Woodward Iron Company

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The Woodward Iron Company (located in the area between Hueytown, Brighton, and Bessemer, Alabama) was founded on December 31, 1881, by brothers William and Joseph Woodward. William was the company president and Joseph was the company secretary.^[1] The company operated iron and coal mines, quarries and furnaces; these were connected by a private industrial railroad based in Bessemer, Alabama. The company administrative office was located near Woodward Ore Mine #1, south of Paul's Hill in Bessemer.

By the 1920s Woodward Iron was one of the nation's largest suppliers of pig iron. It was part of the industrial complex of heavy industries in the Birmingham and Bessemer area. The workforce eventually grew to more than 2000 men.

In 1968, Mead Corporation acquired Woodward Iron Company just as the nation's steel industry was about to begin restructuring and a long decline. By the mid 1970s the entire iron mining and manufacturing site closed down. Today much of the 1,200-acre (4.9 km²) site has been cleared. Some has been abandoned and other areas have been re-developed for lighter industrial use. Little remains of the once sprawling plant except for an isolated chimney or two. However, three of the remaining arches from the high lines from the Woodward Iron Company can be found at 3551 Bessemer Super Highway, Bessemer, Alabama.