Birmingham: Now, Then and Imagined

This illustration celebrates landmarks, buildings and scenes in Birmingham that represent its historical significance, along with current developments and activities ... and some imaginary elements. Sloss Furnaces and Vulcan harken back to the city's beginnings as an industrial town, while Railroad Park and the Rotary Trail translate that heritage into new green spaces. Birmingham Terminal Station, Morris Hotel, the 1889 Jefferson County Courthouse, the Lakeview Hotel and Pavilion, Cascade Plunge and Quinlan Castle are no longer with us (but we wish they were!). Other venues – Loveman's Department Store, Tuxedo Junction, Thomas Jefferson Hotel, Dr. Pepper Building and East Lake Park – are still standing, but have been repurposed and reimagined. Streetcars and steam dummy trains once transported people from place to place, and are now replaced by cars, buses and scooters. The Dart, a wooden trolley resembling the streetcar, ran up and down 20th Street until 2017. We still have yet to dispel the theories that a secret river runs underneath the city and a zeppelin docked atop the Thomas Jefferson Hotel (now the TJ Tower).

Currently this design is available as a 19 x 29 inch wrapping paper sheet.