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    Birmingham
    Birmingham
    Birmingham
    Ebook130 pages31 minutes

    Birmingham

    By J. D. Weeks

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    About this ebook

    Birmingham s surrounding hills comprise the only place in the world with a plentiful supply of all the ingredients for iron making. This spurred the city of Birmingham s charter in 1871 around the crossing of two railroads. The city s development into a leading industrial center is shown here in photographs and postcard views, some a century old.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateApr 11, 2007
    ISBN9781439617540
    Birmingham
    Author

    J. D. Weeks

    An avid collector of antique postcards, author J. D. Weeks is a retired public health administrator who began visiting Panama City with his parents in the 1940s and developed an interest in local history at an early age. Since then, his three children and nine grandchildren all have enjoyed similar experiences here. Weeks�s book Birmingham in Vintage Postcards was published by Arcadia in 1999.

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      Book preview

      Birmingham - J. D. Weeks

      Weeks.

      INTRODUCTION

      Although Birmingham is in the heart of the Deep South, it is still a very young city. We will explore the changing landscape of this not-so-old Old South city during the last 100 years. Industry will be a primary focus, since Birmingham was founded in 1871 at the crossing of two railroads near a vast quantity of coal, iron ore, and limestone, all the minerals needed to make iron. This is the only place on the planet that has all three ingredients in large quantities and close proximity, thus allowing the production of iron and steel without the added costs of transportation to the furnaces, foundries, and mills.

      The creation of a new city, with this rich mineral wealth, resulted in the rapid development of an iron and steel industry, with all the accompanying support industries. While steel and iron were the primary products initially, Birmingham soon became a major producer of machinery, such as cotton gins; railroad cars and rails; cast iron, including water and sanitary pipe; cement; brick and clay products; chemicals; lumber; and many others. From 1918 to 1923, the Premocar automobile was produced in Birmingham by the Preston Motor Company. The iron and steel industries alone would earn Birmingham the title of Pittsburgh of the South. Since the early 1900s, Birmingham has produced most of the cast-iron pipe used in the world. This industrial development required an enormous amount of manpower, and the population quickly grew, so much in fact that it acquired another name—the Magic City.

      In 1904, Birmingham wanted an exhibit at the St. Louis World’s Fair, actually the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which would showcase the mineral wealth of the region. It was decided to build a 56-foot-tall statue made of iron from Red Mountain ore and cast in Birmingham. Made in the likeness of Vulcan, the mythical Roman god of fire and forge, it was a great success and won a grand prize, as well as a gold medal for Guiseppe Moretti, the Italian sculptor. After the exposition, offers to purchase the huge iron statue came from the cities of St. Louis and San Francisco, but they were declined. Vulcan returned to Birmingham and, after spending over 30 years at the Alabama State Fairgrounds, was finally erected in 1939 on Red Mountain, from whence he sprang over 100 years ago. He still stands proudly overlooking the city of Birmingham in newly renovated Vulcan

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