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Tannehill Ironworks

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Tannehill Furnace
Tannehill Ironworks is located in Alabama
Tannehill Ironworks
LocationTuscaloosa County, Alabama, USA
Area2,063 acres (835 ha)
Built1859-62
Built byHillman, Daniel
NRHP reference No.72000182[1]
Added to NRHPJuly 24, 1972
John Wesley Hall Grist Mill

The Tannehill Ironworks is a state historic site in Tuscaloosa County near the unincorporated town of McCalla. 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 the central attraction of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park located 12 miles (19 km) south of Bessemer, Alabama off I-59/20 near the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains. The 2,063-acre (835 ha) historical park also includes the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill, May Plantation Cotton Gin House, and the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama.[2]

History

Ironmaking at the site began with construction of a bloomery forge by Daniel Hillman Sr. in 1830.[3] Built by noted southern ironmaster Moses Stroup from 1859 to 1862, the three charcoal blast furnaces at Tannehill could produce 22 tons of pig iron a day, most of which was shipped to the Naval Gun Works and Arsenal at Selma. Furnaces Nos. 2 and 3 were equipped with hot blast stoves and a steam engine. Brown iron ore mines were present two miles (3 km) distant.[4]

The Tannehill furnaces and its adjacent foundry, where kettles and hollow-ware were cast for southern troops, were attacked and burnt by three companies of the U.S. 8th Iowa Cavalry on March 31, 1865 during Wilson's Raid. The ruins remain today as one of the best preserved 19th-century iron furnace sites in the South.[5]

Also known as the Roupes Valley Iron Company, these works had significant influence on the later development of the Birmingham iron and steel industry. An experiment conducted at Tannehill in 1862 proved red iron ore could successfully be used in Alabama blast furnaces. The test, promoted by South & North Railroad developers, led to the location of government-financed ironworks in the immediate Birmingham area (Jefferson County).[6]

The furnace remains, including reconstructed portions, are an American Society for Metals historical landmark[7] and have been designated as a Civil War Discovery Trail site.[8] The park attracted over 500,000 visitors in 2000 and in 2010.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ "Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park". Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  3. ^ "Tannehill Furnaces". Alabama Ironworks Source Book. Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  4. ^ Armes, Ethel (2011). The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama. Library Alabama Classics. University Alabama Press. p. 158. ISBN 0817356827.
  5. ^ Bennett, James R. (2005). Tannehill and the Growth of the Alabama Iron Industry. Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission. Second Edition. pp. 152–154.
  6. ^ Bennett, pp. 95-96.
  7. ^ "ASM Historical Landmarks". ASM International. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  8. ^ "Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park". Civil War Discovery Trail. Civil War Trust. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  9. ^ Alabama Tourism Department (February 9, 2011). "Alabama Tourism Department Releases 2010 Attendance Numbers" (Press release). Montgomery, Alabama. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
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