Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Fran Hoggle said if there was something she would change about Hoover, she would add more sidewalks and streetlights.
At 79, Fran Hoggle has seen a lot, including the dramatic expansion of the area known today as Hoover, where she’s made her home for nearly 50 years.
A native of Washington, D.C., Hoggle, her husband and three children moved to Bluff Park in 1970 from the Eastlake area of Birmingham.
“My husband, a retired Marine who was in the iron and steel construction business, had grown up in the Birmingham area and really liked it,” Hoggle said. “But we were in a two-bedroom house in Eastlake and came to the Hoover area to buy a bigger home.”
That home on Farley Place — where she still resides — was surrounded by woods when the family moved in, and there were no subdivisions in sight, Hoggle said.
A Western Supermarket occupied the space where the Piggly Wiggly is; a dentist and beauty salon were on Shades Crest Road at Park Avenue; Mr. Parker’s gas station was on the bluff and Bluff Park Hardware is still there, Hoggle said.
“Along Highway 31 there was a drug store, insurance company, the Hoover offices and jail and that was about it. And Highway 150 was two lanes with a mattress store and bank,” she said. “I mean, we used to pick blueberries along Chapel Road because it was just woods. It was such a small area that we really didn’t think about ‘going to Hoover’ at that time.”
In fact, Hoggle, who had begun a career as a lunchroom manager — first at Berry High School, then Simmons Middle School — in the mid-1970s, said she didn’t think that many people had a vision of Hoover’s future and possible growth at that time.
“I was taking a course at Samford University from a professor who had been a Realtor, and he told us about an owner of the land where the Galleria is now who had asked him to sell the property,” she said.
“And the professor told us, ‘That land is all hilly and rocky. Who would ever want to buy it?’”
Asked about the biggest change she has observed in her 47 years in Hoover, Hoggle said without hesitation: “Growth.”
“First, all the businesses along Highway 31 and 150, and then the housing,” she said. “There are so many homes being built and then a number of apartments over the years, I often wonder where all the people are coming from to live in them.”
If she could change one thing about the city, it would be to have more sidewalks, Hoggle said. “And streetlights,” she said. “I know my neighborhood really needs them, and there are more places in the city that do, too.”
Looking into the future, Hoggle said she hopes Hoover “doesn’t grow too much more.”
“I certainly don’t want it to expand like Birmingham,” she said. “And one reason is because it puts too much on our firefighters and police.”
Hoggle spares no words of praise for Hoover’s first responders who have come to her assistance more than once.
“One day my husband had to go to the hospital but couldn’t walk, and I couldn’t carry him to the car, so I called 911, and they came immediately and carried him for me,” she said. “And on another day, he had fallen, and I called 911, and they were at our door by the time I hung up the phone.”
Hoggle also cites the Hoover city officials as being “very responsive” to the residents over the years and especially commends them for the creation of the Hoover Senior Center.
“I retired in 2000 and joined immediately and go two to three days each week,” she said. “If I just sat here, I’d go crazy, and with all their trips, activities and programs, it’s really something I look forward to.”
Through the senior center, Hoggle said, she has met a number of residents who have relocated to Hoover because their adult children live here, something that doesn’t surprise her.
“For the most part, Hoover is a very safe place to live and a great place to raise a family with friendly people, good schools and established neighborhoods,” she said.
“I’ve always thought of Hoover as a very comfortable place and would recommend it highly.”
