In 1886, Pioneer Mining & Manufacturing Company founder, David Thomas, purchased 2,000 acres near Village Creek for $4 per acre. Along with access to water, the property included its own limestone, ore, and coal deposits which made it ideal for iron making. He built a massive complex of iron furnaces known as the Thomas Furnaces.
Workers settled into a company town known as Thomas, named after Pioneer Mining’s founder. Those living outside of the company-controlled village settled nearby in East Thomas. In 1898, Republic Iron & Steel Company purchased an option on Pioneer Company’s capital stock and exercised it the following year, acquiring the Thomas Furnaces complex. By 1902, Republic Steel was capable of producing 250 tons per day.
The furnace operation thrived through the early 1900s. A new battery of Koppers-Becker coke ovens were installed in October 1925. In 1930, the Republic Steel Corporation acquired all of Republic Iron & Steel Company’s properties and used the iron furnaces at the Thomas plant to also supply the steel plant in Alabama City. During its peak, as many as 1,800 employees worked at the Thomas plant.
Republic Steel remained prosperous until the 1970s. Increasing labor costs, foreign imports, and other factors caused severe stress across the steel industry. The Thomas furnaces were shut down in 1971. The R.A. Wade Company merged into Wade Sand & Gravel Company, Inc. and purchased the closed steel works.
In 1993, the owner of Republic Steel began offering use of the steel complex to visiting artists. Artists from all over the United States and Europe have worked at the site to produce art that is on permanent display at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Today, the quarry around Republic Steel still mines dolomite and limestone for use in construction materials.
Abandoned Birmingham Book
Founded in 1871 after the Civil War, Birmingham rapidly grew as an industrial enterprise due to the abundance of the three raw materials used in making steel–iron ore, coal, and limestone. Birmingham’s rapid growth was due to the booming iron and steel industries giving it the nickname “Magic City” and “Pittsburgh of the South.” The city was named after Birmingham, England, as a nod to the major industrial powerhouse. The iron and steel industries began to dry up by the early 1970s, leaving behind dozens of abandoned structures that now dot the city’s landscape. In the last several years, Birmingham has begun to experience a rebirth. Money has been invested in reconstructing the historic downtown area into a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use district. In Abandoned Birmingham, photographer Leland Kent gives the reader an in-depth look at the forgotten buildings and factories throughout the city. This copy will be signed. Shipping included.
$28.00
What a place! Enor
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Enormous dead structures
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Really great pictures and writing!
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Thank you
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I’m surprised this stuff survived the years when scrap metal was worth money! Great pics
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The once proud and might laid to rest by cheap imported Japan 🇯🇵 Steel… Talk about unfair world trade…👎🏿👎🏿
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Yes Ron you are absolutely correct my Uncle Warren Taylor was a supervisor at the Bethlehem steel plant in Buffalo NY. He told my Aunt the Japanese were visiting the plant. Well she told him they would take his job, they copied the process and produced it cheaper and poorer quality and the Lackawanna plant and all the jobs are gone. If we went to war today where would we get the steel to build the weapons? Maybe we need to have lower wages and more jobs.
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awesome captures! is this location close to downtown Birmingham?
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Yes.
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Thanks for sharing the awesome pictures and history. Can’t believe I didn’t know this was still around. Did you receive special permission to visit? If I show up on a Sunday to explore will I be asked to leave?
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I had permission from the owner to photograph the mill. There’s security now so if you go without permission they may ask you to leave.
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Great pictures. Very cool. My grandfather worked here and lived in Thomas.
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