Bessemer, Alabama Bessemer, Alabama Location in Jefferson County and the state of Alabama Location in Jefferson County and the state of Alabama State Alabama Bessemer is a town/city southwest of Birmingham in Jefferson County, Alabama, United States, eight miles (13 km) west of Hoover.
The town was established in the postbellum era by the Bessemer Land and Improvement Company, owned by coal magnate Henry F.
De - Bardeleben, after he had inherited Daniel Pratt's investments. The mayor and councilmen voted to incorporate the town/city of Bessemer on September 9, 1887. Bessemer is positioned at 33 23 29 N 86 57 24 W (33.391343, -86.956569), about 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Birmingham, a little north of the center of the state.
Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 40.8 square miles (106 km2), of which 40.7 square miles (105 km2) is territory and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) (0.17%) is water.
Bessemer is situated in the midst of the iron ore and limestone precinct of Alabama, in the southern part of Jones Valley (about 3 miles (4.8 km) wide). Iron ore was mined on the hills on the city's southeast side, coal was (and still is) mined to the north and west, and limestone deposits were also nearby.
Steel is no longer made inside the town/city limits, but is still produced in the neighboring town/city of Fairfield.
According to the Koppen Climate Classification system, Bessemer has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.
Climate data for Bessemer, Alabama Bessemer uses the mayor town/city council form of government.
A satellite Jefferson County courthouse is positioned in downtown Bessemer.
There is a special county government precinct known as the "Bessemer Cutoff", established in the middle of the 20th century when Bessemer was a primary city in its own right.
Bessemer has since been surpassed by other Birmingham suburbs such as Hoover, but Bessemer retains its own branch courthouse to this day.
The term "Bessemer Cutoff" remains in everyday usage by region residents.
The United States Postal Service operates the Bessemer Post Office. The state Alabama Department of Corrections operates the William E.
Donaldson Correctional Facility, a prison for men, in unincorporated Jefferson County, Alabama, near Bessemer.
In 1900 Bessemer ranked eighth in populace in the state, second in amount of capital invested in manufacturing, and fourth in the value of its produced product for the year.
By 1911 ore mining, iron smelting and the manufacture of iron and coke were the chief industries of Bessemer; truck farming was also an meaningful industry.
Both blacks and caucasians from non-urban areas were thriving to the town/city for its work opportunities.
The town/city was once home to a large barns car manufacturing factory directed by Pullman Standard for many decades and later Trinity Industries.
The diminish of quarrying and exodus of the steelmaking and railcar manufacturing industries resulted in the town/city facing an economic crisis in the early to mid-1980s; the percentage of unemployed workers reached into the mid 30s.
Since that time the city, through the accomplishments of the Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bessemer Industrial Development Board, has been prosperous in diversifying its economy and is recognized for its company growth.
As with most metros/cities and counties in Alabama, the tax structure (lack of state income tax) has made Bessemer to be heavily dependent on revenue taxes from retail stores.
In recent years, the town/city has benefited from new retail developments in the region of the Academy Drive interchange with I-20/I-59, as well as Watermark Place, an supply mall near Alabama Adventure.
As of the 2013 American Community Survey, there were 27,336 citizens residing in the city.
As of the census of 2000, there were 29,672 citizens , 11,537 homeholds, and 7,868 families residing in the city.
The ethnic makeup of the town/city was 69.55% Black or African American, 28.93% White, 0.28% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.30% from other competitions, and 0.74% from two or more competitions.
In the city, the populace was spread out with 26.8% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older.
About 24.2% of families and 27.2% of the populace were below the poverty line, including 37.8% of those under age 18 and 24.7% of those age 65 or over.
In 1911, the town was served by five barns lines: Alabama Great Southern (Queen & Crescent route), the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham (St.
Louis & San Francisco Railroad system), the Birmingham Southern Railroad, and the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic stockyards s.
By 2006, these companies had merged to CSX Transportation, which has lines to Birmingham and Brookwood; and the Norfolk Southern Railway, with lines to Birmingham, Mobile and New Orleans; Birmingham Southern continues in service.
Steel) to ship iron ore from the mines on the city's south side to the steel works in close-by Fairfield.
This elevated line traverses the easterly side of the city.
Bessemer is served by the small Bessemer Airport to the southeast of the city.
Commercial service to/from the town/city is served by the much larger Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport positioned 5 miles (8.0 km) from downtown Birmingham.
Major highways in Bessemer include I-20/59, I-459, U.S.
Route 11, and State Route 150, which joins Bessemer with Hoover.
Bessemer operates its own school fitness autonomous of Jefferson County schools.
Bessemer City Middle positioned on High School Road.
Bessemer City High School (formally Jess Lanier) positioned on Premiere Parkway.
The Board of Education also operates the Quitman Mitchell Opportunity Center, positioned diagonally athwart from the Board on 5th Avenue and 17th Street, which includes an adult learning center, Even Start child care center, and New Horizon Alternative School.
There are also three K 12 private schools in the city: Bessemer Academy, Rock Christian School, and Flint Hill Christian School.
Lawson State Community College operates the former Bessemer Technical College ground in the Academy Drive area; the two schools consolidated in 2005 as a cost-saving measure.
The performance center Bessemer Civic Center provides multiple performance spaces for music and theatre.
Bessemer is served by one weekly newspaper, The Western Star, which is owned by Bob Tribble as part of his journal corporation based in Manchester, Ga.
Coverage in this paper is not limited to the city, but instead covers all of the Bessemer Cutoff, including Bessemer, Hueytown, Mc - Calla, Midfield, Fairfield, Brighton, Lipscomb, Pleasant Grove and the large sections of Jefferson County that remain unincorporated.
In 2008, The Western Star jubilated its 25th year of covering improve news in the Bessemer Cutoff.
Newspaper coverage is provided by The Birmingham News, which is presented three days per week and also prints a weekly section devoted to news from Bessemer and encircling communities.
One airways broadcast, WZGX (1450 AM), operates inside the city; it broadcasts some Spanish language programming and music to appeal to the burgeoning Mexican-American populace of Jefferson County.
All of metro Birmingham's stations are heard in Bessemer, as well as a several stations transmitting from Tuscaloosa.
Television station WDBB (channel 17) is licensed to Bessemer, but it broadcasts from studios in Birmingham, simulcasting with WTTO (channel 21).
All of Birmingham's tv stations are viewed in Bessemer, and some have established news agencys there.
Frank House, born in Bessemer, primary league baseball player Mc - Dowell, English professor and author of a 1997 memoir of life in Bessemer, Leaving Pipe Shop Glenn Shadix, born in Bessemer, American actor John Paul Thomas, American artist, educator and scholar; born in Bessemer SS Bessemer Victory "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013".
Alabama Men's Hall of Fame: Henry Fairchild De - Bardeleben, Samford University Climate Summary for Bessemer, Alabama "Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley talks about the state of his city", Jesse Chambers, Al.com, February 08, 2013 at 5:58 PM, updated February 15, 2013 at 11:35 AM "Post Office Location - BESSEMER." "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015".
"Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013".
Retrieved 27 March 2013.
Wikisource has the text of a 1905 New International Encyclopedia article about Bessemer.
Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce Bessemer Municipalities and communities of Jefferson County, Alabama, United States Populated places established in 1887 - Bessemer, Alabama - Cities in Alabama - Cities in Jefferson County, Alabama - Birmingham Hoover urbane region - 1887 establishments in Alabama
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