July 24, 1883

Alice Furnace No. 2, or ‘Big Alice,’ began producing iron in Birmingham for the Pratt Coal & Coke Co. Financed by Henry DeBardeleben and T.T. Hillman, the company built the Alice Furnaces specifically to use ore and coke available locally in the Jones Valley. The blast furnaces became the first commercially successful iron-making operation in the city. In 1886, the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad acquired the furnaces and used them to become the most significant iron and steel company in the city. Big Alice was dismantled in 1929, and the site now serves as the home of Golden Flake Snack Foods.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

An Alice Furnace Company facility in Birmingham, ca. 1880. The company was at the forefront of practical iron production in Jefferson County during the late nineteenth century. Industrialist Enoch Ensley bought the company during the early 1880s. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)

Enoch Ensley (1832-1891) was a leading industrialist during development of the “Birmingham District” in Jefferson County during the late nineteenth century. The town of Ensley near Birmingham is named in his honor. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Birmingham Public Library Archives)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.