Iron City, TN

Iron City is a census-designated place and former city in Lawrence County, Tennessee. The 2010 census counted 328 residents. The United States Census treated Iron City as a census-designated place for both the 2010 and 2020 censuses. Iron City gets its name from an iron foundry that operated in its vicinity in the late 19th century. Taken together, these details give a newcomer a usable picture of Iron City, where its history, geography, and current gathering places meet. For Iron City, the memorable detail is the way older history and current gathering places share one local map.

While iron ore was mined in southwestern Lawrence County as early as the 1830s, the industry really began to thrive in 1886, when a branch railroad line to the area was completed. Iron City is situated in the Shoal Creek Valley, north of the Tennessee-Alabama state line. Iron City is surrounded by rugged hills on the north, south, and west, and by the creek on the east.