The area around Birmingham, Alabama has a long history with coal mining and steel production, and the decline of it's industry from the 1970s onwards has earned it the moniker of the 'Detroit of the South' among a certain sort of local. Most of the long-abandoned mines, processing plants and steelworks have been demolished but one dinosaur still remains standing.
The first blast furnace at the Thomas works (named after David Thomas, one of the founders) was constructed in 1888, and the sprawl of worker housing which was built around the facility became known as the town of Thomas, before it was absorbed into the urban sprawl of Birmingham in later life. Originally known as the Pioneer Company, in 1899 the company was bought out by Republic Steel who constructed a third blast furnace in 1902, with the works becoming the largest steel plant in the area. In 1925 a new by-products coke works was constructed, replacing the original beehive-style ovens with a modern Koppers-Becker battery of ovens, and this was further modernised in the 1950s - although the towering coal hopper and handling structures above and beside the ovens are thought to be completely original to the 1925 design. The Thomas plant shut down in 1971, with the blast furnaces, rolling mills and other steel-making facilities long since demolished, leaving the coke battery, blower house, boiler house, power plant and a few other smaller buildings standing. In the intervening years, the land was purchased by Wade Sand & Gravel, who use the grounds as a processing site for, well, sand and gravel. The owners, ever the entrepeneurs, leased out a small area in the middle of the old site to various local artists who have taken up residence there, and it's this presence which means the company is very approachable when it comes to people wanting to take photos there. We had unrestricted access to the old buildings whilst the workers went about their normal day-to-day business which was a pretty surreal experience, with the constant rumble and roar of rocks being crushed, sorted and poured out into large piles around the buildings accompanying every move.
Now it's fair to say, the fifty years since the place was last used hasn't been kind to it. It is a real, actual serious deathtrap in places with not just metal walkways rusted and collapsed but the concrete parts too. The seemingly half demolished boiler house is the sketchiest building I've been in for some considerable time, and the only feasible way to get to the staircase that leads to the top of the tower above the ovens is now so deteriorated it's not even worth risking your life for as it will result in a very bad time. Your reward for navigating around all the parts that want to kill you is you get to see what is apparently the most complete example of an early 1900s coke works left in the country, a place which should by rights have more protection awarded to it but likely will simply collapse in on itself one day.
We started in the blower house, where after two photos the cheap crummy replacement tripod I had bought a few days prior as a stand-in for my slightly buggered Manfrotto gave up the ghost, so I had to resort to shooting everything handheld. Luckily for the most part the lighting in the buildings was at least good enough to make things work out. After we finished at the blower house, we headed to the main coke ovens, then on to the boiler house and power plant, via the vehicle graveyard (yes it has one of those too!) and other smaller buildings along the way.
The blower house features a pair of original early 1900s Harrisburg blower units which are apparently unique to this plant, as well as an Ingersoll Rand compressor and various other pieces of machinery.
View showing the blower house at the left edge and the coke battery with it's tower in the background
Under the coke battery
I ventured out as far as I dared onto the huge machine beside the ovens, to say it was crispy up there would be an understatement.
On top of the ovens
Continued...
The first blast furnace at the Thomas works (named after David Thomas, one of the founders) was constructed in 1888, and the sprawl of worker housing which was built around the facility became known as the town of Thomas, before it was absorbed into the urban sprawl of Birmingham in later life. Originally known as the Pioneer Company, in 1899 the company was bought out by Republic Steel who constructed a third blast furnace in 1902, with the works becoming the largest steel plant in the area. In 1925 a new by-products coke works was constructed, replacing the original beehive-style ovens with a modern Koppers-Becker battery of ovens, and this was further modernised in the 1950s - although the towering coal hopper and handling structures above and beside the ovens are thought to be completely original to the 1925 design. The Thomas plant shut down in 1971, with the blast furnaces, rolling mills and other steel-making facilities long since demolished, leaving the coke battery, blower house, boiler house, power plant and a few other smaller buildings standing. In the intervening years, the land was purchased by Wade Sand & Gravel, who use the grounds as a processing site for, well, sand and gravel. The owners, ever the entrepeneurs, leased out a small area in the middle of the old site to various local artists who have taken up residence there, and it's this presence which means the company is very approachable when it comes to people wanting to take photos there. We had unrestricted access to the old buildings whilst the workers went about their normal day-to-day business which was a pretty surreal experience, with the constant rumble and roar of rocks being crushed, sorted and poured out into large piles around the buildings accompanying every move.
Now it's fair to say, the fifty years since the place was last used hasn't been kind to it. It is a real, actual serious deathtrap in places with not just metal walkways rusted and collapsed but the concrete parts too. The seemingly half demolished boiler house is the sketchiest building I've been in for some considerable time, and the only feasible way to get to the staircase that leads to the top of the tower above the ovens is now so deteriorated it's not even worth risking your life for as it will result in a very bad time. Your reward for navigating around all the parts that want to kill you is you get to see what is apparently the most complete example of an early 1900s coke works left in the country, a place which should by rights have more protection awarded to it but likely will simply collapse in on itself one day.
We started in the blower house, where after two photos the cheap crummy replacement tripod I had bought a few days prior as a stand-in for my slightly buggered Manfrotto gave up the ghost, so I had to resort to shooting everything handheld. Luckily for the most part the lighting in the buildings was at least good enough to make things work out. After we finished at the blower house, we headed to the main coke ovens, then on to the boiler house and power plant, via the vehicle graveyard (yes it has one of those too!) and other smaller buildings along the way.
The blower house features a pair of original early 1900s Harrisburg blower units which are apparently unique to this plant, as well as an Ingersoll Rand compressor and various other pieces of machinery.
View showing the blower house at the left edge and the coke battery with it's tower in the background
Under the coke battery
I ventured out as far as I dared onto the huge machine beside the ovens, to say it was crispy up there would be an understatement.
On top of the ovens
Continued...
