Birmingham History
1871: The Year Birmingham Was Invented at a Railroad Crossing
Two rail lines, a land company and an audacious name.
By Archive Desk · 5 min read
Birmingham History
From the Archives
The Magic City's own record — industry, movement and memory, drawn from our morgue files.
Birmingham History
The Furnaces at Sloss and the Making of an Industrial South
Iron, coal and limestone within a few miles of one another.
By Archive Desk · September 13, 2026
Birmingham History
1963: Sixteenth Street and the Weeks That Changed America
From our files: the reporting, the photographs, the aftermath.
By Archive Desk · September 13, 2026
Birmingham History
When the Streetcars Ran to Ensley
A transit map the city has been trying to rebuild ever since.
By Archive Desk · September 12, 2026
Birmingham History
The Vulcan Statue's Improbable Journey
From a world's fair in St. Louis to a hill above the city.
By Archive Desk · September 11, 2026
Birmingham History
Birmingham's Cholera and Typhoid Years
How a young city learned to build a water system.
By Archive Desk · September 10, 2026
Birmingham History
The 1908 Coal Strike and Its Long Shadow
Labor history written in the mines of Jefferson County.
By Archive Desk · September 9, 2026
Birmingham History
Rickwood Field: The Oldest Ballpark in America
A century of baseball, segregation and restoration.
By Archive Desk · September 9, 2026
Birmingham History
The Terminal Station We Tore Down
A 1969 demolition that still shapes preservation debates.
By Archive Desk · September 8, 2026
Birmingham History
Black Business on Fourth Avenue
A district that built its own economy.
By Archive Desk · September 7, 2026
Birmingham History
The Tornado Seasons Birmingham Remembers
1956, 1977, 1998, 2011 — and what changed after each.
By Archive Desk · September 6, 2026
Birmingham History
Steel's Long Retreat, Told in Payroll Records
Employment charts that explain a generation of migration.
By Archive Desk · September 6, 2026
Birmingham History
The Magic City Classic's First Century
How a football game became a civic holiday.
By Archive Desk · September 5, 2026
Birmingham History
Photographs From a Working City, 1940–1975
Shift changes, storefronts and Sunday mornings.
By Archive Desk · September 4, 2026
Birmingham History
The Newspapers That Came Before Us
A short history of the Birmingham press.
By Archive Desk · September 3, 2026