Date of Award
Spring 2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA) in History
Department
History & Foreign Language
Committee Chair
Paul Beezley
Abstract
This paper examines the founding and development of the city of Birmingham, Alabama, focusing on the establishment and growth of its earliest, most vital infrastructure: railroads and waterworks. Early chapters explain how and why the city came to be carved from the wilderness, while later chapters describe how railroads and waterworks facilities made it possible for a set of frontier farms and villages- isolated, with no nearby river- to rapidly grow into a booming industrial metropolis. Analyzing the actions of Birmingham’s founder- the Elyton Land Company- and those of its subsidiaries- the Birmingham Water Works Company and the Highland Avenue and Belt Railroad Company- establishes that all three companies had dramatic positive effects on the city’s growth and prosperity, while being motivated by profit as well as the public good.