Avondale: A Search for Identity in a Transitioning Neighborhood

Abstract

Avondale today exists as one of Birmingham, Alabama’s most popular historic neighborhoods for its public green spaces and bustling entertainment scene. Founded in 1887 as an industrial hub, Avondale quickly grew into a center for southern textile production. The 1971 closure of Avondale Mills, however, precipitated the collapse of the local economy and the need to shift its economic base. Avondale struggled economically for decades in the shadow of the old textile mill. Despite this, the neighborhood managed to retain significant elements of its historic landscape, if not always historic character. This dissertation seeks to understand elements of power, identity, and class that catalyzed these changes and also shaped the exploitation and disenfranchisement of segments of the population. In order to understand the complexity of these roles, a bottom-up perspective focusing on generations of blue-collar workers, local populations of African Americans, and people of lower socioeconomic status will provide insight into the lived experiences of everyday life in Avondale. A chronological examination of Avondale lends to distinct periods in the neighborhood’s history beginning with its founding and the establishment of Avondale Mills in 1897, followed by deindustrialization and economic decline in the 1970s and 1980s, and the eventual process of gentrification beginning in the early 2000s. The examination of each of these periods will center Avondale’s many overlooked voices while engaging with a question repeatedly asked by locals today – Who is Avondale for?