ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025 32 Tredegar Iron Works. Later, the company provided supplies to the armed forces in World War I and World War II. IMPACT ON MULTIPLE INDUSTRIES Tredegar diversified and contributed to various industry sectors during its operational years. The production of iron tools and railroad spikes at the site helped expand the South’s transportation infrastructure. In addition, the company built steam locomotives, saw mills, sugar mills, marine engines, and other machinery and parts. By helping to generate and satisfy demand for machinery and other hard goods, and by producing the heavy iron products needed by the railroad industry, the company contributed to the general development of the nation. At one time, Tredegar was known as the largest industrial plant in the South and one of the largest and best-equipped iron works in the U.S. MODERN DAY However, by not adapting its facility to incorporate steel production, business at the Tredegar Iron Works eventually declined. In 1957, the company ceased its operations. Later, all but five buildings were destroyed by fire. Then in the early 1970s, Ethyl Corp. began to preserve and stabilize the remaining structures. In 1971, Tredegar Iron Works was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1977 it was designated a National Historic Landmark. In 2013, the American Civil War Museum was formed with the Historic Tredegar opening as a part of its preserved facilities in 2019. The history of the Tredegar Iron Works remains accessible today as part of the American Civil War Museum. ~AM&P Acknowledgments: The AM&P editors thank Mary Anne Fleming for the photographs used in this piece. Also, special appreciation goes to the leaders of the ASM Richmond Chapter and Ethyl Corp. from the 1970s for recognizing the significance of the Tredegar Iron Works location and submitting the nomination package for ASM Historical Landmark status. For more information: The American Civil War Museum, 480 Tredegar St., Richmond, VA 23219, 804.649.1861 ext. 100, acwm.org/historic-tredegar. Museum signage provides details on the work of the Central Foundry that operated from 1837 through 1950. A water turbine on the Tredegar grounds. More water turbine remnants. cast more than half the cannons used by the Confederate armies, and the rolling mills turned out armor plates for Confederate ironclads, including the USS Merrimac (rechristened CSS Virginia), which was the world’s first armored warship. It also built tanks for Matthew Maury’s torpedoes, and special ordnance pieces, such as the light mountain howitzer for pack animal transport. A submarine, designed by naval master W.G. Cheeney, was constructed at
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTYyMzk3NQ==