Date of Award
1953
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
First Advisor
Dudley T. Cornish
Keywords
Industries, Industrial Growth, History, Alabama -- Birmingham
Abstract
It has been the purpose of this thesis to show how the industrial growth of Birmingham, Alabama, transformed this area from an agrarian society to an industrial center of world-wide importance. Until July 1, 1871, the city of Birmingham had only small beginnings east of Elyton. At that time, "King Cotton" was the chief product in the southland and of the Birmingham District. Beginning in 1871, there was a movement for the development of the mineral resources of the South. The coal, iron, and limestone that had lain untouched for ages were brought to the surface and finally recognized as part of the wealth of the South. The great city of Birmingham with its 560,000 people has grown up where nothing existed before; a tiny settlement has become a modern metropolis supported by steel and coal.
The growth of industries in the Birmingham district has been through a series of progressions, retrogressions, and consolidations. Since the foundation of a city depends in large part upon financial stability, it was long easy for Wall Street Northern financiers to shake Birmingham's very foundations. Out of these unpromising conditions, through depression, epidemic, and slow technological improvements, the city steadily developed. In the brief history of Birmingham from 1871 to 1899, the city had three financial depressions, in 1873, 1884 and 1893; each time a better city grew up and the industries expanded greatly.
Some of the men dreamed of building a steel city in the Birmingham area were Henry F. DeBardeleben, Colonel James Powell, Willis J. Milner, Josiah Morris, Colonel Daniel S. Troy, Samuel Tate, and a host of others who formed the "Old Guard." Before the end of the nineteenth century, there were many more financiers who helped to put Birmingham on a firmer foundation: G. B. McCormack, Erskine Ramsay, Knox Conville, Milton Fies, and many more.
The companies that played a major role in the industrial development of Birmingham are: The Woodward Iron Company, the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company and the ever expanding Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. These same companies are today playing the same prominent role in the pig iron, steel and coal production.
As a result of the early growth narrated in this thesis, the pig iron and steel products of the Birmingham District are today shipped to all parts of the world and the new South continues to receive its full share of needed steel for present and future development.
Recommended Citation
Dunn, William LeRoy, "The Industrial Growth of Birmingham, Alabama From 1871 to 1899" (1953). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 500.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/500
Comments
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