Birmingham, Kentucky

Birmingham was a Marshall county town about 10 miles northeast of Benton. It was established about 1849 by Thomas Love who named it for the city in England. The town had some manufacturing and was an important river port, including a ferry across the Tennessee River. The population reached around 500 by the early twentieth century, but later declined with the development of the railroads.

In the early twentieth century elements among the white population began working to drive out the Black residents, some of whom owned good farm land. At the start of 1908 the violence became widespread and some black residents were attacked and beaten or killed. By March almost all had fled.

Work on Kentucky Dam on the Tennessee River began in 1938. In 1942 the Tennessee Valley Authority began buying land in the area for the coming Kentucky Lake reservoir. The town was demolished in 1943 and was inundated in 1944. The Birmingham Cemetery remains above water.

Birmingham was incorporated in 1860, but was later dissolved.

The Birmingham post office opened in 1851 and closed in 1943.

The old town of Birmingham, Kentucky. From the USGS Birmingham, Kentucky topographic map, 1936.

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© 2025 David C. Elbon