1968

1968 was the 97th year after the founding of the City of Birmingham.

Events

• January 5: The final episode of Bozo the Clown aired on WBRC 6. Ward McIntyre played the title role.
• February 16: The nation's first 911 call was taken at the Haleyville police station.
• Birmingham voters approved $400,000 in bonds for the purchase of land to expand the Birmingham Museum of Art.
• The Birmingham Festival of Arts held the Salute to Greece.
• Branchville was incorporated.
• Green Valley elected to incorporate but was struck down after challenged by nearby Hoover.
• Construction of I-20/59 severed Norwood from downtown.
• Margaret Walker founded the Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People.

Business

• April 22: Christian radio station WDJC-FM debuted.
• July: South Central Bell was founded as a split from Southern Bell.
• August: A new Bruno's location opened in Dora.
• Arlington Properties was founded.
• BASS was founded by Ray Scott in Montgomery.
• Big B Drugs began operation as part of Bruno's Supermarkets.
• Andy Straynar, Charlie Lawrence, and another investor purchase Bogue's restaurant from the Bogues.
• Buck Creek Industries sold Buck Creek Mill to Reeves Brothers.
• Cinema West opened.
• Mercy Home was renamed Gateway.
• Golden Flake became a publicly traded company.
• Greg's Cookies was bought by Bud Cason, nephew of the company's founders.
• Sol's Sandwich Shop opened on the bottom floor of the John A. Hand Building.
• SMI Steel merged with CMC Steel Alabama.
• Sikes & Youngs Shoe Company opened in Vestavia Hills.
• Thunderbird Drive-In opened.

Education

• June: Mountain Brook High School's first graduation ceremony was held.
• July 1: The Alabama High School Athletic Association was integrated under court order by merging with the Alabama Interscholastic Athletic Association.
• September: Wenonah Area Vocational School opened to students.
• Helen Fuller succeeded Estelle McNutt as principal of Edgewood Elementary School.
• Gardendale High School held its first graduation ceremony.
• Jack Granata became chair of the University of Alabama art department.
• Robert F. Henry succeeded Howard M. Phillips as president of Birmingham-Southern College.
• Henry and Suzanne Herzing purchased the Electronics Computer Programming Institute.
• Ann Jordan succeeded Aleen Mitchell as principal of Hall-Kent Elementary School.
• James Pharris succeeded Benjamin McGhee as principal of Washington K-8 School.

Government

• May 7: Albert Brewer was appointed Governor of Alabama upon Lurleen Wallace's death.
• June: Attorney Arthur Shores became the first black Birmingham City Councilor after being appointed to fill the seat vacated upon the death of R. W. Douglas.
• J. P. Campbell succeeded Wally Watson as Mayor of Hueytown.
• Jack Courson succeeded James Bailey as Mayor of Leeds.
• Edward Ernest succeeded Don Watts as Mayor of Hoover.
• Afton Lee, Sr was elected to the Homewood City Council.
• Robert Waldrop succeeded E. G. Walker as Mayor of Homewoood, his first of six terms.

Religion

• C. W. Box became pastor of First Baptist Church of Boldo.
• James Crutcher succeeded John Cross as pastor of 16th Street Baptist Church.
• Philip Silverstein became rabbi at Temple Beth-El.
• Sixth Avenue Baptist Church sold its property on Sixth Avenue South.
• Moshe Stern became rabbi of Knesseth Israel Congregation.

Sports

• May 23: Groundbreaking was held for Talladega Superspeedway.
• September 22: A NFL regular season game was played at Legion Field.
• December 3: Auburn lost to Alabama by a score of 24-16 in the 1968 Iron Bowl at Legion Field.
• The final NASCAR race was held at Birmingham International Raceway.
• Paul Seitz returned to Birmingham to play baseball for the Birmingham A's.
• Alabama quarterback Kenny Stabler was drafted in the second round of the NFL draft.

Individuals

• April 1: John Garrett became a traffic engineer for the City of Birmingham.
• October 20: Joseph Raya was appointed archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and All Galilee.
• Central Bank CEO Harry Brock, Jr took control of the board of the State National Bank of Alabama.
• Charles E. Bugg and William Bridgers accepted positions at UAB.
• Wallace Cohen succeeded Karl B. Friedman as president of the Levite Jewish Community Center.
• Bull Connor was re-elected as Alabama Public Service Commission director.
• Artist and photographer William Christenberry began teaching at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C.
• Newton H. DeBardeleben succeeded John A. Hand as CEO of First National Bank of Birmingham.
• Don Drennen, Jr became president of the Don Drennen Motor Company.
• Reverend Edward Gardner became president of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights.
• Lamar Johnson was a third round draft pick by the Chicago White Sox.
• Attorney D. Paul Jones joined the Balch & Bingham firm.
• Leonard and Bettie Lawley purchased the R. F. McKibbon residence in Montevallo.
• J. Gordon Melton was ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church.
• Don Morrison served as president of AIA Birmingham.
• Sonia Sanchez married poet Etheridge Knight.
• Muzaffar I. Sheikh arrived in the United States for graduate study.
• Judge Robert Vance led the first racially mixed Alabama delegation to a Democratic National Convention.
• Marvin Warner was appointed a delegate to the 23rd General Assembly of the United Nations.

Births

• January 3: Thomas Rayam, football player and coach
• February: Thomas Robey, chef
• April 20: DeDee Nathan, Olympic heptathlete
• April 24: Todd Jones, baseball player
• May 6: Tyler Layton, actor
• May 27: Frank Thomas, baseball player
• June 14: Slade Blackwell, lobbyist
• August 6: Siran Stacy, football player
• August 24: Zeb Little, attorney and politician
• August 25: Jeremy Erdreich, architect
• August 27: Randy Sandford, UAB staffer
• September 6: Kevin Dudley, robber
• September 14: DeMond Winston, football player
• November 21: Candace Michelle Brown, Miss Alabama USA 1992
• Johnny Brown, Columbiana police chief
• Ann Hodges Goolsby, Maytown mayor
• Jeff Hager, Jefferson County CFO
• Julie Keith, magazine editor
• Shawn King, police officer
• Eric Major, politician
• Hoyt Sanders, Mayor of Pinson
• Ken Shaia, retailer
• Pam Siddall, newspaper publisher
• John Trobaugh, photographer

Graduations

• Janet Awtrey earned her M.S. in nursing from UAB.
• Robert Bentley earned his M.D. from the University of Alabama School of Medicine.
• Nell Carter graduated from A. H. Parker High School.
• Howard Cruse earned a degree from Birmingham-Southern College.
• Gail Godwin earned her M.A. in English from the University of Iowa.
• Literary scholar Barry Ivker completed his Ph.D at Indiana University.
• J. Gordon Melton earned his M. Div. at Garrett Theological Seminary.
• Richard North Patterson earned a degree from Ohio Wesleyan University.
• Carole Samuelson graduated from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.
• Don Siegelman graduated from the University of Alabama.

Awards

• Fogarty Award: George Turner
• Miss Alabama: Dellynne Catching
• Medal of Honor: Sgt. Matthew Leonard (post-houmous)

Deaths

• April 4: Martin Luther King, Jr, Civil Rights Movement leader
• April 12: Victorine, gorilla
• May 7: Lurleen Wallace, Governor of Alabama
• November 6: Chauncey Sparks, former Governor of Alabama
• December 12: Tallulah Bankhead, actress
• Martha Fort Anderson, printmaker
• Kenneth Forbes, businessman
• Billy Smith, businessman

See also List of Birmingham homicides in 1968

Works

Early Days in Birmingham

Buildings

• July 30: Construction of Lister Hill Library began.
• Calder Building was renovated as Citizens Federal Savings Bank's headquarters.
• One floor was added to Children's Hospital.
• Green Acres Baptist Church education building was added to the campus.

Completed

• Higgins residence
• Inglenook Community Center
• Lawson Field
• Memorial Coliseum

Demolitions

• Linger Longer Lodge and street Grace Way, for the Interstate 65 Shades Mountain cut.

Books

• September: Early Days in Birmingham

Films and TV

• December 9: The Temptations and Diana Ross & the Supremes starred in musical revue television special called TCB.
• The Alabama Television Corporation, headed by John Jemison, was awarded the broadcast rights to UHF Channel 21 by the FCC.

Music

• Dennis Edwards replaced David Ruffin as lead singer of The Temptations.
• Looking at You and The Very Best of Sandy Posey by Sandy Posey were released.
• Samford Memorial Pipe Organ was constructed at Southside Baptist Church.
• The Torquays disbanded.

Theater

• Birmingham Dinner Theatre was founded.

Gallery

• 

  1968 Logo for Parliament House motor hotel

• 

  1968 ad for Sneaky Pete's

Context

In 1968, the Vietnam War continued and the Tet Offensive took place. A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashed in Greenland near Thule Air Base, discharging four nuclear bombs. The Winter Olympics were held in Grenoble, France. Madison Square Garden in New York City opened. Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee. The Civil Rights Act of 1968, including the Fair Housing Act, became law. The musical Hair officially opened on Broadway. U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles, dying the next day.

Also in 1968, the semiconductor company Intel was founded. The first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held in Chicago, Illinois. Swaziland became independent. Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, launched. Mattel's Hot Wheels toy cars were introduced. The Summer Olympics were held in Mexico City, Mexico. Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeated the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace in the presidential election. Apollo 8 orbited around the Moon.

The top-grossing films in 1968 included 2001: A Space Odyssey, Funny Girl, The Love Bug, The Odd Couple, Bullitt, Romeo and Juliet, Oliver!, Rosemary's Baby, Planet of the Apes, and Night of the Living Dead. Oliver! took the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director (Carol Reed). Best Actor went to Cliff Robertson for Charly. Best Actress went to both Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl in the Best Actress award's only tie in history.

Television premieres in 1968 included Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, One Life to Live, Hawaii 5-O, and 60 Minutes.

1960s

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