Terminal Station
Archival Drawings
AR 1804
Overview
As Birmingham emerged as a center of industry and transportation around
the turn of the nineteenth century, Birmingham’s Terminal Station was built to
accommodate the city’s rapidly increasing volume of rail traffic. Completed in
1909 and located along Twenty-Sixth Street North between Fourth and Sixth
Avenues, Terminal Station accommodated six of the seven rail lines that served
Birmingham. Philip Thornton Marye designed the grand Beaux Arts station,
considered the most elaborate in the South, with a large central dome and
flanking towers. Terminal Station was a center of activity in Birmingham for
many years but with the decline in rail transportation in the 1950s and 1960s,
use of the station declined. Though several alternative uses for the station
were proposed, none were found feasible, and Terminal Station was demolished in
1969.
Scope and Content
This collection contains copies of twelve original drawings of Terminal
Station, some by architect P. Thornton Marye. The collection includes plans,
sections, elevations, and other drawings of Terminal Station.
Sources
White, Marjorie Longenecker. Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and
Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Publishing
Company. Publication of the Birmingham Historical Society & First National Bank
of Birmingham.
Terminal Station Section. Collection #1804. Terminal Station Collection.
Birmingham Public Library. Department of Archives and Manuscripts.