Submit
pictures of your hometown to be included above, click
here. Refresh this page to see more hometown scenes. |
Exciting News! Visit our NEW Hometown USA Online Community section featuring our New Classified Ads, New Community Forums and New Community Blogs! Join our online community today! |
History and Trivia for Birmingham, Alabama |
|
Birmingham's Top Page
Hometown USA Pages Our Hometown Sites
General Information
|
If you know any tidbits of information about this hometown, such as, how it got its name or some information about its history, please let us know about it by
filling out the form below.
If you don't find what you are looking for on this page, please visit the following Yellow Page categories to help you with your search.
Common Yellow Page Categories for Birmingham, Alabama
Town Nicknames: Industrial Center Of The Southeast, Industrial City Beautiful, Industrial City Of Dixie Town Nicknames: Industrial Center Of The Great South, Magic City, Mineral City Of The South Town Nicknames: Inland Metropolis, City Of Executives, Pittsburgh Of The South, Magic City Of The South History Birmingham was founded in 1871 at a railroad junction just to the west of the still-standing Arlington House museum, and was named for the English city of Birmingham. Through the early 20th century, due largely to its abundant mineral reserves, Birmingham grew rapidly, and soon became a leading industrial center. The mushrooming early development of the city led to its nickname of "The Magic City". Its economy was based largely upon iron and steel production and for that reason it also became known as the "Pittsburgh of the South". Birmingham was hit hard by the Great Depression in the 1930s. The city's economy subsequently evolved into a more service-, research-, and engineering-oriented system. In the 1950s and 60s Birmingham received national and international attention as a center of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans. Most notoriously, four black girls were killed in a church bombing in 1963. However, like most industrial cities, the economy and population have suffered since the 60's. It's population has fallen from 340,887 in 1960 to 242,820 in 2000, a loss of about 45%. - Wikipedia Birmingham, Alabama was founded on June 1, 1871 by real estate promoters who sold lots near the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North railroads. The site of the railroad crossing was notable for the nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone - the three principal raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is one of the very few places worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity. From the start the new city was planned as a great center of industry. The founders borrowed the name of Birmingham, England's principal industrial city, to advertise that point. Birmingham got off to a slow start: the city was impeded by an outbreak of cholera and a Wall Street crash in 1873. But soon afterward the city began growing rapidly. In the 1950s and '60s Birmingham received national and international attention as a center of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans. A watershed in that movement occurred in 1963 when Martin Luther King, Jr., imprisoned for having taken part in a nonviolent protest, wrote the now famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, a defining treatise in his cause against segregation. Birmingham is best known, however, for a bombing which occurred later that year. Four black girls were killed by a bomb planted at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Although Birmingham was never home to large scale racial violence (Mass racial violence in the United States) such as has occurred in other cities as recently as 1992, common modern knowledge of the city is dominated by the 1963 bombing. Following the same pattern as many other American cities, the population inside Birmingham's city limits has fallen over the past few decades. From 340,887 in 1960, the population was down to 242,820 in 2000, a loss of about 29 percent. However, the growth of Birmingham's suburbs over that same period has kept the metropolitan population growing. In 1971 Birmingham celebrated its centennial with a round of public works improvements, including the upgrading of Vulcan Park. In 1979 Birmingham elected Dr. Richard Arrington Jr. as its first African-American mayor. In 1996 Birmingham's Legion Field hosted early rounds of Olympic soccer.
Over the course of the 20th century, while industry declined nationwide, the city's
economy successfully diversified. Though manufacturing is still a strong sector,
Birmingham also is a major medical research center and a regional banking and
publishing power.
- A2Z Computing
Services and HometownUSA.com make no warranties as to the accuracy of any information
posted on our history or trivia pages and discussions. We receive bits of trivia and history from all over the
world and place it here for its entertainment value only. If you feel that information
posted on this page is incorrect please let us know by joining the discussons.
A little about
our History, Trivia and Facts pages, now our discussion forums.
These pages
are populated with submissions from residents of the hometowns, so if some of
them are a little light on the information side, it just simply means that people
haven't sent much to us yet. Come back soon though, because we are constantly
adding more to the site.
Types of history
that you may find on these pages include items such as the local weather
history, Native American history, history of education, history timeline, American
history, African American history, United States history, world history, Halloween
history, Thanksgiving history, Civil War history and Civil War pictures, women
in the Civil War, and Civil War battles.
Trivia may
include brain teasers, useless trivia, trivia questions, music trivia, Christmas
trivia, Thanksgiving trivia, Easter trivia, Halloween trivia, free online games,
trivia games, and more.
The facts
listed on the pages can be useless facts, weird facts, strange facts, random
facts, Christmas facts, Thanksgiving facts or just plain fun facts.
Genealogy is also welcome and posted on these pages as it plays an important role to the
history of many of our communities. So if you are looking for free genealogy,
family tree information, family quotes, death records, birth records, family
search, or any type of family history or genealogy, this is a great
place to start.
If you would
like to link to this hometown, please copy the following text and paste it onto
your website: |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||