Columbus Iron Works Co.

Location: Columbus, Muscogee County, GA
Founder: William R. Brown
Period of Production: 1853 -
Products Manufactured: Stoves, grills, hibachis
Brand Names:

Columbus Iron Works manufactured kettles and ovens, steam engines, as well as swords, pistols, and rifles for the Civil War, moving to fewer, more marketable items, such as stoves and heaters in the 1920s, tractor-drawn implements following WWII, and forged parts for other manufacturers in the 1950s.

CIW began experimenting with charcoal grills in the 1940s, and ultimately evolved into Char-Broil.

Columbus Timeline

1853 - Company founded.
1862 - Confederate Navy leases Columbus Iron Works.
1865 - Union troops burn iron works after the taking of Columbus.
1872 - CIW erects city's first ice making machines.
1902 - Iron Works burns.
1925 - W.C. Bradley Co. acquires control.
1940s - Company experiments with barbecue grills.
1947 - W.C. Bradley dies on July 26.
1953 - Company begins producing "Charbroil" charcoal grills.
1973 - Bradley Co. absorbs CIW and moves operations to new plants.
1975 - City converts portion of iron works facility to convention & trade center.
1977 - W.C. Bradley Enterprises becomes known as Char-Broil.
1978 - Columbus Iron Works declared a National Historic Landmark.

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