101-953: The Anti-Saloon League , now known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems , is an organization of the temperance movement in the United States . Founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio , it was a key component of the Progressive Era , and was strongest in the South and rural North , drawing support from Protestant ministers and their congregations, especially Methodists , Baptists , Disciples and Congregationalists . It concentrated on legislation, and cared about how legislators had voted, not whether they drank or not. Established initially as an Ohio state society, its influence spread rapidly. In 1895, it became
202-487: A "wild party" and gave away liquor confiscated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety. The Senate rejected the amendment because Forgrave had censured without a hearing. He resigned as superintendent on November 27, 1928, due to his impending divorce. Unable to cope with the failures of prohibition after 1928, especially bootlegging and organized crime as well as reduced government revenue,
303-680: A 5% market share of deposits in Birmingham are Regions Financial Corporation , PNC Financial Services , Servisfirst Bank, and Wells Fargo . Nearly a dozen smaller banks have been headquartered in the Magic City, such as Superior Bancorp and Cadence Bank . As of 2009, the finance & banking sector in Birmingham employed 1,870 financial managers, 1,530 loan officers, 680 securities commodities and financial services sales agents, 380 financial analysts, 310 financial examiners, 220 credit analysts, and 130 loan counselors. In 2012, Birmingham
404-480: A child; it was donated by Daniel Willis James and sculpted by Adolf Donndorf . In Washington DC "the" Temperance Fountain was donated to the city in 1882 by Temperance crusader Henry D. Cogswell . This fountain was one of a series of fountains he designed and commissioned in a belief that easy access to cool drinking water would keep people from consuming alcohol. Under its stone canopy the words "Faith," "Hope," "Charity," and "Temperance" are chiseled. Atop this canopy
505-572: A community with no alcoholic beverages permitted. In its second year of operation the institution enrolled 345 students from 20 states. However, it closed in 1908. Sickening and ill-tasting drinking water encouraged many Americans to drink alcohol for health purposes, so temperance groups constructed public drinking fountains throughout the United States following the Civil War. The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (NWCTU)'s organizing convention of 1874 strongly encouraged its attendees to erect
606-409: A daily mean temperature of 43.8 °F (6.6 °C). There are an average of 47 days annually with a low at or below freezing, and 1.4 days where the high does not surpass freezing. July has a daily mean temperature of 81.1 °F (27.3 °C). Highs reach or exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on 65 days per year and 100 °F (38 °C) on 2. Precipitation is relatively well-distributed throughout
707-526: A dry, saloonless nation, the League invented many of the modern techniques of public relations. The League lobbied at all levels of government for legislation to prohibit the manufacture or import of spirits, beer and wine. Ministers had launched several efforts to close Arizona saloons after the 1906 creation of League chapters in Yuma , Tucson , and Phoenix. A League organizer from New York arrived in 1909, but
808-641: A genre of theatre, fostered by the advent of the railroad as a form of transportation. This enabled theatre companies to be much more mobile, traveling from city to city. Temperance drama would even reach as far as the West Coast, as David Belasco's adaptation of Émile Zola 's novel Drink premiered at the Baldwin Theatre in San Francisco in 1879. Maine was an early hotbed of the temperance movement. The world's first Total Abstinence Society
909-412: A key role in the economy. Steel products manufacturers American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO) and McWane are based in the city. Several of the nation's largest steelmakers, including CMC Steel , U.S. Steel , and Nucor , also have a major presence in Birmingham. In recent years, local steel companies have announced about $ 100 million worth of investment in expansions and new plants in and around
1010-424: A major medical and research center. In 1971, Birmingham celebrated its centennial with a round of public-works improvements, including an upgrade of Vulcan Park and the construction of a major downtown convention center containing a 2,500-seat symphony hall, theater, 19,000-seat arena, and exhibition halls. Birmingham's banking institutions enjoyed considerable growth as well and new skyscrapers started to appear in
1111-643: A national organization and quickly rose to become the most powerful prohibition lobby in America, overshadowing the older Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party . Its triumph was nationwide prohibition locked into the Constitution with passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919. It was decisively defeated when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. However, the organization continued – albeit with multiple name changes – and as of 2016,
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#17327807386891212-588: A population of 196,910 down 2% from the 2020 census , making it Alabama's second-most populous city after Huntsville . The broader Birmingham metropolitan area had a 2020 population of 1,115,289, and is the largest metropolitan area in Alabama as well as the 47th-most populous in the US. Birmingham serves as an important regional hub and is associated with the Deep South , Piedmont , and Appalachian regions of
1313-796: A result those saloons lost their licenses. However, owners discovered that Shindelbower had perjured himself, and he was imprisoned. After the Arizona Gazette and other newspapers pictured Shindelbower as the innocent tool of the Anti-Saloon League, he was pardoned. At the state level, the League had mixed results, usually doing best in rural and Southern states. It made little headway in larger cities, or among liturgical church members such as Catholics, Jews, Episcopalians and German Lutherans. Pegram (1990) explains its success in Illinois under William Hamilton Anderson. From 1900 and 1905,
1414-718: A secondary severe weather season. Birmingham is located in the heart of a Tornado Alley known as the Dixie Alley due to the high frequency of tornadoes in Central Alabama. The greater Birmingham area has been hit by two F5 tornadoes; one in Birmingham's northern suburbs in 1977 , and second in the western suburbs in 1998 . The area was hit by an EF4 tornado which was part of a larger outbreak in April 2011 . In late summer and fall months, Birmingham experiences occasional tropical storms and hurricanes due to its proximity to
1515-470: A smaller ridge, flanks the city to the north and divides Jones Valley from much more rugged land to the north. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad (now CSX Transportation ) enters the valley through Boyles Gap, a prominent gap in the long low ridge. Ruffner Mountain , located due east of the heart of the city, is home to Ruffner Mountain Nature Center, one of the largest urban nature reserves in
1616-608: Is a life-sized heron , and the centerpiece is a pair of entwined heraldic scaly dolphins . Originally, visitors were supposed to freely drink ice water flowing from the dolphins' snouts with a brass cup attached to the fountain and the overflow was collected by a trough for horses , but the city tired of having to replenish the ice in a reservoir underneath the base and disconnected the supply pipes. Other Cogswell fountains include one still standing in New York City's Tompkins Square Park. Simon Benson , an Oregon lumberman,
1717-559: Is also a Unitarian Universalist church in the Birmingham area. The main campus of the Church of the Highlands is located in Birmingham. The church operates schools and churches across Alabama. From Birmingham's early days onward, the steel industry has always played a crucial role in the local economy. Though the steel industry no longer has the same prominence it once held in Birmingham, steel production and processing continue to play
1818-779: Is credited with developing. Howard Ball has written that the Ku Klux Klan and the Anti-Saloon league were both immensely powerful pressure groups in Birmingham, Alabama during the Post- World War I period. A local newspaper editor at the time wrote that "In Alabama, it is hard to tell where the Anti-Saloon League ends and the Klan begins". During the May 1928 primary in Alabama, the League joined with Klansmen and members of
1919-580: Is home to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Birmingham , covering 39 counties and comprising 75 parishes and missions as well as seven Catholic high schools and nineteen elementary schools; there are also two Eastern Catholic parishes in the Birmingham area. The Catholic television network EWTN is headquartered in metropolitan Birmingham. There are three Eastern Orthodox Churches in the Metro Area as well, Greek, Russian and American. There
2020-521: Is known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems. It remains active in lobbying to restrict alcohol advertising and promoting temperance. Its periodical is titled The American Issue . Member organizations of the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems include "state temperance organizations, national Christian denominations and other fraternal organizations that support ACAAP's philosophy of abstinence". The League
2121-431: Is now the area's largest employer and the second largest in Alabama with a workforce of about 18,750 as of 2011. Health care services providers HealthSouth , Surgical Care Affiliates and Diagnostic Health Corporation are headquartered in the city. Caremark Rx was also founded in the city. Birmingham is a leading banking center and is the location of the headquarters of Regions Financial Corporation . Banks with over
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#17327807386892222-509: The 2010 U.S. census : In the 2000 census , there were 242,820 people, 98,782 households, and 59,269 families living in Birmingham. The population density was 1,619.7 inhabitants per square mile (625.4/km ). There were 111,927 housing units at an average density of 746.6 per square mile (288.3/km ). The racial makeup of the city was 62.46% Black , 35.07% White , 0.17% Native American , 0.80% Asian , 0.04% Pacific Islander , 0.62% from other races , and 0.83% from two or more races . 1.55% of
2323-576: The Anti-Saloon League (ASL) in 1893. Under the leadership of Wayne Wheeler the ASL stressed political results and perfected the art of pressure politics . It did not demand that politicians change their drinking habits, only their votes in the legislature. Other organizations like the Prohibition Party and the WCTU soon lost influence to the better-organized and more focused ASL. The ASL's motto
2424-635: The Appalachian foothills – see Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians ) running from north-east to south-west. The valley is drained by small creeks (Village Creek, Valley Creek) which flow into the Black Warrior River . The valley was bisected by the principal railroad corridor, along which most of the early manufacturing operations began. Red Mountain lies immediately south of downtown. Many of Birmingham's television and radio broadcast towers are lined up along this prominent ridge. The "Over
2525-585: The COVID-19 pandemic . After the 2020 census, Birmingham lost its long-standing status as Alabama's largest city, with Huntsville overtaking Birmingham in total population, though Birmingham remains the state's largest metropolitan area. Birmingham hosted the 2022 World Games in July 2022. In September 2024 a mass shooting occurred in Birmingham, killing four people. Birmingham occupies Jones Valley, flanked by long parallel mountain ridges (the tailing ends of
2626-643: The Charleston Theatre in Charleston, South Carolina. The next significant temperance drama to debut was titled Fifteen Years of a Drunkard's Life , written by Douglas Jerrold in 1841. As the movement began to grow and prosper, these dramas became more popular among the general public. The Drunkard by W.H. Smith premiered in 1841 in Boston, running for 144 performances before being produced at Barnum's American Museum on lower Broadway . The play
2727-735: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 . While imprisoned for having taken part in a nonviolent protest, Dr. King wrote the now famous April 16 Letter from Birmingham Jail , a defining treatise in his cause against segregation. Birmingham is also known for the September 15 incident, in which four black girls were killed by a bomb planted at the 16th Street Baptist Church . The event would inspire the African-American poet Dudley Randall 's opus, " The Ballad of Birmingham ", as well as jazz musician John Coltrane 's song "Alabama". In 1998
2828-478: The Glenwood Inn (Hornellsville, New York) , that made a point of selling no alcohol so as to attract families. Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( / ˈ b ɜːr m ɪ ŋ h æ m / BUR -ming-ham ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama , United States. Birmingham is the county seat of Jefferson County , Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2023 census estimates, Birmingham had
2929-530: The Shelby County School System to form their own school systems. Some argue that the region suffers from having so many suburbs because companies can receive large incentives to move a short distance to another city, with no net gain in the area's economy. Birmingham suburbs (in order of population, 2020 US census): Birmingham has a humid subtropical climate , characterized by hot summers, mild winters, and abundant rainfall. January has
3030-524: The UK 's major industrial cities. Most of the original settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry . The city may have been planned as a place where cheap, non-unionized, and often African-American labor from rural Alabama could be employed in the city's steel mills and blast furnaces, giving it a competitive advantage over industrial cities in the Midwest and Northeast . From its founding through
3131-712: The Woman's Christian Temperance Union and International Organization of Good Templars continue their work today, while new "temperance enterprises found support in a variety of institutional venues" such as the Marin Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems and Center for Science in the Public Interest . These temperance organizations focus their efforts on "promoting increased taxation, reducing alcohol advertising , and monitoring of
Anti-Saloon League - Misplaced Pages Continue
3232-474: The 1850s, 13 states and territories passed statewide prohibitory laws (known as "Maine Laws"). Throughout this period, temperance reformers also tended to support Sunday laws that restricted the sale of alcohol on Sundays. The American Civil War dealt the movement a crippling blow. Temperance groups in the South were then weaker than their Northern counterparts and did not pass any statewide prohibition laws, and
3333-418: The 1950s and 1960s Birmingham received national and international attention as a center of the civil rights struggle for African-Americans. Locally the movement's activists were led by Fred Shuttlesworth , a fiery preacher who became legendary for his fearlessness in the face of violence, notably a string of racially motivated bombings that earned Birmingham the derisive nickname "Bombingham". A watershed in
3434-501: The American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems include "state temperance organizations, national Christian denominations and other fraternal organizations that support ACAAP's philosophy of abstinence". Temperance movement in the United States In the United States, the temperance movement , which sought to curb the consumption of alcohol , had a large influence on American politics and American society in
3535-641: The Birmingham Pledge, written by local attorney James Rotch, was introduced at the Martin Luther King Unity Breakfast. As a grassroots community commitment to combating racism and prejudice, it has since then been used for programs in all fifty states and in more than twenty countries. In the 1970s, urban-renewal efforts focused around the development of the University of Alabama at Birmingham , which developed into
3636-458: The Birmingham area and was felt in the neighboring states and as far as the Carolinas. The 2003 Alabama earthquake centered in northeastern Alabama (magnitude 4.6–4.9) was also felt in Birmingham, Atlanta, Tennessee , Kentucky , and both Carolina states. In the 2020 United States census , there were 200,733 people, 93,300 households, and 46,816 families living in Birmingham. According to
3737-557: The Birmingham area is no longer a major industry with the exception of coal mining. Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and is also one of the largest banking centers in the US. In addition, the Birmingham area serves as headquarters to two Fortune 500 companies: Regions Financial and Vulcan Materials Company , along with multiple other Fortune 1000 companies. In higher education , Birmingham has been
3838-639: The Central Gulf Coast. The record high temperature is 107 °F (42 °C), set on July 29, 1930. The record low is −10 °F (−23 °C), set on February 13, 1899 . The Birmingham area is not prone to frequent earthquakes; its historical activity level is 59% less than the US average. Earthquakes are generally minor and the Birmingham area can feel an earthquake from the Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone. The magnitude 5.1 Irondale earthquake in 1916 caused damage in
3939-570: The Democratic Party. In Maryland, as in the rest of the South, Pegram concludes, traditional religious, political, and racial concerns constrained reform movements even as they converted Southerners to the new national politics of federal intervention and interest-group competition. William M. Forgrave was superintendent of the Massachusetts Anti-Saloon League from 1923 to 1928. In his first year as leader,
4040-593: The Elyton Land Company whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the planned crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and 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
4141-663: The Human Body and Mind , which judged the excessive use of alcohol injurious to physical and psychological health. Influenced by Rush's Inquiry , about 200 farmers in a Connecticut community formed a temperance association in 1789 to ban the making of whiskey. Similar associations were formed in Virginia in 1800, and New York State in 1808. Over the next decade, other temperance organizations were formed in eight states, some being statewide organizations. The young movement allowed for temperate or moderate drinking. Many leaders of
Anti-Saloon League - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-584: The League failed to counter the repeal forces. Led by prominent Democrats, Franklin D. Roosevelt handily won the U.S. presidency election in 1932 on a wet platform. A new Constitutional amendment passed in 1933 to repeal the 18th Amendment, and the League lost much of its former influence afterwards. As of 2016, the organization is now known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems and remains active in lobbying to restrict alcohol advertising and promoting temperance. It additionally aims to reduce alcohol consumption by Americans. Member organizations of
4343-719: The League was less effective because its audience was already Republican. The League used a multitiered approach in its attempts to secure a dry (prohibition) nation through national legislation and congressional hearings, the Scientific Temperance Federation , and its American Issue Publishing Company . The League also used emotion based on patriotism, efficiency and anti- German sentiment in World War I. The activists saw themselves as preachers fulfilling their religious duty of eliminating liquor in America. As it tried to mobilize public opinion in favor of
4444-504: The League worked to obtain a local option referendum law and became an official church federation. Local Option was passed in 1907 and, by 1910, 40 of Illinois's 102 counties and 1,059 of the state's townships and precincts had become dry, including some Protestant areas around Chicago. Despite these successes, after the Prohibition amendment was ratified in 1919, social problems ignored by the League – such as organized crime – undermined
4545-589: The Mountain" area, including Shades Valley, Shades Mountain and beyond, was largely shielded from the industrial smoke and rough streets of the industrial city. This is the setting for Birmingham's more affluent suburbs of Mountain Brook , Vestavia Hills , Homewood , and Hoover . South of Shades Valley is the Cahaba River basin, one of the most diverse river ecosystems in the United States. Sand Mountain ,
4646-492: The Phoenix chapter was stymied by local-option elections, whereby local areas could decide whether to allow saloons. League members pressured local police to take licenses from establishments that violated closing hours or served women and minors, and they provided witnesses to testify about these violations. One witness was Frank Shindelbower, a juvenile from a poor family, who testified that several saloons had sold him liquor; as
4747-478: The United States and its possessions." However, Prohibition did not outlaw the private possession or consumption of alcohol products. Harvard Medical School professors Jack Harold Mendelson and Nancy K Mello write, with regard to temperance sentiment in contemporary America, that "rallying cries once structured in terms of social order, home and basic decency are now framed in terms of health promotion and disease prevention." Original temperance organizations such as
4848-817: The United States. The Southern Baptist Convention has 673 congregations and 336,000 members in the Birmingham Metro area. The United Methodists have 196 congregations and 66,759 members. The headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in America had been in Birmingham until the early 1980s; the PCA has more than 30 congregations and almost 15,000 members in the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan area with megachurches like Briarwood Presbyterian Church . The National Baptist Convention has 126 congregations and 69,800 members. The city
4949-442: The United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 151.9 square miles (393 km ), of which, 149.9 square miles (388 km ) is land and 2.0 square miles (5.2 km ) (1.34%) is water. Most of the metropolitan area lies outside of the city itself. In 2007, the metropolitan area was made up of 7 counties, 102 cities, and 21 school districts. Since then Alabaster and Pelham have broken away from
5050-482: The WCTU established a Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction in Schools and Colleges, with Mary Hunt as National Superintendent. The WCTU was an influential organization with a membership of 120,000 by 1879. Frances Willard led the group under the motto "Do Everything" to protect women and children. Some of the changes the WCTU sought included property and custody rights for women, women's suffrage, raising
5151-537: The Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). When an Alabama state senator proposed an anti-masking statute "to emasculate the order's ability to terrorize people", lobbying led by J. Bib Mills, the superintendent of the Alabama Anti-Saloon League, ensured that the bill failed. When it came to fighting “wet” candidates, especially candidates such as Al Smith in the presidential election of 1928,
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#17327807386895252-493: The age of consensual sex, peace arbitration, women's education, and advocacy for working rights of women. Because of the correlation between drinking and domestic violence—many drunken husbands abused family members—the temperance movement existed alongside various women's rights and other movements, including the Progressive movement, and often the same activists were involved in multiple movements. Many notable voices of
5353-540: 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
5454-557: The beverage industry", as well as the supporting of Sunday blue laws , which prohibit the sale of alcohol on Sundays. Temperance organizations of the United States played an essential role in bringing about ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution establishing national prohibition of alcohol . Some temperance organizations in the United States include: There
5555-419: The city center for the first time since the 1920s. These projects helped diversify the city's economy but did not prevent the exodus of many of the city's residents to nearby independent suburbs. In 1979, Birmingham elected Dr. Richard Arrington Jr. as its first African-American mayor. The population inside Birmingham's city limits has fallen over the past few decades, due in large part to " white flight " from
5656-529: The city of Birmingham proper to surrounding suburbs. The city's formerly most populous ethnic group, non-Hispanic white, has declined from 57.4 percent in 1970 to 21.1 percent in 2010. From its highest population of 340,887 in 1960, the population was down to 200,733 in 2020, a loss of about 41 percent. That same period saw a corresponding rise in the populations of the suburban communities of Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Alabaster, and Gardendale, none of which were incorporated as municipalities until after 1950. In 2006,
5757-467: The city's infrastructure and artistic legacy, including such key improvements as 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. Despite
5858-656: The city's visitors bureau selected "the diverse city" as a new tag line for the city. In 2011, the Highland Park neighborhood of Birmingham was named as a 2011 America's Great Place by the American Planning Association. In 2015, the International World Game Executive Committee selected Birmingham over Lima, Peru and Ufa, Russia , for the 2021 World Games, but the event was delayed a year due to
5959-439: The city. Vulcan Materials Company , a major provider of crushed stone, sand, and gravel used in construction, is based in Birmingham. In the 1970s and 1980s, Birmingham's economy was transformed by investments in bio-technology and medical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its adjacent hospital. The UAB Hospital is a Level I trauma center providing health care and breakthrough medical research. UAB
6060-1009: The civil rights movement occurred in 1963 when Shuttlesworth requested that Martin Luther King Jr. , and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which Shuttlesworth had co-founded, come to Birmingham, where King had once been a pastor, to help end segregation. Together they launched "Project C" (for "Confrontation"), a massive assault on the Jim Crow system . In April and May daily sit-ins and mass marches organized and led by movement leader James Bevel were met with police repression, tear gas , attack dogs, fire hoses, and arrests. More than 3,000 people were arrested during these protests, almost all of them high-school age children. These protests were ultimately successful, leading not only to desegregation of public accommodations in Birmingham but also
6161-616: The corner of "3rd and Burnside". The defeat of Mormon polygamy in 1890 left only one of the great moral causes of the 19th century unaddressed. The last wave of temperance in the United States saw the rise of the Anti-Saloon League (ASL), which successfully pushed for National Prohibition from its enactment in 1920 to its repeal in 1933. This heavily prohibitionist wave attracted a diverse coalition: doctors, pastors, and eugenicists; Klansmen and liberal internationalists; business leaders and labor radicals; conservative evangelicals and liberal theologians. Rev. Howard Hyde Russell founded
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#17327807386896262-422: The crack of dawn to the crack of dawn" began ingesting far more alcohol as they drank more of strong, cheap beverages like rum (in the colonial period) and whiskey (in the post-Revolutionary period). Popular pressure for cheap and plentiful alcohol led to relaxed ordinances on alcohol sales. The temperance movement was born with Benjamin Rush 's 1784 tract, An Inquiry Into the Effects of Ardent Spirits Upon
6363-437: The end of the 1960s, Birmingham was a primary industrial center of the South . The pace of Birmingham's growth during the period from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames The Magic City and The Pittsburgh of the South . Much like Pittsburgh , Birmingham's major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry, where rails and railroad cars were both manufactured in Birmingham. In
6464-428: The few prohibition laws in the North were repealed by the war's end. Both sides in the war made alcohol sales a part of the war effort by taxing brewers and distillers to finance much of the conflict. The issue of slavery crowded out temperance and temperance groups petered out until they found new life in the 1870s. Temperance birthed an entire genre of theatre. In 1825, a dramatic poem called The Forgers premiered at
6565-534: The field of railroading, the two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South were nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, beginning in the 1860s and continuing through to the present day. The economy diversified during the later half of the twentieth century. Though the manufacturing industry maintains a strong presence in Birmingham, other businesses and industries such as banking , telecommunications , transportation, electrical power transmission, medical care, college education , and insurance have risen in stature. Mining in
6666-422: The fountains in the places that they had come from. The NWCTU advocated public temperance fountains as a means to discourage males from entering drinking establishment for refreshment. Cast-stone statues of Hebe were marketed for use in temperance fountains. In Union Square Park (New York City) the James Fountain (1881), is a Temperance fountain with the figure of Charity who empties her jug of water, aided by
6767-581: The group rebranded as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems (ACAAP). As of 2020 the organization continues its " neo-prohibitionist agenda", with the addition of "other drugs" such as opioids. ACAAP is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. A museum about the Anti-Saloon League is at the Westerville Public Library . The League's most prominent leader was Wayne Wheeler , although both Ernest Cherrington and William E. "Pussyfoot" Johnson were also highly influential and powerful. The League used pressure politics in legislative politics, which it
6868-399: 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
6969-414: The largest soft-drink bottlers in the United States, each with more than $ 500 million in sales per year, are located in Birmingham. The Buffalo Rock Company , founded in 1901, was formerly a maker of just ginger ale , but now it is a major bottler for the Pepsi Cola Company . Coca-Cola Bottling Company United , founded in 1902, is the third-largest bottler of Coca-Cola products in the U.S. AT&T has
7070-424: The largest temperance organizations after the 1830s, and temperance eventually became synonymous with prohibition. In 1838, temperance activists pushed the Massachusetts legislature to pass a law restricting the sale of alcohol in quantities less than fifteen gallons. In the 1840s, numerous states passed laws allowing local voters to determine whether or not liquor licences would be issued in their towns or counties. In
7171-435: The location of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine (formerly the Medical College of Alabama) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry since 1947. In 1969 the University of Alabama at Birmingham was established, one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System . Birmingham is also home to two private institutions: Samford University and Miles College . Birmingham
7272-542: The most promising young men to leadership at the local and state levels. This organizational strategy reinvigorated the temperance movement . Publicity for the League was handled by Edward Young Clarke and Mary Elizabeth Tyler of the Southern Publicity Association . In 1909, the League moved its national headquarters from Washington to Westerville, Ohio , which had a reputation for supporting temperance. The American Issue Publishing House ,
7373-474: The movement expanded their activities and took positions on observance of the Sabbath and other moral issues, and by the early 1820s political in-fighting had stalled the movement. Some leaders persevered in pressing their cause forward. Americans such as Lyman Beecher , who was a Connecticut minister, had started to lecture his fellow citizens against all use of liquor in 1825. The American Temperance Society
7474-409: 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 outbreak of cholera and a Wall Street crash in 1873. However, it began to develop shortly afterward 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
7575-504: The nation. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post– Civil War Reconstruction period , through the merger of three pre-existing farm towns, notably, Elyton . It grew from there, annexing many more of its smaller neighbors, into an industrial and railroad transportation center with a focus on mining, the iron and steel industry , and railroading . Birmingham was named after Birmingham in Warwickshire , England , one of
7676-601: The nineteenth and twentieth centuries, culminating in the prohibition of alcohol , through the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , from 1920 to 1933. Today, there are organizations that continue to promote the cause of temperance. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, various factors contributed to an epidemic of alcoholism that went hand-in-hand with spousal abuse, family neglect, and chronic unemployment. Americans who used to drink lightly alcoholic beverages, like cider "from
7777-433: The population was under the age of 18, 11.1% was from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 31,898, and the median income for a family was $ 38,776. Males had a median income of $ 36,031 versus $ 30,367 for females. The city's per capita income
7878-437: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 98,782 households, out of which 27.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.1% were married couples living together, 24.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. In Birmingham, 25.0% of
7979-442: The precipitation that falls in the summer are from thunderstorms, most of which occur in the afternoon and evening hours. The spring and fall months are pleasant but variable as cold fronts frequently bring strong to severe thunderstorms and occasional tornadoes to the region. The fall season (primarily October) features less rainfall and fewer storms, as well as lower humidity than the spring, but November and early December represent
8080-415: The prohibitionist Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU, f. 1874) and the voluntarist Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America (CTAU, f. 1872). Prohibitionist temperance grew popular in the South as it embraced the "Southern" values of racial hierarchy , gender roles , and honor. The national movement enlisted more religious support throughout the country, especially from evangelicals . In 1873,
8181-501: The public influence of the single-issue pressure group, and it faded in importance. Pegram (1997) uses the League's failure in Maryland to explore the relationship between Southern Progressivism and national progressivism. William H. Anderson was the League's Maryland leader from 1907 to 1914, but he was unable to adapt to local conditions, such as the large German element. The League failed to ally with local political bosses and attacked
8282-641: The publishing arm of the League, was also in Westerville. Ernest Cherrington headed the company. It printed so many leaflets – over 40 tons of mail per month – that Westerville was the smallest town to have a first class post office. From 1948 until 1950 the group was named the Temperance League, from 1950 to 1964 the National Temperance League, and from 1964 to 2015 the American Council on Alcohol Problems (ACAP); in 2016
8383-405: The railroad crossing was notable for the nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity. From the start the new city was planned as a great center of industry. The founders, organized as the Elyton Land Company, borrowed
8484-554: The reform movement, which threatened to ruin their livelihoods, and also feared women having the vote, because they expected women to vote for prohibition. Energized by the anti-German sentiment during World War I, the ASL achieved its main goal of passage on December 18, 1917—the 18th Amendment . Upon ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures by January 16, 1919, established National Prohibition. The Amendment took effect on January 16, 1920. Prohibition banned "the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in
8585-497: 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. In
8686-552: The statewide referendum on the state's liquor enforcement code was passed by a majority of 8,000 votes. The same referendum had been defeated by 103,000 votes two years earlier. In 1928, the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 97 to 93 to censure him and strip him of his right to act as a legislative agent after he made unsubstantiated allegations the Massachusetts General Court held
8787-433: 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
8888-412: The time, ranging from Lucy Webb Hayes to Susan B. Anthony , were active in temperance. In Canada , Nellie McClung was a longstanding advocate of temperance. As with most social movements, there was a gamut of activists running from violent ( Carrie Nation ) to mild ( Neal S. Dow ). The American Temperance University opened in 1893 in the planned town of Harriman, Tennessee , which was developed as
8989-457: 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 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
9090-493: The year, sometimes falling in the form of snow during winter. 10.3 inches (26.2 cm) fell on March 13, 1993, during the 1993 Storm of the Century , which established the highest daily snowfall, one-storm, and winter season total on record. Normal snowfall for 1981–2010 was 1.6 in (4.1 cm). For the same period, the median monthly snowfall for each month was zero. The summer months are hot, with high humidity. Most of
9191-712: Was "the Church in action against the saloon," and it mobilized its religious coalition to pass state (and local) legislation (establishing dry states and dry counties ). By the late nineteenth century, most Protestant denominations and the American wing of the Catholic Church supported the movement to legally restrict the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. These groups believed that alcohol consumption led to corruption , prostitution , spousal abuse , and other criminal activities. Brewers and distillers resisted
9292-445: Was $ 19,962. About 22.5% of families and 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.9% of those under the age of 18 and 18.3% of those age 65 or over. The Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies published data showing that in 2010, among metro areas with a greater than one million population, Birmingham had the second highest ratio of Christians, and the greatest ratio of Protestant adherents, in
9393-475: Was a tee-totaler who wanted to discourage his workers from drinking alcohol in the middle of the day. In 1912, Benson gave the City of Portland USD$ 10,000 for the installation of twenty bronze drinking fountains. As of May 2012, these fountains, known as "Benson Bubblers" , continue to be used as functional public drinking devices in downtown Portland; two Portland "Benson Bubbler" locations are Eastbank Esplanade and
9494-476: Was also home to Birmingham-Southern College , before its closure in 2024. Between these colleges and universities, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy, law, engineering, and nursing. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southeastern Conference , one of the major U.S. collegiate athletic conferences. Birmingham was founded on June 1, 1871, by
9595-533: Was formed in Portland in 1815, and a statewide temperance group formed in 1834. These groups won a major victory in 1838 when they pressured the state legislature to pass the Fifteen Gallon Law , which prohibited the sale of spirits in quantities of less than that amount. Its practical effect was to make hard liquor available to the wealthy, who were the only ones who could afford such quantities. It
9696-624: Was formed in 1826 and benefited from a renewed interest in religion and morality. Within 12 years it claimed more than 8,000 local groups and over 1,250,000 members. By 1839, 18 temperance journals were being published. Simultaneously, some Protestant and Catholic church leaders were beginning to promote temperance. The movement split along two lines in the late 1830s: between moderates allowing some drinking and radicals demanding total abstinence, and between voluntarists relying on moral suasion alone and prohibitionists promoting laws to restrict or ban alcohol. Radicals and prohibitionists dominated many of
9797-481: Was often considerable overlap in membership in these organizations, as well as in leadership. Prominent temperance leaders in the United States included Bishop James Cannon, Jr. , James Black , Ernest Cherrington , Neal S. Dow , Mary Hunt , William E. Johnson (known as "Pussyfoot" Johnson), Carrie Nation , Howard Hyde Russell , John St. John , Billy Sunday , Father Mathew , Andrew Volstead and Wayne Wheeler . There were also commercial establishments, such as
9898-535: Was repealed within two years. However, in 1851 the so-called Maine law passed, which banned the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. Thus Maine became the first "dry" state. However, the law's exception for "medicinal, mechanical and manufacturing purposes" meant that liquor was still available for some. As Reconstruction came to a close in the 1870s, many white reformers grew uninterested in racial equality and invested more energy into temperance. This period produced various temperance organizations including
9999-606: Was the 9th largest banking hub in the United States by the amount of locally headquartered deposits. In 2014, Birmingham was the 10th largest banking center. Birmingham is a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies, including BE&K , Brasfield & Gorrie , Robins & Morton , and B.L. Harbert International which routinely are included in the Engineering News-Record lists of top design and international construction firms. Two of
10100-408: Was the first modern pressure group in the United States organized around one issue. Unlike earlier popular movements, it utilized bureaucratic methods learned from business to build a strong organization. The League's founder and first leader, Howard Hyde Russell (1855–1946), believed that the best leadership was selected, not elected. Russell built from the bottom up, shaping local leagues and raising
10201-449: Was wildly popular and is often credited with the entrance of the temperance narrative into mainstream American theatre. It continued to be a staple of New York's theatre scene all the way until 1875. The Drunkard follows the typical format of a temperance drama: the main character has an alcohol-induced downfall, and he restores his life from disarray once he denounces drinking for good at the play's end. Temperance drama continued to grow as
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