Sloss Furnace Galleries

Sloss Furnace : Sloss Furnaces located in Birmingham, Alabama, was operated as a pig iron-producing blast furnace from 1882 to 1971. Colonel James Withers Sloss was one of the founders of Birmingham, helping to promote railroad development in Jones Valley, Alabama and participating in the Pratt Coke and Coal Company, one of the new city's first manufacturers. In 1880 he formed his own company, the Sloss Furnace Company, and began construction of Birmingham's first blast furnace on land donated by the Elyton Land Company for industrial development. The engineer in charge of construction was Harry Hargreaves, a former student of the English inventor Thomas Whitwell. The two furnaces were to be of the Whitwell type. The first blast was initiated in April 1882. 24,000 tons of high quality iron were produced in the first year. After the Sloss Furnaces changed hands several times, the were acquired by the Jim Walter Corp. in 1969 but was closed 2 years later mostly due to the costs of modernizing the furnaces and the costs of out-of-state iron ore. In 1971 the Jim Walter company donated the property for possible development as a museum of industry.

Sloss Furnace

Sloss Furnaces located in Birmingham, Alabama, was operated as a pig i ...

Updated: Nov 22, 2010 12:44pm PST

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