On March 18th, 1976, the people of Birmingham read in the Birmingham News that Sloss Furnace, an old iron blast furnace closed years ago and donated to the Alabama State Fair to be preserved, was scheduled to be demolished. In previous years other iconic historical sites, like the Terminal Station in Birmingham, had been demolished against public opinion. It was understandable that the citizens of Birmingham were outraged at the thought of another iconic part of their city being destroyed. As Topsy Smith Rigney said in a The Birmingham News column, “So let us cry out – loud and clear – to the powers that be – to stop destroying our history. A young city like Birmingham doesn’t have that much tradition to preserve.” Head historian at Sloss Furnaces, Tyler Malugani further described the situation, “When plans surfaced that the Alabama State Fair Authority would tear down Sloss, Birmingham citizens stepped up to ensure another vital part of the city’s history was not lost.”
In 1977, the city voters approved a 3 million bond to preserve and restore Sloss. When the vote passed, it was along racial lines with 84 percent of Black voters voting to pass it and whites voting against it by 56 percent. This vote shows the importance of preserving the landmark to the Black communities in Birmingham. With restoration money in place, work began to save Sloss Furnace.
In September 1983, a decade after it closed, Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark Museum opened with much fanfare. Published in an Editorial of The Birmingham News, “Sloss has its greatest importance as a living museum, reflecting much of Birmingham’s social, industrial and cultural history.” When first opened, Sloss chose to focus on the more positive parts of its history. Yet today, Sloss historian Malugani says that “we are striving now to make sure space is given equally to explain both the positives and the negatives so that people can leave with an accurate and fuller understanding of industry’s impact on Birmingham.” This explanation includes the darker history of convict leasing, and the prisoners they used as laborers in Sloss coal mines. Malugani says that what they want visitors to come away with is “An understanding of the mental, emotional, and physical strength that men had to exhibit to work here, all in the name of providing a better future for their families.”
When deciding to turn the furnace into a museum, they had major issues to resolve, such as the size of the site. As Malugani states, “the sheer scope of the site can be overwhelming.” He also said, “It is incredibly expensive to preserve a site like this.” Other debates included keeping everything original vs restoring. For example, the laboratory was heavily damaged, and they debated rebuilding it. They ultimately decided to keep everything as original as possible.
When visiting Sloss Furnace it is obvious why the Birmingham communities would want to save this beautiful historic site. Malugani describes their message to the public as “a three-part story: how vital the iron industry was to start(ing) and building Birmingham, the process of making iron at a site like ours, and the experiences of the men who worked in this type of industry.” I discovered when I visited Sloss Furnaces that they had effectively told this story. You could not be in this landmark site without picturing what it was like in its heyday. You could almost feel the oppressive heat from the forge and see the workers going about their normal day. Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark Museum is not only a vital piece of history for Birmingham but also to all Alabamians.
Additional resources
- “Chamber’s Conclusion Furnace Land as Park Ruled Out.” The Birmingham News, 18 Mar. 1976.
- Crowe, Bill. “City Voters Mostly Agreed Action Needed; Sloss Only Real Point of Difference.” The Birmingham News, 11 May 1977.
- DXR. 26 July 2016. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloss_Furnaces#/media/File:Sloss_Furnaces,_Birmingham_AL,_North_view_20160714_1.jpg. Accessed 6 Apr. 2024.
- “History.” Sloss Furnaces, 9 Jan. 2018, www.slossfurnaces.com/history/.
- Malugani, Tyler. Personal interview 5 Apr. 2024.
- Rigney, Topsy Smith. “Sloss Foundry a Landmark.” The Birmingham News, 13 Apr. 1976.
- “Sloss Stirs Again.” The Birmingham News, 2 Sept. 1983.
About the author
Lauren Hagan is a sophomore history major at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has a passion for history and learning how museums are created.
