Sloss Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark in Alabama, made pig iron here from 1882 to 1971. Imagine this place as it was when it first ran: a pig iron–producing blast furnace that operated from 1882 to 1971. After it closed, Sloss became one of the first industrial sites — and the only blast furnace — in the U.S. to be preserved and restored for public use, and in 1981 the furnaces were designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior.
Today this site is alive in new ways: it serves as an interpretive museum of industry, hosts a metal arts program, and doubles as a concert and festival venue. A new visitor center was built in 2015 and opened in 2016, and the museum is free to visit. The furnace complex sits along the wide strip of land reserved in Birmingham’s original city plan for railroads and industry, and it still welcomes students through its education programs.
Remember the man who set this story in motion: Colonel James Withers Sloss, one of Birmingham’s founders, who promoted railroad development in Jones Valley, joined the Pratt Coke and Coal Company, and in 1881 formed the Sloss Furnace Company and began construction here on 50 acres. The furnace structures still tower over the visitor center opened in 2016, and the museum is free.