Cornwall Iron Furnace 1742-1883 We on this page show you lots of houses and buildings. We don’t do a lot Museums but this is one exception. There are many buildings to keep you happy but the real bread and butter is inside and underground. Cornwall Iron Furnace is an extraordinary example of the furnaces that dotted the Pennsylvania countryside in the 18th and 19th centuries. Around it developed villages, artisans’ shops, stores, schools, churches, and the home of a wealthy ironmaster. All of the raw materials necessary for the smelting process — iron ore, limestone and wood for charcoal — were found in this self contained iron plantation. Cornwall Iron Furnace, the only surviving intact charcoal cold blast furnace in the Western Hemisphere, attests to the once great iron industry that flourished in south central Pennsylvania. In the 1730s, Peter Grubb, a stone mason, began mining nearby. In 1742, he established the furnace. He named the area Cornwall in honor of the area in England from where his father had emigrated. This furnace remained in operation until 1883. When Peter died in 1754, the property passed to his sons, Curttis and Peter. By 1798, Robert Coleman had gained control of the furnace operation. Robert was very successful and became one of Pennsylvania’s first millionaires. Cornwall Iron Furnace remained in operation until 1883, when newer furnace operations fueled by anthracite coal made it obsolete. The furnace was abandoned, leaving the building virtually untouched until it was given in 1932 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by Margaret Coleman Freeman Buckingham, Robert’s great grand-daughter. Please see their website for more pictures and information. cornwallironfurnace.org/ https://facebook/CornwallIronFurnace
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 22:57:01 +0000
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