Recent meeting of the Jefferson County Historical Association
The Jefferson County Historical Association is dedicated to preserving and publicizing local history through regular meetings, publications and events. Founded in 1975 to promote historical preservation efforts, the society has grown to over 300 members.
It meets four times a year to hear outstanding speakers, plan programs and projects and discuss items of mutual interest. The society is governed by a 16-member board of directors chaired by the JCHA president. Several committees are at work on projects including media outreach, publications, awards and historical markers.
The JCHA newsletter is mailed to members and is also available on this site.
Formerly known as the Birmingham-Jefferson Historical Society, the organization changed its name in 2010 to better reflect its mission to the metropolitan area.
Josiah Morris–an early founder of Birmingham
Jefferson County, founded in 1819 and named for the fourth U.S. president Thomas Jefferson, grew rapidly in the early 1880s to become the largest county in Alabama. It is the location of 35 municipalities including Birmingham, Alabama’s largest city.
While the original immigrants, mostly veterans from the War of 1812, had agricultural pursuits in mind their attention quickly shifted to the area’s immense mineral wealth which gave rise to the iron and steel industry. By 1910, Alabama, largely because of the mines and mills in and around Birmingham, ranked third in the nation in iron ore mining and fourth in pig iron production. It also became a major steel producer.
Southern Railway train "Sunnyland" leaving Birmingham, 1948
Today, Birmingham, founded six years after the Civil War ended, is the South’s leading industrial center.
Since 1992, the JCHA has erected 20 historical markers throughout Jefferson County, the most of any local historical society. The 30" x 42" cast aluminum markers cost about $2,200 each with funding coming from interested parties.
Tom West, chairman of the Marker Committee and the innovator of the program, refers to the signs as "a history book on a pole." Persons wishing to suggest a subject and location for a historical marker should contact Mr. West at 205-871-5365. A review committee consists of two society members and an interested third party.
Ensley Steel Mill circa 1909
Interior, General Waiting Room, Terminal Station in Birmingham.
This structure, built in 1909, was torn down in 1969.
Terminal Station circa 1950's