In 1804, Montgomery Bell moved to Middle Tennessee and purchased James Robertson's iron works business for $16,000.

By 1808, Bell was buying wood at 50 cents per cord for charcoal to fuel his furnaces, which cast cannonballs were utilized in the War of 1812 by General Andrew Jackson's troops at the Battle of New Orleans.

Bell suffered losses in the Panic of 1819, and in 1824, he advertised the Narrows and other properties for sale in the Nashville Whig.

Bell offered to sell his ironworks to the U.S. Army to be used for an armory; however, floods on the Harpeth were well known and that idea failed.

Bell sold the ironworks to Anthony Wayne Van Leer, who was a member of a well-known family in Pennsylvania and noted in the anti-slavery cause.