1964

1964 was the 93rd year after the founding of the city of Birmingham.

Events

Billy Graham speaking at the 1964 Easter Rally

• Easter Sunday, March 29: Billy Graham Easter Rally at Legion Field
• Amerigo Marino succeeded Arthur Winograd as conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
• The Norwood Community Ministry was founded by pastor David Singleton at Handley Memorial Church in Norwood.
• August: A concert at Rickwood Field featured Jackie Wilson, The Drifters, B. B. King, Gene Chandler, Gladys Night [sic], Sam & Dave, Irma Thomas and emcee "Gorgeous George".
• August 11: In the 1964 Birmingham-Homewood merger referendum residents of Homewood voted by a margin of 6 ballots to merge into Birmingham.
• December: In a special referendum authorized by the Alabama Supreme Court, residents of Homewood, whose possible annexation into Birmingham was still in the courts, approved Birmingham's Mayor-Council form of government by a margin of 2,374 to 611.
• Rock group The Ramrods split up.
• Residents of Vesthaven voted 35-0 to be annexed into Vestavia Hills.
• South Highland School closed.
• The Birmingham Botanical Society was founded.
• Rosalyn Heights was annexed into Birmingham's Penfield Park neighborhood.
• Briarwood Christian School was founded as a kindergarten.
• The Pelham Fire Department was organized as a volunteer force.
• Harvard College dean John Monro began volunteering as an English instructor at Miles College.

Business

• September 10: The Avonwood Rest Home was incorporated.
• October 17: Britling Cafeteria closed their flagship 1st Avenue North location.
• October 22: Britling West opened at Five Points West.
• Jim Davenport's Pizza Palace opened.
• Miller Gorrie bought Thomas Brasfield's construction company.
• H. S. Metals was founded by brothers Joseph and Gaston Stein.
• The Griffin Wheel Co. opened a manufacturing plant near Bessemer.
• Jack Shannon founded J. H. Shannon & Co. investment bankers.
• Jesse Lewis founded The Birmingham Times.
• Jefferson Home Furniture moved from 1808 3rd Avenue North to 1716 2nd Avenue North.
• WAPI-TV installed a new RCA Traveling Wave broadcast antenna on its Red Mountain tower.
• Alex Gatewood founded The Locker Room clothier in Tuscaloosa.
• Prestige Productions Records was founded.
• Tuscaloosa Testing Laboratory was founded in Tuscaloosa.
• The Cahaba Valley News became the The Birmingham Independent and the Cahaba Valley News

Civil Rights

• June 9: Tuscaloosa Police violently broke up a Civil Rights march from First African Baptist Church to the new Tuscaloosa County Courthouse.
• July 2: President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• July 31: Ollie McClung filed a challenge to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
• September 17: The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama found part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 unconstitutional.
• September 23: Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black issued an order staying the decision of the District Court.
• December 14: The United States Supreme Court ruled in Katzenbach v. McClung that Ollie's Barbecue and other restaurants were subject to the public accommodations clause of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Dave Brubeck performed at the first integrated concert at the University of Alabama.

Sports

• 1964 Birmingham Barons
• July 23: 1964 Birmingham Barons star Bert Campaneris made his Major League debut.
• November 26: 1964 Iron Bowl

Works

• "The Greatest Live Show on Earth", album by Jerry Lee Lewis recorded at Municipal Auditorium

Buildings

• January 2: The Parliament House hotel opened its doors to guests.
• Brookwood Forest Elementary School in Mountain Brook
• Collegeville Housing Community
• Exchange Security Bank Mountain Brook branch
• Hewitt-Trussville Junior High
• Logan Martin Dam
• Tuscaloosa County Courthouse in Tuscaloosa
• Valley Elementary School in Pelham
• Meyer Planetarium at Birmingham-Southern College
• Monte D'Oro subdivision
• Roebuck Park Baptist Church education building
• Birmingham Travelodge No. 1 was remodeled and added a rooftop swimming pool.
• The Hood-McPherson building had renovations made.
• Sears Vestavia Hills opened at Vestavia Hills Mall.

Demolitions

• Southern Hotel at 20th Street and 4th Avenue North
• Alley School at Green Springs Avenue / 20th Avenue South for construction of I-65

Individuals

• Benny Carle left Birmingham to take a job in Huntsville.
• Don Morrison was granted his license to practice architecture.
• Sonny Penhale was elected to his first term as Mayor of Helena.
• Jonathan McPherson was the first African American to pass the patrolman examination given by the Birmingham Police Department
• Maryon Allen wrote a society column for The Birmingham News.
• Cholly Atkins was hired as in-house choreographer for Motown Records.

Births

• January 3: Buck Johnson, basketball player
• January 5: David Garrett, law librarian and playwright
• January 20: Mark Gottfried, basketball coach
• January 21: Howard Yeilding, Jefferson County Personnel Board president
• January 28: Justin Fox, journalist
• March 2: Justin Brown, conductor of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra
• March 27: Bubba Bussey, radio show host
• March 27: Eddie Vines, Jefferson County Circuit Court judge
• April 23: Vance Moody, Homewood City Council member
• April 24: Carol Robinson, Birmingham News crime reporter
• April 27: Lori Locust, Birmingham Iron coach
• May 26: Caitlín R. Kiernan, novelist
• May 28: Sheldon Haygood, television sports anchor
• June 15: Courteney Cox Arquette, actress
• June 19: Kevin Schwantz, motorcycle racer and trainer
• June 21: Chris Hodges, pastor of Church of the Highlands
• July 6; Lillie Leatherwood, Olympic sprinter
• July 13: Damon Johnson, guitarist and rock singer
• July 18: Todd Henderson, attorney and former law enforcement officer
• August: Daniel Coleman, president of Birmingham-Southern College
• August 24: David Bonnett, race car driver
• August 24: Oteil Burbridge, bass player
• September 9: Ben Tamburello, football player
• October 2: Hector Villanueva, baseball player
• October 3: Rick Burgess, radio show host
• October 6: Lucy Bonds, owner of Lucy's Coffee and Tea
• October 10: Jerome Mincy, basketball player
• October 20: Clifford Allison, race car driver
• October 20: Drew Galloway, artist
• October 26: Steve Marshall, Attorney General of Alabama
• November 5: Guido Maus, artist and gallery owner
• November 7: Michael Papajohn, stunt performer and actor
• November 22: Olin Barnes III, insurance executive
• December 8: Thomas Martin, chairman of Alabama Power Company
• December 24: Bridgett Jones, salon owner
• Kathryn Woodson Barr, head of the Highlands School
• Charles Benjamin, coach for Birmingham City Schools
• Floyd Council, Birmingham Public Library director
• Scott Daniels, radio personality
• Bobby Jackson, fantasy miniaturist
• Melissa Kendrick, social activist and owner of Sojourns
• Lee Long, artist and cartoonist
• Mark Pettway, detective sergeant in the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
• Connie Rowe, Jasper police chief
• Bill Scott, chief of the San Francisco, California police department
• Fernandez Sims, minister and family counselor
• Sanjay Singh, business executive

Graduations and awards

• Bill Elder earned a bachelor of arts in religion at Baylor University.
• William Cobb's "The Concrete Soldier" was named "Story of the Year" by Story magazine.
• Mike Froning earned a master's in mathematics at Johns Hopkins University.
• Steve Williams graduated from the Birmingham School of Law.

Deaths

• January 21: Howard Yeilding, Jefferson County Personnel Board president
• April 28: William Shortridge, funeral director
• December 8: Thomas Martin, Alabama Power Co. president
• List of homicides in 1964

1960s

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Births - Deaths - Establishments - Events - Works