The Brierfield Furnace, also known as the Bibb Naval Furnace and Brierfield Ironworks, is a historic district in
Brierfield, Alabama
Brierfield is an unincorporated community in Bibb County, Alabama, United States. It was established in the mid 19th century and was the site of a major ironworks operation during and following the American Civil War. It is thought by scholars ...
, encompassed by Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park.
The district covers and includes one building and nine sites. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
on November 20, 1974.
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]
History
The Brierfield Furnace site was developed in 1861 by Caswell Campbell Huckabee,[ a ]Greensboro
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
planter, and Jonathan Newton Smith, a Bibb County planter, on land purchased from Jesse Mahan near the Little Cahaba River, a tributary of the Cahaba. The endeavor was initially known as the Bibb County Iron Company, with Huckabee providing most of the capital and slave labor for construction. Richard Fell was employed to build a stone blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
and, in 1862, a rolling mill
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...
. The company produced cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
initially, but soon changed over to the more lucrative production of wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
. The iron was used to produce farm implements.
Recognizing the high quality of iron produced at Brierfield, Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
officials forced the men to sell the ironworks to the government for $600,000 in 1863, renaming it the Bibb Naval Furnace. A new brick furnace was built and a railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
line was constructed to connect the furnace to the mainline of the Alabama and Tennessee River Railroad
Alabama and Tennessee River Rail Road Company was incorporated under act of Alabama on March 4, 1848.Interstate Commerce Commission. ''Southern Ry. Co.'', Volume 37, Interstate Commerce Commission Valuation Reports, November 6, 1931, p. 213. Washi ...
. The output of the ironworks was then shipped to the Confederate arsenal at Selma. By 1864, the furnace was producing 25 tons of iron per day, much of which went into producing over 100 Brooke rifle
The Brooke rifle was a type of rifled, muzzle-loading naval and coast defense gun designed by John Mercer Brooke, an officer in the Confederate States Navy. They were produced by plants in Richmond, Virginia, and Selma, Alabama, between 1861 and 1 ...
s ( a type of naval and coastal cannon), one of the South's most important weapons, at Selma. This all ended on March 31, 1865, when the Bibb Naval Furnace was destroyed by the 10th Missouri Volunteer Cavalry during Wilson's Raid
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 ...
.
Following the war, the operation was rebuilt under the private ownership of the Canebrake Company. The new company, formed by former Confederates Josiah Gorgas
Josiah Gorgas (July 1, 1818 – May 15, 1883) was one of the few Northern-born Confederate generals and was later president of the University of Alabama.
As chief of ordnance during the American Civil War, Gorgas managed to keep the Confederate a ...
and Francis Strother Lyon
Francis Strother Lyon (February 25, 1800 – December 31, 1882) was a prominent Alabama attorney and politician. He served two terms in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War after being an antebellum member of the Unit ...
, purchased the ironworks site from the Federal government for $45,000 in January 1866. They had the site back in production by November 2, 1866. In January 1867, Lyon turned the deed over to Gorgas, who became president of the newly formed Brierfield Ironworks. Gorgas leased the ironworks to Thomas S. Alvis on August 2, 1869. He ran the works until forced to close due to economic conditions following the Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Lon ...
.
The facilities were purchased and reactivated by William D. and Kearsley Carter, of Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, in 1877. By 1882, the operation was under the management of Thomas Jefferson Peter, of Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
. Peter had the furnace rebuilt and remodeled the rolling mill. He also had a nailery, coke oven
Coke is a grey, hard, and porous coal-based fuel with a high carbon content and few impurities, made by heating coal or oil in the absence of air—a destructive distillation process. It is an important industrial product, used mainly in iron ...
s, and a washer built. However, at least partially due to the competition from cut-wire nails out of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, the ironworks finally closed for good in December 1894.
In the years following the closure the site lay abandoned. During the World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
era thousands of bricks were scavenged from the site. In 1976, the Bibb County Commission created a park containing at the urging of the Bibb County Historical Society. This initial effort has evolved over the years into what is now the Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park.
The modern park
The structures and sites that contribute to the National Register of Historic Places listing include the ruinous brick furnace (c. 1860s, 1880s), the tramway bed from the railroad (c. 1860s), the brick foundations of the rolling mill (c. 1862, 1880s), the nailery foundations (c. 1880s), coke ovens (c. 1880s), cemetery (c. 1850s), and the superintendent's house (c. 1870s).
Several other structures have been moved to the park from other nearby locations. They include the Ashby Post Office (c. 1900), Brierfield Ironworks Park Office (1894), Wilson Hayes House (c. 1900), J. Henry Jones General Store (c. 1900), Lightsey Cabin (1840), Sims-Hubbard Log Cabin (c. 1850), Billy Mitchell Cabin (1880s), and Mulberry Baptist Church (1897). The park also features the additional attractions of an outdoor amphitheater
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
, hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
and nature trail
An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural, techno ...
s, campsites, and a swimming pool.
See also
*Birmingham District
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 t ...
* Shelby Ironworks
*Tannehill Ironworks
The Tannehill Ironworks is the central feature of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near the unincorporated town of McCalla, Alabama, McCalla in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. Listed on the National Register of Hi ...
References
External links
Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park
*
{{Protected areas of Alabama
National Register of Historic Places in Bibb County, Alabama
Wilson's Raid
Ironworks and steel mills in Alabama
Industrial buildings and structures in Alabama
Alabama in the American Civil War
Historic districts in Bibb County, Alabama
Protected areas of Bibb County, Alabama
Parks in Alabama
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
Industrial buildings completed in 1861
1861 establishments in Alabama
Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places