{"nrhp_refnum":"09000188","name":"Chickamauga Coal and Iron Company Coke Ovens","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"GA 341","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chickamauga","county":"Walker County","state":"GA","lat":34.881383878000065,"lon":-85.29462841399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-04-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Industry"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A battery of 36 brick beehive coke ovens in a two-acre city park on Georgia Highway 341, about a mile north of downtown Chickamauga, Walker County, Georgia. The Chickamauga Coal and Iron Company began building the ovens in 1897.","why_significant":"The ovens are significant for industry because they are tied to the iron and steel industry of north Georgia, northern Alabama and southeast Tennessee during the New South period. They are significant for engineering because they illustrate how coal was converted to coke. They are typical of Appalachian coke ovens, and the nomination describes them as the only coke ovens in Georgia.","narrative":"Thirty-six brick beehive ovens stand in a small city park north of Chickamauga, Georgia. The battery is about 200 feet long. Its ovens are six feet tall and 12 feet in diameter, arranged in two parallel rows. Some have limestone outer walls covered with earth for insulation. The Chickamauga Coal and Iron Company built the first 50 ovens in 1897 to turn coal from its Durham mine on Lookout Mountain into coke. Rail cars then carried the coke to the iron and steel foundries of Chattanooga. The company later added 50 more ovens and stopped coking in Chickamauga around 1929 as the mine played out. More than 100 ovens were destroyed in the 1950s and 1960s when a carpet factory was built. The city acquired the site in the early 1990s. The ovens are listed for their link to the region's iron and steel industry and as a typical example of coke-making technology. The nomination states they are the only such ovens in Georgia.","period_of_significance":"1897-c.1929","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Other: Beehive coke ovens","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Now part of a city-owned historical and recreational park. Many ovens have deteriorated and some domes have collapsed. One outer wall was restored in 2006, and the city continues preservation efforts.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:43.490572-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/09000188.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000188/113fcc3bfd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/09000188/113fcc3bfd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Andrew Jameson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chickamauga_CoalandIronCompanyCokeOvens1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andrew Jameson</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chickamauga_CoalandIronCompanyCokeOvens1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209810","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickamauga_Coal_and_Iron_Company_Coke_Ovens","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q29093371"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/walker-county/chickamauga-coal-and-iron-company-coke-ovens-09000188/"}