Birmingham and the Inevitable Two Hour Road Trip

Last Updated on January 29, 2024 by Ranchers

Although Birmingham may be Alabama’s third largest city, it boasts a population of just under 200,000. To be fair, the two most populous cities, Huntsville and Montgomery have populations under 250,000 so by Alabama standards, Huntsville is a booming metropolis. By comparison Boston has a population nearly the size of these three cities combined and it has always been our standard for for the quintessential small city. Consequently, Birmingham has more of a neighborhood feel than an urban center to us. Despite its diminutive size, there was plenty to see and do.

A Very Brief History and the Steel Industry

Birmingham was founded in the Jones Valley following the post-Civil War Reconstruction period by the Elyton Land company. They specifically chose the name Birmingham to emulate one of the great industrial centers of the UK, and not coincidentally where many of the settlers originated. In the mid 1800’s the valley was discovered to contain limestone, coal, and iron ore, the three essential raw materials for the steel industry. So much so, the area was often referred to as the Pittsburgh of the South and I’m assuming that was supposed to be complimentary. For the next forty years, the area witnessed incredible growth and was the undeniable industrial center of the South. By 1911, the community of Elyton and several smaller towns in the Jones valley merged into Birmingham continuing its industrial dominance all the way into the 1960’s.

However, the period from 1870’s until the 1920’s are what gave the city the nickname “The Magic City” partly due to its explosive growth in population due to ever expanding employment opportunities stemming from the steel industry. It turns out Birmingham is one of the few places in the world limestone, coal, and iron ore exist in close proximity to one another and the board of the Elyton Land Company was more than happy to exploit their good fortune with some savvy investing and even better marketing. The nickname Magic City for one, but also between 1902 and 1912 four skyscrapers were constructed at the intersection of 20th Street and 1st Avenue North, earning the intersection the nickname “The Heaviest Corner on Earth”, providing visual evidence of the success and power of Birmingham.

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark

Taken from the Sloss Furnaces website, in the 1880’s, the steel industry was so successful, pig iron production in Alabama grew from 68,995 to 706,629 gross tons annually and at least nineteen blast furnaces would be built in Jefferson County alone. Sloss Furnaces were one of the true powerhouses of the Birmingham industrial complex and by 1888, they were hauling an annual tonnage of iron, coal, and other mineral products outweighing the nation’s entire cotton crop. They were also producing this tonnage at about 60 percent of the cost of their Northern competitors.

A Quick Note on Pig Iron
Pig iron was traditionally filtered through sand troughs on the floor of the smelting plant. The way the grid was laid out on the floor looked like pigs suckling from their mother to the workers, hence the term pig iron.
Iron ore and coke (coal) are the principle ingredients for making pig iron, with limestone used as a flux. Flux is simply an ingredient introduced into the smelting process to remove impurities.
Pig iron is not very useful on it’s own because it is quite brittle. For that reason, it is also commonly known as crude iron because it serves as the intermediate step from the raw materials to the finished steel product.

Nearly 100 years after it began construction, Sloss Furnaces were declared a National Historic Landmark in 1981 and officially opened for tourists in September, 1983. The location was one of the first industrial sites and remains the only blast furnace in the country to have been restored and preserved for public use. It is important to note the site was fully operational for the better part of 75 years with numerous advances in technology and operations. As a result, although the plant began life in the late 1800’s, what you will see are remnants from 1902 forward.

There is a self guided tour you can download to your phone and it is perfect to describe what you are seeing as you walk through the plant. If you are less of a DIY type, there are also guided tours offered daily, but for this site, we preferred to take things at our own pace.
I entered into a completely alien world (that being the land of physical labor) and marveled simultaneously at the engineering and of the backbreaking labor that must have been required to keep the plant running. There is nothing ergonomic or aesthetic about the furnaces – they serve one purpose – to produce pig iron in the most efficient way possible. It also occurred to me there was literally not one item, as I was standing there in the midst of this huge operation, that I could glean its purpose or how to make it work. Humbling and all the more fascinating for it.

One of the things that really caught my interest were the Ingersoll-Rand turbo blowers. They are alleged to be the only two remaining in the US, but it wasn’t so much their rarity as it was the fact that they take up a room that is about 40×20. Why is that relevant, you ask? Well, after you pass through that room, you enter the original engine blowing building, the predecessor to the Ingesoll-Rand’s. In it are eight flywheel piston blowers. Each of the blowers has a twenty foot wheel driven by a steam powered thirty foot piston. This room is larger than a football field and about sixty feet high. An absolutely remarkable advancement in technology in less than 10 years.

Along the way, there is also a wealth of information regarding working conditions in general as well as some uncomfortable facts about race relations during the period.

On a less serious note, there is also the comical situation of 1st Street and the importance of the industry to Birmingham. Or perhaps it was just 19th Century thinking. Either way, it made me laugh. 1st Street runs directly adjacent to the slag pits of Sloss Furnace. Slag is the waste produced from the pig iron process. It is basically molten lava drained from the furnace every few hours. Occasionally, the slag would overflow the slag pits and spill out onto 1st street, causing damage and blocking traffic. Rather than have Sloss Furnace figure out a better way to contain their slag, the city of Birmingham decided it would be better to elevate 1st Street around the furnace.

The site also has a very large Visitors Center with a ton of artifacts and information relating to the importance of the steel industry to Birmingham. I would recommend allowing yourself at least two to three hours to fully explore the facility and take advantage of the visitors center.

Vulcan Park and Museum

You don’t need to make a trip to Vulcan Park a full day affair, but it is a Birmingham highlight that should not be overlooked and has at least an ancillary relation to the steel industry. Maybe more entertaining oddity than highlight. Either way. Standing at the very top of Red Mountain atop a 124 foot pedestal is a 56 foot tall iron statue of Vulcan, god of the forge. It is the largest cast iron statue in the world and the largest metal statue ever made in the United States.
So is a large iron statue enough to make the drive? Probably not without context. So let’s delve into the history and lore of the big guy. The 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis found Birmingham basking in the glory of their successes and prompted civic leaders to submit an entry to the fair that would embody the spirit of the city. Who better to rise to the challenge of designing an entry for a southern city named after an English industrial juggernaut than some Italian guy from New Jersey? No matter, the sculptor was selected, but at least the model was cast from ore from Sloss Furnaces.
They lug this 51 ton, 56 foot tall behemoth to the World’s Fair and it is so popular San Francisco offers to buy it. Allegedly they want it to form a sort of bookend with the Statue of Liberty. Birmingham said said no thanks and promptly hauled him back home with the intent of placing it in the very tony Capitol Park neighborhood. One small problem, Vulcan’s bare naked ass offends the sensibilities of the city elite and instead he lays along the railroad tracks in pieces for a year and a half.
Eventually he is relegated to the county fairgrounds in relative obsolescence. Adding insult to injury, the city paints a pair of blue coveralls on him and replaces the spear in his outstretched hand with an ice cream cone, soda can, or jar of pickles depending on when you saw him. In other words, Vulcan was reduced to a giant version of the Big Boy restaurant mascot.
Thirty four years later, he was finally promoted from mascot back to his standing as god of the forge and moved to Red Mountain but he had not yet endured the last of his indignities. In 1946 his spear hand was yet again replaced with a “safety torch” that turned red whenever there was a traffic fatality in Birmingham. In 1964 lights were added to the side of Vulcan’s tower and glowed red whenever someone in contracted TB. Happy days.
In 1999, Vulcan underwent a 5 year renovation to both the statue and the tower to repair years of neglect and abuse. In 2004 a fully renovated Vulcan was returned to hid former glory overlooking a beautifully landscaped Red Mountain park.
Even better, the good people of Birmingham have learned to embrace Vulcan’s magnificent hiney and the gift shop has a wealth of butt memorabilia, my personal favorite being the “bobble buns” figurine.
And that is why you should visit Vulcan Park and Museum.

The Steel Industry and Baseball

The steel industry also helped bring semi-pro baseball to Birmingham. Designed to provide a distraction from the daily grind and increase company loyalty, the industrial leagues were comprised of iron and steel companies. Among the many industrial leagues in rural Alabama, Birmingham held the most competitive games with most games being played at Sloss Field. At this time, teams were still segregated by race, but the games were attended as a multi-cultural affair with attendance commonly over 10,000.
Rickwood Field was built in 1910 specifically for housing Birmingham Barons professional baseball. It is the oldest operating professional ballpark in the US. After several stops and starts of various leagues, the Birmingham Black Barons entered the inaugural season of the Negro Southern League in 1920 with a team composed primarily from industrial league players. The talent drain from the industrial leagues as a feeder into the Negro Leagues eventually contributed to the collapse of the industrial leagues, although some steel mills have converted to softball and still carry on the tradition today.

Negro Southern League Museum

Just a few blocks off of the UAB Campus and adjacent to Regions Field, the museum is a treasure for any baseball fan. Game worn uniforms, bats, and gloves from some of the most influential players from the Negro Leagues are on full display. The history of the game is seamlessly woven into the events of the times to engage visitors on the impact of the Negro Leagues on Birmingham, professional baseball, and society at large. It’s really well done and worth an hour or two of your time. Better yet, admission is donation requested.

When you’re finished, take a quick half mile walk over to the iconic Ted’s restaurant. The vibe couldn’t be better with an authentic 1950’s style decor that appears to be refurbished regularly to keep looking brand new. We walked into the looking glass to find a cafeteria style counter without a price to be found anywhere. There were a few meats, several boiled vegetables, and a collection of dessert. For a minute I thought I was Ritchie Cunningham. We got in line and dutifully pointed out our food items to the grumpy looking but not rude man behind the counter and finished with “You want bread? What kind?” I didn’t see bread anywhere, but I said sure, and two pieces of white bread magically appeared on my plate. Getting to the end of line and not seeing a cash register in sight, we did what the rest of the patrons did and grabbed a seat. Moments later a waitress appeared to take our drink order which was a good thing given there was no information on how to get one otherwise. We finished up our stick-to-your-ribs meal and let the waitress know we would like the check. She told us to pay at the register I swear did not exist until that moment. I walked up and the woman at the cash register immediately gave me a total. I have absolutely no idea how she knew how much to charge or even if it was correct, but the price was reasonable so we paid and promptly bought some swag to commemorate our visit. Maybe that’s how it’s done in Birmingham, or maybe that’s how it was done in the 50’s, I don’t know.

A Legacy of Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement

Despite its successes, the history of Birmingham comes with the obvious and undeniable impact of slavery followed by chronic underpayment of African-Americans and other immigrants. Regardless of the conditions, the economic opportunities presented by the steel mills brought African-Americans to Birmingham in droves. Fully 70 percent of Birmingham’s population in the early 1920’s was African-American, with nearly 100% of all high paying, managerial, and government jobs still held by whites.
Birmingham, among other cities in the South also practiced a highly controversial Convict Leasing System for nearly 50 years following the Civil War. Under this system, companies or individuals could pay the State and local governments a fee to hire inmates for labor. What could possibly go wrong?

Perhaps for this reason more so than any other, with the lines so starkly drawn between black and white, Birmingham became the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement. Begun by Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth, eventually engaging the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, the 1950’s and ’60’s, ushered in a period of  sit-ins and mass marches only to be met with police repression, tear gas, attack dogs, and fire hoses. During this time, over 3,000 arrests were made, mostly of high school age children.
Already mockingly known as ‘Bombingham’, two defining moments were instrumental in ending school segregation and ultimately enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The first is Dr. King’s famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, written while incarcerated for non-violent protest, and the second, a bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, claiming the lives of four young girls and wounded 20 others .

Civil Rights District

The Civil Rights District is comprised of six city blocks framed by 5th and 7th streets and 15th and 18th streets. At one point in time, the area was known as ‘Little Harlem’ and was home to African-American owned retail shops, attorneys, doctors, hotels, and much more. The buildings were designed by black architects and built by black construction companies.
Ironically, in my opinion, the success of the civil rights movement desegregated the area, allowing blacks to pursue a larger white audience while white business owners moved in and commonly continued to cater to white customers. Desegregation undeniably brought economic opportunity to the individual, but the resultant unintended consequence was a rapid dilution of African-American buying power and the sharp decline of the district, but I am admittedly not a sociologist.
Nearly centered on the district is the historic 16th Street Baptist Church, the first black church and civil rights headquarters as well as the site of the infamous bombing of Sunday, September 15, 1963, at 10:22 a.m. The church is open for tours Tuesday-Saturday, 10AM-3PM. We did not have the opportunity to take advantage of this tour.

The district is also now home to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute which is part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. I have to confess I was fully prepared for the Institute to demonstrate the civil rights movement through todays lens of social justice, but I did not find it to be the case. Certainly, the story is not joyous or lighthearted, but the institute relied on sharing history through the lens of factual information rather than emotional manipulation. It’s ugly and hurtful, but there is also triumph and immeasurable success. The institute takes you through time as you work your way through the building with a variety of permanent exhibits, temporary exhibits, and a selection of special exhibits.

The Barriers Gallery was particularly interesting to me in the amount of effort whites put forth to maintain segregated spaces despite the fact that it was obviously inefficient, ineffective, and likely a significant revenue drain. It all seems so frivolous now, it’s hard for me to get into the head of anyone who thought it was a good idea at the time. I also appreciated the portion of the museum dedicated to the lunatic George Wallace. If you want to know what real racism looks like, spend 30 seconds looking up this guy.
The 4th Avenue business district is largely non-existent at this point, but the Gaston Motel remains. It was built and operated by entrepreneur Arthur Gaston to provide first class accommodations to African-American travelers to Birmingham. For two months in 1963, MLK and associates gathered in the “War Room”, Room 30, to strategize the civil rights movement. It is a quintessential 50’s structure and it has been completed remodeled to recreate the motel as it looked during the 1963 campaign. It is currently open for tours 10am – 4pm, Thursday – Saturday.

The Carver Theater is another remaining historical structure, now converted to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
The highlight of the district for me is Kelly Ingram Park. It served as the staging area for many of the large scale demonstrations during the civil rights movement and today holds a wealth of statues dedicated to preserving the history of that time. There is naturally a sculpture of Dr. King central to the park and a similar statue of Pastor Fred Shuttlesworth faces the park from across the street.

The Inevitable Two Hour Road Trip

During our time exploring Birmingham, we also did some research on other cultural or historic points of interest in and around the area. It was at this moment we realized Birmingham lies in the middle of a diamond with Huntsville to the North, Atlanta to the East, Montgomery to the South and Tupelo, Mississippi to the West. At the risk of offending any Alabamians, Tuscaloosa is also to the west, but it messes up my nice little geographical description. It is roughly two hours between any of these points and unless you have family in the area, there is little reason for stopping along the way. Consequently, while there were numerous items of interest making our ‘To Visit’ list, inevitably we needed to mentally prepare ourselves for a two hour jaunt through the hinterlands of Alabama to get there. Despite the distance, we found each of our day trips were easily worth the added time in the car.

Day Trip – Fort Payne and Little River Canyon National Preserve

Nestled in the Appalachian Mountains in northeast Alabama lies the Sock Capital of the World. Fort Payne has a small downtown complete with cafe’s, curio shops, and restaurants. It also serves as the gateway to the Little River Canyon Preserve. The preserve sits on top of Lookout Mountain protecting the country’s longest mountain waterway, the Little River. It makes for a spectacular drive by motorcycle and offers some hiking and excellent water activities.

Day Trip – Northwest Alabama

Northwest Alabama is home to an eclectic mix of places that drew our attention. A famous historical figure, Hellen Keller; an iconic architectural design, Rosenbaum House by Frank Lloyd Wright; and two music studio temples, all within 20 minutes of each other. Throw in a Christian pilgrimage an hour away and you have the makings of a fantastic day trip.

Day Trip – Tupelo, MS and Natchez Trace Parkway

The birthplace of the King, Elvis Presley. Really, what more is necessary to visit Tupelo? If that isn’t enough to grab your attention, the Natchez Trace Parkway, 444 miles of gloriously scenic drive, has its headquarters in Tupelo.