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| Location | 10268 County Road 42, Shelby, AL 35143 |
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| Type | Local History Museum |
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The Shelby Iron Company was an iron manufacturing company that operated an ironworks in Shelby, Alabama. The iron company produced iron for the Confederate States of America and was destroyed towards the end of the American Civil War. The company continued to produce iron until the early part of the 20th century. [1]
The genesis of Shelby Iron Works (also known as Shelby Iron Company) dates back to December 29, 1842, when Horace Ware was able to purchase land south of Columbiana, AL from Green B. and Sara Seale. [2] Today this site is known as the town of Shelby, Alabama. Horace Ware was also able to acquire timberland and hematite ore properties throughout Shelby County. [3] With the acquisition of these materials Horace Ware began to build a cold blast iron furnace. The Shelby Iron Works Company started with meager beginnings by only producing 5 tons of cold blast iron a day because of its capacity. The lone furnace stack was built out of brick and stone and only stood 30 feet high. [2] During the American Civil War, iron plating from the iron works was used on the CSS Tennessee, CSS Huntsville, and CSS Tuscaloosa, and in making cannons and shells manufactured by Churchill and Sons in Columbiana. The ironworks was connected to Columbiana by the Shelby Iron Company Railroad, which allowed the iron works to be connected to the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad. A detachment of General Emory Upton's division of Wilson's Raiders destroyed the ironworks on March 31, 1865. [4]
Brookside is a town in north-central Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 1,363. It is a former mining town.
Columbiana is a city and the county seat of Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 4,462.
The Burden Iron Works was an iron works and industrial complex on the Hudson River and Wynantskill Creek in Troy, New York. It once housed the Burden Water Wheel, the most powerful vertical water wheel in history. It is widely believed that George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., inventor of the Ferris wheel, had occasion to observe the wheel while a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The iron works site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological site in 1977. The Burden Ironworks Office Building was previously listed in 1972.
Sloss Furnaces is a National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. It operated as a pig iron-producing blast furnace from 1882 to 1971. After closing, it became one of the first industrial sites in the U.S. to be preserved and restored for public use. In 1981, the furnaces were designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.
Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Century, Republic suffered heavy economic losses and was eventually bought out before re-emerging in the early 2000s as a subsidiary. The company currently manufactures Special Bar Quality (SBQ) steel bars and employs around 2,000 people. It is currently owned by Grupo Simec, based in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The Birmingham District is a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama, where the raw materials for making steel, limestone, iron ore, and coal are found together in abundance. The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and the Warrior and Cahaba coal fields in Central Alabama.
Wilson's Raid was a cavalry operation through Alabama and Georgia in March–April 1865, late in the American Civil War. Brig. Gen. James H. Wilson led his Union Army Cavalry Corps to destroy Southern manufacturing facilities and was opposed unsuccessfully by a much smaller force under Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The Tannehill Ironworks is the central feature of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near the unincorporated town of McCalla in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Tannehill Furnace, it was a major supplier of iron for Confederate ordnance. Remains of the old furnaces are located 12 miles (19 km) south of Bessemer off Interstate 59/Interstate 20 near the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains. The 2,063-acre (835 ha) park includes: the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill; the May Plantation Cotton Gin House; and the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama.
The Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum is the official state railroad museum of Alabama. Dedicated to the preservation, restoration, and operation of historically significant railway equipment, the museum is located at 1919 Ninth Street, Calera, Alabama, on I-65 approximately 30 miles (48 km) south of Birmingham.
The Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama, also known as the Tannehill Museum, is an industrial museum that demonstrates iron production in the nineteenth-century Alabama located at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park in McCalla, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Opened in 1981, it covers 13,000 square feet (1,200 m2).
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (1852–1952), also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the late nineteenth century. With a sizable real estate portfolio, the company owned several Birmingham satellite towns, including Ensley, Fairfield, Docena, Edgewater and Bayview. It also established a coal mining camp it sold to U.S. Steel which developed it into the Westfield, Alabama planned community.
Cowpens Furnace Site (38CK73) is the remains of an early 19th-century iron-making furnace in Cherokee County, South Carolina. The site shows early American iron-making technology. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The Woodward Iron Company was founded on December 31, 1881, by brothers William and Joseph Woodward. William was the company president and Joseph was the company secretary. The company operated iron and coal mines, quarries and furnaces; these were connected by a private industrial railroad based in Bessemer, Alabama. The company administrative office was located near Woodward Ore Mine #1, south of Paul's Hill in Bessemer.
The Pyne Mine was a vertical shaft iron ore mine operated by the Woodward Iron Company and located near the Lacey's Chapel community outside Bessemer, Alabama, in Shades Valley. It was, along with Woodward's Songo Mine, one of only two shaft mines dug in the Birmingham District, and the last ore mine to operate in the region, closing in 1971.
The Brierfield Furnace, also known as the Bibb Naval Furnace and Brierfield Ironworks, is a historic district in Brierfield, Alabama. The district covers 486 acres (197 ha) and includes one building and nine sites. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 20, 1974. The district is encompassed by Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park.
Adirondack Iron and Steel Company is a historic ironworks complex located at Tahawus in Essex County, New York. It consists of the remains of the "Upper Works" iron foundry that date back to 1826. Iron from the site was contaminated with titanium, which, together with its isolation, made for an unprofitable venture.
The Shelby Iron Company Railroad was an Alabama railroad company that started during the American Civil War. The Shelby Iron Company Railroad was built to connect the Shelby Iron Company in Shelby, Alabama, to the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad at Columbiana, Alabama, a distance of about five miles (8 km). It was a 5 ft gauge railroad line which was converted to 4 ft 9 in in 1886
The Sloss Mines are a group of mines in southwestern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. They were established by the Sloss Iron and Steel Company and its successor, the Sloss-Sheffield Iron and Steel Company, on the southern end of Red Mountain. The Sloss Iron and Steel Company itself was founded by James Sloss in 1881 as the Sloss Furnace Company. The Sloss Mines produced iron ore from 1882 until the 1960s. The ore that these mines produced were essential to the production of iron at the Sloss Furnaces, making them an important element in the formation of adjacent Birmingham and Bessemer as cities.
Shelby is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. Its population was 1,044 as of the 2010 census. The area is near Lay Lake and Waxahatchee Creek. Shelby Iron Park is located at the heart of the area. Two sites in Shelby, The Brick House and the Old Shelby Hotel, are listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.
The Bourbon Iron Works, near Owingsville in Bath County, Kentucky, date from 1791. The works was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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