Vulcan Materials Bessemer Quarry

Vulcan Materials Bessemer Quarry is a quarry and aggregates plant operated by Vulcan Materials at 1200 Vulcan Drive, straddling Five Mile Creek west of Powder Plant Road in western Bessemer. The area was formerly a community formerly known as Parkwood, which is also the namesake of the Parkwood formation of carboniferous shale which is mined and processed there.

The $2.1 million plant was developed by the City of Bessemer for lease to Vulcan Materials' Birmingham Clay division in 1965. The arrangement was the first industrial plant created with public funds under the Wallace-Cater Act. The shales quarried there are processed under high temperature, causing them to expand, producing a porous, lightweight material used as aggregate in the production of concrete. Several ready-mix concrete plants operate in the immediate vicinity of the quarry.

References

• Hopper, Jake (1965) "Busy day at Birmingham" The Birmingham News - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections

External links

• Bessemer at vulcanmaterials.com