Saturday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Foundry Depicts Selma’s Industrial Heritage
Tucked away near the foot of Water Avenue by the Alabama River sits The Foundry, an important piece of Selma’s industrial heritage.
The Foundry has local significance as an American Industrial Revolution site, and the site may even have national significance as the location of a support industry for the Confederate Naval Arsenal.
Now a restoration project by the Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation Society, The Foundry houses a variety of machinery left behind by the successive owners. Two other buildings nearby are not owned by SDHPS.
The first recorded business there was Central City Iron Works in 1869. The company manufactured steam engines, cotton presses, iron and brass castings and hundreds of other specialties.
By 1889, the complex had grown to become Union Iron Works, considered one of the most widely known Selma businesses of that era. With its manufacture of locomotive engines, boilers and logging cars, the company supported many Black Belt industries, which in turn helped Selma prosper.
But survival ultimately meant changing with the times, and when the railroad industry declined, the Selma Foundry and Machine Company, as it was known by 1939, turned toward farming and local markets by selling parts for the portable sawmills and well-drilling operations in the area.
Historical research into the property as well as restoration of the equipment are both ongoing tasks, so each year brings new discoveries to share.
Points of interest include: 
- The railway line in front of the building
- Large steam hammer in the center of the building
- Sandstone crucible found on the site
- Working Molds of all shapes and sizes
- Forced air blowers
- Firing kiln
- Pulley systems
