BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND
Chicago’s Sister City Since 1993

Committee Chair: Rupert Ward

Birmingham City Council Leader: Mike Whitby
Country:    England 
Location:    Western Europe 
Country Population:    Over 60 million 
City Population:    Over 1 million 
Geography:    Centrally located in the heart of England.   
History:    Commonly called the “workplace of the world,” Birmingham was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s. Since the Industrial Revolution, Birmingham has been known as the “city of a thousand traders.”   
Industry:    Metal goods, brassware, household utensils, and glass and rubber products   
Did You Know?    Birmingham has more than 200 parks, including the Cannon Hill Park, just two miles south of the city, where there are boating lakes, bowling greens, tennis courts and wide-open spaces.  
Flag Description:    Blue field with the red cross of St. George (patron saint of England) edged in white, superimposed on the diagonal red cross of St. Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of St. Andrew (patron saint of Scotland).   

1993
Focus: Culture

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery loaned a Pre-Raphaelite Painting by Edward Burne-Jones to the Art Institute of Chicago.

Focus: Economic Development

Birmingham's Lord Mayor and delegation met with the president of South Shore Bank to discuss minority owned banks and to tour the bank's redevelopment projects in the South Shore area. He also met with the president of DePaul University, President of the Newberry Library, WMX Technologies (to discuss recycling programs), Department of Aviation, and the Chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority. The Lady Mayoress toured the School of the Art Institute with Mrs. Maggie Daley.

Focus: Education

Leonard Dominquez of Chicago's Department of Education traveled to Birmingham and met with the Lady Mayoress, Birmingham City Councilor Byron and the Department of Secondary Schools. Their agenda was to discuss preparation and early childhood programs.

The English presence as an identifiable ethnic group in Illinois has received little attention, in part because intermarriage, mobility, and a lack of ethnic institutions have led to their being virtually indistinguishable from native-born white Protestants after a generation or two. Yet, whether pioneer or entrepreneur, the English and their descendants have been a significant presence in Chicago since the early nineteenth century.