Founded by Colonel James Withers Sloss in 1881. The company reorganized in 1899 as Sloss-Sheffield Steel and Iron (although it never produced steel). By World War I, Sloss-Sheffield was among the largest producers of pig iron in the world. U.S. Pipe and Foundry, which had purchased the plant in 1952, was acquired by the Jim Walter Corporation in 1969. Less than two years later, Sloss Furnaces, the oldest remaining blast furnaces in Birmingham, were shut down.

Sloss received National Historic Landmark designation in 1981.

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