An Ornament to the City: Old Mobile Ironwork
by John S. Sledge, with photography
by Sheila Hagler (The University of Georgia Press, $34.95)

From Mobile's earliest days as a port along Alabama's coast, ironwork has played a part in the city's history. The first blacksmiths crafted simple hinges, nails, and other necessities of the day. As technology improved and styles of architecture changed, the need for more refined and decorative ironwork grew.

During the Civil War, much of the iron in both the North and South went to munitions. But, after the war, cast iron was again used in architecture. It fell out of favor around the turn of the 20th century with the advent of steel. Until the late 1970s, iron was largely disregarded and sold for scrap or used as decorative elements on newer houses. Today, saved and copied ironwork is seeing a resurgence in new downtown Mobile structures. Sledge crafts his story from personal accounts, pictures, and correspondence. As such, it turns into a tale about the people and times throughout Mobile's long history. --Derick Belden