Irondale Furnace (Cahaba Iron Works)

Then

Wallace S. McElwain, who left Holly Springs as Union forces approached, began the Cahaba Iron Works on Shades Creek in spring 1863 to supply pig iron to the arsenal at Selma. The iron went by oxcart to Montevallo and by rail to Selma, from Red Mountain ore.

Wilson's cavalry destroyed the furnace in March 1865 on the way to Selma; the commissary was spared. It was rebuilt in 1866, the first Alabama furnace back in blast after the war, and ran until 1873.

Now

Marker only

The Irondale Furnace Trail on Stone River Road in Mountain Brook leads to the furnace site, and the old commissary still stands on Montevallo Road.

The nearest railroad in service today is a line owned by a smaller railroad, about 3 miles from the center of Mountain Brook.