Boom and beer: A look at the stories that shaped 2022 in Tuscaloosa
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One of the biggest stories of 2022 in Tuscaloosa was also one of the loudest.
Early on the morning of the Fourth of July, the University of Alabama detonated hundreds of pounds of dynamite in the implosion of Julia Tutwiler Hall, a dormitory for freshman women that had been open since the late 1960s. On a more quiet note in August, UA opened the new 1,284-bed Julia Tutwiler Hall, just a short walk away from the former location.
While the old/new Tut marked the biggest physical changes in Tuscaloosa during 2022, the year also featured other notable changes.
It was a year of firsts: For the first time, football fans could buy alcohol inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. And the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant in Tuscaloosa began production of the automaker's first electric vehicles.
It was a year to celebrate: The city of Tuscaloosa opened River District Park near the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and the Randall Family Park and Trailhead, which expanded the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk northward.
It was a year to say farewell: Autherine Lucy Foster, the first Black student at UA, died at the age of 92 just days after a building on campus was named for her.
Here's a look back at five stories that shaped Tuscaloosa in 2022:
Mercedes goes electric
In August, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance marked a turning point.
A quarter-century after the first Mercedes-Benz built in America rolled out of the Tuscaloosa County plant, hundreds of team members at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International celebrated an achievement intended to define its next 25 years: the rollout of the first all-electric Mercedes built in the United States, the EQS SUV.
Production paused for an hour on the morning of Aug. 25 to allow team members, press and visiting dignitaries to revel in the on-stage unveiling of a polar-white-colored EQS. The pivot toward electric vehicle production is art of a $1 billion investment by Mercedes that also includes logistics centers and a Bibb County battery plant.
Michael Goebel, MBUSI president and CEO since July 2019, thanked the assembled team during the August unveiling: "That IS how we do it. We do it together as a team, as a community."
Alcohol sales at UA football games
On Sept. 3, fans attending the Alabama-Utah State game could do something that no other fans had ever done at Bryant-Denny Stadium: Go to the concession stand and buy a beer.
In mid-August, the Tuscaloosa City Council approved an alcohol license for Levy Premium Foodservice LP. Days later, the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board gave final approval, paving the was for the sale of beer and wine at UA's seven home games in 2022.
More:Fans weigh in on alcohol sales at Bryant-Denny Stadium | Goodbread
A few rules accompanied the approval: All service employees had to go through a two-hour safe-server alcohol class, and every sale depended upon customers proving they were at least 21 years old. All alcohol sales ended after the third quarter.
UA joined the majority of its SEC brethren in allowing alcohol sales, with only Auburn, Kentucky and Georgia still holding out and remaining dry.
Julia Tutwiler Hall
At 7 a.m. on July 4, UA detonated about 675 pounds of dynamite which had been placed in about 2,000 holes drilled in Tutwiler Hall's structural columns. UA officials said the thirteen-floor building, which opened in 1968, came down in about 20 seconds after detonation. UA offered livestream video of Tutwiler Hall's implosion at news.ua.edu/tutwiler.
Plans to replace the aging dorm began in 2016, while construction of a new Julia Tutwiler Hall began in 2019 at the northeast corner of 10th Avenue and 12th Street. The new Tutwiler, which opened in August, now stands just southwest of where the old Tutwiler once stood.
The new Tutwiler Hall is five-story, 383,015-square-foot building with state-of-the-art features, including a multipurpose room that can double as a storm shelter. The residence hall is now home to 1,247 incoming freshmen women, 35 resident assistants and three community directors.
UA freshman Hannah Classon was among the students who moved in to the new Tutwiler in August. She said she enjoyed Tutwiler's spacious dorm rooms and other amenities. "It looks a lot better than it did in pictures. It looks like a resort," Classon said.
Randall trailhead/River District Park
A recreational vision two decades in the making was celebrated in January with the ribbon cutting and dedication of the Randall Family Park and Trailhead at the Northern Riverwalk.
Expanding the city’s multipurpose trail into north Tuscaloosa was always part of the initial Riverwalk plan, which first broke ground on the south side of the Black Warrior River in 2002.
Now, an 0.6-mile section of the recreational walkway is anchored at the new trailhead at 201 Rice Mine Road Loop, which also includes a pavilion with restrooms, a playground, open grass fields and one of the most picturesque views of the Black Warrior River that the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk has to offer.
City officials credited the Randall family’s donation of 19 acres, now valued at $2.72 million, with kickstarting what is being called Phase 1 of the overall, $5.5 million Northern Riverwalk trail.
At the south end of the Tuscaloosa Riverwalk, River District Park, a new $8.5 million facility funded by the city's Elevate Tuscaloosa tax plan, opened in September next to the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater along the bank of the Black Warrior River. The new park sits beneath the Hugh R. Thomas Bridge and includes green space, river-viewing areas, plaza space, a pavilion and public restrooms.
River District Park also features red, green and blue LED lighting, a component developers said will bring the park to life at night and increase safety for pedestrians.
Katy Beth Jackson, a financial manager for the city, said the park provides one of the best views of the river that Tuscaloosa has to offer.
"One of the coolest features is just being able to get right down almost on the water. The river has always been one of my favorite features about Tuscaloosa," she said.
Autherine Lucy Foster dies
Autherine Lucy Foster, the first Black student to attend the University of Alabama, died in early March at the age of 92. Foster's death came just days after UA renamed Bibb Graves Hall in her honor on Feb. 25.
Foster broke UA's color barrier when she became the first Black student to attend classes at the Tuscaloosa campus on Feb. 3, 1956.
Racist riots broke out; UA suspended her, amid fears for her safety. After years teaching and raising a family out of state, Foster returned to complete her master's degree in education, in 1992. UA was among the institutions that later awarded her an honorary doctorate, decades after she was driven off campus.
More:A timeline of the life of Autherine Lucy Foster, University of Alabama's first Black student
Speaking to the hundreds who gathered outside for the February dedication of Autherine Lucy Hall, including her extended family, former and current students, UA officials including President Stuart Bell and system Chancellor Finis St. John, Foster talked primarily of love and gratitude.
"I love everybody in this audience, do you mind? And those outside of the audience, really I love you. I smile," she said in her final public remarks. "Love you, and so long."
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Boom and beer: A look at the stories that shaped 2022 in Tuscaloosa
