I've been there several times, both in the daytime and at night. It's a very interesting and yes, spooky place.

Sloss Furnaces

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sloss Blast Furnaces
(U.S. National Historic Landmark)
Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, in November 2004
Location:	1st Ave. at 32nd St. Birmingham, Alabama
Coordinates:	33°31′14.36″N 86°47′28.70″W / 33.5206556, -86.7913056Coordinates: 33°31′14.36″N 86°47′28.70″W / 33.5206556, -86.7913056
Built/Founded:	1881
Architect:	James W. Sloss; Et al.
Designated as NHL:	May 29, 1981^[1]
Added to NRHP:	June 22, 1972^[2]
NRHP Reference#:	72000162
Governing body:	Local

Sloss Furnaces is a National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.A.. It was operated as a pig iron-producing blast furnace from 1882 to 1971. After closing it became one of the first industrial sites (and the only blast furnace) in the U.S. to be preserved for public use. In 1981 the furnaces were designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.^[1]^[3]

The site currently serves as an interpretive museum of industry and hosts a nationally-recognized metal arts program. It also serves as a concert and festival venue. Current plans call for a $10 million program of accelerated restoration and construction of a new, larger visitor's center. The furnace site, along a wide strip of land reserved in Birmingham's original city plan for railroads and industry, is also part of a proposed linear park through downtown Birmingham. An annual Halloween haunted attraction called "Fright Furnace" is held at the site.^[4]

[hide]

[edit] History

Colonel James Withers Sloss was one of the founders of Birmingham, helping to promote railroad development in Jones Valley 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 50 acres (202,000 m²) of land donated by the Elyton Land Company for industrial development. The engineer in charge of construction was Harry Hargreaves, a former student of English inventor Thomas Whitwell. The two furnaces, of the Whitwell type, were 60 feet (18 m) tall and 18 feet (5.4 m) in diameter. The first blast was initiated in April of 1882. 24,000 tons of high quality iron were produced in the first year. Sloss iron won a bronze medal at the Southern Exposition held in 1883 at Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1886 Sloss retired and sold the company to a group of investors who reorganized it in 1899 as the Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron Company. New blowers were installed in 1902, new boilers in 1906 and 1914 and the furnaces completely rebuilt with modern equipment between 1927 and 1931. Through this aggressive campaign of modernization and expansion, including furnace and mining and quarrying operations all around Jefferson County Sloss-Sheffield became the second largest seller of pig-iron in the district and among the largest in the world. During this period the company built 48 small cottages for black workers near the downtown furnace—a community that became known as "Sloss Quarters" or just "the quarters".

In 1952 Sloss Furnaces was acquired by United States Pipe and Foundry and sold again in 1969 to the Jim Walter Corporation, which closed it two years later and donated the property to the Alabama State Fair Authority for possible development as a museum of industry. The authority determined that redevelopment was not feasible and made plans to demolish the furnaces. Local preservationists formed the Sloss Furnace Association to lobby for preservation of this site, which is of central importance to the history of Birmingham. In 1976 the site was documented for the Historic American Engineering Record and its historic significance was detailed in a study commissioned by the city. Birmingham voters approved a $3.3 million bond issue in 1977 to preserve the site. This money went toward stabilization of the main structures and the construction of a visitor's center and the establishment of a metal arts program.

Preservation and restoration work continues at Sloss and funds are being raised for a major expansion of the interpretive facilities in a new visitor's center. The site is proposed to become part of a linear park running east-west through downtown Birmingham along the route of the "Railroad Reservation", which was a strip of land zoned for industrial development in Birmingham's 1871 city plan.

[edit] Present use

Sloss now is used to hold metal arts classes, a barbecue cookoff, an annual Halloween haunted house, and is a concert venue.

[edit] See also

List of National Historic Landmarks in Alabama

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b "Sloss Blast Furnaces". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service (2007-01-23).
^ George R. Adams (April, 1978), National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Sloss Blast FurnacesPDF (935 KiB), National Park Service and Accompanying 7 photos, from 1978 and 1971.PDF (0.98 MiB)
^ Sloss Fright Furnace

Lewis, W. David (1994). Sloss Furnaces and the Rise of the Birmingham District: An Industrial Epic. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: Univ. of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0708-7.
Windham, Kathryn Tucker (1987). The Ghost in the Sloss Furnaces. Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham Historical Society. ISBN 0-317-65100-5.

[edit] External links

Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark
Sloss Metal Arts
Sloss Fright Furnace - Halloween attraction
Ghost at Sloss Furnaces

[show]

v • d • e

Birmingham, Alabama, USA landmarks

[show] v • d • e U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Keeper of the Register · History of the National Register of Historic Places · Property types · Historic district · Contributing property

List of entries National Park Service · National Historic Landmarks · National Battlefields · National Historic Sites · National Historical Parks · National Memorials · National Monuments