The Boonton Iron Works were founded about 1770 by

Samuel Ogden Colonel Samuel Ogden (December 9, 1746 — December 1, 1810) was a colonial businessman in New Jersey who had an iron works. He fought on the winning side during the American Revolutionary War. Afterward, he became a developer and land speculator f ...

who, with others in his family, purchased a tract along the Rockaway River, near present-day

Boonton Boonton is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 8,815, an increase of 468 (+5.6%) from the 2010 census count of 8,347, which in turn reflected a decline of 149 (− ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Here

rolling Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...

and

slitting mill The slitting mill was a watermill for slitting bars of iron into rods. The rods then were passed to nailers who made the rods into nails, by giving them a point and head. The slitting mill was probably invented near Liège in what is now Belg ...

s were erected that engaged in the manufacture of

nail Nail or Nails may refer to: In biology * Nail (anatomy), toughened protective protein-keratin (known as alpha-keratin, also found in hair) at the end of an animal digit, such as fingernail * Nail (beak), a plate of hard horny tissue at the tip ...

rods and

bar iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

. With the construction of the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jers ...

in 1830, the New Jersey Iron Company was organized. This company built a new plant costing $283,000 and imported skilled mechanics from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Under Fuller & Lord (1852–1876) the enterprise become an integrated industry with

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 Apr ...

and timber reserves, canal boats,

furnace A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion. Furnace may also refer to: Appliances Buildings * Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings * Boiler, used t ...

s, mills and auxiliary plants. After 1881, the business slowly declined. The plant closed in 1911. The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2023.

Sources

James Truslow Adams James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well r ...

, ''Dictionary of American History'' (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940).

External links

Abandoned Iron Mines of the NJ Highlands
{{Coord, 40.9026, -74.4070, display=title Buildings and structures in Morris County, New Jersey Ironworks and steel mills in the United States Ruins in the United States Economic history of New Jersey Industrial buildings and structures in New Jersey Companies established in 1770 1770 establishments in New Jersey Pre-statehood history of New Jersey 1911 disestablishments in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Morris County, New Jersey

Sources

See also

External links