The rapid transformation of farmland into the city of BIRMINGHAM began in 1870, when two railroad routes met in the Jones Valley, a hundred miles south of Huntsville. What attracted speculators was not the scenery, but what lay under it – a mixture of iron ore, limestone and coal, perfect for the manufacture of iron and steel. The expansion of heavy industry was finally brought to an abrupt halt by the Depression. Today iron and steel production account for only a few thousand jobs, but new service and medical industries have helped transform this once smog-filled metropolis into a prosperous and pleasant city.

Being known as the "Pittsburgh of the South" might seem like faint praise; however, Birmingham also earned the label of the "Johannesburg of America" for the brutality and intolerance of its police force. An intense civil rights campaign in 1963 was the turning point, setting Birmingham on the road to smoother race relations. Since 1979, under five-term black mayor Richard Arrington, the city has slowly but surely turned itself around, and the 1990s in particular saw a growing self-confidence in Birmingham's potential to be the "next Atlanta." Nonetheless, even a short stroll around downtown leaves the rather depressing impression that a lot remains to be done.

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