Celebrating the history of Sloss Furnaces
Beginning Feb. 4, the Alabama Power Company Archives Museum will celebrate the rich history of one of the Birmingham Industrial District’s earliest businesses in the exhibition “Sloss Furnaces: Then & Now.”
In 1880, less than a decade after Birmingham’s founding, James Withers Sloss founded the Sloss Furnaces Co. It was Birmingham’s second blast furnace.
Within its first year of operation, the furnace output about 24,000 tons of iron. During this time, Sloss worked with L&N railroad and the Elyton Land Co. to develop an alliance to bring the rail line to Birmingham.
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As Birmingham entered the 20th century, it was often referred to as the “Magic City,” as people from throughout the country, and world, flocked to work in the mines, furnaces and mills. During this time, half of Birmingham’s population were laborers and their families, and a 1910 census recorded immigrants from 28 countries living in Birmingham. “The volume of rail traffic at the Birmingham rail terminal surpassed that of all other Southern states,” said Sloss Furnaces Curator Karen Utz.
During the 1900s, Birmingham led the nation in the production of foundry iron and pipe and ranked second for production of iron, only surpassed by Pittsburgh. James Sloss retired from Sloss Furnaces in 1886, and in 1899 the company was reorganized as Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron.
Sloss-Sheffield became the second largest pig iron company in the Birmingham Industrial District. The company managed seven blast furnaces, 1,500 beehive coke ovens, 120,000 acres of coal and ore land, five Jefferson County coal mines, two red ore mines, quarries in north Birmingham, brown ore mines in Russellville, and company housing for 1,200 of its workers.
During the 90 years of production at Sloss Furnaces, the company celebrated a number of successes, including recognition of support of the military during World Wars I and II. However, changing technology and shifting markets in the 1960s brought about challenges that Sloss-Sheffield could not overcome, and in 1970 the oldest remaining blast furnace in Birmingham was closed.
Fortunately, the story of Sloss Furnaces did not end. After considerable work from dedicated members of the community, it was selected for the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1977, the city of Birmingham supported renovations for Sloss to be an industrial museum.
Sloss Furnaces is the only 20th century blast furnace in the nation that is preserved as an industrial museum. Through the nationally recognized Sloss Furnaces Metal Arts Program, the industrial iron processes that took place in Birmingham for more than 100 years are kept alive. The program offers all aspects of metal work, from patternmaking, casting and welding, to the forging of metal sculpture. In addition to housing artist studios, this program offers workshops and events that are open to the public.
The exhibition, “Sloss Furnaces: Then & Now,” will showcase the rebirth of Sloss as a museum and center for metal arts. Artwork produced by Sloss Metal Arts artists-in-residence and students will be on exhibit and available for purchase. The artists will receive 100 percent of the sales (only cash and checks accepted).
Alabama Power Company Archives Museum invites the public to join the celebration for an opening on Thursday, Feb. 4 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the Birmingham Art Crawl. The archives museum is in Alabama Power’s historic 1925 building, which is part of the company’s Corporate Headquarters at 600 North 18th St., in downtown Birmingham. The exhibition will continue through May 6 during regular museum hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, call 205-257-4155 or visit the Birmingham Art Crawl online.
