The city is built partly on the slope of Red Mountain, named for its outcrop of red hematite iron ore. A 55-foot (17-meter) iron statue of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan, stands atop a 124-foot (38-meter) pedestal on the mountain overlooking the city. Since the region is also a coal and limestone district, all the materials for making iron and steel are available. Graphite, marble, bauxite, quartz, cement rock, clays, sand, and gravel are also found.

Birmingham's plants manufacture pig iron and steel and related manufactures, including stoves, wire castings, bars, bolts, steel tanks, machinery, cast-iron pipe, freight cars, coke, and pipe fittings. There is a trend toward diversification of industry, however, and health care and banking have also become important.

Birmingham is an important transportation and trade center as well as a port of entry. Barges carry freight over a 9-foot (3-meter) channel to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Black Warrior, Tombigbee, and Mobile rivers. Hydroelectric plants on the rivers provide cheap and abundant power.

The city's civic center surrounds the formal gardens of Woodrow Wilson Park. Birmingham has a wide variety of cultural facilities, including the Birmingham Museum of Art, which houses a famous collection of Renaissance art. The city has an opera company, a symphony orchestra, and theater and ballet groups. Educational institutions include the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, Miles College, and two state junior colleges. The Southern Research Institute is also located here. The Alabama State Fair, the Festival of Arts, and the Dogwood Festival are annual Birmingham events.

Birmingham was founded and incorporated as a city in 1871, simultaneously becoming the county seat. It has a mayor-council form of government. (See also Alabama.) Population (2000 census), 242,820.