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Birmingham, Alabama
City of Birmingham
From top left: Downtown from Red Mountain; Torii in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens; Alabama Theatre; Birmingham Museum of Art; City Hall; Downtown Financial Center
From top left: Downtown from Red Mountain; Torii in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens; Alabama Theatre; Birmingham Museum of Art; City Hall; Downtown Financial Center
Flag of Birmingham, Alabama Official seal of Birmingham, Alabama
Seal
Official logo of Birmingham, Alabama
Logo
Nickname(s): 
"The Magic City", "Pittsburgh of the South"
Location in Jefferson County, Alabama
Location in Jefferson County, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama is located in the United States
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Location in the United States
Country United States
State Alabama
Counties Jefferson, Shelby
Incorporated December 19, 1871
Named for Birmingham, United Kingdom
Government
 • Type Mayor – Council
Area
 • City 149.54 sq mi (387.31 km2)
 • Land 147.02 sq mi (380.77 km2)
 • Water 2.52 sq mi (6.53 km2)
Population
 (2020)
 • City 200,733
 • Rank 118th in the United States
2nd in Alabama
 • Density 1,365.37/sq mi (527.17/km2)
 • Metro
1,115,289 (50th)
Demonym(s) Birminghamian
Time zone UTC−6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−5 (CDT)
ZIP Codes
35201 to 35298
Area code(s) 205, 659
Interstates I-20, I-22, I-59, I-65, and I-459
Airports Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport
FIPS code 01-07000
GNIS feature ID 158174

Birmingham ( BUR-ming-ham) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of 2020, Birmingham had a population of 200,733, making it Alabama's second-most populous city after Huntsville. The broader Birmingham metropolitan area had a 2020 population of 1,115,289, and is the largest metropolitan area in Alabama as well as the 50th-most populous in the United States. Birmingham serves as an important regional hub and is associated with the Deep South, Piedmont, and Appalachian regions of the nation.

Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, former Elyton. It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry, and railroading. Birmingham was named for Birmingham, England, one of that nation's major industrial cities. Most of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. The city may have been planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and often African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast.

From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South. The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City and The Pittsburgh of the South. Much like Pittsburgh, Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. In the field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education, and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in the Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the United States. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company: Regions Financial, along with five other Fortune 1000 companies.

In higher education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine (formerly the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry since 1947. Since that time it has also obtained a campus of the University of Alabama, University of Alabama at Birmingham (founded circa 1969), one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System. It is also home to three private institutions: Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Miles College. Between these colleges and universities, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference, one of the major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences.

History

Founding and early growth

Birmingham AL
L&N rail yard at Birmingham, ca. 1900

Birmingham was founded on June 1, 1871, by the Elyton Land Company, whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads, including land formerly a part of the Benjamin P. Worthington plantation. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre and Allen. The site of the railroad crossing was notable for its proximity to nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel.

OUR BABY DOFFER
Child labor at Avondale Mills in Birmingham in 1910, photo by Lewis Hine

Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity. From the start the new city was planned as a center of industry. The founders, organized as the Elyton Land Company, named it as Birmingham, one of England's main industrial cities, to advertise that point. The growth of the planned city was impeded by an outbreak of cholera and a Wall Street crash in 1873. Soon afterward it began to develop shortly afterward at an explosive rate.

In 1911, the town of Elyton, Alabama, and several other surrounding towns were absorbed into Birmingham. From the early 20th century, the city grew at a rate that earned it the nickname of "The Magic City". The downtown was redeveloped from a low-rise commercial and residential district into a busy grid of neoclassical mid-rise and high-rise buildings and streetcar lines. Between 1902 and 1912, four large office buildings were constructed at the intersection of 20th Street, the central north–south spine of the city, and 1st Avenue North, which connected the warehouses and industrial facilities stretching along the east–west railroad corridor. This group of early skyscrapers was nicknamed the "Heaviest Corner on Earth".

Birmingham was hit by the 1916 Irondale earthquake (magnitude 5.1). A few buildings in the area were slightly damaged. The earthquake was felt as far as Atlanta and neighboring states.

Birmingham, 1916
Birmingham, 1916

While excluded from the best-paying industrial jobs, blacks joined the migration of residents from rural areas to the city for its opportunities. The Great Depression of the 1930s hit Birmingham especially hard, as sources of capital that were fueling the city's growth rapidly dried up at the same time that farm laborers, driven off the land, made their way to the city in search of work. New Deal programs put many city residents to work in WPA and CCC programs. They made important contributions to the city's infrastructure and artistic legacy, including such key improvements as Vulcan's tower and Oak Mountain State Park.

The World War II demand for steel and the post-war building boom gave Birmingham a rapid return to prosperity. Manufacturing diversified beyond the production of raw materials. Major civic institutions such as schools, parks and museums, were able to expand their scope.

Despite the growing population and wealth of the city, its residents were markedly underrepresented in the state legislature. Although the state constitution required redistricting in accordance with changes in the decennial census, the state legislature did not undertake this during the 20th century until the early 1970s, when forced by the United States Supreme Court in its landmark decision in Reynolds v. Sims. Birmingham-area voters had sued to force redistricting, and the Court ruled for the principle of "one man, one vote". The Court found that the geographic basis of the state senate, which gave each county one senator, gave undue influence to rural counties. Representatives of rural counties also had disproportionate power in the state House of Representatives. They had failed to provide support for infrastructure and other improvements in urban centers such as Birmingham, and had little sympathy for urban populations. At this time, the General Assembly ran county governments as extensions of the state through their legislative delegations.

Birmingham civil rights movement

In the 1950s and '60s Birmingham gained national and international attention as a center of activity during the Civil Rights Movement. Based on their members working in mining and industry, in the 1950s independent KKK chapters had ready access to dynamite and other bomb materials. Whites unhappy with social changes in the 1950s committed racially motivated bombings of the houses of black families who moved into new neighborhoods or were politically active, earning Birmingham the nickname "Bombingham".

Locally the civil rights movement's activists were led by Fred Shuttlesworth, a fiery preacher who became legendary for his fearlessness in the face of such violence. But he found city officials resistant to making changes for integration or lessening of Jim Crow.

16th Street Baptist Church
16th Street Baptist Church, now a National Historic Landmark

A watershed in the civil rights movement occurred in 1963 when Shuttlesworth requested that Martin Luther King Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which Shuttlesworth had co-founded, come to Birmingham to help end public segregation. King had served here as a pastor earlier in his career.

Together they launched "Project C" (for "Confrontation"), a massive non-violent demonstration against the Jim Crow system. While imprisoned in April 1963 for having taken part in a nonviolent protest, Dr. King wrote the now famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," a defining treatise in his cause against segregation.

During April and May daily sit-ins and mass marches organized and led by movement leader James Bevel were met with police repression, tear gas, attack dogs, fire hoses, and arrests. More than 3,000 people were arrested during these protests, many of them children. King and Bevel filled the jails with students to keep the demonstrations going.

By September the SCLC and city were negotiating to end an economic boycott and desegregate stores and other facilities. On a Sunday in September 1963, a bomb went off at the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four black girls. The activists' protests and national outrage about the police and KKK violence contributed to ultimate desegregation of public accommodations in Birmingham and also passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 1998, the Birmingham Pledge, written by local attorney James Rotch, was introduced at the Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast. As a grassroots community commitment to combating racism and prejudice, it has since been used for programs in all fifty states and in more than twenty countries.

Recent history

In the 1970s urban-renewal efforts focused around the development of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which has become a major medical and research center. In 1971 Birmingham celebrated its centennial with a round of public-works improvements, including the upgrading of Vulcan Park and the construction of a major downtown convention center containing a 2,500-seat symphony hall, theater, 19,000-seat arena, and exhibition halls. Birmingham's banking institutions enjoyed considerable growth as well, and new skyscrapers were constructed in the city center for the first time since the 1920s. These projects helped the city's economy to diversify, but did not prevent the exodus of many of the city's residents to independent suburbs. Suburbanization was a national trend. In 1979 Birmingham elected Dr. Richard Arrington Jr. as its first African-American mayor.

Birmingham Skyline
Birmingham skyline at night from atop the City Federal Building, July 1, 2015.

The population inside Birmingham's city limits has fallen over the past few decades, due in large part to "white flight" from the city to the surrounding suburbs and loss of jobs following industrial and railroad restructuring. The city's formerly most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, has declined from 57.4 percent in 1970 to 21.1 percent in 2010. From 340,887 in 1960, the population had decreased to 242,820 in 2000, a loss of about 29 percent. By 2010, Birmingham's population had reached 212,237, its lowest since the mid-1920s. That same period saw a corresponding rise in the populations of the suburban communities of Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Alabaster, and Gardendale, none of which was incorporated as a municipality until after 1950.

Today, Birmingham has begun to experience something of a rebirth. New resources have been dedicated in reconstructing the downtown area into a 24-hour mixed-use district. The market for downtown lofts and condominiums has increased while restaurant, retail and cultural options are also beginning to expand. In 2006, the visitors bureau selected "the diverse city" as a new tag line for the city. In 2011, the Highland Park neighborhood of Birmingham was named as a 2011 America's Great Place by the American Planning Association. In January 2015, the International World Game Executive Committee selected Birmingham as the host for the 2021 World Games.

Geography

Birmingham occupies Jones Valley, flanked by long parallel mountain ridges (the tailing ends of the Appalachian foothills – see Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians) running from north-east to south-west. The valley is drained by small creeks (Village Creek, Valley Creek) which flow into the Black Warrior River. The valley was bisected by the principal railroad corridor, along which most of the early manufacturing operations began.

Red Mountain lies immediately south of downtown. Many of Birmingham's television and radio broadcast towers are lined up along this prominent ridge. The "Over the Mountain" area, including Shades Valley, Shades Mountain and beyond, was largely shielded from the industrial smoke and rough streets of the industrial city. This is the setting for Birmingham's more affluent suburbs of Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, and Hoover. South of Shades Valley is the Cahaba River basin, one of the most diverse river ecosystems in the United States.

Sand Mountain, a smaller ridge, flanks the city to the north and divides Jones Valley from much more rugged land to the north. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (now CSX Transportation) enters the valley through Boyles Gap, a prominent gap in the long low ridge.

Ruffner Mountain, located due east of the heart of the city, is home to Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, one of the largest urban nature reserves in the United States.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 151.9 square miles (393 km2), of which, 149.9 square miles (388 km2) is land and 2.0 square miles (5.2 km2) (1.34%) is water.

Suburbs

Birmingham has numerous suburbs. As with many major areas, most of the metropolitan population lives outside the city boundaries. In 2007, the metropolitan area was made up of 7 counties, 102 cities, and 21 school districts. Since then Alabaster and Pelham have broken away from the Shelby County School System to form their own school systems. Some analysts argue that the region suffers from having so many suburbs; companies play jurisdictions against each other to gain tax and other financial incentives for relocation. But these result in no net gain in the area's economy.

Suburbs are listed in order of population. (2013)

Cityscape

Tallest buildings
Name Stories Height
Wells Fargo Tower 34 454 feet (138 metres)
Regions-Harbert Plaza 32 437 feet (133 metres)
AT&T City Center 30 390 feet (120 metres)
Regions Center 30 390 feet (120 metres)
City Federal Building 27 325 feet (99 metres)
Alabama Power Headquarters Building 18 322 feet (98 metres)
Thomas Jefferson Tower 20 287 feet (87 metres)
John Hand Building 20 284 feet (87 metres)
Daniel Building 20 283 feet (86 metres)
Birmingham skyline
Birmingham skyline

Climate

Birmingham has a humid subtropical climate, characterized by hot summers, mild winters, and abundant rainfall. January has a daily mean temperature of 43.8 °F (6.6 °C), and there is an average of 47 days annually with a low at or below freezing, and 1.4 where the high does not surpass freezing. July has a daily mean temperature of 81.1 °F (27.3 °C); highs reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on 55 days per year and 100 °F (38 °C) on 2 or 3. Precipitation is relatively well-distributed throughout the year, sometimes falling in the form of snow during winter; however, 10.3 inches (26.2 cm) fell on March 13, 1993, during the 1993 Storm of the Century, which established the highest daily snowfall, one-storm, and winter season total on record. Normal snowfall for 1981–2010 is 1.6 in (4.1 cm), but, for the same period, median monthly snowfall for each month was zero.

The spring and fall months are pleasant but variable as cold fronts frequently bring strong to severe thunderstorms and occasional tornadoes to the region. The fall season (primarily October) features less rainfall and fewer storms, as well as lower humidity than the spring, but November and early December represent a secondary severe weather season. Birmingham is located on the heart of a Tornado Alley known as the Dixie Alley due to the high frequency of tornadoes in Central Alabama. The greater Birmingham area has been hit by two F5 tornadoes; one in Birmingham's northern suburbs in 1977, and second in the western suburbs in 1998. The area was hit by an EF4 tornado which was part of the 2011 Super Outbreak. In late summer and fall months, Birmingham experiences occasional tropical storms and hurricanes due to its proximity to the Central Gulf Coast.

The record high temperature is 107 °F (42 °C), set on July 29, 1930, and the record low is −10 °F (−23 °C), set on February 13, 1899.

Earthquakes

The Birmingham area is not prone to frequent earthquakes; its historical activity level is 59% less than the US average. Earthquakes are generally minor and the Birmingham area can feel an earthquake from the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone. The magnitude 5.1 Irondale earthquake in 1916 caused damage in the Birmingham area and was felt in the neighboring states and as far as the Carolinas. The 2003 Alabama earthquake centered in northeastern Alabama (magnitude 4.6–4.9) was also felt in the rest of Alabama, as well as Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop.
1880 3,086
1890 26,178 748.3%
1900 38,415 46.7%
1910 132,685 245.4%
1920 178,806 34.8%
1930 259,678 45.2%
1940 267,583 3.0%
1950 326,037 21.8%
1960 340,887 4.6%
1970 300,910 −11.7%
1980 284,413 −5.5%
1990 265,968 −6.5%
2000 242,840 −8.7%
2010 212,237 −12.6%
2020 200,733 −5.4%
U.S. Decennial Census
2010–2020

2020 census

Birmingham racial composition
Race Num. Perc.
White (non-Hispanic) 45,993 22.91%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 136,731 68.12%
Native American 346 0.17%
Asian 3,255 1.62%
Pacific Islander 109 0.05%
Other/mixed 5,025 2.5%
Hispanic or Latino 9,274 4.62%

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 200,733 people, 93,300 households, and 46,816 families residing in the city.

2010

According to the 2010 U.S. Census:

2000

Based on the 2000 census, there were 242,820 people, 98,782 households, and 59,269 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,619.7 people per square mile (625.4/km2). There were 111,927 housing units at an average density of 746.6 per square mile (288.3/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 62.46% Black, 35.07% White, 0.17% Native American, 0.80% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.62% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races. 1.55% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 98,782 households, out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.1% were married couples living together, 24.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

In the city, the population is spread out, with 25.0% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,898, and the median income for a family was $38,776. Males had a median income of $36,031 versus $30,367 for females. The city's per capita income was $19,962. About 22.5% of families and 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.9% of those under the age of 18 and 18.3% of those age 65 or over.

Religion

St Paul 05
St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Birmingham

The Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies published data showing that in 2010, among metro areas with a greater than one million population, Birmingham had the second highest ratio of Christians, and the greatest ratio of Protestant adherents, in the United States.

The Southern Baptist Convention has 673 congregations and 336,000 members in the Birmingham Metro area. The United Methodists have 196 congregations and 66,759 members. The headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in America had been in Birmingham until the early 1980s; the PCA has more than 30 congregations and almost 15,000 members in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan area with megachurches like Briarwood Presbyterian Church. The National Baptist Convention has 126 congregations and 69,800 members.

The city is home to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, covering 39 counties and comprising 75 parishes and missions as well as seven Catholic high schools and nineteen elementary schools; there are also two Eastern Catholic parishes in the Birmingham area. Additionally, the Catholic television network EWTN is headquartered in metropolitan Birmingham. There are three Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Metro Area as well, Greek, Russian and American. There is also a Unitarian Universalist church in the Birmingham area.

The main campus of the Church of the Highlands is located in Birmingham. The church operates schools and churches across Alabama.

Arts and culture

Birmingham is the cultural and entertainment capital of Alabama with numerous art galleries in the area including the Birmingham Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the Southeast. Downtown Birmingham is currently experiencing a cultural and economic rejuvenation, with several new independent shops and restaurants opening in the area. Birmingham is also home to the state's major ballet, opera and symphony orchestra companies such as the Alabama Ballet, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Ballet, Birmingham Concert Chorale, and Opera Birmingham.

  • The historic Alabama Theatre hosts film screenings, concerts and performances.

° The historic Lyric Theatre, which was completely renovated and reopened in 2016, hosts performing arts shows and concerts.

  • The Alys Stephens Center for the Performing Arts is home to Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Opera Birmingham as well as several series of concerts and lectures. It is located on the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
  • The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC), houses a theater, concert hall, exhibition halls, and a sports and concert arena. The BJCC is home to the Birmingham Children's Theatre, one of the oldest and largest children's theatres in the country, and hosts major concert tours and sporting events. Adjacent to the BJCC is the Sheraton Birmingham, the largest hotel in the state. A new Westin Hotel anchors the nearby Uptown entertainment district of downtown Birmingham, which opened in 2013.
  • The historic Carver Theatre, home of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, offers concerts, plays, jazz classes (free to any resident of the state of Alabama) and many other events in the Historic 4th Avenue District, near the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
  • Birmingham Public Library, the downtown hub of a 40-branch metro library system, presents programs for children and adults.
  • Boutwell Auditorium (formerly Municipal Auditorium) is located at Linn Park.
  • Oak Mountain Amphitheater is a large outdoor venue with two stages, located in the suburb of Pelham just south of Birmingham.

Other entertainment venues in the area include:

  • Birmingham CrossPlex/Fair Park Arena, on the west side of town, hosts sporting events, local concerts and community programs.
  • Workplay located in the Southside community, is a multi-purpose facility with offices, audio and film production space, a lounge, and a theater and concert stage for visiting artists and film screenings.
  • Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, a celebration of new independent cinema in downtown Birmingham, was named one of TIME magazines "Film Festivals for the Rest of Us" in their June 5, 2006 issue. Starting in 2006, Sidewalk Film Festival also became host to SHOUT Film Festival which is Alabama's first and only LGBTQ film festival.
  • Wright Center Concert Hall, a 2,500-seat facility at Samford University is home to the Birmingham Ballet.

Birmingham's nightlife is primarily clustered around Five Points South and Lakeview. In addition, a $55-million "Uptown" entertainment district has recently opened adjacent to the BJCC featuring a number of restaurants and a Westin hotel.

The Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham maintains Birmingham365.org, "a one-stop source for finding out what's going on where around" Birmingham.

Museums

Birmingham is home to several museums. The largest is the Birmingham Museum of Art, which is also the largest municipal art museum in the Southeast. The area's history museums include Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which houses a detailed and emotionally charged narrative exhibit putting Birmingham's history into the context of the Civil Rights Movement. It is located on Kelly Ingram Park adjacent to the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Other history museums include the Southern Museum of Flight, Bessemer Hall of History Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, Alabama Museum of Health Sciences, and the Arlington Home.

The Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame is housed in the historic Carver Theatre, and offers exhibits about the numerous notable jazz musicians from the state of Alabama.

The McWane Science Center is a regional science museum with hands-on science exhibits, temporary exhibitions, and an IMAX dome theater. The center also houses a major collection of fossil specimens for use by researchers. Other unique museums include the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame; the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which contains the largest collection of motorcycles in the world; the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, near McCalla; the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame; and the Talladega Superspeedway International Motorsports Hall of Fame museum.

South of downtown, on Red Mountain, Vulcan Park features the world's largest cast iron statue, depicting Vulcan at his forge. It was cast for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition, and erected at Vulcan Park in 1938.

Festivals

Birmingham is home to numerous cultural festivals showcasing music, films, and regional heritage. Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival brings filmmakers from all over the world to Birmingham to have their films viewed and judged. This festival usually is scheduled in late August at eight venues around downtown. Screenings are concentrated at the Alabama Theatre. The Sloss Furnaces has an annual Halloween haunted attraction called "Sloss Fright Furnace".

Another musical festival is the Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival, presented at the end of August each year, concurrent with the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. This all day festival features national and local jazz acts. In 2007, the festival drew an estimated 6,000 people. The Birmingham Folk Festival is an annual event held since 2006. It moved to Avondale Park in 2008. In 2009 the festival featured nine local bands and three touring "headliner bands".

JoeMinter'sAfricanVillageInAmerica1
Joe Minter's African Village in America is a half-acre visionary art environment near downtown Birmingham.

The Southern Heritage Festival began in the 1960s as a music, arts, and entertainment festival for the African-American community to attract mostly younger demographics. Do Dah Day is an annual pet parade held around the end of May. The Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil, an annual music festival event held in May to benefit local charities, always includes an all-star cast of talent. It typically draws more than 30,000 spectators for the annual two-day event. The annual Greek Festival, a celebration of Greek heritage, culture, and especially cuisine, is a charity fundraiser hosted by the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity - Holy Cross Cathedral. The Greek Festival draws 20,000 patrons annually. The Lebanese Food Festival is held at St. Elias Maronite Church. Magic City Brewfest is an annual festival benefiting local grassroots organization, Free the Hops, and focusing on craft beer. Alabama Bound is an annual book and author fair that celebrates Alabama authors and publishers. Hosted by the Birmingham Public Library, it is an occasion where fans may meet their favorite authors, buy their books, and hear them read from and talk about their work. Book signings follow each presentation.

Other attractions

Vulcan statue
The Vulcan statue on top of Red Mountain in Vulcan Park

The Vulcan statue is a cast iron representation of the Roman god of fire, iron and blacksmiths that is the symbol of Birmingham. The statue stands high above the city looking down from a tower at the top of Red Mountain. Open to visitors, the tower offers views of the city below.

Birmingham Zoo is a large regional zoo with more than 700 animals and a recently opened interactive children's zoo.

Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a 67-acre (270,000-square-metre) park displaying a wide variety of plants in interpretive gardens, including formal rose gardens, tropical greenhouses, and a large Japanese Garden. The facility also includes a white-tablecloth restaurant, meeting rooms, and an extensive reference library. It is complemented by Hoover's 30-acre (120,000 m2) Aldridge Botanical Gardens, an ambitious project open since 2002. Aldridge offers a place to stroll, but is to add unique displays in coming years.

Splash Adventure (formerly VisionLand and Alabama Adventure) in Bessemer serves as the Birmingham area's water and theme park, featuring numerous slides, and water-themed attractions.

Kelly Ingram Park is the site of notable civil rights protests and adjacent to historic 16th Street Baptist Church. Railroad Park opened in 2010 in downtown Birmingham's Railroad Reservation District. Oak Mountain State Park is about 10 miles (16 km) south of Birmingham. Red Mountain is one of the southernmost wrinkles in the Appalachian chain, and a scenic drive to the top provides views reminiscent of the Great Smoky Mountains further north. To the west of the city is located Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park, a 1,500-acre (6.1 km2) Civil War site which includes the well-preserved ruins of the Tannehill Iron Furnaces and the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill.

The Summit is an upscale lifestyle center with many stores and restaurants. It is located in Southeast Birmingham off of U.S. Highway 280, parallel to Interstate 459.

Urban planning

Railroad park, Birmingham, Alabama
Railroad Park near downtown

Before the first structure was built in Birmingham, the plan of the city was laid out over a total of 1,160 acres (4.7 km2) by the directors of the Elyton Land Co. The streets were numbered from west to east, leaving 20th Street to form the central spine of downtown, anchored on the north by Capital Park and stretching into the slopes of Red Mountain to the south. A "railroad reservation" was granted through the center of the city, running east to west and zoned solely for industrial uses. As the city grew, bridges and underpasses separated the streets from the railroad bed, lending this central reservation some of the impact of a river (without the pleasant associations of a waterfront). From the start, Birmingham's streets and avenues were unusually wide at 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m), purportedly to help evacuate unhealthy smoke.

In the early 20th century professional planners helped lay out many of the new industrial settlements and company towns in the Birmingham District, including Corey (now Fairfield) which was developed for the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (subsequently purchased by U.S. Steel). At the same time, a movement to consolidate several neighboring cities gained momentum. Although local referendums indicated mixed feelings about annexation, the Alabama legislature enacted an expansion of Birmingham's corporate limits that became effective on January 1, 1910.

The Robert Jemison Company developed many residential neighborhoods to the south and west of Birmingham which are still renowned for their aesthetic quality.

A 1924 plan for a system of parks, commissioned from the Olmsted Brothers is seeing renewed interest with several significant new parks and greenways under development. Birmingham officials have approved a City Center Master Plan developed by Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh, which advocates strongly for more residential development in the downtown area. The plan also called for a major park over several blocks of the central railroad reservation: Railroad Park, which opened in 2010. Along with Ruffner Mountain Park and Red Mountain Park, Birmingham ranks first in the United States for public green space per resident.

Sister cities

Birmingham's Sister Cities program is overseen by the Birmingham Sister Cities Commission.

  • Jordan Al-Karak, Jordan
  • Ghana Winneba, Ghana since November 15, 2009
  • Senegal Guédiawaye, Senegal since 2005
  • Israel Rosh HaAyin, Israel (Friendship City) since 2005
  • Japan Maebashi, Japan (Friendship City)
  • China Chaoyang District, Beijing, China (Friendship City)
  • Guatemala Cobán, Guatemala (Partners for the Americas)

Economy

Steel

From Birmingham's early days onward, the steel industry has always played a crucial role in the local economy. Though the steel industry no longer has the same prominence it once held in Birmingham, steel production and processing continue to play a key role in the economy. Steel products manufacturers American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO) and McWane are based in the city. Several of the nation's largest steelmakers, including CMC Steel, U.S. Steel, and Nucor, also have a major presence in Birmingham. In recent years, local steel companies have announced about $100 million worth of investment in expansions and new plants in and around the city. Vulcan Materials Company, a major provider of crushed stone, sand, and gravel used in construction, is based in Birmingham.

Biotechnology

In the 1970s and 1980s, Birmingham's economy was transformed by investments in bio-technology and medical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its adjacent hospital. The UAB Hospital is a Level I trauma center providing health care and breakthrough medical research. UAB is now the area's largest employer and the second largest in Alabama with a workforce of about 18,750 as of 2011. Health care services providers HealthSouth, Surgical Care Affiliates and Diagnostic Health Corporation are headquartered in the city. Caremark Rx was also founded in the city.

Banking

Birmingham is a leading banking center and is the location of the headquarters of Regions Financial Corporation. Banks with over a 5% market share of deposits in Birmingham are Regions Financial Corporation, PNC Financial Services, Servisfirst Bank, and Wells Fargo.

Nearly a dozen smaller banks are headquartered in the Magic City, such as Superior Bancorp and Cadence Bank. As of 2009, the finance & banking sector in Birmingham employed 1,870 financial managers, 1,530 loan officers, 680 securities commodities and financial services sales agents, 380 financial analysts, 310 financial examiners, 220 credit analysts, and 130 loan counselors.

In 2012, Birmingham was the 9th largest banking hub in the United States by the amount of locally headquartered deposits. In 2014, Birmingham was the 10th largest banking center.

Construction and engineering

Birmingham is a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies, including BE&K, Brasfield & Gorrie, Robins & Morton, and B.L. Harbert International which routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design and international construction firms.

Beverages

Two of the largest soft-drink bottlers in the United States, each with more than $500 million in sales per year, are located in Birmingham. The Buffalo Rock Company, founded in 1901, was formerly a maker of just ginger ale, but now it is a major bottler for the Pepsi Cola Company. Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, founded in 1902, is the third-largest bottler of Coca-Cola products in the U.S.

Other large companies

AT&T building, Birmingham, AL
AT&T City Center in downtown

AT&T has a major nexus in Birmingham, supported by a skyscraper downtown as well as several large operational center buildings and a data center.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, Protective Life, ProAssurance, and Liberty National are headquartered in Birmingham and employ many people in Greater Birmingham.

Birmingham has seen a noticeable decrease in the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city, due to mergers, moves, and buy-outs. In 2000, there were 10 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city, while in 2014 there was only 1, Regions Bank. Birmingham used to be home to more than 30 publicly traded companies, but in 2011 there were only 15. This number has increased since, but not significantly. Some companies such as Zoe's Kitchen were founded and operated in Birmingham, but moved their headquarters. Birmingham has rebounded with the growth of companies like HealthSouth, Alabama Power Company, Hibbett Sports, Autocar Company, and Books-A-Million. Food companies such as Chester's, Jack's, Grapico, Red Diamond, Milo's Hamburgers, and Yogurt Mountain are also based in Birmingham.

Best places to work and income

The Birmingham metropolitan area has consistently been rated as one of America's best places to work and earn a living based on the area's competitive salary rates and relatively low living expenses. In 2006, Salary.com ranked Birmingham second in the nation for building personal net worth, based on local salary rates, living expenses, and unemployment rates.

A 2006 study by American City Business Journals calculated Birmingham's "combined personal income" (the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a year) at $48.1 billion.

Largest companies

In 2021, Birmingham's largest public companies by market capitalization were Regions Bank (RF, $14.61 billion), Vulcan Materials (VMC, $8.45 billion), Energen (EGN, $6.47 billion), Protective Life (PL, $5.47 billion), and HealthSouth (HLS, $3.15 billion). All were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Energen sold one of its largest subsidiaries, Alagasco, and Protective Life was bought by Dai-ichi Life and removed from stock exchanges. If Alabama Power was considered independent of the Southern Company (headquartered in Atlanta), it would be the largest company with more than $5.9 billion in revenue in 2014.

In 2021, Birmingham's largest private companies by annual revenue and employees were O'Neal Steel ($2.66 billion; 550 employees), EBSCO Industries ($2.5 billion; 1,220 employees), Drummond Coal ($2.4 billion; 1,380 employees), Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC ($2.2 billion; 973 employees), and McWane ($1.7 billion, 620 employees).

Sports

  • Birmingham has no major professional sport franchises. The Birmingham area is home to the Birmingham Barons, the AA minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, which plays at Regions Field in the Southside adjacent to Railroad Park. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB Blazers) has a popular basketball program, and Samford University, located in Homewood, has basketball and football teams. The Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in the suburb of Hoover is home to the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament which drew more than 108,000 spectators in 2006. In 2019, Birmingham became home to the Birmingham Legion, a soccer team that competes in the USL Championship league. In 2021, the NBA G League introduced the Birmingham Squadron, a minor league basketball team. The USFL football league is playing its inaugural season in Birmingham as of April 2022. The Birmingham area also hosts the Alabama Alliance basketball and Tragic City Rollers roller derby teams.
  • On March 6–8, 2009, Birmingham hosted the US vs. Switzerland first round tie of the Davis Cup; the US won 4–1.
  • Birmingham was home to the Black Barons, a very successful Negro League team. The Black Barons played home games at Rickwood Field, which is still standing in the Rising-West Princeton neighborhood, and is the oldest baseball field in the US.
  • The city has had several pro football franchises. The only indoor football teams in Birmingham were the Alabama Outlawz of the X-League Indoor Football and the Alabama Steeldogs of the af2. Other teams included the two-time champion World Football League (WFL) franchise, the Birmingham Americans/Birmingham Vulcans—before the league folded. The original incarnation of the USFL included the Birmingham Stallions, which played from 1983 to 1985 until the league folded in 1986. A WLAF franchise, the Birmingham Fire–the WLAF was renamed NFL Europa and the franchise became the Rhein Fire in 1995 before the league folded altogether in 2007. A CFL franchise, the Birmingham Barracudas— would play one season and then fold as the league ended its American franchise experiment. In the first iteration of the XFL, the Birmingham Thunderbolts played during the league's only season in 2001. In 2019, the Alliance of American Football included the Birmingham Iron, but the league folded before its first season concluded.
  • Birmingham's Legion Field has hosted several college football postseason bowl games, including the Dixie Bowl (1948–49), the Hall of Fame Classic (1977–85), the All-American Bowl (1986–90), the SEC Championship Game (1992–93), the SWAC Championship Game (1999–present), the Magic City Classic and, most recently, the Birmingham Bowl (formerly the Papajohns.com Bowl, 2006–present).
  • The Southeastern Conference, Southwestern Athletic Conference and Gulf South Conference are headquartered in Birmingham.
  • In 1996, Legion Field hosted early rounds of Olympic soccer where it drew record crowds. The field has also hosted men's and women's World Cup qualifiers and friendlies. A switch from natural grass to an artificial surface has left the stadium's role as a soccer venue in doubt.
  • Motorsports are very popular in the Birmingham area and across the state, and the area is home to numerous annual motorsport races. The Aaron's 499 and AMP Energy 500 are NASCAR Sprint Cup races that occur in April and October at the Talladega Superspeedway. The Indy Grand Prix of Alabama shares the Barber Motorsports Park road course with Superbike and sports car GrandAm races.
  • The PGA Champions Tour has had a regular stop in the Birmingham area since 1992, with the founding of the Bruno's Memorial Classic, later renamed the Regions Charity Classic. In 2011 the tournament will be replaced by The Tradition, one of the Champions Tour's five "major" tour events.
  • Birmingham has been selected to host the World Games in 2021. It will be the first time that an American city has hosted the event since the inaugural games were held in Santa Clara, California in 1981.
  • Birmingham was also a home of professional ice hockey teams. The Birmingham Bulls were a professional ice hockey team based in Birmingham, Alabama, US. They played in the World Hockey Association from 1976 to 1979 and the Central Hockey League from 1979 to 1981. The second Birmingham-based hockey franchise to play in the Central Hockey League was the Birmingham South Stars who played for only one season in 1982–83. A second iteration of the Bulls played in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League also played only one season in 1983–84. In 1992, another Birmingham hockey franchise was founded that used the Bulls name, the Birmingham Bulls of the East Coast Hockey League. This franchise was later relocated to Atlantic City, NJ in 2001. All these iterations played their home games at the Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex.
  • Recreational fishing is also immensely popular in the Birmingham area. Fish have been caught in 14 separate Alabama lakes which would be state records in 35 other states. Recently, Birmingham was named "Bass Capital of the World" by ESPN and Bassmaster magazine. Over the last several years, Birmingham has been home to numerous major fishing tournaments, including the Bass Masters Classic. Some of the more popular recreational lakes around Birmingham include: Smith Lake, Lay Lake, Lake Neely Henry, Lake Logan Martin, Lake Purdy, and Bankhead Reservoir.
  • The U.S. Paralympic Training Facility is located in Birmingham and was a primary filming location for the 2005 documentary film Murderball, about wheelchair rugby players.
  • Road running events such as the Vulcan 10K Run and Mercedes Marathon/Half Marathon are popular for both locals and out-of-state runners.
  • Cycling (both mountain biking and road) is popular in the area. Nearby Oak Mountain State Park annually hosts the Bump N' Grind mountain bike (1995–present) race and the Xterra Southeast Championship triathlon as well as other endurance competitions.
Regions Field western elevation
Regions Field is the home to the Birmingham Barons baseball team

Venues

  • Bartow Arena
  • BJCC Arena
  • Boutwell Auditorium
  • Fair Park Arena
  • Hoover Metropolitan Stadium
  • Legion Field
  • Pelham Civic Center
  • PNC Field
  • Protective Stadium
  • Regions Field
  • Rickwood Field

Education

Woodlawn High School Birmingham
Woodlawn High School, a magnet high school

The Birmingham Public Library administers 21 branches throughout the city and is part of a wider system including another 19 suburban branches in Jefferson County, serving the entire community to provide education and entertainment for all ages.

The city of Birmingham is served by the Birmingham City Schools system. It is run by the Birmingham Board of Education with a current active enrollment of 30,500 in 62 schools: seven high schools, 13 middle schools, 33 elementary schools, and nine kindergarten-eighth-grade primary schools.

The greater-Birmingham metropolitan area is the home of numerous independent school systems, because there has a been a great deal of fragmentation of educational systems in Alabama, and especially in Jefferson County. Some of these "school systems" only have three to five schools. The metropolitan area's three largest school systems are the Jefferson County School System, Birmingham City Schools, and the Shelby County School System. However, there are many smaller school systems.

The Birmingham area is reputed to be the home of some of Alabama's best high schools, colleges, and universities. In 2005, the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in Irondale, an eastern suburb of Birmingham, was rated as the No. 1 high school in America by Newsweek, a national publication. The school remains among the nation's top 5 high schools. Mountain Brook High School placed 250th on the list. Other local schools that have been rated among America's best in various publications include Homewood High School, Vestavia Hills High School and the Alabama School of Fine Arts located downtown. The metro area also has three highly regarded preparatory schools: Saint Rose Academy located in Birmingham proper The Altamont School, also located in Birmingham proper, and Indian Springs School in north Shelby County near Pelham.

Noteworthy institutions of higher education in greater Birmingham include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Samford University (includes the Cumberland School of Law), Birmingham School of Law, Miles College, the independent Miles Law School, Jefferson State Community College, Birmingham-Southern College, University of Montevallo (in Shelby County), Lawson State Community College, and Virginia College in Birmingham, the largest career college based in Birmingham.

Infrastructure

Urban planning in Birmingham

Before the first structure was built in Birmingham, the plan of the city was laid out over a total of 1,160 acres (4.7 km2) by the directors of the Elyton Land Co. The streets were numbered from west to east, leaving Twentieth Street to form the central spine of downtown, anchored on the north by Capital Park and stretching into the slopes of Red Mountain to the south. A "railroad reservation" was granted through the center of the city, running east to west and zoned solely for industrial uses. As the city grew, bridges and underpasses separated the streets from the railroad bed, lending this central reservation some of the impact of a river (without the pleasant associations of a waterfront). From the start, Birmingham's streets and avenues were unusually wide at 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m), purportedly to help evacuate unhealthy smoke.

Railroad park, Birmingham, Alabama
Railroad Park near downtown

In the early 20th century professional planners helped lay out many of the new industrial settlements and company towns in the Birmingham District, including Corey (now Fairfield) which was developed for the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (subsequently purchased by U.S. Steel). At the same time, a movement to consolidate several neighboring cities gained momentum. Although local referendums indicated mixed feelings about annexation, the Alabama legislature enacted an expansion of Birmingham's corporate limits that became effective on January 1, 1910.

The Robert Jemison company developed many residential neighborhoods to the south and west of Birmingham which are still renowned for their aesthetic quality.

A 1924 plan for a system of parks, commissioned from the Olmsted Brothers is seeing renewed interest with several significant new parks and greenways under development. Birmingham officials have approved a City Center Master Plan developed by Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh, which advocates strongly for more residential development in the downtown area. The plan also called for a major park over several blocks of the central railroad reservation: Railroad Park, which opened in 2010. Along with Ruffner Mountain Park and Red Mountain Park, Birmingham ranks first in the United States for public green space per resident.

Transportation

I20I59Birmingham
Interstate 59 (co-signed with Interstate 20) approaching Interstate 65 in downtown Birmingham

The city is served by four Interstate Highways: Interstate 20, Interstate 65, Interstate 59, and Interstate 22, as well as a southern bypass expressway Interstate 459, which connects with I-20/59 to the southwest, with I-65 the south, I-20 to the east, and I-59 to the northeast. Beginning in downtown Birmingham is the "Elton B. Stephens Expressway"—the Red Mountain Expressway to the southeast—which carries both U.S. Highway 31 and U.S. Highway 280 to, through, and over Red Mountain. Interstate 22 is on the verge of completion between Birmingham and Memphis, Tennessee, lacking only the final three to four miles that will connect it with I-65 just north of the Birmingham city limits. Construction has begun on the first segment of I-422, a Northern Beltline Highway that will serve the suburbs on the opposite side of Birmingham from I-459.

In the area of metropolitan public transportation, Birmingham is served by the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority (BJCTA) bus, trolley, and paratransit system, which from 1985 until 2008 was branded the Metro Area Express (MAX). BJCTA also operates a "downtown circulator" service called "D A R T" (Downtown Area Runabout Transit), which consists of two routes in the central business district and one in the UAB area. Bus service to other cites is provided by Greyhound Lines. Megabus also offers bus service to Atlanta and Memphis.

Birmingham is served by the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. This airport serves more than 3 million passengers every year. With more than 160 flights daily, the airport offers flights to 37 cities across the United States. Commercial passenger service through Birmingham is provided by United Express, Delta Air Lines/Delta Connection, American Eagle, US Airways Express, and Southwest Airlines.

Birmingham is served by three major railroad freight companies: the Norfolk Southern Company, CSX Transportation, and the BNSF Railway. All three of these have major railroad yards in the metro area. Smaller regional railroads such as the Alabama Warrior Railway and the Birmingham Southern Railroad also freight customers in Birmingham. Amtrak's Crescent connects Birmingham with the cities and towns of Washington D.C. (and points northeast and northwest of that), Greensboro, NC, Charlotte, NC, Greenville, SC, Atlanta, GA, Anniston, AL, Tuscaloosa, AL Meridian, MS, Hattiesburg, MS, and New Orleans, LA. For the past several decades, the only passenger railroad service in Birmingham has been the Amtrak Crescent, with one train eastbound and one train westbound daily from the Birmingham Station.

Utilities

The water for Birmingham and the intermediate urbanized area is served by the Birmingham Water Works Board (BWWB). A public authority that was established in 1951, the BWWB serves all of Jefferson, northern Shelby, western St. Clair counties. The largest reservoir for BWWB is Lake Purdy, which is located on the Jefferson and Shelby County line, but has several other reservoirs including Bayview Lake in western Jefferson County. There are plans to pipeline water from Inland Lake in Blount County and Lake Logan Martin, but those plans are on hold indefinitely.

Jefferson County Environmental Services serves the Birmingham metro area with sanitary sewer service. Sewer rates have increased in recent years after citizens concerned with pollution in area waterways filed a lawsuit that resulted in a federal consent decree to repair an aging sewer system. Because the estimated cost of the consent decree was approximately three times more than the original estimate, many blame the increased rates on corruption of several Jefferson County officials. The sewer construction and bond-swap agreements continue to be a controversial topic in the area.

Electric power is provided primarily by Southern Company-subsidiary, Alabama Power. However, some of the surrounding area such as Bessemer and Cullman are provided by TVA. Bessemer also operates its own water and sewer system. Natural gas is provided by Alagasco, although some metro area cities operate their own natural gas services. The local telecommunications are provided by AT&T. Cable television service is provided by Charter Communications.

Notable residents

Images for kids

See also

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