Woodward Iron Company
The Woodward Iron Company was one of the nation's largest suppliers of pig iron, employing more than 2,000 workers in the 1920s. The company operated mines, quarries and furnaces in western Jefferson County, all connected by a private industrial railroad. The company was founded on December 31, 1881 by brothers Joseph and William Woodward.
A headquarters office was located at the company's first ore mine at Tanyard Gap through Red Mountain in Bessemer. The community of Red Ore grew up around that facility, with a company-built infirmary, commissary and elementary school. The company developed two other ore mines, Woodward Mine No. 2 and Mine No. 3 south of Lipscomb and later operated the Songo Slope Mine two miles to the east and the Pyne Mine, a shaft mine drilled near Lacey's Chapel in Shades Valley in 1918.
The Woodward Furnaces were constructed on the former Fleming Jordan plantation between Hueytown, Brighton and Dolomite. The site was chosen because it was roughly equidistant between the ore and coal mines. The first furnace went into blast on August 17, 1883. Two other blast furnaces were completed, along with as many as 500 coke ovens, before 1909, increasing daily output of pig iron to 1,000 tons and yearly output to more than 250,000 tons. The community of Woodward grew up around the furnaces.
The Woodward Line industrial railway ran along the north face of Red Mountain, connecting with TCI's "High Ore Line" at Wenonah before zig-zagging up to Woodward's mine openings further west.
Woodward's ore mines were idled during the Great Depression but reopened to supply the high demand for metals during World War II. Mine No. 3 was the last operating ore mine on Red Mountain, closing in 1953. Its tipple continued to be used to transfer ore brought by truck from Songo and Pyne onto the company's rail cars until Pyne finally closed down in 1972. The Woodward Iron Company's mines had been acquired by the Mead Corporation in 1968. The furnaces were shut down in 1973. The Koppers Company purchased the site and continued to use the ovens to produce coke for a few years.
By the mid-1970s, all of the Woodward Iron Company's former facilities were idle.
References
- White, Marjorie Longenecker (1981) The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 9990230099
- Birmingham Rails by John Stewart