Timeline of Birmingham, Alabama

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

19th century

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

20th century

1900s-1950s

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

1960s-1990s

• 1960
• Briarwood Presbyterian Church (later megachurch) established.
• Eastwood Mall in business.
• Population: 340,887.
• 1961 - First Baptist Church, Kingston built.
• 1962 - Two North Twentieth built.
• 1963
• April 3: Birmingham campaign for civil rights begins.
• April 16: Martin Luther King Jr. writes his "Letter from Birmingham Jail", first published in June 1963 issues of Liberation, The Christian Century, and The New Leader.
• May: Birmingham riot of 1963.
• September 15: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
• Birmingham Botanical Gardens open.
• 1965
• Airport Drive-In cinema opens.
• Southern Museum of Flight established.
• 1966 - Southern Living magazine headquartered in Birmingham.
• 1969 - Birmingham Terminal Station demolished.
• 1970
• Daniel Building constructed.
• Population: 300,910.
• 1971 - First Alabama Bancshares headquartered in city.
• 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.
• 1982
• Community Food Bank of Central Alabama and Bama 6 cinema open.
• Sister city agreement established with Hitachi, Japan.
• 1986

• South Trust Tower built.
• Alabama Humanities Foundation headquartered in Birmingham.
• 1988 - AmSouth-Harbert Plaza (hi-rise) built.
• 1990
• Birmingham Islamic Society formed.
• Population: 265,968.
• 1992 - Birmingham Civil Rights Institute established.
• 1993
• Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame opens.
• Spencer Bachus becomes U.S. representative for Alabama's 6th congressional district.
• 1995 - Sister city agreement established with Székesfehérvár, Hungary.
• 1996
• City website online (approximate date).
• Sister city agreement established with Anshan, China.
• 1997 - Sister city agreement established with Gweru, Zimbabwe.
• 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.
• 1999 - Friendship city agreement established with Krasnodon, Ukraine.
• 2000 - Population: 242,840.

21st century

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

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

Images

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

Bibliography

Published in 19th century

• John W. DuBose, ed., The Mineral Wealth of Alabama and Birmingham (Birmingham, 1886)
• Henry M. Caldwell, History of the Elyton Land Company and Birmingham, Ala. 1892.

Published in 20th century

• Code of City of Birmingham, Alabama. 1917.
• Cruikshank, A History of Birmingham and Its Environs (2 vols., Chicago, 1920)
• 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)
• 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)
• McMillan, Malcolm C. Yesterday's Birmingham. Miami: E.A. Seeman Publishing, 1975.
• Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham and Jefferson County. 1981
• 1991-
• Lynne B. Feldman, A Sense of Place: Birmingham's Black Middle Class Community, 1890-1930 (Tuscaloosa, 1999)

Published in 21st century

External links

• Items related to Birmingham, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)