1959

1959 was the 88th year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• March 1: The light cruiser USS Birmingham (CL-62) was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register.
• May 5: The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham was founded.
• August 19: The Birmingham City Commission rejected a request by the Birmingham Downtown Improvement Association to contribute funding toward a traffic study for a route over or through Red Mountain.
• September 27: Shelby Memorial Hospital was dedicated on with Alabama Senator Lister Hill and Congressman Armistead Selden in attendance.
• October 5–10: The 1959 Alabama State Fair was held at the Alabama State Fairgrounds.
• November 12: The USS Birmingham (CL-62) was sold for scrap.
• The Birmingham Civic Ballet Guild was formed.
• The Birmingham Festival of Arts celebrated America in the New World.
• A live Christmas tree was planted in Linn Park.
• The town of Margaret in St Clair County was incorporated.
• The Jimmy Morgan Zoo traded a pair of Siberian Tiger cubs for a pair of Siamese "black panthers" (melanistic leopards).
• Mama Petite, a hippopotamus, was captured and brought to the Jimmy Morgan Zoo.
• Mountain Brook established its own school system.

Business

• August 20: Hill's Food Stores opened a store on Hueytown Road in Hueytown.
• Milton Andrews succeeded B. Roper Dial as president of The Club.
• Bromberg's opened a second location in Mountain Brook Village.
• The first Catfish King restaurant opened.
• The Coffee Cup Restaurant was established.
• Fife's Restaurant opened.
• John's Photo Service opened the first color film lab in Alabama at its newly-constructed Vanderbilt Road location.
• Pioneer Cafeteria opened its first location on Parkway East near the Gadsden Highway.
• Sam and Isadore Pizitz sold the Pizitz chain to John S. Jemison and Associates.
• The first Sherer's Drive-In opened near Jasper.
• The J.W. Valentine Company purchased the Siluria Mills.

Civil Rights Movement

• November 23: Judge Seybourn H. Lynne again dismissed the Baldwins lawsuit to integrate Birmingham Terminal Station.

Government

• January 19: John Patterson succeeded Jim Folsom, Sr as Governor of Alabama.
• Albert Boutwell succeeded William Hardwick as Lieutenant Governor of Alabama.
• Samuel Burr succeeded David Hamilton as Mayor of Mountain Brook.

Religion

• Seymour Atlas became rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.
• South Highland Presbyterian Church began broadcasting its services on local radio.
• Sidney Ziff succeeded Max Kimerling as president of Temple Beth-El.

Sports

• October 3: Aubie first appeared on a football program.
• Auburn Tigers football under coach Shug Jordan went 7–3 for the season.
• Bobby Bowden succeeded Virgil C. Ledbetter as the head football coach of Howard College.
• Sam Hairston made the Western League's All-Star Team.
• The University of Alabama debuted its elephant in a red A logo.

Individuals

• Cooper Green was promoted to Executive Vice President of Alabama Power and joined the company's Board of Directors.
• John Rhoden concluded his four-year world tour.
• Mack Russell left Birmingham for Atlanta after a promotion by Wilby-Kincey.
• Ezra Sims made his professional debut on a Composers Forum program in New York.

Births

Mike Anderson

Emanuel Ford

Daniel Wallace

• January 10: Larry McReynolds, racing analyst and NASCAR crew chief
• January 13: Steve Skipper, sports artist
• March 7: Albert Hall, baseball player
• March 24: Emmit King, sprinter
• April 22: Terry Francona, baseball manager
• May 3: Rodney Huntley, warden and community activist
• June 8: Britt Burns, baseball player
• July 25: Barry Mask, state representative
• July 26: Rick Bragg, writer
• August 28: Don Stewart, visual artist
• October 20: Don Heinkel, baseball player and doctor
• December 6: Lawrence Conaway, pastor
• December 12: Mike Anderson, college basketball coach
• December 27: Andre Tippett, football player
• December 29: Eric Essix, jazz guitarist and bandleader
• Guillermo Castro, chef and restauranteur
• Mike Clements, football coach
• L. Scott Coogler, judge
• Cornelius Cummings, pastor
• Anthony Farley, police chief
• Robbie Fearn, actor and environmentalist
• Emanuel Ford, community activist
• Chris Giles, college basketball player and coach
• Mike Grissom, teacher
• Mark Hall, police chief
• Charles Hart, veterinarian and Mayor of Clay
• Hezekiah Jackson IV, businessman and community activist
• Bill Johnson, city councilor
• Matt Kimbrell, musician
• Rica Lewis-Payton, VA medical center director
• Bert Miller, city councilor
• Vijay Misra, doctor
• Stan Pate, real estate developer
• Wanda Radford, minister
• Keith Rice, investigator
• Anne Ruisi, journalist
• Jimmy Snow, chef and business owner
• David Stiles, educator
• Daniel Wallace, novelist

Graduations

• John Cross from Virginia Union University with a master's of divinity.
• Gail Godwin from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill with a B.A. in journalism.

Awards

• "Sigma Delta Chi" award for the most outstanding editorial cartoon of the year: Charles Brooks
• Miss Alabama: Betty Lindstrom
• Mr Crestwood: Carl Salter

Octavus Roy Cohen

Deaths

• May: Harold Blach, retailer
• January 6: Octavus Roy Cohen, author
• June 24: Jimmy Hitchcock, football and baseball player
• December 1: Avery Parrish, jazz pianist
• E. E. Forbes, businessman
• Louis Pizitz, merchant

Works

• Porgy and Bess film, featuring the singing voice of Loulie Jean Norman

Buildings

Pilgrim Congregational Church's 1959 "blue roof" building on Montclair Road

• Berney's Drug Store
• Capri Apartments
• Fun-O-Rama
• Greater Guiding Light Missionary Baptist Church sanctuary
• Green Springs Plaza (6th Street)
• Holiday Bowl
• Jackson Building redesign
• Jemison Building redesign
• John's Photo Service's Vanderbilt Road location
• Kessler Building renovations
• Oliver Elementary School
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
• Pilgrim Church "Blue Roof" building
• Seibert Hall at Samford University
• Shelby Memorial Hospital
• Vestavia Hills Shopping Center
• Vulcan's pedestal repairs
• Oscar Wells Memorial Building for the Birmingham Museum of Art

Gallery

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  The Goldstein building in 1959

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  Portrait of Charles Brooks by Hubert Harper in 1959

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  Portrait of Hubert Harper by Charles Brooks in 1959

Context

In 1959, Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as the 49th & 50th states. The Cuban Revolution ended with Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement taking power. A chartered plane carrying musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper and pilot Roger Peterson crashed, killing all aboard. American Airlines Flight 320, departing New York City, crashed into the East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board. Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500. The Barbie doll debuted. NASA announced its selection of seven military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts. The Saint Lawrence Seaway opened. Explorer 6 sent the first picture of Earth from orbit. The Antarctic Treaty sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent. Pantyhose debuted on the open market.

Notable books published in 1959 included The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, Psycho by Robert Bloch, Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie, The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon, Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene L. Burdick, The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth which won the National Book Award for Fiction, and Advise and Consent by Allen Drury which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. New drama that debuted included A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry.

The top music hits of 1959 included "Stagger Lee" by Lloyd Price, "Venus" by Frankie Avalon, "Come Softly to Me" by The Fleetwoods, "The Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton which won Grammy Awards for both Song of the Year and Best Country & Western Performance, "Lonely Boy" by Paul Anka, "The Three Bells" by The Browns, and "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin which won Record of the Year. Bobby Darin was also named Best New Artist. Album of the Year went to Frank Sinatra for Come Dance with Me!, who also netted the Grammy for Best Vocal Performance, Male. Ella Fitzgerald won Best Vocal Performance, Female.

Notable births in 1959 included actor Clancy Brown; NASCAR driver Mark Martin; tennis player John McEnroe; actor Tom Arnold; rapper Flavor Flav; singer Irene Cara; actor David Hyde Pierce; musician Brian Setzer; actress Emma Thompson; singer Sheena Easton; video game designer Peter Molyneux; singer Morrissey; wrestler Kevin Nash; actor Kevin Spacey; basketball player Magic Johnson; spiritualist David Koresh; actor Jason Alexander; actor Jack Wagner; television personality and producer Simon Cowell; singer Marie Osmond; Sarah, Duchess of York; comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic; television host Nancy Grace; singer Bryan Adams; and comedian Tracey Ullman.

Notable deaths included film director Cecil B. DeMille, musicians The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, & Ritchie Valens, comedian Lou Costello, writer Raymond Chandler, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, actor George Reeves, actress Ethel Barrymore, singer Billie Holiday, writer Preston Sturges, sculptor Jacob Epstein, actor Errol Flynn, boxer Max Baer, and tennis player Molla Mallory.

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