401 24th St S
Bessemer, AL 35020, USA

Pullman Standard Company Plant, 401 North Twenty-fourth St Bessemer, Jefferson County, AL

A brick office building is located in the northwestern portion of the site. The other major buildings are constructed of metal and have direct access into the main shop building for manufacturing and transportation purposes. The site also contains a large rail storage area. Further investigation of the site is required to determine the historic significance, as well as the condition, of the structures located there. In 1929 Pullman Standard, then one of the nation`s largest producers of railway cars, chose Bessemer as the location for its southern plant. The plant was located on the original sites of the Bessemer Furnaces, which were in operation from 1889 to the 1920s, and the Bessemer Rolling Mills, which were operational from 1887 to the 1920s. The Pullman Standard Plant acquired machinery and materials from the old Chickasaw Shipbuilding Company, which had been built in conjunction with U.S. Steel`s wartime expansions at Fairfield, and formally opened on October 1, 1929. By January 1930 the Bessemer plant had built and delivered 600 box cars to National Railways of Mexico. Pullman was later to become Bessemer`s largest employee. The Pullman Standard Plant was acquired by Wheelbrator-Frye in 1980. Its operations as Pullman Standard were closed in 1981. Trinity Industries, which purchased Pullman, is currently operating facilities at the former Pullman Standard Plant. The company continues to make and modify rail cars, but its production is considerably reduced.

Pullman Standard Company Plant, Fabrication Assembly Shop, 401 North Twenty-fourth St Bessemer, Jefferson County, AL

HAER AL-31-A

Pullman Standard Company Plant, Power House, 401 North Twenty-fourth St Bessemer, Jefferson County, AL

HAER AL-31-B