Built in Selma, Alabama, during the early part of the Civil War for the manufacture of military supplies for the Confederate Army. During the war an attempt was made to move it to Columbus, Georgia to prevent its being seized by Federal troops. En route, it was buried for a time near Irondale, Alabama. When the danger of capture had passed, it was dug up and moved to Columbus, where it was used for boring cannon until the end of the war. After the war, the lathe was used by the Birmingham Rolling Mills, which later became part of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. In 1936 that company presented this historic lathe to the Alabama Polytechnic Institute.
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