Morris Avenue: Difference between revisions

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** 2015: [[Lacke Building]]
** 2015: [[Lacke Building]]
** 2017: [[Kinetic Communications]], originally [[C. S. Simmons]] produce company, later the [[Douglass Building]], and [[Diamond Jim's]]
** 2017: [[Kinetic Communications]], originally [[C. S. Simmons]] produce company, later the [[Douglass Building]], and [[Diamond Jim's]]
** 2019-21: formerly [[Higdon and McCrary]] produce company, later [[Aunt Polly's Kitchen]], and part of [[Diamond Jim's]]
** 2019-21: formerly [[Higdon and McCrary]] produce company, later [[Douglas Bros. Produce]], [[Aunt Polly's Kitchen]], and part of [[Diamond Jim's]]
** 2023-25: [[Club Zen]]. Originally the [[McLester and Van Hoose]] produce company, later [[Victoria Station]], [[Larry's Place]], and [[The Station]].
** 2023-25: [[Club Zen]]. Originally the [[McLester and Van Hoose]] produce company, later [[Birmingham Roofing Co.]], [[Victoria Station]], [[Larry's Place]], and [[The Station]].


===2100 block===
===2100 block===

Revision as of 12:16, 2 February 2011

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 section

Morris Avenue, c. 1911

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

The Louisville & Nashville Railroad claimed ownership of the section of Morris Avenue between 14th and 18th Streets, which had been used as a produce market and later for automobile parking. In 1969 the railroad blocked off the area to traffic, erecting makeshift barriers and signs saying "No admittance, private property". Leon Aland of the New Ideal department store led legal efforts to keep the street open to public use.

Entertainment district

Main article: Old Town Downtown
Rendering for Morris Avenue entertainment district by Bob Moody

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.

Local architects, executives and real-estate developers such as Bob Moody, James Head, Roger McGuire, Temple Tutwiler, Albert Mills, Jim DeVries and others joined forces to promote the redevelopment of Morris Avenue as a historical-themed entertainment district, to fill the need for entertainment options with the opening of the new Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, and as an attraction in its own right.

Student volunteers from Samford, Miles, Jefferson State, Lawson and UAB scraped up asphalt covering the avenue's original paving stones. Gas-light fixtures were put up along the sidewalks and small stone "RSPQ" fountains designed by Italian sculptor Terresa Berdini were installed. Businesses began opening in the district in the Summer of 1972, and the development as a whole was given a grand opening celebration on October 15. A tourism study by Herdman & Stuckey Travel Investment Corporation projected that 59% of the initial visitors to Morris Avenue would be tourists from outside the area, increasing to 76% after the first six months. Gross income of $800,000 for 100,000 leasable square feet per month was projected by December of the district's first full year.

Nigel Harlan, a Chicago steel executive, was lured into a robbery/murder while unwinding at the Sho-Boat Lounge on August 18, 1977. His body was found in Shelby County three weeks later. A Florida couple was later arrested and charged with the killing. The sensational nature of the crime has been blamed for crippling the viability of the fledgling entertainment district.

Later development

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

Loft district

Main article: Loft District

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 jazz club On the Avenue moved from 4th 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

For an alphabetical list of locations, see the Morris Avenue category.

1700 block

1800 block

1900 block

2000 block

2100 block

2200 block

2300 block

Unknown location

References

External links

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