Run
• St John Missionary Baptist Church Powderly
• Veterans Skate Park

Books

• Birmingham's Highland Park
• The Moretti Code
• The Olmsted Vision: Parks for Birmingham

Other

• Borat, film with scenes set in Birmingham
• Two-A-Days, television series, 2nd season
• Piece of Cake, short film
• Light Overture, orchestral work commissioned by Alabama Power and premiered by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Individuals

• UAB's Dale Benos served as president of the American Physiological Society.
• Edward Partridge succeeded Peter Emanuel as acting director of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Births

• May 9: Jalil, a male reticulated giraffe, born at the San Francisco Zoo
• July 4: Star, Spangle, and Banner, African red river hogs, born at the Birmingham Zoo
• August 7: Rowan, a male reticulated giraffe, born at the Birmingham Zoo

Awards and graduations

• Robert P. Bynum Award: Colonel Stone Johnson
• UAB President's Award for Excellence in Teaching: Dale Benos
• Alabama Academy of Honor: Miller Gorrie

Deaths

• January 19: Reverend Willie Spencer of Hueytown
• January 23: Murray Sokol, sales clerk
• January 30: Coretta Scott King
• February: Matilda, world's oldest chicken
• February 11: James F. Sulzby IV, real estate agent
• March 12: Richard N. Murray, former director of the Birmingham Museum of Art
• March 22: Alan Potts, owner of Silvertron Café
• April 4: Shirley Crumley, casting director
• April 23: John Hallum, actor
• May 19: William D. Sulzby, executive with Hayes Corporation
• May 25: Audis Williams, Clay building inspector
• June: Bill Bryant, orthopedist
• June 9: Walter Hill, former Sardis Missionary Baptist Church deacon, murdered
• June 13: John and Evelyn Martin and Ryan Evans, murder victims
• June 16: Joseph Braswell, interior designer
• June 29: Joe Dentici, radio engineer and DJ
• July 5: Hugh Stubbins, Jr, architect
• July 14: George M. Murray, former Bishop of Alabama
• July 17: Bill Morgan Freeman, artist
• July 30: Billy Thompson, Shelby County Commission
• August 3: Terrence West, Woodlawn High School girls basketball coach, murdered
• August 7: Buster, Birmingham Zoo cheetah
• August 14: Robert Davis III, adventurer
• August 24: William Bridgers, founder of UAB School of Public Health
• September 10: Nelson H. Smith, Baptist minister and Civil Rights leader
• October 2: Frances Bergen, actress and model
• October 5: Hal Lynch, actor
• October 23: Mary Smith, Fairfield police officer, shot in line of duty
• October 29: Benjamin Greene, former HABD commissioner
• November: Bernice Shepherd, Ruffner Mountain Nature Center benefactor
• November 4: Edward Gardner, former president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights
• November 26: Maxie Bryant, environmental activist
• November 29: Herman Spivey, toy store owner
• December 9: Wendell Givens, writer and newspaper editor
• Leo M. Bashinsky, pediatrician
• Akiva Ostrovsky, cantor and mohel at Temple Beth-El

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 2006 and List of Jefferson County homicides in 2006

See Also

• 2006 City Stages
• 2006 Birmingham Barons
• 2006 SEC Baseball Tournament
• 2006 Birmingham Steeldogs
• 2006 UAB Blazers
• 2006 Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival

2000s

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