BIRMINGHAM 



749 



BIRMINGHAM 



The town has many fine buildings, and all 

 public utilities such as water works, electric 

 light plant, electric street car service and gas 

 plants are municipally owned and managed at 

 a substantial profit. It has large shipbuilding 

 yards, wagon factories, machine and engineer- 

 ing works. In the shipbuilding yards of Birken- 

 head the famous Alabama (which see) was con- 

 structed for the Confederate States of America. 

 Population in 1915, 130,794. 



BIRMINGHAM, bir' ming am or bir' ming 

 ham, ALA., one of the most rapidly-developing 

 cities of the South, the largest city of the state 

 and the county seat of Jefferson County, 

 famous for its steel, iron and coal industries. 

 It is situated north of the geographical center 

 of the state, ninety-five miles northwest of 

 Montgomery, the capital, and 168 miles west 

 and south of Atlanta, Ga. Nine railroad lines 

 enter the city and provide exceptional trans- 

 portation facilities; they are the Louisville & 

 Nashville; Mobile & Ohio; Alabama Great 

 Southern; Seaboard Air Line; Central of Geor- 

 gia; Illinois Central; Atlanta, Birmingham & 

 Atlantic; Southern, and Frisco. Interurban 

 lines reach the rapidly-growing suburbs and 

 near-by cities. An increase of population from 

 132,685 in 1910 to 174,108 in 1915 is evidence 

 of the rapid growth of the city. The area 

 exceeds forty-eight square miles. 



Birmingham is located 608 feet above sea 

 level, in a valley abundantly rich in coal, iron 

 and limestone; around it lie three famous 

 coal fields, the Warrior, the Cahaba and the 

 Coosa. Iron Mountain, six miles distant, has 

 almost inexhaustible deposits of hematite, a 

 valuable iron ore. The city is partly on the 

 sloping side of Red Mountain, and is attract- 

 ively laid out, with wide streets, beautiful 

 residences, winding parkways and numerous 

 parks, the latter comprising 600 acres; of these, 

 Capitol, Avondale, Lake View and East Lake 

 parks are especially attractive. 



Buildings and Institutions. The most 

 notable of the city's public buildings are the 

 Federal building, the county courthouse, a city 

 hall, recently completed at a cost of $200,000, 

 the Auditorium, Saint Vincent's hospital, First 

 National Bank building, the $2,000,000 terminal 

 station, a Y. M. C. A. building, two excellent 

 hotels costing more than $1,000,000 each, and 

 several ten-story "skyscraper" office buildings. 

 The benevolent institutions include Hillman's 

 hospital, Mercy Home and Jefferson County 

 almshouse. Besides the public schools, with 

 five high schools, there are Howard College 



(Baptist) at East Lake, Birmingham College 

 (Methodist) at Owenton Heights, the Boys' 

 Industrial School, also at East Lake, a normal 

 training school (colored) and medical, dental 

 and business colleges. 



Industry and Manufacture. Owing to the 

 extent of its iron and coal industry, Birming- 

 ham is sometimes called The Pittsburgh of the 

 South; the annual output of iron is estimated 

 at 2,000,000 tons. The first steel plant in the 

 South was established at Birmingham in 1897, 

 with two open-hearth furnaces; at Ensley, in 

 the vicinity, the Tennessee Coal and Iron 

 Company now owns the largest basic open- 

 hearth plant in the United States, excepting 

 that of the Carnegie mills in Homestead, Pa.; 

 a rail mill and casting plant are operated in 

 connection with it. Alabama's largest yield 

 of iron ore is obtained from the Birmingham 

 district, and more than one-half of the United 

 States export of pig iron is made from this 

 city. While coal mining and the manufacture 

 of iron and steel products are the chief indus- 

 tries, the cotton, cottonseed and lumber inter- 

 ests are important, Birmingham is also one of 

 the leading yellow-pine markets of the South. 

 Besides all of the above, the city has cement 

 factories, fertilizer factories, clay-pipe and 

 brick plants, clay being one of the important 

 resources of the district. Here, also, are located 

 the repair shops of the Southern Railway. 



History. Early in 1871, following the dis- 

 covery of the rich natural resources of this 

 section, Birmingham was founded by the Ely- 

 ton Land Company, who named it for the cele- 

 brated steel and iron manufacturing city of 

 England. A small iron furnace was built and 

 mining was begun. In the same year the town 

 was incorporated. In 1873 it was scourged by 

 cholera; it recovered and was again prostrated 

 by a panic in 1889. Following this period 

 growth was rapid. The Greater Birmingham 

 law became effective January 1, 1910, at which 

 time the suburbs of North Birmingham, East 

 Birmingham, Avondale, Woodlawn, East Lake, 

 Wylan, Ensley, Pratt City, West End and 

 Elyton became part of the greater city. In 

 March, 1911, the commission form of govern- 

 ment was adopted. c. OP c. 



BIRMINGHAM, bir' ming am, ENGLAND, one 

 of the most important manufacturing cities in 

 the world, in the county of Warwick, 103 miles 

 northwest of London and seventy-eight miles 

 southeast of Liverpool. In addition to enjoy- 

 ing the position of acknowledged center of the 

 world's hardware industries, Birmingham is a 



