The following is a timeline 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. (Timeline) April 16: Martin Luther King Jr. writes his "Letter from Birmingham Jail", first published in June 1963 issues of Liberation, The Christian Century,Reprinted in "Reporting Civil Rights, Part One", (pp. 777–794), American Journalism 1941–1963. The Library of America 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)