BIRMINGHAM, la7ernIng-ani (either AS. Dermal•big, Bcorming, a proper name home; or 'home on the hill by the heath,' from AS b r fa, broom -I- witch, descent total, home). The chief seat of the British for metallic manu factures, and the leading hardware centre of the world (\lap: England, E 4). It stands near the centre of in the northwest, of War wiekshire, With suburbs extending into Stafford shin' and Worcestershire, 112 miles northwest of London. It has the status of a city, a civic county. and a Parliamentary and municipal bor ough. It is built on the eastern slopes of three hills at the confluence of the Rea and the Tame, with a gravelly foundation overlying clay and new red sandstone. and is one of the best-drained towns in England. The older part of the city is crowded with workshops and warehouses; but the modern portion is well built, and possessed of architectural beauty. Among the liner build ines are the post-olliec, the corporation buildings, the town-hall, the exchange. the to/nuts of the Royal Society of Artists. the borough jail, and the splendid Central Railway Station, covering 12% a,res. The chief ecclesiastical edifices are the Anglican churches of Saint Alartin and Saint Philip, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint Chad, and the Baptist Wyelif Chapel of Fon rteenth-Century Gothic. The central part of Birmingham, the worst overcrowded section be fore 1876.has been vastly improved since then,and has become the best hart of the city. This was accomplished by the municipality condemning the district and purchasing it for some $S.000.000. A considerable income is derived from the leases. and in 1951 the city will come into possession of all the buildings erected on its land. Besides nine parks, of which the chief are Aston Park on the northeast, Cannon Hill Park on the south, and the Botanical Gardens, seven gardens and recreation-grounds are distributed over the city.
Birmingham has been at the head of the large progressive cities of England in the work of modernizing its institutions. In 1875 it reorgan
ized its health department, which set itself to work eradicating insanitary conditions. (Me of the first tasks was the providing of a pure water supply. Some 3000 polluted wells were closed, to prevent the spreading of zymotic diseases. That, combined with the condemnation of insanitary houses, the increase of disinfecting facilities, and a rigorous inspection of food-supplies, helped to reduce the average death-rate from 26 per 1000 to less than 20. In the insanitary districts the reduction was from 60 and more per 1000 to 25.
With the same purpose in view the city im proved its sewage system by providing a mod ern system of sewage and garbage collection combined with a sewage-farm; it erected baths and wash-houses, hospitals, asylums, special arti sans' dwellings, etc. Most of Birmingham's mu nicipal undertakings date hack to 1874-75, when :qr. Joseph Chamberlain, as mayor of the town, inaugurated the new era. At that time, also, Birmingham bought out the water company at a cost of more than $6,000.000. Since then great extensions and improvements have been carried nut, and a new supply obtained from And-Wales, so miles from the city, for which more than $30,000,000 was appropriated. The gas-works were acquired by the city in 1875 for $10.000.000. The price of gas was reduced about 33 per •ent., which did not prevent the city from getting a net income of more than $150.000, after allowing for interest charges and sinking-fund payments. In 1s99 the supply of electricity was also munici ralized. Free libraries in Birmingham date back to 1860. They consist of a Reference Li brary, Central Circulating Library, and nine branch libraries. The city owns the markets and slaughter-houses, which yield a considerable net income, in addition to facilitating the inspection of the food-supply of the city. It also owns its street railways. which are operated by private companies, paying a high rental to the city.