New Birmingham, Texas
New Birmingham, Texas was a planned iron-making center in Cherokee County, Texas, inspired by the success of Birmingham.
New Birmingham was founded in 1887 by Anderson Blevins, a sewing machine salesman from Alabama. He took note of the outcroppings of iron ore in the vicinity of Rusk and convinced local investors to form a development company. Additional capital from St Louis and New York allowed the firm to reorganize as the New Birmingham Iron and Land Company. In the fall of 1887 the company purchased 20,000 acres of land and began construction of two 50-ton furnaces, dubbed the "Tassie Belle" (named for Blevins' wife) and the "Star and Crescent" which were soon producing pig iron at $11 a ton. A pipe works and brick kiln were also constructed and, along with a timber enterprise, enabled the town to quickly emerge from the pine forest. A coal-fired electric generating plant was soon completed and an ice factory provided creature comforts. A railway depot, banks, a schoolhouse, a weekly newspaper and the Southern Hotel helped complete the picture of a boomtown.
Two factors led the town to failure in the early 1890s, however. The shortage of capital for industrial development was exacerbated by the newly-passed "Alien Land Law of Texas" which curtailed the potential for English investment. Then the Panic of 1893 collapsed the market for pig iron just as an unfortunate explosion crippled the Tassie Belle furnace. Residents also gave credit to a curse placed on the town by the widow of W. H. Hamman, who, in her grief, ran through the streets asking God to destroy the city. With the loss of jobs and industry, the town, dubbed the "Iron Queen of the Southwest", was virtually abandoned by the end of the year.
A few attempts were made to resurrect industry in New Birmingham. The Record Brothers planned to build a smelter there in 1899, but never completed the project. Blevins attempted to reopen the foundry in 1907, but without success. The last resident left by the end of 1910 and the ironworks and many buildings were scrapped during World War I. The Southern Hotel, vacant since 1893, burned down in 1926 and the last building standing, a schoolhouse, was demolished in 1932 for construction of U. S. Highway 69.
A historical marker was erected at the site of New Birmingham in 1966. Tassie Belle Historical Park contains ruins of the furnace.
A materials and logistics company founded in Rusk in 2005 calls itself New Birmingham, Inc.
References
- Winfrey, Dorman H. (March 1967) "New Birmingham, Texas." East Texas Historical Journal. No. 5
- Long, Christopher (November 11, 2009) "New Birmingham, Texas" Handbook of Texas Online
- Kombos, Thanasis (January 16, 2010) "New Birmingham's rapid rise and fall." Jacksonville (Texas) Daily Progress