Cawaco RC&D Provides Grant For Much Needed Park Storage

The Shelby Iron Works Park is grateful to Cawaco RC&D for their recent grant, which allowed us to add a much-needed storage building.

The park, which is owned and operated by the Shelby County Historical Society, Inc., has been in need of additional storage space for quite some time. The addition of a new storage building, which blends in with the other buildings at the park, means that seasonal items and park supplies can now be safely stored onsite, but away from the general public, which will free up space in the park's Industrial Museum, which had served as storage for the past few years.

Cawaco Resource Conservation & Development Council distributes grants to qualified public entities or 501(c)(3) charities serving the people of Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby and Walker Counties of Alabama. Funding is granted for projects that meet Cawaco Goals and Objectives, and have a broad community, environmental or educational impact. To learn more about Cawaco RC&D and how it helps the community, click here.

Park volunteers Frank Hebert and Glenn Smith prepared the area next to the Country Store for the buildings location, and Shelby County donated gravel that was used to create a level bed for the building to sit on.

We thank Cawaco RC&D for their support of our park. We would like to offer a special thanks to State Representative Corley Ellis and Shelby County Commissioner Kevin Morris for their support of this project.

The Shelby Iron Works Park is located on the site of the old Shelby Iron Company, which was dates back to 1842 when Horace Ware purchased the property and built a cold blast iron furnace. The furnace was able to produce 5 tons of iron a day. The company grew as the Civil War brought the need for iron plating to be used on the CSS Tennessee, CSS Huntsville, and CSS Tuscaloosa.  

​Thanks the the efforts of many dedicated volunteers, this historic park is appreciated by over 10,000 visitors a year. The Shelby Iron Works Park holds three large festivals annually: The Spring Car Show, the Fall Festival, and Christmas in the Park. It is also well known for its monthly pancake breakfast the first Saturday of each month.