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DECATUR FURNACE Decatur, Morgan County Feb. 23, 1890 A NOTHER of the old towns of Alabama which experienced the great building boom of the 1880's was Decatur. This boom was begun in Decatur by the Decatur Land and Improvement Co., which company bought several thousand acres surrounding the town, then induced various enterprises to build, giving the factory sites. Among this number was the Decatur Charcoal and Chemical Co. which erected 48 kilns in 1887. In order to utilize the charcoal, the Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Co. was organized and incorporated Feb. 21, 1887. From the Iron Age of Dec. 1, 1887 is reproduced the following account: "The furnace is to be 60 feet high and 12 feet across bosh, with two brick stoves. The work on the foundation of the furnace is going on, the cast house is building and stakes for the stockhouse have just been driven. Charcoal is to be delivered by the Decatur Charcoal and Chemical Co. at 5c a bushel in the stockhouse under a 10 years' contract. The ores are to come in barges from points on the Upper Tenn. River and from Murphy's Valley, where the company owns large tracts of ore and coal lands and into which the L. & N. R.R. is building a branch." The furnace was completed in the Spring of 1888 and immediately was offered for sale or lease. At length, however, the furnace was blown in on Feb. 23, 1890, almost two years after being completed. For several months during 1891 the furnace used coke which was shipped from the Birmingham District. Near the furnace was the plant of the Decatur Car Wheel & Mfg. Co., which had a capacity of 10,000 to 12,000 tons of pig iron a year. The L. & N. R.R. had also built shops and a foundry there. Despite all these apparent advantages, the furnace operated but a few years. When the panic of 1893 came, the railroads drastically curtailed their expenditures and the Car Wheel Works ceased operation. The furnace was blown out in 1893 and was lighted only once again, in 1895, when it made a short run of less than one year. In 1898 the plant was bought by the Alabama and Georgia Iron Co. of which Eugene Zimmerman was president. Plans were made to operate the furnace but were abandoned. The Decatur Land Co. repossessed the property and dismantled the furnace plant in 1900. ...

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