West Blocton, AL

West Blocton is a Bibb County town at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, built around coal and coke. The place grew near the older company town Blocton after mine owner Truman Aldrich named it for a one-ton block of coal from the No. 2 mine. By 1889 hundreds of beehive coke ovens were operating, and coal moved to furnaces across Alabama. Immigrants, especially Italians, joined the mining workforce. Alabama State Route 5 runs through town between Woodstock and Brent and Centreville, the county seat. The 2020 census counted 1,217 residents.

ATTRMkloess / CC BY-SA 4.0

West Blocton Coke Ovens Park keeps the industrial landscape visible. Four rows of the Cahaba Coal Company ovens remain at the park, where the old process of turning coal into coke can be read in brick and stone. The coal industry left town by 2002, so the park and West Blocton Commercial Historic District carry much of the historical weight now, while Bibb County School District serves West Blocton High School. West Blocton is a town whose present map still follows the logic of a mining community: a route through the hills, a school and commercial center, and coke ovens marking the work that built it.