O'Neal Industries

O'Neal Industries, commonly known as O'Neal Steel, is an industrial and high-performance metals distributor, fabricator and service center headquartered at 744 41st Street North in North Avondale.

The company was founded in 1921 when Kirkman O'Neal left Ingalls Iron Works and invested $2,000 in Southern Steel Works, a small steel fabricator in West End. The first service-center was established in 1935 supplying consumers for smaller steel orders than could be taken directly by producers. The company moved from West End to its present site in Avondale in 1942. During World War II O'Neal produced general purpose bombs, gun platforms and deck houses for the military.

The company continued to grow with Kirman's son Emmett O'Neal as president and spent most of the 1990s and early 2000s diversifying its product and customer bases by acquiring service centers around the country. Currently Craft O'Neal, Emmett's son, is chairman and the company employs around 3,000 workers nationwide.

References

• O'Neal, Kirkman (1974) O'Neal Steel: Memoirs of Kirkman O'Neal. Birmingham: private printing
• Weiner, Steven B. (March 2009) "Well Below the Radar" Forward
• Williams, Roy L. (October 4, 2009) "On the Record-Craft O'Neal, chairman and CEO of O'Neal Industries." Birmingham News

External links

• O'Neal Steel website