Alabama Industrial Boom Essay

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The boom of mining iron ore, coal, and limestone and producing iron in north Alabama during the 1800s had a tremendous impact on Alabama’s economy of the time. It provided opportunity for the expansion of the railroad and work. Cities were born around this industrial boom. All of these things encouraged economic growth in Alabama during this time.
Alabama: A Documentary History to 1900 states “it is a truism that the Civil War altered the economic life of the south” (Griffith, Alabama: A Documentary History to 1900). Before the Civil War Alabama’s economy many depended on agriculture and a work force of slaves. A new south had been created that brought “free labor and greater diversification” (Griffith, Alabama: A Documentary History to 1900). …show more content…

This push of industry in Birmingham extended out into the surrounding areas which caused the appearance and growth of more towns like Bessemer, Gadsden, and Florence (Bergstresser). Duncan said “other industrial towns were born in the northern counties. The mining of coal increased over one thousand percent during this boom of industrial communities labeling it the “Iron Decade” …show more content…

"Iron and Steel Production in Birmingham." http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1638. 2008.
Brown, Helen Morgan Akens and Virginia Pounds. Alabama Mounds to Missiles. Huntsville, Al: The Strode Publishers, 1962.
Duncan, Julie Coley. Alabama. Portland, OR: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, 1983.
Fundaburk, Ema Lila. Parade of Alabama. Montgomery, AL: Paragon Press, 1959.
Griffith, Lucille. Alabama: A Documentary History to 1900. Tuscaloosa, Al: The University of Alabama Press, 1968.
—. History of Alabama 1540-1900. Northport, AL: Colonial Press, 1962.
Haagen, Victoria B. Alabama: Portrait of a State. Huntsville, Al: The Press of Birmingham Publishing Company, 1968.
Lee, J. Lawrence. "Alabama Railroads." http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-2390. 2009.
Lewis, W. David. "Birmingham Iron and Steel Companies." http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1111 . 2008.
White, Langdon. "The Iron and Steel Industry of the Birmingham, Alabama, District." Economic Geography (Vol. 4, No. 4 (Oct., 1928)): pp.

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