Rock Run Furnace & Town, County Road 12, Rock Run

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-193. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Workers' and superintendents' houses and the company commissary flank County Road 29 (Rock Run Road). Furnace remains are located on County Road 12. (near northwest comer of County Road 12 and County Road 29) Rock Run, Cherokee County, Alabama Structural Type: Frame, single-story worker housing (circa flank County Road 29, including the two larger, two-story homes (circa for superintendents. The homes are occupied and various changes and repairs have been made to the structures through the century. Furnace remains are limited to approximately half the diameter of the stone base, standing about 4 ft tall. The two-story frame commissary (circa remains abandoned and in serious disrepair.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-193. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The town of Rock Run, primarily built to house and support the employees of the Rock Run furnace, is typical of the industrial towns scattered through the South at the turn of the century. While the early twentieth century town contained a school, commissary, numerous houses, and a relatively large charcoal furnace, only about 15 houses and the commissary have survived. One of many furnaces located in Alabama in the and early the Rock Run furnace is said to have been the last charcoal furnace in the U.S. to have been blown out.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-193. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

LeeAnn Bishop Lands ROCK RUN FURNACE & TOWN HAER No. AL-193 (Page 2) History It was the Birmingham coke iron district that captured Alabama's iron boom of the late but smaller charcoal operations dotted the landscape of east and central Alabama into the first decade of the twentieth century. From to 27 blast furnaces were added to the state. By 51 blast furnaces had been completed. All totaled, Alabama counted 77 blast furnaces that had operated from to Of these 32 used charcoal as fuel, and 10 of those used coke at some point in their operation.

The number of charcoal furnaces declined with the increasing use of coke, however moving from 11 in to a high of 14 from to to only 5 in Production of charcoal iron dropped from just over tons in to tons in Usually producing iron suitable for railroad car wheels, these smaller charcoal furnaces served the rapidly growing railroad industry. While Birmingham iron producers eventually exploited its coal reserves to produce coke, the Rock Run Iron Company and a hand full of others in east Alabama continued using charcoal. 1 A small number of furnaces existed prior to Alabama's iron boom and they were called upon to support the Confederate cause during the Civil War.

The original Rock Run furnace (date of origin unknown) generated about 14 tons of iron a day for the war effort, but Union troops destroyed the works in or It was not until that the rebuilding of the Rock Run furnace commenced, and Theodore and Alfred Royer of Johnstown, Pennsylvania established a one-stack, warm blast furnace that went into blast 1 June The furnace measured 38 ft and included an iron shell and an elevator to take stock to the top. Cast iron pipe stoves preheated the air. A hill behind the furnace site provided the first ore, but brown hematite ore was later obtained from the surrounding county.

The furnace company struggled, however, and the furnace changed hands frequently in the Jesse Arthur of Newport, Kentucky bought the furnace on 6 December at a court-ordered auction for but sold the facility to Charles 0. Lockhard and Thomas S. Ireland of Cincinnati almost immediately afterward for William Culbertson bought the facility in for Finally, John H. Bass of Ft. Wayne, Indiana bought the property and furnace on 9 January for It was under the direction of the Bass family that the Rock Run facility expanded and the community of Rock Run thrived. Bass, who operated about 15 other furnaces that fed his railroad car wheel manufacturing plants in Chicago, St. Louis, and Fort Wayne, enlarged the Rock Run operations and sought more efficient production.

A tramway replaced ox-carts moving material to Pleasant Gap, miles away, where iron was shipped on the Selma, Rome and Dalton Railroad. And in Bass enlarged the furnace to 9 ft by 47 ft and built more charcoal kilns. A method of roasting the ore was also instituted, which improved quality. Soon afterward Bass found another market for charcoal iron in Pittsburgh - for use in making rolling mill rolls and high quality springs. In Bass again enlarged the furnace to ft by ft and the annual output increased from 1 In Cherokee county alone, other charcoal furnaces included Round Mountain Furnace. Cornwall Furnace, Stonewall Iron Company, and the Tecumseh Furnace. The Cornwall Furnace is extant and preserved at Cornwall Furnace Memorial Park off County Road ROCKRUNFURNACE&TOWN HAER No.

AL-193 (Page 3) GT to GT annually. A edition of The Coosa River News reported that the furnace property had grown from 300 acres to several thousand acres "containing vast fields of iron and most valuable deposits of bauxite." The company town expanded, as well. At its peak, about 400 or 500 men worked in the mining, furnace or wood harvesting operations and lived in Rock Run or the vicinity. The company provided worker and supervisor housing, a school (though poorly attended), a commissary, and the Bass Institute and Unity Church. In the early twentieth century, street lights and fire hydrants were installed. The total number of furnaces (coke and charcoal) began declining in Alabama after and by only 19 remained. Charcoal furnaces fell in importance faster than Alabama's coke furnaces.

The Bass furnace- said to be the last operating charcoal furnace in the U.S. -was blown out on Christmas Eve, and the furnace operations were completely dismantled by the end of the next year. The company charter was dissolved, properties sold, and individuals living in company houses were given the first option to buy their houses and associated land. While most of the blast furnace is gone, a few town buildings remain extant. The circa home of John Garvin, who served as Superintendent and General Manager of the furnace beginning in the and the circa home of Dave Garvin are presently occupied and in good condition. The circa commissary has suffered various periods of abandonment and is in serious disrepair. The remaining circa single-story worker homes are occupied and in good condition.

ROCK RUN FURNACE & TOWN HAER No. AL-193 (Page 4) Sources Consulted Armes, Ethel. The Story of Coal and Iron in Alabama. Birmingham: Bookkeepers Press, Berney, Dafford. Hand-Book ofAlabama. Birmingham: Roberts & Son, Second Edition. (The) Heritage of Cherokee County, Alabama (Heritage Publishing Consultants, Mann, Col. Robert N. "Rock Run Furnace and Mine." Cherokee County Heritage 4 (April Phillips, William Battle. Iron Making in Alabama. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, Third Edition. Pope, Foster E. "Some of the History of Rock Run." History and Heritage: Articles on Cherokee Co., Alabama. New York: Cherokee County Historical Museum, Stewart, Frank Ross. "Rock Run Furnace." Cherokee County History 4, Part B. Steward University Press, Woodward Iron Co. Alabama Blast Furnaces.

Alabama: Woodward Iron Co.,