Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark is currently the only 20th-century blast furnace in the nation being preserved and interpreted as an industrial museum. Since reopening in 1983, Sloss Furnaces has become an international model for similar preservation efforts and presents a remarkable perspective of the era when America grew to world industrial dominance. At the same time, Sloss is an important reminder of the dreams and struggles of the people who worked in the industries that made Birmingham the "Magic City." Today Sloss is not only dedicated to preservation and education but serves as a center for community and civic events. Site tours and public presentations provide insight into Sloss's industrial heritage as well as a rare glimpse of an early Birmingham that has all but disappeared.
Title: Supporters' iron will keep Sloss Furnaces' past alive
Author: Jeremy Gray
Publisher: The Birmingham News
Date: 11/9/09
From its decades as a blast furnace that drove Birmingham's bustling industrial economy to its rebirth as a museum preserving the memories of that bygone era, the history of Sloss Furnaces is captured in a new pictorial history being released Monday.
''Sloss Furnaces'' is the newest installment in the Images of America series of books from Arcadia Publishing, a nationwide line that includes 68 books detailing different aspects of Alabama history and about 20 in the Birmingham area alone.
Past installments chronicled, among other subjects, Birmingham's broadcast television history, the city of Leeds, and Alabama's contributions to the advancement of aviation.
Sloss Furnaces curator Karen Utz, who provided the text for the book, said she was approached about the project by Arcadia during the Southeastern Museums Conference's annual meeting in Birmingham in October 2008.
Throughout the summer, her staff delved into the Birmingham Public Archives to compile the book's roughly 200 pictures. 'It was extremely revealing. I saw pictures I'd never seen before. I learned a great deal from doing this," Utz said.
The images show men working in the heyday of the iron and steel industry from the late 1880s through the 1950s, the furnace's decay as it stood dormant in the decade after it ceased operations in 1971, and the rallies of the late 1970s that led to its conversion into a museum in 1983.
"Everyone who lives here now very likely had a grandfather or uncle or someone in their families who worked at Sloss or one of the many other blast furnaces or steel mills in the area," Utz said.
The book, Utz said, connects the dots from the era when Sloss was Birmingham's lead employer to its second life as a place of learning and host to social and cultural events.
Since 1981, when it was designated a National Historic Landmark, Sloss has held the distinction as the only 20th- century blast furnace in the U.S. preserved as an industrial museum.
The pictures capture the push in the late 1970s by citizens eager to see Sloss preserved that led to the conversion. Their efforts, Utz said, kept the furnaces from being sold for scrap and the land sold as an industrial site, according to the book. Parades and public rallies, many of which are pictured in the book, persuaded city leaders to maintain the site.
"This is the true story of concerned citizens that met in homes and restaurants and, through their hard work, managed to save Sloss," Utz said."
