Birmingham Terminal Station

Six of the seven railroads serving Birmingham joined to create the Birmingham Terminal Company in the early 20th century. They funded a new $2 million terminal station covering two blocks of the city at the eastern end of 5th Avenue North downtown. The station largely took over the function of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad station at Morris Avenue and 20th Street. Thus, the Louisville and Nashville and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad maintained their own respective stations, separate from Terminal Station. ==Architecture==

The architect for the hulking Byzantine-inspired Beaux-Arts station was P. Thornton Marye of Washington, D.C. The exotic design stirred controversy at first. Marye, in an interview to The American Architect said he was inspired by the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The exterior of the building was primarily dressed in light-brown brick. Two towers topped the north and south wings. The central waiting room covered and was covered by a central dome in diameter covered in intricate tilework and featuring a skylight of ornamental glass. The bottom of the walls in the main waiting room were finished in gray Tennessee marble. Connecting to the main waiting room were the ticket office, a separate ladies' waiting room, a smoking room, a barber shop, a news stand, a refreshment stand, and telephone and telegraph booths. Along the north and south concourses were the kitchen, lunch and dining rooms, another smoking room, restrooms, and the "colored" waiting room, a requirement of Birmingham's strict racial segregation. The north wing housed two express freight companies while the south was used for baggage and mail transfer. The station's opening in 1909 was described by a 1969 Birmingham News article as a major event in the city's history. Celebrations included a balloon race, a parade led by Grand Marshal E. J. McCrossin, and a banquet for city officials at the Hillman Hotel. Outside of the station were ten tracks. A series of overlapping "umbrella" sheds covered the platforms and tracks. These sheds provided protection from the rain while still letting in sunlight and fresh air. During the Depression, the station fell into disrepair, but resurged in the late 1930s through World War II. In 1943 the station underwent a $500,000 renovation which included sandblasting, new paint, and new interior fixtures. During this period of rebirth, rail traffic peaked at 54 trains per day. In 2015, Rhea Williams, executive director of American Institute of Architects Birmingham expressed regret over the demolition of the train station. ==Passenger services==

The station's tenants included the Central of Georgia, Illinois Central, St. Louis-San Francisco ('Frisco'), Seaboard Air Line and Southern Railway. Major named passenger trains included: • Central of Georgia and Illinois Central: • City of Miami (Chicago-Miami) • Seminole (Chicago-Jacksonville) • St. Louis-San Francisco, and Southern Railway: • Kansas City-Florida Special (Kansas City-Jacksonville) • Sunnyland (Memphis-Atlanta) • Seaboard Air Line: • Cotton Blossom: New York - Birmingham • Passenger Mail and Express: Washington and Portsmouth - Birmingham • Silver Comet: New York and Portsmouth - Birmingham • Southern Railway: • Birmingham Special (New York City-Birmingham) • Pelican (New York City-New Orleans) • Southerner (New York City-New Orleans) ==Decline==

Sunnyland at Birmingham Alabama's Birmingham Terminal Station on April 15, 1963 As automobile ownership increased and air travel gained popularity, rail travel suffered. By 1960 only 26 trains per day went through Terminal Station. At the beginning of 1969 it was down to seven trains. During the 1960s the station served as the site of numerous small episodes of the Civil Rights Movement. Local Civil Rights leaders like Fred Shuttlesworth challenged the racially segregated accommodations of the station and crowds of belligerent whites gathered, sometimes leading to violence. The station was constructed with separate waiting areas to comply with segregation laws mandated by the Jim Crow provisions in the state's 1901 constitution. Efforts to challenge this segregation emerged in the 1950s, particularly following a ruling by the Interstate Commerce Commission that banned segregation in transportation, including trains, buses, and station waiting rooms. However, this ruling created a distinction between interstate and intrastate travelers, prompting a legal case in 1957 to desegregate the waiting areas. The case culminated in a court order in 1961 requiring the station's integration. Birmingham Mayor George Seibels, who later oversaw the station’s decline and demolition, first arrived in the city via the terminal in 1938. By 1969, train travel had declined, and the station was demolished shortly after the last train departed on December 21 of that year. Though the site was considered for a Social Security Administration building, it was ultimately repurposed for the Red Mountain Expressway. Reflecting on its demolition, Seibels later noted that efforts to preserve the station lacked coordination. Historian Marvin Clemons said the station had outlived its usefulness, with railroads seeking to recover losses from declining passenger service due to the rise in private automobile usage. ==5th Avenue North tunnel==

An underpass, locally called a "subway" tunneled below the center of the building, allowing streetcars to bypass the terminal and rail traffic. In 1926 a large electric sign reading "Welcome to Birmingham, the Magic City", was erected outside the station at the west end of the underpass. The sign functioned as a gateway for visitors who arrived primarily by rail and 5th Avenue became a "hotel row", lined with restaurants and entertainments. The only remnant of the demolished building to survive after 1969 was the tunnel, now commonly known as the 5th Avenue North tunnel, which now carries that road under the highway and railroad tracks. The Red Mountain Expressway goes through part of the property of the former station. == Legacy ==

Carey Hollingsworth, the president of Birmingham's AIA said that the loss of the terminal led to efforts to conserve many other old buildings: "We wanted to show that something good came from losing the Terminal. Many old structures have been saved since then because we did not want to see the Terminal tragedy repeated". ==References==