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Jefferson County
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A County Older Than the State–Jefferson County
Created by Alabama Territorial Legislature in 1819 from land of Creek Indian Nation ceded in 1814 by Treaty of Ft. Jackson. Named for Thomas Jefferson 1743-1828 author of Declaration of Independence founder of University of Virginia third President of the United States. Settled by soldiers who fought in Alabama with Andrew Jackson in Creek War, 1813-14. County seat at Elyton, 1821 to 1871: at Birmingham since 1871.
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The Birmingham Public Library
Birmingham’s first library was organized in 1886 and in 1891 became a subscription library for the general public. In 1908 the Birmingham Public Library Association established a free public library, and the City created an independent Library Board in 1913. For decades the library was housed in various locations including the old City Hall where it was destroyed by fire in 1925. Libraries throughout the U.S. sent books and local citizens contributed for a new building. It opened April 11, 1927, was peacefully desegregated in 1963, served as the main library until 1984, and was renovated and reopened in 1985 as the Linn-Henley Research Library.
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The Linn-Henley Research Library
This four-story Neo-Classical structure, designed by architects Miller, Martin, & Lewis, was built of Indiana limestone in 1927. A model facility when completed, the library served as a cornerstone of Birmingham’s cultural and educational development. The building was renovated in 1984 by architects Kidd, Plosser, & Sprague and renamed the Linn-Henley Research Library. Special collections housed here include extensive southern history resources, maps, and the city’s first municipal archives. Significant interior features include murals and decorative ceilings painted and installed in the 1920s by nationally known artist Ezra Winter.
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Birmingham-Southern College
Created in 1918 on this site by merger of two colleges; Southern University a Methodist college founded in 1856 at Greensboro. Birmingham College founded by Methodists as N. Alabama Conference College on this site in 1898.
