Tredegar Iron Works

Tredegar Iron Works occupies about 22 acres in downtown Richmond, between the James River and the James River and Kanawha Canal. Founded in 1837 and named by its designer and builder Reev Davis, it grew under Joseph R. Anderson, who took charge in 1841 and expanded it into the third largest iron works in the country by 1861. During the Civil War it cast much of the Confederacy's heavy ordnance, built machinery for other arsenals, and rolled plates for the ironclad Virginia. Experiments with early submarines, torpedoes and machine guns were also carried out there. Four red brick buildings survive: the Office Building, the restored New Gun Foundry, the Spike Factory and the Company Store, along with ruins of the old gun foundry, locomotive shop and rolling mill. Later structures include a World War I shell foundry. After a 1952 fire the company moved in 1957, and the site became a research and storage facility.