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| City nickname: "The Magic City" | |||||
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Location in the state of Alabama | |||||
| County | Jefferson County | ||||
| AreaThis article explains the meaning of area as a Physical quantity. Article area (geometry) is more mathematical. Area is a quantity expressing the size of a region of space. Surface area refers to the summation of the areas of the exposed sides of an objec - Total - Water | 393.5 km˛ (151.9 mi˛This article is about the unit of measure. In England, the Square Mile is a traditional name for the City of London. A square mile (symbol sq. or mi is an imperial unit which is the area of a square whose side is one mile (or 5,280 feet). A square mile is) 388.3 km˛ (149.9 mi˛) 1.34% | ||||
| PopulationFor the use of the word population in statistics, see statistical population. In the most common sense of the word, a population is the collection of people—or organisms of a particular species—living in a given geographic area. Populations are studied in
- DensityFor other meanings of density, see density (disambiguation Density (symbol: rho Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. The higher an object's density, the higher its mass per volume. The average density of an object equals its total mass div |
1619.7/km^2 | ||||
| Time zoneTime Zone was also an old historical computer game. Time zones are areas of the Earth that have adopted the same standard time. Formerly, people used local solar time (originally apparent and then mean), resulting in time differing slightly from town to t | Central UTC-6 | ||||
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Latitude
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33°31'29" North 86°48'46" West | ||||
Birmingham was founded with the first sale of lots on June 1, 1871 at a the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North railroads. The site was strategically chosen in order to capitalize on the mineral resources of the Birmingham District; most notably the uniquely close proximity of the raw materials for making steel, iron ore, coal, and limestone. From the start the new city was planned as a great center of industry. The founders borrowed the name of Birmingham, England's principal industrial city, to further advertise that point.
After a slow start, impeded by an outbreak of cholera and a Wall Street crash in 1873, the city began to grow at an astonishing pace through the turn of the century, earning itself the nicknames of "The Magic City." and "The Pittsburgh of the South."
Over the course of the 20th century, while industry declined nationwide, the city's economy diversified. Though manufacturing is still a strong sector, Birmingham also is a major medical research center and a regional banking power.
In the 1950s and '60s Birmingham received national and international attention as a center of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans. A watershed in that movement occurred in 1963 when four black girls were killed by a bomb planted at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Racial tensions coincided with highway construction and the rise of automobile culture, giving shape to the sprawling pattern of segregation that persists to the present. The population of the core city of Birmingham has fallen from 340,887 in 1960 to 242,820 in 2000, a loss of about 45 percent which can be attributed to the flight of white residents to the surrounding, mostly autonomous suburbs.
In 1971 Birmingham celebrated its centennial with a round of public works improvements, including the upgrading of Vulcan Park.
In 1979 Birmingham elected Dr. Richard Arrington as its first African-American mayor.
In 1996 Birmingham's Legion Field hosted early rounds of Olympic soccer.