• Significance: Southern Ductile grew from a very small, unautomated, traditional jobbing foundry into a highly mechanized and automated firm, generally uncharacteristic for the type of contact work it did. It was one of the first in the Birmingham District to implement ductile iron that, over the course of its first thirty years, virtually replaced malleable iron and severely limited foundry steel production. Further the company survived a pollution crisis that forced the closure of several smaller firms, by adapting more expensive, but cleaner electric induction furnaces that ultimately proved to be not only a solution to their clean air concerns, but also an ideal medium to manufacture ductile iron.
• Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N177
• Survey number: HAER AL-125
• Building/structure dates: 1937 Initial Construction

Related names:

Citation Carolina Corporation, Owner