The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and the Warrior and Cahaba coal fields in Central Alabama.
The industrial development of these resources began, in limited fashion, before the American Civil War (attracting the attention of Wilson's Raiders in the course of that conflict).
Beginning in 1871 with the founding of the City of Birmingham and the construction of the first blast furnaces, the development of the district enjoyed explosive growth, slowed only by a deficit of skilled labor and investment capital.
With a few notable exceptions such as cast iron pipes and fittings, most of the district's economic output was in basic materials rather than in finished consumer products.
As the steel-making industry has diminished in its economic importance to the district, many of the sites have been abandoned or dismantled.