The Birmingham District refers to a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama where the raw materials for making steel, limestone, iron ore, and coal are found together in abundance. The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and the Warrior and Cahaba coal fields in Central Alabama. Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history, and the processes that shape it. ... Birmingham is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Jefferson County. ... The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon being the primary alloying material. ... Limestone (CaCO3) is a sedimentary rock composed of the mineral calcite (calcium carbonate). ... This heap of iron ore pellets will be used in steel production. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by deep mining, coal mining (open-pit mining or strip mining). ... Red Mountain is a long ridge running southwest-northeast and dividing Jones Valley from Shades Valley south of Birmingham, Alabama,United States. ... Central Alabama is the region in the state of Alabama that stretches approximately 170 miles from the western border with Mississippi to eastern border with Georgia and 136 miles from the northern border of Cullman County to the Alabama River in southern Autauga County. ...

The industrial development of these resources began, in limited fashion, before the American Civil War (attracting the attention of Wilson's Raiders in the course of that conflict). The American Civil War (1861–1865) was fought in North America within the United States of America, between twenty-three mostly northern states of the Union and the Confederate States of America, a coalition of eleven southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the...

Beginning in 1871 with the founding of the City of Birmingham and the construction of the first blast furnaces, the development of the district enjoyed explosive growth, slowed only by a deficit of skilled labor and investment capital. This boom earned for Birmingham the nickname "The Magic City" and also spurred the growth of several independent industrial cities and dozens of company towns. 1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A blast furnace is a type of furnace for smelting whereby the combustion material and ore are supplied with air from the bottom of the chamber such that the chemical reaction does not take place only at the surface. ... A company town is a town or city in which most or all real estate, buildings (both residential and commercial), utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company. ...

As the steel-making industry has diminished in its economic importance to the district, many of the sites have been abandoned or dismantled. Preservationists are attempting to document and preserve the physical evidence of Birmingham's industrial history. In the spring of 1993 a large-scale survey was undertaken for the Birmingham Historical Society and the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record. The results of that survey were published in the book Birmingham Bound. Industrial archaeology concerns itself with the physical remains of industry. ... i dont like this page. ... The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is an office of the National Park Service. ... The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) is an office of the National Park Service. ...

References

• Armes, Ethel (1910). The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. ISBN 0912221038.
• Lewis, W. David (1994). Sloss Furnaces and the Rise of the Birmingham District: An Industrial Epic, Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Univ. of Alabama Press. ISBN 0817307087.
• Morris, Philip & Marjorie Longenecker White (1997). Birmingham Bound, An Atlas of the South's Premier Industrial Region, Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Historical Society. ISBN 0943994225.
• White, Marjorie Longenecker (1981). The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide, Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Historical Society. ISBN 9990230099.