By Sara Wuska Vestavia Hills began as a planned community on the crest of Shades Mountain after World War II. Four years later, on November 8, 1950, the 607 residents attracted to the isolated area formed their own town. When it celebrated its fiftieth year in 2000, the city's population was well over 25,000. Settlers came late to this beautiful and wild region of Shades Mountain. Beginning in the early 1920's a few hardy, independent, or wealthy pioneers began to wind their way up the narrow, steep, curvy dirt road. Most of them built their small homes along this road that connected Birmingham to the capital city in Montgomery. A small number enjoyed estates on the mountain crest or secluded and screened from the Montgomery Highway.One of the earliest residents was George Battey Ward, the well-traveled former mayor of Birmingham and a man of many interests, including the classics. He purchased twenty acres in a prominent spot on the crest and built a home in 1924 designed after the Temple of Vesta in Rome. He named his home Vestavia, or home by the way. Across the road on a peak overlooking the valley below, he added a garden gazebo, a replica of the Temple of Sibyl at Tivoli. After Mr. Ward's death in 1940, his estate was sold and eventually purchased by Charles Byrd. Vestavia Hills Baptist Church now occupies the former site of George Ward's home. In the latter part of the decade, Mr. Byrd had begun his development on the mountain in 1946, naming it, appropriately, Vestavia Hills, and forever memorializing an unusual place, a time, and a man.The Temple of Sibyl gazebo was eventually relocated on a knoll at the north entrance to the city where Shades Crest Road and the Montgomery Highway (US 31) intersect. It is presently owned and maintained by the Vestavia Hills Garden Club. In 1988, the Vestavia Hills Baptist Church permitted the columns, that remained on their property, to be erected at the southern entrance of the city, the exit ramp off I-65 and US31. The housing shortage following World War II, the venturesome spirit of returning veterans, the baby boom, the energy of young families, the building of an elementary school (in 1949), the founding of church after church, the Scout and Little League programs, the four-laning of Montgomery Highway, and a major shopping center in 1956, were all combinations that brought more and more to the mountain; easily changing the community from "town" to "city" status.With the city's growth, virtually paralleling both sides of Montgomery Highway, the population doubled each decade from 1960 to 1970 to 1980. In the sixties, development of recreational facilities began in Wald Park on the land purchased from sisters Edna and Mildred Wald. In addition, a new civic center complex opened and included the public library and recreational center. Throughout the decade, elected officials and parents wrestled with the County School Board about overcrowded, inadequate facilities for the increasing numbers of school age children. Each time that classrooms were added, these came as a result of city negotiations with Vestavia Hills agreeing to pay half of the cost. A major step was undertaken by elected officials in the beginning of the seventies - one of those moments of destiny. A referendum was presented to the citizens and, by a slight majority, the voters elected to establish their own public school system.It was at about this same time that another early settler, through his heirs, bestowed an enduring legacy to the city and its school system. In the early 1930's, Louis Pizitz, founder and owner of Pizitz Department Stores, built his home "Happy Dale" off of Montgomery Highway. After his death, his son and heir deeded the city several acres from the large land estate. Responding to school needs, the city offered part of this property to the Jefferson County School Board, and in 1968 a school was built for 7th and 8th graders - today known as Louis Pizitz Middle School. When the need arose for city to build its own high school, once again Mr. Isadore Pizitz gave, from his father's estate, the property that would be required for this complex. The significance of each of these gifts and their value in anchoring and establishing the fledgeling, struggling school system is inestimable. Throughout the eighties and the nineties the City has continued to grow and expand, strengthened by active and energetic citizens who love the beautiful mountain and appreciate a place where churches, excellent schools, beautiful parks with complete sports programs and playing fields, libraries and top-notch city services are a way of life. |
