The Tannehill Ironworks is the central feature of Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park near the unincorporated town of
McCalla in
Tuscaloosa County
Tuscaloosa County is a county in the northwest-central portion of the U.S. state of Alabama and is the center of commerce, education, industry, health care, and entertainment for the region.
The county's population was 227,036 as of the 2020 ...
,
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
.
[ 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 ...
as Tannehill Furnace, it was a major supplier of iron for Confederate ordnance.[ Remains of the old furnaces are located south of Bessemer off ]Interstate 59
Interstate 59 (I-59) is an Interstate Highway located in the southeastern United States. It is a north–south route that spans from a junction with I-10 and I-12 at Slidell, Louisiana, to a junction with I-24 near Wildwood, Georgia.
...
/ Interstate 20 near the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
. The park includes: the John Wesley Hall Grist Mill; the May Plantation Cotton Gin House; and the Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama
The Iron & Steel Museum of Alabama, also known as the Tannehill Museum, is an industrial museum that demonstrates iron production in the nineteenth-century Alabama located at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park in McCalla, Tuscaloosa Coun ...
.[
]
History
Ironmaking at the site began with construction of a bloomery forge by Daniel Hillman Sr. in 1830.[ 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
Selma may refer to:
Places
*Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cali ...
. 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.[
The Tannehill furnaces and its adjacent ]foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
, 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.[
Also known as the Roupes Valley Iron Company, these works had significant influence on the later development of the ]Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
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).[
;Listings
The furnace remains and its reconstructed portions were named an American Society for Metals historical landmark in 1994.][ The park is an American Battlefield Trust Heritage Site,][ a stop on the Alabama Appalachian Highlands Birding Trail,][ and was listed among the top 10 Alabama parks and nature areas visited in 2016.][
]
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 ...
*Brierfield Furnace
The Brierfield Furnace, also known as the Bibb Naval Furnace and Brierfield Ironworks, is a historic district in Brierfield, Alabama, encompassed by Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park. The district covers and includes one building and nine ...
* Shelby Ironworks
References
External links
Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park
Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission
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{{authority control
Industrial buildings completed in 1862
State parks of Alabama
Ironworks and steel mills in Alabama
National Register of Historic Places in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Alabama in the American Civil War
Protected areas of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Mountain biking venues in Alabama
Museums in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
Wilson's Raid
Industry museums in Alabama
History museums in Alabama
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama
Blast furnaces in the United States
1862 establishments in Alabama
Historic American Buildings Survey in Alabama
Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama
American Civil War on the National Register of Historic Places