Birmingham, Kentucky
Birmingham, Kentucky was a town in Marshall County, Kentucky that was destroyed by the Tennessee Valley Authority's creation of Kentucky Lake in 1944.
Birmingham was located on land owned by Thomas A. Grubbs in 1849, laid out and platted in 1853 and incorporated in 1860. Birmingham, named for the industrial city of Birmingham, England, was proposed as a center for iron making. The town enjoyed some prosperity shortly after the end of the Civil War when a stave mill and timber business employed over 200 people. By 1874 there were 322 residents, more than twice the population of Benton, the county seat.
By 1894 Birmingham had five churches, two schools, two hotels, four dry goods and general stores, three grocers, two millinery shops, two wagon and blacksmith shops and a drug store. By 1929 Birmingham still had around 600 residents.
In 1938 the Tennessee Valley Authority announced the building of Kentucky Dam and began purchasing land in 1942. The dam was completed in 1944, and the entirety of Birmingham, Kentucky was submerged under the resulting lake, the largest manmade lake in the world at the time. Some former residents of Birmingham were forced to relocate a second time due to the creation of Lake Barkley.
When the water in Kentucky Lake is low, the remains of foundations and streets of Birmingham are often visible, especially at Birmingham Point.
References
- "Old Birmingham" at History of Kentucky Lake website
- "Birmingham, Kentucky" (March 5, 2012) Wikipedia - accessed April 23, 2012