Timeline of Birmingham, Alabama

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

19th century

• 1871
  • Birmingham founded and incorporated. ^[1]
  • Robert Henley becomes mayor. ^[2]
• 1874
  • Birmingham becomes seat of Jefferson County. ^[2]
  • First Colored Baptist Church founded.
  • Cholera epidemic. ^[2]
  • Birmingham Iron Age newspaper in publication. ^[3]
• 1880 - Population: 3,086. ^[4]
• 1881 - Alabama Christian Advocate newspaper begins publication. ^[5]
• 1882
  • Sloss Furnace begins operating.
  • O'Brien's Opera House opens. ^[6]
• 1887 - Howard College relocated to East Lake.
• 1888 - Evening News and Birmingham Age-Herald newspapers in publication.
• 1890
  • Population: 26,178. ^[4]
  • Labor Advocate newspaper begins publication. ^[5]
• 1891 - Birmingham Commercial Club incorporated.
• 1893
  • Cathedral of Saint Paul completed.
  • St. Mark's School opens. ^{[7] [8]}
• 1895
  • Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company headquarters relocated to Birmingham. ^[9]
  • Birmingham Conservatory of Music established. ^[10]
• 1896 - Spencer Business College established. ^[10]
• 1900 - Population: 38,415. ^[11]

20th century

1900s-1950s

• 1901 - March 25: Storm. ^[3]
• 1907
  • Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company acquired by United States Steel Corporation. ^[12]
  • Miles Memorial College active in nearby Fairfield. ^[13]
• 1909
  • City expands to include Ensley, North Birmingham, Pratt City, Woodlawn. ^[2]
  • Birmingham Terminal Station ^[3] and Empire Building ^[14] constructed.
• 1910 - Population: 132,685. ^[11]
• 1912 - John Hand Building constructed.
• 1913 - City Federal Building constructed.
• 1916
  • October 18: 1916 Irondale earthquake.
  • Robert E. Lee Klan No.1 formed. ^[15]
• 1917 - Civitan Club founded. ^[15]
• 1918 - Birmingham–Southern College established.
• 1919 - Alabama Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs formed in Birmingham. ^[16]
• 1920
  • Progressive Farmer magazine headquartered in Birmingham. ^[5]
  • Population: 178,806. ^[15]
• 1922 - WAPI radio begins broadcasting. ^[17]
• 1923 - Traffic lights installed. ^[15]
• 1924 - Avondale Sun newspaper begins publication. ^[3]
• 1925 - WBRC radio begins broadcasting. ^[17]
• 1927 - Alabama Theatre opens. ^[3]
• 1928 - Exchange-Security Bank established. ^[18]
• 1929 - Thomas Jefferson Hotel built.
• 1930
  • Southern Worker newspaper begins publication. ^[19]
  • Population: 259,678. ^[15]
• 1933 - Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union active. ^[20]
• 1936
  • Local Steel Workers Organizing Committee formed. ^[21]
  • Vulcan statue erected atop Red Mountain. ^[4]
• 1940 - Population: 267,583. ^[11]
• 1942 - Birmingham Historical Society founded. ^[22]
• 1949 - WAPI-TV and WBRC-TV (television) begin broadcasting. ^[23]
• 1950
  • Birmingham Post-Herald newspaper in publication. ^[5]
  • Population: 326,037. ^[11]
• 1955 - Birmingham Zoo established. ^[24]
• 1956
  • Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights headquartered in Birmingham.
  • Alabama Symphony Orchestra active.
• 1958 - EBSCO Industries in business. ^[9]
• 1959 - West End Hills Missionary Baptist Church built.

1960s-1990s

• 1960
  • Briarwood Presbyterian Church (later megachurch) established. ^[25]
  • Eastwood Mall in business. ^[3]
  • Population: 340,887. ^[11]
• 1961 - First Baptist Church, Kingston built.
• 1962 - Two North Twentieth built.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1963
  • April 3: Birmingham campaign for civil rights begins. ^[26]
  • April 16: Martin Luther King Jr. writes his "Letter from Birmingham Jail", first published in June 1963 issues of Liberation , ^[27] The Christian Century , ^[28] and The New Leader .
  • May: Birmingham riot of 1963.
  • September 15: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. ^{[12] [29]}
  • Birmingham Botanical Gardens open.
• 1965
  • Airport Drive-In cinema opens. ^[30]
  • Southern Museum of Flight established. ^[22]
• 1966 - Southern Living magazine headquartered in Birmingham.
• 1969 - Birmingham Terminal Station demolished. ^[31]
• 1970
  • Daniel Building constructed.
  • Population: 300,910. ^[11]
• 1971 - First Alabama Bancshares headquartered in city.^{[ citation needed ]}
• 1972 - South Central Bell Building and First National-Southern Natural Building built.
• 1975 - Birmingham Vulcans football team formed.
• 1979 - Richard Arrington, Jr. becomes mayor.
• 1980 - Population: 284,413. ^[11]
• 1982
  • Community Food Bank of Central Alabama ^{[32] [33]} and Bama 6 cinema ^[30] open.
  • Sister city agreement established with Hitachi, Japan. ^[34]
• 1986

South Trust Tower, built in 1986

• • South Trust Tower built.
  • Alabama Humanities Foundation headquartered in Birmingham.
• 1988 - AmSouth-Harbert Plaza (hi-rise) built.
• 1990
  • Birmingham Islamic Society formed. ^{[35] [36]}
  • Population: 265,968. ^[11]
• 1992 - Birmingham Civil Rights Institute established. ^[22]
• 1993
  • Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame opens.
  • Spencer Bachus becomes U.S. representative for Alabama's 6th congressional district. ^[37]
• 1995 - Sister city agreement established with Székesfehérvár, Hungary. ^[34]
• 1996
  • City website online (approximate date). ^{[38] [ chronology citation needed ]}
  • Sister city agreement established with Anshan, China. ^[34]
• 1997 - Sister city agreement established with Gweru, Zimbabwe. ^[34]
• 1998
  • April 6–9, 1998 tornado outbreak.
  • Establishment of sister city agreement with Pomigliano d'Arco, Naples, Italy, and friendship city agreements with Chaoyang District, Beijing, China, and Maebashi, Japan. ^[34]
• 1999 - Friendship city agreement established with Krasnodon, Ukraine. ^[34]
• 2000 - Population: 242,840.

21st century

• 2001 - Church of the Highlands (megachurch) founded. ^[25]
• 2003 - Sister city agreement established with Vinnytsia, Ukraine. ^[34]

Cumberland School of Law in 2006

• 2005
  • Birmingham Post-Herald newspaper ceases publication. ^[5]
  • Locust Fork News-Journal begins publication. ^[39]
  • Sister city agreements established with Al-Karak, Jordan; Guédiawaye, Senegal; Plzeň, Czech Republic; and Rosh HaAyin, Israel. ^[34]
• 2009 - Sister city agreement established with Winneba, Ghana. ^[34]
• 2010
  • Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra formed. ^[40]
  • William A. Bell becomes mayor.
  • Population: 212,237. ^[41]
• 2011 - Terri Sewell becomes U.S. representative for Alabama's 7th congressional district. ^[42]
• 2015
  • Minimum wage approved in city. ^[43]
  • Sister city agreement established with Liverpool, England. ^[34]
• 2017 - Randall Woodfin becomes mayor.
• 2020 - Population: 200,733.
• 2021 - Birmingham Stallions football team is formed ^[44]
• 2022 - 2022 World Games were hosted. ^[45]
• 2024 - September 2024 Birmingham shooting: Four people are killed and seventeen others are injured during a mass shooting. ^[46]

Images

• 
  Overview of Birmingham, 1907
• 
  Ensley, Birmingham, 1937
• 
  Overview of Birmingham, 1972
• 
  Southside, Birmingham, 2010
• 
  Bird's-eye view of Samford University campus

See also

• History of Birmingham, Alabama
• List of mayors of Birmingham, Alabama
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Birmingham, Alabama
• List of neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama
• Timelines of other cities in Alabama: Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa

References

1. Leon E. Seltzer, ed. (1952), Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World, New York: Columbia University Press, p. 221, OL   6112221M
2. Owen 1921.
3. "Browse Collections". Digital Collections. Birmingham Public Library. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
4. Federal Writers' Project 1941, "Birmingham".
5. "US Newspaper Directory". Chronicling America. Washington DC: Library of Congress. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
6. Teeple 1887.
7. Barbara Brandon Schnorrenberg (2002), ""The Best School for Blacks in the State" St. Mark's Academic and Industrial School, Birmingham, Alabama 1892-1940", Anglican and Episcopal History, 71 (4): 519–549, JSTOR   42615917
8. "St. Mark's School, Birmingham, Alabama", Colored American Magazine , vol. 13, New York: Moore Publishing, 1907, hdl:2027/uc1.b3793667
9. "Encyclopedia of Alabama". Alabama Humanities Foundation. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
10. Patterson's American Educational Directory. Vol. 19. Chicago. 1922. hdl:2027/mdp.39015062798783.
11. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, US Census Bureau, 1998
12. Lynda Brown; et al. (1998). "Chronology". Alabama History: An Annotated Bibliography. Greenwood Press. ISBN   978-0-313-28223-2.
13. Negro Education: A Study of the Private and Higher Schools for Colored People in the United States. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1917. p.  51.
14. "Heaviest Corner on Earth", Wikipedia, February 22, 2025, retrieved August 16, 2025
15. Brownell 1972.
16. "Archives & Manuscripts - Guide to the Collections". Birmingham Public Library. Retrieved March 2, 2017.
17. Jack Alicoate, ed. (1939), "Alabama", Radio Annual, New York: Radio Daily, OCLC   2459636
18. "Institution Directory". Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Archived from the original on May 10, 2000. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
19. Ingalls 1981.
20. Draper 1996.
21. Norrell 1986.
22. American Association for State and Local History 2002.
23. Charles A. Alicoate, ed. (1960), "Television Stations: Alabama", Radio Annual and Television Year Book, New York: Radio Daily Corp., OCLC   10512206
24. Vernon N. Kisling, Jr., ed. (2001). "Zoological Gardens of the United States (chronological list)". Zoo and Aquarium History. USA: CRC Press. ISBN   978-1-4200-3924-5.
25. Scott Thumma (ed.). "Database of Megachurches in the U.S." Connecticut: Hartford Seminary . Retrieved April 21, 2017.
26. "Events", Civil Rights Digital Library, Athens, GA: Digital Library of Georgia (Timeline)
27. King, Martin Luther Jr. (1963). "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Liberation: An Independent Monthly. Vol. 8, no. 4. pp. 10–16, 23. ISSN   0024-189X.
28. Reprinted in "Reporting Civil Rights, Part One", (pp. 777–794), American Journalism 1941–1963. The Library of America
29. "On This Day", New York Times, retrieved November 1, 2014
30. "Movie Theaters in Birmingham, AL". CinemaTreasures.org. Los Angeles: Cinema Treasures LLC. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
31. "Birmingham, Alabama: A city using theatres to reinvent itself", BBC News, April 12, 2019
32. "About". Birmingham: Community Food Bank of Central Alabama. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
33. "Alabama Food Banks". Food Bank Locator. Chicago: Feeding America . Retrieved July 22, 2014.
34. "Birmingham Sister City Anniversary Dates". Birmingham Sister Cities. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017.
35. "History". Hoover, Alabama: Birmingham Islamic Society. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
36. Pluralism Project. "Birmingham, Alabama". Directory of Religious Centers. Harvard University. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
37. "Alabama". Official Congressional Directory. 1993. hdl:2027/uc1.l0072691827 – via Hathi Trust.
38. "City of Birmingham, Alabama". Archived from the original on October 30, 1996 – via Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
39. "Alabama". CJR's Guide to Online News Startups. New York: Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved July 22, 2014.
40. "Organization Directory". Birmingham365.org. Create Birmingham. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
41. "Birmingham (city), Alabama". State & County QuickFacts. U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on June 11, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
42. "Alabama". Official Congressional Directory. Government Printing Office. 2011. ISBN   978-0-16-088653-9.
43. "When a State Balks at a City's Minimum Wage", New York Times, February 21, 2016
44. "USFL is set to return in 2022, bringing back the Birmingham Stallions", The Tuscaloosa News, November 22, 2021
45. "World Games Birmingham 2022: 13,000 foreign visitors from 40 countries are here", al.com, July 7, 2022
46. "Four dead and 18 hurt in Alabama mass shooting". British Broadcasting Corporation News. September 22, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.

Bibliography

Published in 19th century

• Saffold Berney (1878), "Birmingham", Handbook of Alabama, Mobile: Mobile Register print.
• "City Directory of Birmingham". Birmingham Directory. Atlanta, Ga.: Interstate Directory Co.: v 1884.
• John W. DuBose, ed., The Mineral Wealth of Alabama and Birmingham (Birmingham, 1886)
• 1887 Pocket Business Directory and Guide to Birmingham, Ala. 1887. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012 – via Birmingham Public Library.
• Jefferson County and Birmingham, Alabama: Historical and Biographical. Teeple & Smith. 1887. ISBN   978-0-89308-041-9.
• Henry M. Caldwell, History of the Elyton Land Company and Birmingham, Ala. 1892.

Published in 20th century

• Code of City of Birmingham, Alabama. 1917.
• "Birmingham". Automobile Blue Book. USA. 1919.
• Cruikshank, A History of Birmingham and Its Environs (2 vols., Chicago, 1920)
• Thomas McAdory Owen (1921), "Birmingham", History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Chicago: S.J. Clarke, OCLC   1872130
• Harrison A. Trexler, "Birmingham's Struggle with Commission Government," National Municipal Review, XIV (November 1925)
• George R. Leighton, "Birmingham, Alabama: The City of Perpetual Promise," Harper's Magazine, CLXXV (August 1937)
• Federal Writers' Project (1941), Alabama; a Guide to the Deep South, American Guide Series, New York: Hastings House, hdl:2027/uc1.b4469723 – via Hathi Trust
• Florence H. W. Moss, Building Birmingham and Jefferson County (Birmingham, Ala.: Birmingham Printing Company, 1947)
• John C. Henley, Jr., This Is Birmingham: The Story of the Founding and Growth of an American City. 1960.
• Paul B. Worthman, "Black Workers and Labor Unions in Birmingham, Alabama, 1897-1904," Labor History, 10 (Summer 1969)
• Paul B. Worthman, "Working Class Mobility in Birmingham, Alabama, 1880-1914," in Anonymous Americans: Explorations in Nineteenth-Century Social History, ed. Tamara K. Hareven (Englewood Cliffs, 1971)
• Blaine A. Brownell (1972), "Birmingham, Alabama: New South City in the 1920s", Journal of Southern History, 38 (1): 21–48, doi:10.2307/2206652, JSTOR   2206652
• McMillan, Malcolm C. Yesterday's Birmingham. Miami: E.A. Seeman Publishing, 1975.
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Birmingham, AL", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL   4120668M
• Robert P. Ingalls (1981), "Antiradical Violence in Birmingham During the 1930s", Journal of Southern History, 47 (4): 521–544, doi:10.2307/2207401, JSTOR   2207401
• Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham and Jefferson County. 1981
• Robert J. Norrell (1986), "Caste in Steel: Jim Crow Careers in Birmingham, Alabama", Journal of American History, 73 (3): 669–694, doi:10.2307/1902982, JSTOR   1902982
• Old Birmingham, OCLC   38508791 1991-
• George Thomas Kurian (1994), "Birmingham, Alabama", World Encyclopedia of Cities , vol. 1: North America (United States A-M), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, ISBN   978-0-87436-649-5 – via Open Library
• Henry M. McKiven (1995). Iron and Steel: Class, Race, and Community in Birmingham, Alabama, 1875-1920. Univ of North Carolina Press. ISBN   978-0-8078-4524-0.
• Alan Draper (1996), "New Southern Labor History Revisited: The Success of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union in Birmingham, 1934-1938", Journal of Southern History, 62 (1): 87–108, doi:10.2307/2211207, JSTOR   2211207
• "The South: Alabama: Birmingham", USA, Let's Go, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999, OL   24937240M
• Lynne B. Feldman, A Sense of Place: Birmingham's Black Middle Class Community, 1890-1930 (Tuscaloosa, 1999)

Published in 21st century

• "Alabama: Birmingham", Louisiana & the Deep South , Lonely Planet, 2001, ISBN   978-1-86450-216-9 – via Open Library
• American Association for State and Local History (2002). "Alabama: Birmingham". Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States and Canada (15th ed.). Rowman Altamira. ISBN   0-7591-0002-0.
• Richard Pillsbury, ed. (2006). "Birmingham". Geography. New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Vol. 2. University of North Carolina Press. p. 156. OCLC   910189354.

External links

• Jim Lewis. "Birmingham". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Alabama Humanities Foundation.
• Items related to Birmingham, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
• "(City: Birmingham)". Alabama Repositories Directory. Alabama Department of Archives & History. Archived from the original on September 25, 2009. A listing of public entities and private organizations holding historical records, artifacts, and other cultural heritage materials