Birmingham’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 3 old photos of Birmingham. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Birmingham is the site of the Birmingham Window, a geologic structure created by a Paleozoic thrust fault.
Birmingham's early settler, John Cadwallader, settled on a hill above the Little Juniata River and made plans to establish a large city. In the first several decades of the 19th century, the village grew quickly as a hub for commerce being carried on the Little Juniata River and on the nearby Pennsylvania Canal. By 1850, the Pennsylvania Railroad had passed through the valley. The development of the railroad diminished the importance of Birmingham as a trading hub since the railroad's nearby hubs in Tyrone and Altoona grew quickly on land that was better suited for development.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Birmingham’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Birmingham’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewStereograph of D. Gault's house a…, 1860: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Birmingham
See all 1 →Birmingham, decade by decade
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Stereograph of D. Gault's house at Birmingham Chester C. Penn (1860) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (4) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.