Vulcan Materials Parkwood Quarry

Vulcan Materials Parkwood Quarry was a quarry and aggregates plant operated by Vulcan Materials near the Parkwood community in Shades Valley. The community was the namesake of the Parkwood formation of carboniferous shale which was mined and processed there.

The $2.1 million plant was developed by the City of Bessemer for lease to Vulcan Materials' Birmingham Clay division in 1965. The arrangement was the first industrial plant created with public funds under the Wallace-Cater Act. The shales quarried there were processed under high temperature, causing them to expand, producing a porous, lightweight material used as aggregate in the production of concrete.

After Parkwood Quarry closed in the 1980s, Vulcan Materials carried out a land reclamation project. The land was purchased in the 1990s by Charles Givianpour, who developed the Lake Cyrus residential subdivision, including a parcel donated to Hoover City Schools for Bumpus Middle School. Hoover subsequently annexed the subdivision.

References

• Hopper, Jake (1965) "Busy day at Birmingham" The Birmingham News - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections