Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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h«! year wiis 1870. T«n men put their money to- gelher to hiiy more than 4.000 acres of land near the small Alabama town of Hlylon. It was a momentous occasion. Within a few months, engineers had set the crossing of the South and North Alabama Railroad east of Elyton and sur- veyors were marking out the city with a downtown area. The city of Birmingham was officially incorporat- ed on December 18. 1971. with a population of 1.200. Then the iron boom began in Birmingham in 1880 when two coke furnaces went into operation. In the city ' s first twenty years, the population Increased to 26.000 and was given the nickname The Magic City ' ■ in recognition of its rapid growth. Steel and steel-related industries remained the backbone of Birmingham ' s economy throughout the city ' s early years. By 1910. its population had risen to 120.000. Birmingham ' s renaissance into a thriving metropolis of 930.000 people is due to a combination of factors: its location in the geographic center of the Southeast, progressive business climate, emphasis on the art.s. and unparalleled re.sidential areas. When newcomers ask what ' s so special about Birmingham, there are plenty of firsts. bests, , and onlys to mention. A quick look down Birmingham (Ireen, for example, provides a view of the .state ' s talle.st build- ing Soon to be c ompleted, the SoulhtrusI Tower rises 34 floors on the corner of 20th and 5th Avenue North. just a few blocks away on 19th Street stands the .state ' s largest office building. The corporate head- quarters of th»! Alabama Power Company. To the ea.st on 23rd Street, the YMCA Downtown r;enlt!r offers exercisers a facility ranked among the lop three in the country. Nearby, on the corner of 4th Avenue and 22nd Street, the mcxlern pre.ss«!S (»f 7 ' he Hirminghurn News produce the .state ' s largest new.spaptir. Further Binmnghpm

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