1853 - Company founded. 1862 - Confederate Navy leases Columbus Iron Works. 1865 - Union troops burn iron works after the taking of Columbus. 1872 - CIW erects city's first ice making machines. 1902 - Iron Works burns. 1925 - W.C. Bradley Co. acquires control. 1940s - Company experiments with barbecue grills. 1947 - W.C. Bradley dies on July 26.