Birmingham merger proposals

There have been numerous merger proposals, seeking to combine the numerous municipalities in Jefferson County with Birmingham, and sometimes with the county itself.

• Several communities were annexed into Birmingham in 1889.
• The town of Highland was annexed into Birmingham in 1893.
• The proliferation of streetcar suburbs led the editors of the Birmingham Age-Herald to complain that, "the city stands before the world belittled by its cramped confines," on October 14, 1900.
• The Greater Birmingham campaign of 1906-1909 succeeded in securing the legislative annexation of several surrounding municipalities into Birmingham's corporate limits. It took effect on January 1, 1910 and was reflected in the 1910 census, with the city's population exploding to 132,685, and leading city leaders to celebrate a "Census Jubilee" in November.
• An unsuccessful legislative attempt was made to annex the Tennessee, Coal, Iron & Railroad Co.'s Ensley Mill into Birmingham in 1923.
• W. J. Christian attempted to calculate the savings that accrue by merging Birmingham into Jefferson County in a report dated June 8, 1932.
• An advisory committee, chartered by the Alabama State Legislature in 1945, issued a recommendation in April 1947 that expanding Birmingham's corporate limits would be beneficial to the city.
• A Greater Birmingham Citizens Committee led by Arnold Drennen and members of the Jefferson County Legislative Delegation succeeded in annexing an area of 13.6 square miles into Birmingham in 1949, including districts in the vicinity of Hillcrest Country Club, Lane Park, Huffman, Sandusky, Semet-Solvay, Powderly, Fairmont, North Birmingham, and Roebuck. Efforts to annex Fairfield, Tarrant, Homewood, Irondale and Mountain Brook were unsuccessful.
• Citizens Committee for Merger, formed in 1959 to campaign for Homewood's and Mountain Brook's referenda on merging with Birmingham.
• Mayor Art Hanes proposed a merger of several cities into Birmingham in his inaugural address of November 1961.
• Homewood Merger Committee, formed in 1964 to campaign for Homewood's proposed merger with Birmingham. Homewood residents ended up voting in favor of the merger by a margin of six ballots on August 11, 1964, but the result was overturned by the Alabama Supreme Court on April 16, 1965 for lack of sufficient notice of the election.
• Attorney David Vann initiated a public legislative campaign for "One Great City" in 1970. The proposal was allowed to die in committee during the 1971 Alabama legislative session.
• Vann and his successor Richard Arrington succeeded in annexing large undeveloped areas of land into Birmingham by the "long lasso" method before the state legislature closed that loophole.
• Birmingham City Council member Alan Drennen publicly supported merging suburbs into Birmingham to avoid the likelihood that "Birmingham by 1980 could be politically controlled and operated by members of the colored race."
• Brownville was annexed into Birmingham in 1981.
• Roosevelt City was annexed into Birmingham in 1988.

References

• "Annexation Bill Given Favorable Report" (July 13, 1949) The Birmingham News, p. 1, 6