Editing Birmingham, Alabama (section)

===Founding and early growth===
[[File:OUR BABY DOFFER.jpg|thumb|right|Child labor at Avondale Mills in Birmingham, 1910, photo by [[Lewis Hine]]]]

The Birmingham area was historically part of the territory of the [[Muscogee|Muscogee Confederacy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Before Birmingham: Jones Valley |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=83805 |publisher=The Historical Marker Database}}</ref> The most prominent Indigenous settlement in the area in the 19th century was the Upper Creek community of {{lang|mus|Tvlwv Haco}}, meaning "Crazy Town" in [[Muscogee language|Muscogee]], located in present-day [[Indian Springs Village]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Shelby County Current or Historic Place Locale Remarks |url=https://alabamamaps.ua.edu/historicalplaces/text/ShelbyText.pdf |publisher=University of Alabama Department of Geography}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Martin |first1=Jack B. |title=A dictionary of Creek/Muskogee : with notes on the Florida and Oklahoma Seminole dialects of Creek |date=2000 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=9780803283022 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_Creek_Muskogee/0qDkYfyX010C}}</ref>

Birmingham was founded on June 1, 1871, by the Elyton Land Company whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the planned crossing of the [[Alabama Great Southern Railroad#History|Alabama & Chattanooga]] and [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad|South & North Alabama]] railroads, including land formerly a part of the Benjamin P. Worthington plantation. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre & Allen. The site of the railroad crossing was notable for the nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and [[limestone]]&nbsp;– the three main raw materials used in making steel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brief History of Birmingham, Alabama Iron Ore Mining |url=https://www.mininghistoryassociation.org/Meetings/Birmingham2022/Alabama%20Iron%20Mining%20History%20Article%20KAAS%20LI26.pdf |access-date=27 January 2025 |publisher=Mining History Association.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 |last=Crane
 |first=W. R.
 |series=U.S. Department of Mines: Bulletin 239
 |title=Iron-Ore (Hematite) Mining Practice in the Birmingham District, Ala.
 |publisher=Government Printing Office
 |place=Washington, D.C.
 |date=1926
 |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc38762/m2/1/high_res_d/metadc38762.pdf}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book
 |last=Butts
 |first=Charles
 |chapter=Lime, Magnesite, etc. Limestone and Dolomite in the Birmingham District, Alabama
 |title=Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey–Contributions to Economic Geology, 1906–Part I–Metals and Nonmetals, except fuels
 |editor1-last=Emmons
 |editor1-first=S.F.
 |editor2-last=Eckel
 |editor2-first=E.C.
 |date=1907
 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bulletinofunited315emmo/page/247/mode/1up
 |pages=247ff}}&nbsp;Also available as [https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/0315g/report.pdf individual chapter]
</ref>

The [[Birmingham District]] is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1597 |title=Birmingham Iron and Steel companies |last=Lewis |first=David |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Alabama |access-date=August 19, 2011 |archive-date=November 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105154141/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1597 |url-status=dead }}</ref> From the start the new city was planned as a great center of industry. The founders, organized as the Elyton Land Company, borrowed the name of Birmingham, one of England's main industrial cities, to advertise that point. The growth of the planned city was impeded by an [[1863–1875 cholera pandemic|outbreak of cholera]], and a [[Panic of 1873|Wall Street crash in 1873]]. However, it began to develop shortly afterwards at an explosive rate.

In 1911, the town of Elyton, Alabama, and several other surrounding towns were absorbed into Birmingham. The start of the 20th century brought the substantial growth that gave Birmingham the nickname "The Magic City", as the downtown area developed from a low-rise commercial and residential district into a busy grid of neoclassical mid-rise and high-rise buildings and busy streetcar lines. Between 1902 and 1912 four large office buildings were constructed at the intersection of 20th Street, the central north–south spine of the city, and 1st Avenue North, which connected the warehouses and industrial facilities stretching along the east–west railroad corridor. This impressive group of early skyscrapers was nicknamed "The [[Heaviest Corner on Earth]]".

In 1916, Birmingham was hit by the [[1916 Irondale earthquake|Irondale earthquake]], with a 5.1 magnitude. A few buildings in the area were slightly damaged. The earthquake was felt as far as Atlanta and neighboring states.

While excluded from the best-paying industrial jobs, Black Americans joined the migration of residents from rural areas to the city for its opportunities. The [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s hit Birmingham especially hard as sources of capital that were fueling the city's growth rapidly dried up at the same time that farm laborers, driven off the land, made their way to the city in search of work. [[New Deal]] programs put many city residents to work in WPA and CCC programs, making important contributions to the city's infrastructure and artistic legacy, including such key improvements as [[Vulcan statue|Vulcan's]] tower and [[Oak Mountain State Park]].

The wartime demand for steel and the post-war building boom gave Birmingham a rapid return to prosperity. Manufacturing diversified beyond the production of raw materials. Major civic institutions such as schools, parks and museums, were able to expand their scope.<ref name=Atkins-1981>{{cite book |title=The Valley and the Hills: An Illustrated History of Birmingham & Jefferson County |last=Atkins |first=Leah Rawls |year=1981 |publisher=Windsor Publications |isbn=978-0-89781-031-9}}</ref>

Despite the growing population and wealth of the city, its residents were markedly underrepresented in the state legislature. Although the state constitution required redistricting in accordance with changes in the decennial census, the state legislature did not undertake this until the early 1970s, when forced by a federal court case to enforce "[[one man, one vote]]". In addition, the geographic basis of the senate, which gave each county one seat, gave undue influence to rural counties. Representatives of rural counties also had disproportionate power in the state house, and failed to provide support for infrastructure and other improvements in developing urban population centers such as Birmingham. At this time, the General Assembly ran county governments as extensions of the state through their legislative delegations.