Alabama is a special place, with lots of interesting history, from its small towns to its biggest cities. Here are some incredible facts that make the Magic City so magical:
1. A statue of Vulcan commissioned for the 1904 World's Fair proudly boasts of the city's iron and steel industries.
2. The city was named after Birmingham in the UK.
3. It's the only place in the whole world where all three ingredients for steel can be found near each other.
4. Birmingham was the first city to celebrate Veterans Day, and it continues to host the largest Veterans Day celebration in the country.
5. An early heroine of the city was a woman named Louise Wooster. She was a local prostitute who helped turn local brothels into clinic when a huge cholera epidemic hit the city in 1873. She continued her philanthropy after becoming the wealthy owner of her own brothel.
6. The oldest baseball stadium in the country, Rickwood Field, is located in Birmingham.
7. Birmingham has its own replica of the Statue of Liberty, original created for the Liberty National Life Insurance Company.
8. The city actually had two different Prohibitions, first countywide and then statewide (which extended past our national Prohibition).
9. The corner of 20th Street and First Avenue is referred to as Heaviest Corner on Earth, because the four gigantic skyscrapers there were once the largest in the South.
10. Sloss Furnaces is the only blast furnace site in the country that has been restored for the public. The industrial site now serves as a museum and a venue for concerts and festivals.
Source: mentalfloss.com.
How many of these facts did you know? Do you know any other fun facts about Birmingham or another city in Alabama?
If you're interested in visiting the Magic City, be aware that there are so many great attractions in Birmingham, Alabama that it'll take you at least a few days to explore them all!
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