Local History Microcosm

[Hobbes]

One of the things that I volunteer what little free time I have toward is our local historical association. Ours specifically deals with ironworks that were built before the Civil War, and went up unto the Depression. There is very little *visible* evidence that there was ever such facility here. This town was a company town.

Today, several of our members took a field trip back into some private land near our park, into the thick brush and thicket to look at the remains of the furnaces and factory buildings. The brush was so thick I could not see you fifteen feet away. What we saw there was amazing! There were two huge warehouse-sized factories, the foundation remains of furnaces, rail beds, etc. All that is left of the workings are the reinforced concrete beams for these three-story buildings. We saw the foundational engine mounts where massive dynamos powered the factory and the town. We saw flywheel pits where massive engines once stood. We saw tunnels where charcoal was transported to another building to remove vital war chemicals needed in explosives. We saw brick-lined cisterns and 8'-wide wells. In its day it was a massive refining operation - the best in the state at its time.

However, allow me to make parallels to today. It was kind of sobering to look at all the industrial strength that once was right on my doorstep. All of this industrial strength disappeared because of one primary reason: outsourcing. The final straw that broke its back was the onset of the Great Depression.
By outsourcing, I mean that this charcoal furnace operation could not compete with other furnaces because they were using less costly coal - even though this one made a much higher quality iron (this ironworks provided most of the iron for the Conferate armories, and the exceptional iron quality was used for ironclad armor plating). Because of the limiting factor of charcoal, they could not churn out quantities as fast at the coal furnaces. In 1929, the furnaces and ironworks were dismantled for scrap metal. The brick structures were dismantled for their brick. Very little remains of it. The town basically died. The company suppplied electricity, pumped the water, ran the train for a while, built the schools, built the churches, provided the doctors, had the company store - basically everything.

I guess the microcosm that I see is that this company town is just like the US today. A majority of what we get is provided/regulated (to a degree) by the company. When the 'company' goes bankrupt, everything of value is cannibalized, and the streets become deserted, and weeds grow in once mighty furnaces. Those who were able to handle the transition did not rely on the company for food, water, light, and heat. Sure, the transition was very rough, especially since when the company closed down, unemployment went through the roof! That is one reason why this area has such a reputation of moonshine. Once the economic base for the area disappeared, it was the only way people could make some money. Similarly, as times get tougher, we will see a dramatic increase in unemployed people and a rise in illegal activity.

I guess the moral of the story is to make sure you have not sold your soul to the company store! Providing a good portion of your own water, heat, light, and food will put you miles ahead of those who have run up their tab!

[Ravenlost]

You know what they say...history repeats itself. Kind of sad, isn't it?

BTW...I used to live down in your area of the State. I graduated from the University of Montevallo.

[halfpint]

I know where you are talking about, it was once a thriving area, and if I remember my history correctly the first hotel in Alabama was located there (and should be restored before it falls down); yet is now considered the middle of nowhere.

Were these furnaces and factory destroyed during the Civil War? I know that Tannehill Iron works was pretty much destroyed, but can't remember if any destruction from the war occurred out your way. If not, then with the metal collection to support the War efforts in the early 20th century may have caused a lot of the destruction, with nature left to take care of the rest.

Dawn

[Hobbes]

The furnaces were blown up during the Civil War (Jackson's Raiders, who incidently, headquartered at the Hotel briefly), but the company got investors and rebuilt bigger and better in less than ten years. This was THE largest *charcoal* furnace works in Alabama. It supplied the armory at Selma with iron. The Confederate government racked up over a million dollars in debt to the company (which never got paid). Iron from this works was used to plate the CSS Tennessee. Most of what is visible and remains today was the rebuilt works, as well as some later buildings for the WWI war effort, which was a Chemical plant built to extract acetone and other chemicals from the charcoal making process. Another limiting factor to their demise is that charcoal furnaces can only be built to a maximum of sixty feet because the charcoal would crush under its own weight. That height limitation severly limited their iron output. Coal furnaces can be built twice as large. The coal-based iron works up near Birmingham are what eventually put Shelby ironworks under. There are no coal beds here in Shelby, plus they were built for charcoal. Even though they were sitting on an iron mine with a very, very high iron content, and the charcoal process was king for superior iron quality (coal has sulfur). Industrial developments over time would overcome that, but it was those major economic differences that forced them to close down. The buildings were vacant for a few years (2-3?) before being dismantled for the metal.

Yes, the hotel is a shame (everybody asks about it). It is privately owned, and we have been making little progress with the owners about using/leasing it. For the past year, some of the roof metal panels have been torn back by the wind, and rain is just going straight in... It drives our group up the wall, but we can't do anything about it (not like we have the funds, too anyway, unfortunately). We are making slow progress, got some new, younger members, and we are trying to make a more distinct connection between our park and history. Most people (even locals) have no clue at what used to be here. I'll have to look up the numbers of how many people the Company employed...

[Beeman]

http://webpages.charter.net/pressmenshome/index.html

Here's something we had in our county. Not much left of it today, either burned down or destroyed by vandals. This was totally self sufficient but was abandoned to get closer to DC where the power and money was.

[Gary in AL]

Hey Hobbes,
That's a great little piece of history. Have you ever heard of a book called "Dead Towns of Alabama". It covers spots like the one you found plus the old gold triangle in east Alabama and indian villages that were all over the state. It's an interesting read and makes for places to go on weekend trips.
Gary

[THETOOLMAN]

Those foundrys were KEY In the war of northern aggression. I live in Columbus Georgia ( close to you) & a lot of the old foundry buildings are still being used here . One is our a trade center . I will pm you a nice thing on the foundry in Columbus it might help with the project . It is in the history of my lodge , But if you read it it is very interresting.By the way, The yankees attacked Columbus Georgia on Easter Sunday AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER!!
Dan