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Industrialization
Home » Alabama » Alabama - Overview and History » IndustrializationDuring Reconstruction railroads were built, which was a major thrust in the industrialization of the economy of Alabama. In 1870 Birmingham was founded and its first blast furnace began operating in 1880. The cotton textile industry was also developed in the 1880s as well. Farming was still dominant and the economy of the state rose and fell with the market prices of cotton. Erosion began to exhaust the land as well. When the boll weevil invaded the cotton crop in 1915, farmers began to diversify crops and the demand in World War I increased prices for food crops. Then the Great Depression along with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal resulted in farmers producing subsistence crops and took more land away from cotton farmers. In the 1920s, many African Americans migrated to northern manufacturing centers.
During World War II industrialization increased with factories in Alabama producing machines, powder, munitions, and war supplies. Huntsville became a center for rocket research during this time as well. Alabama’s inland waterways were developed to provide cheap water transportation, hydroelectric power, and flood control.
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