Photo by Savannah Schmidt
Vestavia Hills will celebrate its 75 anniversary in 2025, marked by many years of community success, business growth and educational achievements.
As the calendar flips into 2025, there are many things to watch in Vestavia Hills. To kick off the new year, we’re highlighting five things worth attention in the new year, including plans to mark the city's 75th anniversary.
The town of Vestavia Hills was incorporated in 1950 with almost 600 residents, and this year city officials are preparing to celebrate their 75th anniversary.
Mayor Ashley Curry said there are a lot of people who have lived in Vestavia Hills only four or five years and may not be familiar with its history. He’s hoping to take advantage of the anniversary as an opportunity to educate people about the city’s history and reinvigorate the Vestavia Hills Historical Society.
The society has hired a company to digitize old photographs and documents to help preserve them, but the group could use more people to continue documenting history as the city changes, Curry said.
By late 1957, the population had grown to almost 3,000 people, and it officially became a city when it passed 2,000 people. Commercial development sprang up along U.S. 31, and the city expanded southward with the annexations of the Rocky Ridge and Altadena communities, boosting the population to 8,311 in 1970, 15,729 in 1980 and 19,749 in 1990.
In 1992, the city annexed Liberty Park, adding about 2,500 acres, and Cahaba Heights followed in 2002 with about 2,100 acres. The city’s population surged to 24,476 in 2000, 34,033 in 2010 and 39,102 in 2020. The latest U.S. Census Bureau estimate puts the city’s population at 38,020, marking a small decline.
Curry and City Manager Jeff Downes said an anniversary celebration is planned for November.
Check out the rest of the articles in our 5 Changes for 2025 series here.
