Established in 1829 with a forge built on Roupes Creek one mile south by Daniel Hillman, Tannehill Ironworks later gained its first blast furnace on the site in the 1850s through Moses Stroup. In 1863, William Sanders erected two more furnaces to provide iron for the Confederate Arsenal at Selma. The only three-furnace ironworks in Alabama during the Civil War, Tannehill became one of the largest producers of iron in the Confederacy. Operations ceased after Federal troops partially destroyed it on March 31, 1865. It was named for former owner Ninion Tannehill and was also known as Roupes Valley Ironworks and Sanders Ironworks.