1953

1953 was the 82nd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

• The Birmingham Festival of Arts was held as a "Festival of the Seven Arts".
• Fountain Heights Methodist Church purchased the former Weather Forecast Office Birmingham on 13th Street North.
• March 4: "Confederate Flag Day" was recognized by the Alabama State Legislature.
• April 18: The 1953 Siluria tornado killed eight people and caused damage to the Buck Creek Mill.
• April 19: The Birmingham Transit Company's last streetcar trip was completed on the No. 27 Ensley No. 38 South East Lake streetcar line.
• September 17: Actress Gloria Swanson made special appearances at the downtown Loveman's store.
• September 17: The Crestwood Civic Club was organized.
• October 5-10: The 1953 Alabama State Fair was held.
• The Red Gap Branch of the Birmingham Mineral Railroad between Hedona and Irondale was abandoned.

Business

• Robert Luckie Jr founded Luckie & Co.
• Michael Matsos opened a second location of La Paree restaurant in the Holiday Inn on Bessemer Super Highway.
• Bert Bank founded the Alabama Football Network.
• Storer Broadcasting of Toledo, Ohio purchased WBRC-TV for $2.3 million and switched it from Channel 4 to Channel 6.
• The Birmingham News Company purchased WAFM-TV, WAPI-AM and WAPI-FM and moved their studios to Red Mountain.
• Pasquale and Vincent Gramaglia founded Pasquale's Pizza & Pasta in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Riverbend Farm in Ragland ceased bottling and distribution of its dairy products.

Government

• February 23: The city of Alabaster was incorporated.
• April: Cooper Green resigned from the Birmingham City Commission to become a vice president of the Alabama Power Company.
• The Birmingham Department of Parks and Recreation purchased the Arlington home in West End for $53,000, raised through private donations.
• May 5: 1953 primary elections and 1953 Birmingham municipal election
• Jimmy Morgan succeeded Cooper Green as President of the Birmingham City Commission.
• October 6: The city of Midfield was incorporated.
• October 13: The city of Adamsville was re-incorporated.
• Hal McCall succeeded James Robertson as Mayor of Tuscaloosa.
• George Wallace was elected to the Third Judicial Circuit Court.

Education

• Birmingham's Western High School was renamed Western Olin High School.
• A. H. Parker High School was first accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges.
• The Birmingham Conservatory of Music merged with Birmingham-Southern College.
• Lawrence Reynolds donated his collection of over 13,000 rare books, manuscripts and artifacts to the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama.
• November 13: A fire seriously damaged Edgewood Elementary School.

Religion

• May 3: Concord Highland Baptist Church was dedicated.
• Fred Shuttlesworth succeeded Chester Laster as pastor of Bethel Baptist Church.

Sports

• The 1953 Birmingham Barons began a three-season association with the New York Yankees.
• May 18: Harold Grote tied a Birmingham Barons record with two home runs in one inning.
• August 28: The Southside Ball Association Little League team from Avondale Park defeated New York 1-0 to claim the 1953 Little League World Series.
• Sam Hairston was named Most Valuable Player of the Western League.
• Shug Jordan's 1953 Auburn Tigers football team went 7-3-1 and lost the Gator Bowl to Texas Tech.
• Pitcher Virgil Trucks was traded to the St Louis Cardinals.
• November 28: Alabama won the 1953 Iron Bowl 10-7.

Individuals

• Fant Thornley succeeded Emily Danton as director of the Birmingham Public Library.
• Eloise Hanna retired from WBRC-TV.
• A. C. Keily served as president of the Professional Photographers of Mississippi-Alabama.
• W. A. Parker retired as Superintendent of Tarrant City Schools.
• Henry Stanford became president of the Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville.
• James Permutt succeeded Fred Nichols as president of Temple Beth-El.
• U.S. Attorney Tom King was made Chief Administrative Assistant to U. S. Representative George Huddleston Jr.
• R. G. Armstrong made his Broadway debut in "End as a Man."
• Cliff Holman was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army.
• Hardrock Gunter took a job in Wheeling, West Virginia producing "The World's Original Jamboree" radio show.
• Sol Rittenbaum succeeded James Permutt as president of the Jewish Community Center.

Births

• January 5: Mike DuBose, football coach
• January 23: Joseph Marino, Archbishop
• March 1: Luther Strange, Attorney General of Alabama and U.S. Senator
• March 2: Rodger Smitherman, state senator
• May 9: Ron "Papa Jack" Jackson, professional baseball player
• May 22: Radio disc jockey Coyote J. Calhoun (Jim Battan)
• June 12: Charlie Moore, professional baseball player
• July 15: Hugo Black III, attorney
• July 22: Tony Petelos, Jefferson County Manager
• July 28: Don Black, Ku Klux Klan leader and "Stormfront" founder
• August 14: Harold Jackson, newspaper columnist
• August 23: Billy Shields, professional football player
• September 16: Jerry Pate, professional golfer
• September 19: Ann Florie, Leadership Birmingham director
• October 23: Angelo Sarris, restaurateur
• December: Eli Gold, sports announcer
• December 20: Steve Orel, founder of World of Opportunity
• Emory Anthony, attorney
• Bill Bryant, orthopedist
• Robert W. Carter, Chief of the Adamsville Police Department
• Cathy Sloss Jones, real estate developer
• Myron Massey, Fairfield Police Department
• Michael Melvin, Chief of the Kimberly Police Department

Marriages

• Actor Mary Anderson married cimematographer Leon Shamroy.
• Theodore Peoples married Annie Louise Berry.
• Freddie Rogers married Pearlie McCarthy.
• Hank Penny married Sue Martin.
• August 22: Bill Steltemeier married Ramona Schnupp.

Awards

• Birmingham Woman of the Year: Eleanor Bridges
• Miss Alabama: Virginia McDavid
• Mr Crestwood: Carl Johnsey
• University of Alabama Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award: George Murray

Graduations

• Coach Bobby Bowden graduated from Howard College.
• Composer Ezra Sims earned a diploma in Chinese from the U.S. Army Language School.
• Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth completed a bachelor's degree in English from the Alabama State Teachers College in Montgomery.
• Gene Bartow earned a degree from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
• Ward McIntyre graduated from Birmingham-Southern College.
• John Grenier completed his law degree at Tulane University.

Deaths

• January 7: Joe Kelley died with 40 other servicemen returning from Korea in a plane crash near Bear Lake, Idaho.
• January 18: Newt Joseph, baseball player
• May 30: Oscar Wells, banker
• June 27: Mary Anderson, real-estate developer, rancher, viticulturist and inventor
• August 15: Erskine Ramsay, mining engineer, inventor and philanthropist
• Ned McCormack, Homewood Police Department

See also: List of homicides in 1953

Works

• "Get It", single by The Royals with Hank Ballard

Buildings

• March 22: The Birmingham VA Medical Center was dedicated.
• June 11: Howard College broke ground for its new Shades Valley campus.
• The Alabama Theatre's projection system and screen were upgraded for CinemaScope.
• The connector between U.S. Highway 31 and the "Florida Short Route" in Rosedale was begun.
• Widening of U.S. Highway 31 between Shades Mountain and the Cahaba River was begun.
• A playing field was constructed on the east side of Phillips High School.
• A parsonage for North Birmingham Church of God on 32nd Street North.
• Minor High School stadium
• St Theresa Catholic Church in Leeds

Context

1950s

<< 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 >>

Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works