The SHELBY IRON WORKS FESTIVAL

20th Annual

Shelby Iron Works Festival

Sat & Sun,  October 10th-11th, 2009

Come help us celebrate the past 

as our annual

Fall tradition continues.

This year’s scheduled festival happenings include,

but may not be limited to:

*Antique Tractors & Parade

*Antique Autos

*Shelby Iron Works Own Syrup Mill in Operation

*The Recently Upgraded & Refurbished Museum 

*Our New Industrial Museum

*Music Both Days

*Civil War & Revolutionary War Re-enactors

*1870s Era Saw Mill in Operation

*Grist Mill

*Blacksmiths

“Good Ol’ Country Cookin’

*Our almost World Famous Old Shelby Boiled Peanuts

*Hay Rides & Rail Motor Car Rides

*Corn Shucking

*Colonial Medicine

*Vendors – Antiques, Kincknacks, Crafts & More.

All at Shelby Iron Works Park

where you’ll meet more friendly folks

than you can shake a stick at.

Shelby Belles

Early photo of two Shelby belles at the front fence of Shelby’s New Dannemora Hotel. Behind them in the distance are the Shelby Iron Works furnaces.

A Search for Teachers

As noted in the July 26 post “The School Iron Built”, Shelby Iron Works constructed, staffed, and equipped the first school in the Shelby community.
Above is a letter from Vanderbilt University to iron company officer C.J. Hazard regarding the search for teachers. The letter is dated September 11, 1883.
It reads:
“At this period of our scholastic year, we cannot assist you in obtaining such a teacher as you desire. None of our students will leave their work here to enter upon the conduct of a school.
At the close of our session we are able to meet very satisfactorily all requests similar to yours.”

The School Iron Built

By 1868, Shelby Iron Works had begun reconstruction and retooling following the destruction left by troops of Wilson’s Cavalry Corps.
The influx of money from a group of New England investors had begun to reinvigorate the company.
High on the agenda of new Shelby Iron officers A.W. North and A.G. West, was the improvement of education in the Shelby community. The photo above is of the school built by Shelby Iron Works. Books and other supplies were not easily obtained in the immediate post-Civil War South. A.W. North, the company financial officer, arranged for these supplies to be sent by John H. Browning, a fellow stockholder in New York.

The Magnet

Above is the masthead and some content from the February 19, 1892 issue of “the Magnet”. This was a newspaper devoted, in their words, to the “Magnetic City” of Shelby.
The paper’s business office was located four miles north of Shelby in Columbiana, Alabama. Manager of the paper was C.C. Dubose, and it was edited by H. C. Hornady, Jr.
The Town and County News section included items such as a call for an amateur dramatic club to be organized. The article states, “Shelby has first-class material for an amateur dramatic club. Would it not be a good idea to organize one?”
Also from this section of the paper, ” J.H. Johnson has placed a new counter in the rear of his store and added some more shelving. The improvement is great.”
A meeting of the literary club is noted,
and then there is this:
“The loafers’ club met Saturday, having found somebody away from home, thereby affording them a place to hold their meeting. It was a decided success. Thorough questions propounded by the president to oathbound members failed to show that any member had been guilty of working. This was so encouraging that they decided to borrow a dollar for somebody and have something. A man was found who wanted to give away a dollar, so the meeting panned out a howling success, every member full of enthusiasm. The next meeting will be held when an opportunity offers itself.”
Among advertisers in this issue of “the Magnet” were C. P. McLane & Co. Grocers, and Ayeryt & Averyt, located on the corner of 4th St. and 6th Avenue who advertises “you can get anything you want from a paper of needles to a hogshead of meat, at the lowest prices.”
In the late 1800’s, Shelby Iron Works and the “company town” of Shelby were collectively a hub of activity fueled by charcoal, iron, and the anticipation of many bright days ahead.

The Quilting Party

Ladies of the community gather for a quilting party in long ago Shelby. The house in the background of this photo is the Shelby Iron Company Superintendent’s house. It was constructed by slave labor in 1854. Unfortunately, the house burned in the early 1990’s.
Though the slavery period at Shelby is not a proud part our history, it is, nonetheless, an important aspect of that history.
The iron company owned no slaves. However, the company did obtain their service from plantation owners in Alabama and surrounding states. At the height of Civil War production, hundreds of slaves worked at Shelby Iron.
Following the war, a large number of the now former slaves and their families chose to remain at Shelby Iron Works, as newly freedmen. Decendents of those families today still call Shelby, Alabama home and are active members and directors of the Historic Shelby Association.

A Long Ago Sunday at the “Blue Hole”

Ore fields at Shelby were in close proximity to the furnaces. The brown hematite iron ore lay close to the surface. It was not mined in the sense of mine shafts and carbide lanterns, but rather was taken by stripping the ground away. The resulting “strip pits” dotted the area north of Shelby’s iron making facilities.
After production at the works came to an end in 1923, the strip pits still performed service to the people of Shelby for many years to come.
Each pit even had its own name and character to local folks (of which I was one). Among others, there was the Wash Hole and the Blue Hole.
People would travel across the rutted dirt road to the Wash Hole to fetch water for use back home on laundry day…better known as wash day.
The pit with easiest access to the community was the Blue Hole. Its gently slopping sides seemed to form the perfect, peaceful setting for baptism. Shelby residents would watch from across the way.
The photo above shows one such baptism from a long ago Sunday afternoon.

Photo credit to Hylott Armstrong, Jr., formerly of Shelby.

Shelby Iron Works Gearing Up

With the colder days of winter passing by, and Spring weather rolling in, Shelby Iron Works is abuzz with activity! Already this year, the Historic Shelby Association has been renovating and expanding for the upcoming festivals, and also for the park’s future. Over the past few weekends, volunteers have been working on the syrup mill pavilion, a new furnace pavilion, as well as brand new renovations on a future Industry Museum and Education Classroom.

Using lumber that association members milled themselves, they expanded a new wing on the syrup mill pavillion, giving them a place to keep wood for the furnace out of the rain, as well as provide shade for park visitors who eagerly watch the fall ritual of boiling the syrup in the evaporator pan.

The park also now has a new pavilion which will house a demonstration furnace, where basic refining and mold making will be demonstrated. Work on the furnace area will continue throughout the summer, but already the parts are being assembled. At the parks Spring Festival on Saturday, May 16th there will be a refining exhibit set up for visitors to learn about the process and see the ongoing project.

The association is also starting work on two brand new projects that will both preserve history and present it to young people. In the building next to the syrup mill, work has already started on the Industrial Museum. This will house larger pieces of machinery from days gone by, that were similar to machines and tools used in the area at the height of its industrial boom.

In the center of the building will be a spacious educational classroom where school groups and private groups will be hosted. Educational and history presentations will also be prepared and given here. This building will complement the Ironworks Museum, which was completely renovated last Fall, in providing a sit-down environment for learning about our rich local heritage.

For more information regarding this article, contact Dan Valles, 205-669-7596 or email at museum@shelbyironworks.com

Seeds of the Shelby Chemical Company

As early as October, 1916, discussion between Shelby and iron company management, located at the time in Hartford, Conn., was underway.
Shelby Iron was interested in establishing a wood by-products plant. Demand for these by-products, including acetate of lime and acetic acid, were increased substantially by the war effort. Shelby’s idea was to obtain these substances, among others, and use the remaining charcoal to fuel the company iron furnaces.
The letter above was from Shelby Iron officer Ward. W. Jacobs, who was also treasurer of the Mechanics Savings Bank, in Hartford.
The letter’s recipient, B. F. Wilson, would become an officer in the soon to be formed Shelby Chemical Company.
Below is Wilson’s reply.

B. F. Wilson’s Reply to Ward

Above is the reply from B. F. Wilson in Shelby to Ward Jacobs regarding the possibility of establishing a wood by-products plant in conjuncton with Shelby Iron Works.

The plant, under the name of Shelby Chemical Company, would be constructed in 1918