On This Day In Alabama History: Shelby Iron Works Was Sold

By Graydon Rust Alabama 200

March 18, 1862

Horace Ware, founder of the Shelby Iron Works, sold most of the interest in his company for $150,000. A native of Massachusetts, Ware partnered with his father to construct several crude forges in Bibb and Shelby counties and, by the age of 20, was a leader in the state’s iron industry. He constructed the Shelby Iron Works, Alabama’s first permanent ironworks, in the 1840s and later added the state’s first rolling mill to produce 12 tons of marketable iron bar daily. The ironworks was a major supplier of iron to the Confederate arsenal until its destruction by Wilson’s Raiders in April 1865. Today, its ruins are located a few miles south of Columbiana, and a fall festival is held there each year.

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