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Birmingham is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Jefferson County. It also includes part of Shelby County. The population of the city was 227,690 as of 2002, and 242,000 according to the 2008 estimate. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2007 census estimates, has a population of 1,108,210. It is also the largest city in the Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman Combined Statistical Area, colloquially known as Greater Birmingham, which contains roughly one quarter of the population of Alabama.
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Encyclopedia
Birmingham is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Jefferson County. It also includes part of Shelby County. The population of the city was 227,690 as of 2002, and 242,000 according to the 2008 estimate. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, as of the 2007 census estimates, has a population of 1,108,210. It is also the largest city in the Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman Combined Statistical Area, colloquially known as Greater Birmingham, which contains roughly one quarter of the population of Alabama. If nearby counties Tuscaloosa, Etowah, Talladega, & Calhoun are added to the Greater Birmingham population it would exceed over 1.6 million as of 2008.
Birmingham was founded in 1871, just after the U.S. Civil War, as an industrial enterprise. It was named after Birmingham, one of the UK's major industrial cities.
Through the middle of the 20th century, Birmingham was the primary industrial center of the Southern United States. The astonishing pace of Birmingham's growth through the turn of the century earned it the nicknames "The Magic City" and "The Pittsburgh of the South". Much like Pittsburgh in the north, Birmingham's major industries centered around iron and steel production.
Over the course of the 20th century, the city's economy diversified. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other industries such as banking, insurance, medicine, publishing, and biotechnology have risen in stature. Birmingham has been recognized as one of the top cities for income growth in the United States South with a significant increase in per capita income since 1990.
Today, 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 U.S. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to one Fortune 500 company: Regions Financial. Five Fortune 1000 companies are headquartered in Birmingham.
History
Founding and early growth
Birmingham was founded on June 1, 1871, by real estate promoters who sold lots near the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store 's, run by the still prominent family. 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 the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in such close proximity. From the start the new city was planned as a great center of industry. The founders borrowed the name of Birmingham, one of England's principal industrial cities, to advertise that point. Birmingham was off to a slow start: the city was impeded by an outbreak of cholera and a Wall Street crash in 1873. However, it began to grow shortly afterwards at an explosive rate.
The turn of the century brought the substantial growth that gave Birmingham the nickname "The Magic City" as the downtown area developed from a low-rise commercial and residential district into a busy grid of neoclassical mid-rise and high-rise buildings and busy 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 impressive group of early skyscrapers was nicknamed "The Heaviest Corner on Earth". Optimistic that the rapidly growing city could be further improved, a group of local businessmen led by Courtney Shropshire formed an independent service club in 1917. The group would later incorporate and become the first chapter of Civitan International, now a worldwide organization.
The Great Depression 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 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 wartime demand for steel and the post-war building boom gave Birmingham a rapid return to prosperity. Manufacturing diversified beyond the production of raw materials and several major cultural institutions, such as the Birmingham Museum of Art, were able to expand their scope.
Birmingham Civil Rights Movement
In the 1950s and '60s Birmingham received national and international attention as a center of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans. The city was given the derisive nickname Bombingham because of a string of racially motivated bombings that took place during this time.Howard K. Smith, then a CBS correspondent, resigned from the network in 1961 in a dispute about a documentary that he was preparing on police violence against civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham. Smith then joined ABC, where he broadcast his Howard K. Smith: News and Comment program from 1962-1963 and was thereafter the network anchorman.
A watershed in the civil rights movement occurred in 1963 when Birmingham Civil Rights Movement leader Fred Shuttlesworth requested that Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which Shuttlesworth had co-founded, come to Birmingham, where King had once been a pastor, to help end segregation. Together they launched "Project C" (for "Confrontation"), a massive assault on the Jim Crow system. 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, almost all of them high-school age children. These protests were ultimately successful, leading not only to desegregation of public accommodations in Birmingham but also the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
While imprisoned 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. Birmingham is also known for a bombing which occurred later that year, in which four black girls were killed by a bomb planted at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The event would inspire the African-American poet Dudley Randall's opus, "The Ballad of Birmingham," as well as jazz musician John Coltrane's song, "Alabama."
Recent history
In the 1970s urban renewal efforts focused around the development of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which developed into 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. Birmingham's banking institutions enjoyed considerable growth as well and new skyscrapers started to appear 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. In 1979 Birmingham elected Dr. Richard Arrington Jr. as its first African-American mayor.
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. Recently Center Point incorporated its self as a new city in 2002, which caused the population to drop to 227,690 but since has increased to 242,000 as of 2008. Also, the growth of Birmingham's suburbs over that same period has kept the metropolitan population growing.
Today, Birmingham has begun to experience a bit of a rebirth. Currently there are around a billion dollars being invested in reconstructing the downtown area into a 24-hour mixed-use district. The market for downtown lofts and condominiums has mushroomed while restaurant, retail and cultural options are beginning to sprout up. In 2006 the visitors bureau selected "the diverse city" as a new tag line for the city.
Geography and climate
Geography
Birmingham occupies Jones Valley, flanked by long parallel mountain ridges (the tailing ends of the Appalachian foothills) 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 America.
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 (393.5 km²), of which, 149.9 square miles (388.3 km²) of it is land and 2.0 square miles (5.3 km²) of it (1.34%) is water.
Climate
Birmingham has a Humid subtropical climate, characterized by hot summers, mild winters, and abundant rainfall. January sees average daily high temperatures of 53.0 °F (11.7 °C) and lows of 31.8 °F (−0.1 °C). In July the average daily high is 90.6 °F (32.6 °C) and the low is 69.7 °F (20.9 °C). The average annual temperature in Birmingham is 62 °F (17 °C). Snowfall averages only 1.9 inches (4.8 cm) but during the Great Blizzard of 1993, the city received over a foot (30 cm) of snow. The average yearly rainfall in Birmingham is about 52 inches (1330 mm), with March being the wettest month and October the driest.
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 features less rainfall and fewer storms, as well as lower humidity than the spring, but it is also a secondary severe weather season. Birmingham is located on the heart of a tornado alley known as the Dixie Alley due to the frequency of tornadoes in Central Alabama. The Greater Birmingham area was hit by two F5 tornadoes – in 1977 and 1998 occurring on its western (1998) and northern suburbs (1977). In late summer and fall months, Birmingham experiences occasional tropical storms and hurricanes due to its proximity to the Central Gulf Coast.
| Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures | | Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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| Rec High °F | 81 | 83 | 89 | 92 | 99 | 102 | 106 | 103 | 100 | 94 | 85 | 80 |
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| Norm High °F | 53.2 | 58.6 | 68.5 | 74.1 | 82.6 | 87.8 | 90.8 | 90.7 | 87.9 | 74.9 | 65.5 | 57 |
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| Norm Low °F | 31.8 | 34.6 | 42.4 | 48.4 | 57.6 | 65.4 | 69.7 | 69.4 | 64.6 | 51.9 | 42.6 | 34.8 |
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| Rec Low °F | -6 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 35 | 42 | 51 | 51 | 37 | 27 | 5 | 1 |
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| Precip (in) | 5.45 | 4.21 | 6.1 | 4.67 | 4.83 | 3.78 | 5.09 | 3.48 | 4.05 | 3.23 | 4.63 | 4.47 |
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| Source: USTravelWeather.com |
Government
Birmingham has a strong-mayor variant mayor-council form of government, led by a mayor and a nine-member city council. The current system replaced the previous city commission government in 1962 (primarily as a way to remove Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor from power).
By Alabama law, an issue before a city council must be approved by a two-thirds majority vote (Act No. 452, Ala. Acts 1955, as supplemented by Act No. 294, Ala. Acts 1965.). Executive powers are held entirely by the mayor's office. The current mayor of Birmingham is Larry Langford, who was voted into office in 2007
Current City Council Membership | District | Representative | Position |
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| 1 | Joel Montgomery | | | 2 | Carol Duncan | | | 3 | Valerie A. Abbott | | | 4 | Maxine Parker | | | 5 | William A. Bell | | | 6 | Carole Smitherman | President | | 7 | Miriam Witherspoon | President Pro-Tem | | 8 | Steven Hoyt | | | 9 | Roderick Royal | |
In 1974 Birmingham established a structured network of neighborhood associations and community advisory committees to insure public participation in governmental issues that affect neighborhoods. Neighborhood associations are routinely consulted on matters related to zoning changes, liquor licenses, economic development, policing and other city services. Neighborhoods are also granted discretionary funds from the city's budget to use for capital improvements. Each neighborhood's officers meet with their peers to form Community Advisory Committees which are granted broader powers over city departments. The presidents of these committees, in turn, form the Citizen's Advisory Board, which meets regularly with the mayor, council, and department heads. Birmingham is divided into a total of 23 communities, and again into a total of 99 individual neighborhoods with individual neighborhood associations.
Economy
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. Several of the nation's largest steelmakers, including U.S. Steel, McWane, and Nucor, all 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 Birmingham.
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 largest in Alabama with a workforce of about 20,000. Health care services provider HealthSouth is also headquartered in the city.
Birmingham is also a leading banking center, serving as home to two major banks: Regions Financial Corporation and Compass Bancshares. SouthTrust, another large bank headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004. The city still has major operations as one of the regional headquarters of Wachovia. In November 2006, Regions Financial merged with AmSouth Bancorporation, which was also headquartered in Birmingham. They formed the 8th Largest U. S. Bank (by total assets). Nearly a dozen smaller banks are also headquartered in the Magic City, such as Superior Bank and New South Federal Savings Bank.
Telecommunications provider AT&T, formerly BellSouth, has a major presence with several large offices in the metropolitan area. Major insurance providers: Protective Life, Infinity Property & Casualty and ProAssurance among others, are headquartered in Birmingham and employ a large number of people in Greater Birmingham.
The city is also a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies, including BE&K and B. L. Harbert International which routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design and international construction firms.
Birmingham also has a dairy industry. Mayfield Dairy Farms has a production facility in Birmingham.
Metropolitan Birmingham 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. One 2006 study published at determined that Birmingham was second in the nation for building personal net worth, based on local salary rates, living expenses, and unemployment rates.
A 2006 study by Bizjournals.com 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.
Infrastructure
Education
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 67 schools: 11 high schools, 13 middle schools, 34 elementary schools, and 9 K-8 secondary schools.
The with 21 branches serves the entire community to provide education and entertainment for all ages.
The Greater-Birmingham metropolitan area is home to numerous independent primary school systems. The area's largest are the Jefferson County, Birmingham City, and Shelby County school systems.
The Birmingham area is home to some of America's best schools. In 2005, the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School in Irondale, an eastern suburb of Birmingham, was rated as the #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 250 on the list. Other local schools that have been rated among America's best in various publications include Vestavia Hills High School and the Alabama School of Fine Arts located downtown. The metro area also has two highly regarded prep schools: The Altamont School, located in Birmingham proper, and Indian Springs School in north Shelby County near Pelham.
Institutions of higher education
Planning
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.
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 and includes a major park over several blocks of the central railroad reservation to be called the Railroad Reservation Park. Along with Ruffner Mountain Park, and the proposed Red Mountain Park, Birmingham would rank first in the United States for public green space per resident.
Notable buildings
Transportation
Birmingham has one of the most extensive networks of highways and roadways in the Southeast. The city is served by three Interstate Highways, Interstate 20, Interstate 65, and Interstate 59, as well as a southern beltway Interstate 459 and the Elton B. Stephens (Red Mountain) Expressway (U.S. Highway 31 & U.S. Highway 280). There have been some recent developments with the regional interstate system, including the construction of Corridor X (Future Interstate 22), and the planned future construction of a Northern Beltline corresponding to the existing Interstate 459. Birmingham is served by the through the Metro Area Express (MAX) bus system.
Birmingham is served by Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (there is another airport of the same name in Birmingham, England) which serves more than 3 million passengers every year. With more than 160 flights daily, the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International 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 Airlines, Continental Airlines/Continental Express, US Airways/US Airways Express, Southwest Airlines, and Northwest Airlines/Northwest Airlink.
Birmingham is served by three major freight railroads. Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and BNSF Railway all have major classification yards in the metro area. Smaller regional railroads such as the Jefferson Western and Birmingham Southern also serve Birmingham's freight customers. Amtrak's Crescent connects Birmingham with the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Greensboro, Charlotte, Atlanta and New Orleans. The Birmingham Amtrak Station is situated at 1819 Morris Avenue.
Utilities
The water services for Birmingham and the intermediate urbanized area is served by the Birmingham Water Works Authority (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 within the Jefferson County Environmental Services Department. One major reason for the higher cost was that Jefferson County had to buy the sewers from the many smaller municipalities in the area to ensure that these sewers were being maintained in a fashion that would meet E.P.A. approval to avoid massive fines for failure to comply with the consent decree. This continues to be a controversial topic in the region.
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 Bright House Networks within the cities of Birmingham and Irondale, and Charter Communications in the rest of metro area.
People and culture
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, 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/sq mi (288.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 73.46% Black or African American, 24.07% 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. It should be noted that the MSA of Birmingham is closer to a 75% Caucasian 25% African-American split. Also the MSA crime rate is much lower and in line with other comparable Southern cities like Nashville or Knoxville. The MSA has been growing as well over the past 25 years as many Birmingham residents have moved to other cities within the MSA.
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. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 3.09.
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. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $26,735, and the median income for a family was $31,851. Males had a median income of $28,184 versus $23,641 for females. The city's per capita income was $15,663. About 20.9% of families and 24.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.4% of those under age 18 and 18.5% of those age 65 or over.
Surrounding cities and suburbs
Cities and suburbs are listed in order of population.
- Hoover: Pop. 73,000
- Vestavia Hills: Pop. 31,051
- Bessemer: Pop. 28,641
- Alabaster: Pop. 27,517
- Homewood: Pop. 23,963
- Mountain Brook: Pop. 20,821
- Pelham: Pop. 20,120
- Trussville: Pop. 17,796
- Cullman: Pop. 16,675
- Hueytown: Pop. 15,364
- Center Point: Pop. 15,130
| Jasper: Pop. 14,117Gardendale: Pop. 13,042Fairfield: Pop. 11,547Forestdale: Pop. 10,509Leeds: Pop. 10,455Moody: Pop. 10,300Helena: Pop. 10,296Pleasant Grove: Pop. 9,983Irondale: Pop. 9,813Pell City: Pop. 9,565 | Clanton: Pop. 7,800Tarrant: Pop. 7,022Fultondale: Pop. 6,853 |
Crime
Crime is a challenge in Birmingham because of many residents leaving the city proper to move to the suburbs due to lower cost housing and better schools. Although homicide rates have remained at high levels for several years. , the MSA crime statistics are not nearly as high. According to statistics reported to the FBI, Birmingham has the seventh highest murder rate among US cities and is ranked eighteenth in violent crime, but again this is for Birmingham proper only and does not include the various sub-cities which make up the 1.1 million Birmingham MSA. Adding these stats in, the Bham MSA crime rate is in line with several low crime southern MSA such as Jacksonville, FL, and Charlotte, NC. Recently the A&E sitcom, "The First 48" has filmed episodes with some of the city's Homicide detectives. One of the homicides investigations they filmed for was the murder of Kenny Wayne Holmes on episode 128 season 8. It is a show that takes place during the first 48 hours after a homicide happens.
The downtown district, relatively free from crime, is patrolled by City Action Partnership (CAP), formed in 1995 to increase the perception of safety. Funded by a downtown improvement association, the organization reports a 62% decline in criminal activity within its 109 block area.
Culture
Birmingham is the cultural and entertainment capital of Alabama with its numerous art galleries in the area and home to Birmingham Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the state. Birmingham is also home to the state's major ballet, opera, and symphony orchestra companies such the , Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Ballet, Birmingham Concert Chorale, Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival and Opera Birmingham.
*The historic Alabama Theatre hosts film screenings, concerts and performances.
- 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 UAB campus in the Southside community.
- 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 Alabama Ballet and hosts major concert tours and sporting events. Adjacent to the BJCC is the Sheraton Birmingham, the largest hotel in the state.
- 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.
- The Birmingham Public Library presents programs for children and adults.
- Boutwell Auditorium (formerly Municipal Auditorium) is located at Linn Park.
- The Verizon Wireless Music Center, formerly Oak Mountain Amphitheater, is a large outdoor venue with two stages.
Other entertainment venues in the area include:
- Fair Park Arena, on the west side of town, hosts sporting events, local concerts and community programs.
- , located in Southside, 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.
- The Wright Center Concert Hall at Samford University is home to the Birmingham Ballet
Birmingham's nightlife is primarily clustered around Five Points South and Lakeview, but an additional $55-million entertainment district has been approved for an area adjacent to the BJCC. is Birmingham's Online Guide to the City's Nightlife. Birmingham also has a very popular local music scene that has made the city a breeding ground for some of the nation's best musicians.
Birmingham has its own Orange Lodge. Birmingham "Sons of William" LOL 1003 was instituted as a Lodge in January 2004. The man behind the formation of this lodge was Rev Paul Zahl. The lodge has a close relationship with Maghera "Sons of William" LOL 209 from Northern Ireland. The members of the Birmingham Lodge have travelled to Northern Ireland to participate in the Annual "Twelfth" parade.
The maintains , "a one-stop source for finding out what's going on where around" Birmingham.
Attractions, events, and recreation
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 includes Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which houses a detailed and emotionally-charged narrative exhibit putting Birmingham's history into the context of the U. S. 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, , Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark, Alabama Museum of Health Sciences, and the Arlington Home.
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, with 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 that feature music, films, and regional heritage. City Stages is a world-renowned music festival that takes place in Birmingham's Linn Park on Father's Day weekend. It offers three days of music from all genres on 11 stages. 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 on the last weekend in September at eight venues around downtown. Screenings are concentrated at the Alabama Theatre. Another musical festival is the , presented at the end of September 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 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. , 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 Cathedral of Holy Trinity & Holy Cross. The Greek Festival draws 20,000 patrons annually.
is an annual book and author fair that celebrates Alabama authors and publishers. Hosted by the Birmingham Public Library, it is an occasion when 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
Kelly Ingram Park, site of notable civil rights protests and adjacent to historic 16th Street Baptist Church.
Oak Mountain State Park is about South of Birmingham. It 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 Civil War site which includes the well-preserved ruins of the Tannehill Iron Furnaces and the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill. The Birmingham Botanical Gardens is a 67 acre (270,000 m²) 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 complimented by Hoover's Aldridge Gardens, an ambitious project open since 2002. Still under development, Aldridge is currently more valuable to locals looking for a place to stroll than to tourists, but promises unique displays in coming years. The Birmingham Zoo is a large regional zoo with more than 700 animals and a recently opened interactive children's zoo. Alabama Adventure Theme Park (formerly Visionland) is an amusement park with two independent sections: Splash Beach Water Park and Magic Adventure Theme Park,. The theme park has 25 different thrill rides including The Rampage wooden roller coaster and Zoomerang, a steel roller coaster purchased in 2004 from the Brisbane expo. (The park was renamed at the start of the 2006 season, and major expansion plans were announced at that time.)
Sports
- March 6-8, 2009 Birmingham hosted the U.S.A vs. Switzerland first round tie of the Davis Cup. In which, U.S. won 4-1.
- Birmingham was home to the Black Barons, a very successful Negro League team. The home of the Black Barons, Rickwood Field, is still standing in the Rising-West Princeton neighborhood, and is verified as being the oldest baseball field in America.
- Though Birmingham has no major professional sport franchises presently, there is a very strong fan base for collegiate sports – primarily the University of Alabama and Auburn University football teams. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB Blazers) has a popular basketball program and a young football program which is growing in popularity. Birmingham is home to the Birmingham Barons, the AA minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox that plays at Regions Park. The Regions Park is also home to the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament which drew more than 108,000 spectators in 2006. The city also hosts the Alabama Steeldogs of the Arena Football League 2 at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. There is also an amateur soccer association, known as La Liga. The Birmingham area also plays host to the Alabama Alliance aau basketball team.
- The city is notable for having multiple pro football franchises with all of the football franchises from Birmingham folding. This included a two-time champion WFL franchise, the Birmingham Americans/Birmingham Vulcans—where the league folded. A USFL franchise, the Birmingham Stallions–once again the league folded. A WLAF franchise, the Birmingham Fire–the WLAF was renamed NFL Europa and the franchise became the Rhein Fire before the league folded altogether in 2007. A CFL franchise, the Birmingham Barracudas— would play one season and then fold. An XFL franchise, the Birmingham Thunderbolts–another instance where the league has folded.
- 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 (1998-present), and, most recently, the Papajohns.com Bowl (2006-present).
- The Southeastern Conference Headquarters is based in Birmingham. During the summer, SEC Football Coaches have their media day at the Winfrey Hotel in Hoover .
- 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 recent 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 & UAW Ford 500 are NASCAR Nextel Cup races that occur in April and October at the Talladega Superspeedway, and bring a major boost to the area's economy. Superbike and sports car GrandAm races also take place in the eastern suburb of Leeds, AL at Barber Motorsports Park, which also hosts a rich schedule of amateur motorsports events throughout the year. The Mercedes Marathon is a marathon, half marathon, and kids road race that takes place on the 1st or 2nd Sunday in February that was started in 2002.
- Nearby Hoover is host to the Regions Charity Classic presented by Bruno's Supermarkets, a stop on the PGA Champions Tour senior golf tour, to be played starting in 2006 at the new Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa. This event was formerly known as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, played in nearby Hoover at the Greystone Golf & Country Club. Also in Hoover, retired racing greyhounds gather for the "Weekend Romp" sponsored by , a nationally recognized greyhound adoption and enthusiast group.
- Recreational fishing is also immensely popular in the Birmingham area. Few regions can offer the quality and quantity of fishing as found throughout this region of Alabama. In fact, 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 nationally renowned fishing tournaments such as the Bass Masters Classic. Some of the more popular recreational lakes around Birmingham include: Smith Lake, Lay Lake, Lake Neely Henry, , Lake Purdy, and Bankhead Reservoir.
- The US 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 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 and the Xterra Southeast Championship triathlon as well as other endurance competitions.
Minor League teams
|
| Club |
Sport |
Founded |
League |
Venue |
Birmingham Barons
| Baseball |
1885 |
Southern League: South Division |
Regions Park |
Birmingham Magicians
| Basketball |
2005 |
American Basketball Association: Blue Conference |
Fair Park Arena |
Alabama Steeldogs
| Arena Football |
2000 |
AF2 |
Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center Arena |
Team Alabama
| American football |
2005 |
All American Football League |
Legion Field |
Other area sport facilities include:
Media
Birmingham is served by one daily newspaper, The Birmingham News (circulation 150,346), which in 2007 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, the newspaper's second Pulitzer. The Birmingham News Wednesday edition features six sub regional sections named East, Hoover, North, Shelby, South, and West that cover news stories from those areas. The Birmingham Post-Herald, the city's second daily, published its last issue in 2006. Other local publications include , The Leeds News, The Western Star (Bessemer) and The Hoover Gazette.
, and (published biweekly) are Birmingham's free alternative publications. The Birmingham Times, a historic African-American newspaper, also is published weekly.
Birmingham is served by the city magazine of the Chamber of Commerce, The Birmingham magazine.
Birmingham is part of the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa television market, which is the nation's 40th largest. The major television affiliates are WBRC 6 (FOX), WBIQ 10 (PBS), WVTM 13 (NBC), WTTO 21 (CW), WBMA 33/40 (ABC), WIAT 42 (CBS), WPXH 44 (ION), and WABM 68 (MyNetworkTV).
Over 45 radio stations serve the Birmingham market, which is the nation's 56th largest radio market. Major broadcasting companies who own stations in the Birmingham market include Clear Channel, Cox Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, and Crawford Broadcasting. The Rick and Bubba show, which is syndicated to over 25 stations primarily in the Southeast, originates from Birmingham's WZZK-FM. The Paul Finebaum sports-talk show, also syndicated to a network of stations mainly in Alabama, originates from WJOX-FM.
Birmingham is home to EWTN, the world's largest Catholic media outlet and largest religious network of any kind broadcasting to approximately 118 million homes worldwide.
Visitors and tourists can watch to find out where to eat, shop, and sight see around the Magic City. City Vision TV is a new, but growing, local station available in most hotel rooms throughout Greater Birmingham.
See also List of television stations in AlabamaSee also List of radio stations in Alabama
Other
Notable natives
Sister cities
Birmingham's Sister Cities program is overseen by the
External links
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- : History of pro sports in Birmingham
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- Birmingham media:
- – daily newspaper of record
- – African-American community news
- – alternative news – weekly
- – alternative news – biweekly
- – business news weekly
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