Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the cultural and entertainment capital of the state Alabama and is a year round fun and entertainment destination. The city is also known as "The Magical City", and is home to countless exciting attractions, shopping destinations, museums, theaters, zoos, parks and has several major events that take place throughout the year.
The city is also known for its outdoor attractions which include state parks, nature centers, wilderness area, caverns, preserve and golf courses. The city has world class shopping and nightlife destinations that bring people from all over the northern side of Untied States. The city for most people is a concealed tourist destination, since the city is not projected as much a tourist destination as it is projected as a business destination. The steel industry of the city has played a vital role in the development of the city and still does play a major role in the local economy, though the city today has numerous other business sectors that are transforming the economy of Birmingham.
The city of Birmingham is nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Appalachian mountain range and is located on the cross section of two major rail roads, giving the city a major economic advantage. The city is nicknamed "the Magical City" because of its early growth and southern lifestyle. The city is well connected by multiple interstate highways, trains and airports. The city has abundant green cover in the form of parks, natural reserves and golf courses that attract tourists from all over the United States. It has one of the largest and best hospitals and research institutes in the southeastern side of Untied States. The community has a well-established school system providing quality education to its children. Birmingham is the capital of culture, arts and entertainment for the state of Alabama. The city has numerous visitor attractions and shopping destinations, making it the most popular tourist destination in Alabama.
Birmingham History
The city of Birmingham was founded in 1871 by a group of cotton gin promoters who sold several lots that bear the yet to be created crossing of South & North Alabama railroads and the Alabama and Chattanooga railroads. The area was known as the Jones Valley and was flanked by mountain ridges of the Appalachian foothills. The area also had numerous rivers, lakes and bodies of water in the region. The area where the crossings were situated showed that the area had huge deposits of iron ore, limestone and coal, the three important raw materials used in making steel.
At its conception, the city was planned to serve as a center of a huge industry. The founders of the city identified as Elyton Land Company borrowed the name of the city from England's popular industrial city, Birmingham. This name advertised the point of the plan that the founders had in mind for the city. The city slowly grew and merged with the surrounding towns of Elyton in 1911.
By the end of the 18th century, the city's phenomenal growth earned the city the nickname of "The Magical City". The city saw the rise of numerous skyscrapers between 1902 and 1912, which transformed the low rise commercial area and residential districts into a classical busy business district with numerous high rises buildings. These early buildings in Birmingham led to the area being called as the "The Heaviest Corner on Earth". However the city couldn't keep up its fast pace of growth when the great depression hit the country as capital sources supplying the cash dried up and more people came into the cities from their farms in search for work. Later, the city turned back to its fast pace of growth with the start of the World War II, which increased the demand for steel from the city. It was during this time that the city rapidly turned to prosperity and majority of the schools, parks and other civic institutions benefitted largely from it.
Birmingham has played a major role in the center of civil rights struggle that led to the African Americans receiving equal rights. During the 1950s and 1960s the local civil rights movements were led by Fred Shuttlesworth. The city of Birmingham was struck with major instances of bombings, which led to the city gaining the nickname of "Bombingham". It was here that the Project C was launched that attacked the Jim Crow system. These efforts led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
Since 1970s the city of Birmingham is focused around the development of the city and its infrastructure and has successfully turned the steel dependent industry into a diversified economy with major presence of health care, financial, telecommunications, and other industries. The city attracts a huge number of businesses each year. The city has adopted the tagline "The Diverse City" since 2006 to attract tourists to the beautiful city.
About Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in the state of Alabama and also acts as the county seat of the County of Jefferson. The city has a population of around 212,237 according to the 2010 United States Census. The Metropolitan area of the Birmingham-Hoover region has a population of around 1.2 million, which is more than one quarter of the population of Alabama. The city was named after the city of Birmingham in England, a very similar city to its American counterpart. The city is situated in the Jones Valley, a beautiful region flanked by many parallel mountain ranges. The city is also close to the popular red mountain and the sand mountain.
The city of Birmingham was founded in the year 1871, after the end of the American Civil War. The city at the time of its founding was much smaller than it is today and as the years passed the city grew by merging with the surrounding towns and small neighborhoods. The city slowly transformed into a railroad and industrial transportation powerhouse. The people who settled in this city were of English ancestry. The city was however planned to be a place for steel mills that employee cheap African American labor from the Southern Parts of Alabama, in hopes of gaining a competitive advantage over other cities in the Northeaster and Midwest parts of United States.
The city is the primary industrial center in the Southern Part of United States and has seen growth at an astonishing pace since its founding stage in 1960. The city has earned the nicknames, "The Pittsburgh of South" and also "The Magic City". Similar to the city of Pittsburgh, the major industries in Birmingham were steel and iron along with being a major contributor to the spread of railroads throughout the United States. In the latter half of the twentieth century the economy of the city diversified into other sectors, however the steel industry still holds a major place in the economy. Coal mining is still carried out in the Birmingham region; however other sorts of mining are shutdown now.
The city is home to the UAB hospital, the largest single employer of the region with more than 20,000 healthcare professionals under employment. The city is also home to various major national and international banks along with numerous insurance companies. The city has a high number of educational institutes that provide quality trained students to the industries in Alabama.
Birmingham is known as the entertainment and cultural capital of the State of Alabama because of the high number of art galleries, symphony orchestras, ballets, theaters and performance art centers located throughout the city. The city also has a number of museums that display the history of the city and the county. The city also witnesses numerous festivals throughout the year which include film festivals, cultural events and other entertainment events that keep people busy throughout the year.
Although the city of Birmingham has no major sport franchises, the University level basketball programs are very popular, with the UBA Blazers of the University of Alabama slowly growing in popularity. The city is also home to the Black Barons, a full black baseball team that is very popular.
About Jefferson County, Alabama
Birmingham is the county seat of Jefferson County. Jefferson County is the most populated county in the state of Alabama. According to the 2010 Untied States Census the population of the count is approximately over 1.2 billion, and is also the most populous county in the Birmingham metropolitan area. The county has a total area of 1,123.8 sq miles, of which 99 percent is land and only one percent water bodies.
The county was established in the year 1819 by the state Legislature of Alabama. The county was named after Thomas Jefferson to honor his contributions to the country. The county is situated in the north central side of the state of Alabama in the southern edge of the Appalachian Mountains. The county is located in the center of the coal, limestone and iron mining belt in the United State's southern part. The county is bordered by the counties of Blount, Bibb, Walker, Tuscaloosa and St. Clair. The county has a land area of 1,100 sq miles.
Birmingham was not the first choice of county seat for Jefferson County. The city of Carrollsville was first selected to serve the county seat and between 1819 and 1821. After Carollsville, the county seat was shifted to the city of Elyton that served as the county till 1873. Only after 1873 did the county seat of Jefferson transfer to Birmingham.
The county is one of the few counties in the state of Alabama where there is a limited form of the home rule government. The home rule form of government allows the county to be able to maintain the highways, sewage systems and also set up a zoning system for deciding land use. The county is governed by a five member commissions that has the combined power of the executive and the legislative duties of the county. The county charges sales tax of around tem percent. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department maintains the law and order of the county. The Jefferson County Board of Education serves all the school districts of the Jefferson County, except the city of Birmingham which has its own board for maintaining schools.