Blocton Coke Ovens/Blocton - West Blocton, AL - Alabama Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Blocton Coke Ovens/Blocton historical marker is an Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission metal marker. It is located at the entrance to the Blocton Coke Ovens Park on Bibb County Road 24. The marker was placed by The West Blocton Improvement Committee and The Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission.

Marker Name: Blocton Coke Ovens/Blocton Marker Type: Rural Roadside Addtional Information:: Marker text: Blocton Coke Ovens Construction began on the bee-hive coke ovens in 1887. Shortly before Woodstock Iron Company directors Samuel Noble, Alfred L. Tyler & W.S. Gurnee became large stockholders in the Cahaba Coal Mining Company to ensure a steady supply of fuel for two new coke furnaces at Anniston. When the Tennessee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company acquired the Cahaba Company in 1892, 467 ovens were producing coke for furnaces at Oxmoor, Bessemer, Birmingham & Trussville as well. After U.S. Steel assumed control in 1907, the ovens operated intermittently for a short time. In 1985, large endwall stones were removed and later used in the restoration of the Civil War furnaces at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. The Town of West Blocton purchased the site in 1972 & 1997. Blocton Centered around the coke ovens, Blocton, first called Gresham, was the Cahaba Coal Mining Company town founded by Truman H. Aldrich in 1883-84. Other company officers included W. A. Clark of Muscatine, Iowa, and Cornelius Cadle, Jr., the town's first postmaster. The first coal was shipped in February 1884. Ten coal mines were eventually opened, the last in 1915 by the Tennesee Coal, Iron & Railroad Company division of U.S. Steel. In its hayday around 1900, Blocton was the largest company town in the Cahaba coal field and had nine churches, two depots, schools, fraternal lodges, a company store, waterworks, hospital and over 375 miners' houses. Blocton declined after U.S. Steel ceased operations in 1928. Date Dedicated / Placed: 1998 Marker Number: None

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Date Logged Log User Rating   07/15/2014 BamaNanu visited it