November Meeting
Thursday, November 8, 2007 7:00 p.m.
Homewood Library, Room 101
Historic Coke Ovens Park at West Blocton, Alabama
Presentation By: Elizabeth Salter
Truman Aldrich founded Blocton and West Blocton and organized the Cahaba Coal Mining Company on the promise of fortune from the coal and coke to be made from the Cahaba Coal Seams. These materials then fed the steel and iron industry in Birmingham, Tannehill, Brierfield, and the surrounding areas. West Blocton’s "Beehive Coke Ovens” were built in the 1880s and 90s as the rich seams of coal were discovered, turning out blocks of coal that weighed over a ton a piece. The Blocton Coke Ovens-were and remain as four batteries (banks) of 467 coke ovens that at one time produced over 600 tons of coke a day.