Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in southeastern

Berks County Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River ...

, near

Elverson, Pennsylvania Elverson is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,332 at the 2020 census. Settled near the region's early iron mines, Elverson is close to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, an example of a 19th-ce ...

, is an example of an American 19th century rural

iron plantation Iron plantations were rural localities emergent in the late-18th century and predominant in the early-19th century that specialized in the production of pig iron and bar iron from crude iron ore. Such plantations derive their name from two sourc ...

, whose operations were based around a charcoal-fired cold-blast iron blast furnace. The significant restored structures include the ''furnace group'' (

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

, blast machinery, cast house and charcoal house), as well as the ironmaster's house, a company store, the blacksmith's shop, a barn and several worker's houses. Hopewell Furnace was founded about 1771 by

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

Mark Bird, son of William Bird, who had been one of Pennsylvania's most prominent ironmasters. The site's most prosperous time was during the 1820-1840 period with a brief return to significant production during the American Civil War. In the mid-19th century, changes in iron making, including a shift from charcoal-fueled furnaces to

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

-fueled steel mills, rendered smaller furnaces like Hopewell obsolete. The site discontinued operations in 1883. In 1938, the property was designated Hopewell Village National Historic Site under the authority of the

Historic Sites Act The Historic Sites Act of 1935 was enacted by the United States Congress largely to organize the myriad federally own parks, monuments, and historic sites under the National Park Service and the United States Secretary of the Interior. However, it ...

, thereby becoming one of the earliest cultural units of the National Park System. Today, Hopewell Furnace consists of 14 restored structures, 52 features on the List of Classified Structures, and a total of 848 mostly wooded acres. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is located in the

Hopewell Big Woods The Hopewell Big Woods is the largest contiguous forest in southeastern Pennsylvania. Spanning northern Chester County and southern Berks County, the region is approximately 73,000 acres or 114 square miles. Most of the forest is located in the S ...

and bordered by

French Creek State Park French Creek State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in North Coventry and Warwick Townships in Chester County and Robeson and Union Townships in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It straddles northern Chester County and southern Berks County along ...

on three sides and State Game Lands 43 on the south side, which preserves the lands the furnace utilized for its natural resources.

Mark Bird

In 1761, Mark Bird took over the family business after the death of his

father. This included two forges and a furnace on 3000 acres. Bird expanded the business to 8000 acres by 1763, and added the Hopewell and Jones Good Luck mines. In 1770, he purchased several tracts in Berks and Chester Counties, planning a furnace on French Creek near his father's forge and the Hopewell mine. By 1771, the Hopewell Furnace was in operation, and an early stove plate was imprinted "Mark Bird-Hopewell Furnace - 1772." By 1775, Bird was a member of the Pennsylvania Committee of Correspondence and the

Pennsylvania Provincial Conference The Pennsylvania Provincial Conference, officially the Provincial Conference of Committees of the Province of Pennsylvania, was a Provincial Congress held June 18–25, 1776 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia. The 97 delegates in attendance (out ...

. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Bird served as a colonel of the Second Battalion of Berks County militia, was elected to the

Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...

, and served as a judge for Berks County. As Deputy Quartermaster General of Pennsylvania, his furnace provided cannon and shot to the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

and

Continental Navy The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War and was founded October 13, 1775. The fleet cumulatively became relatively substantial through the efforts of the Continental Navy's patron John Adams ...

. However, payments from Congress were insufficient to cover his over-expanded business, and Bird was forced to close down his Berks County ironworks in 1784 following the national economic downturn. Bird noted, "...I was Ruined, by the Warr, it was not Drunkeness, Idleness or want of Industry." Following floods and fire, Bird was forced to mortgage his Hopewell and Birdsboro properties in 1786. In 1788, the Hopewell plantation was auctioned off to James Old and Cadwallader Morris, while Bird fled to North Carolina, a debtor's refuge. Bird died there in 1816.

Daniel Buckley

By 1789, Hopewell Furnace was the second largest of 14 furnaces in Pennsylvania with annual capacity of 700 tons. Yet, the operation was still not profitable. In 1794, James Wilson bought the operation, but was forced to auction the complex in 1796, and fled to North Carolina to avoid his creditors. In 1800, Daniel Buckley, and his brothers-in-law Matthew and Thomas Brooke, purchased the furnace and operated it as a family business for the next 83 years. Daniel Buckley was succeed upon his death in 1828 by his son Matthew Brooke Buckley, and then his grandson Edward S. Buckley. In 1801, the two bellows were repaired. In 1804, the furnace was renovated, a new charcoal house built, the water wheel and

head race A head race is a time-trial competition in the sport of rowing. Head races are typically held in the fall, winter and spring seasons. These events draw many athletes as well as observers. In this form of racing, rowers race against the clock wh ...

remodeled, with the

overshot A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

wheel replaced by a breastshot wheel. In 1805, a

stamping mill Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

helped recover iron from the slag, which operated until 1817. The partners were forced to close down operations from 1808 until 1816, due to the national recession, and land title litigation. In 1817, a

cupola furnace A cupola or cupola furnace is a melting device used in foundries that can be used to melt cast iron, Ni-resist iron and some bronzes. The cupola can be made almost any practical size. The size of a cupola is expressed in diameters and can range f ...

was added to resmelt

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

into

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

sand cast Sand casting, also known as sand molded casting, is a metal casting process characterized by using sand as the mold material. The term "sand casting" can also refer to an object produced via the sand casting process. Sand castings are produced ...

sash weights, pots, skillets, kettles, flat irons, wheels, mill screws, apple mill nuts, clock weights, anvils, hammers, grates, grindstone wheels, mold boards, and stove plates. The 1830s were the most profitable years, and from 1825 until 1844, stove plates were the most lucrative product. In 1839, 5,152 stoves were produced. While Clement Brooke served as resident manager and iron master from 1816 until 1848, he added a cellar, kitchen and southwest wing to the ironmaster's house, enlarged the spring house and company store, and built tenant houses and a schoolhouse. Stove plate production ended in 1844, and over the next four decades, mainly pig iron was produced. Customers included the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly calle ...

. Dr. Charles M. Clingan, Clement Brooke's son-in-law, succeeded as resident manager over the next 10 years. He was followed by John R. Shafer for the next 15 years, and Harker Long as the last resident manager. The furnace ceased operations on 15 June 1883, and the remaining pig iron stock sold off over the next five years.

Restoration

In 1935, the federal government purchased the property from Louise Brooke, daughter of Dr. Charles and Maria Clingan, paying $100,000 for 4000 acres. In 1938, the Secretary of the Interior designated the area as a National Historic Site, and plans proceeded to restore the area to its prosperous period of 1820 to 1840. In 1946, 5000 acres of the recreation area were deeded to the state, keeping 848 acres for the historic site. Restoration began in the 1950s, and by 1952, the furnace, blacksmith shop, water wheel and blast machinery, barn, tenant houses, and cast house had been rebuilt and restored. This included the use of wooden

dowel A dowel is a cylindrical rod, usually made of wood, plastic, or metal. In its original manufactured form, a dowel is called a ''dowel rod''. Dowel rods are often cut into short lengths called dowel pins. Dowels are commonly used as structural ...

s and hand hewn beams.

Challenges Facing the Unit

Due to being one of the oldest established units in the National Park Service, Hopewell Furnace had deferred maintenance costs of $7,983,521 in 2015, $7,526,855 in 2016, $6,835,475 in 2017, and most recently published $7,443,553 in 2018. Much of this comes from costs of repair and maintenance needs. Local support groups for the site are recently focused on preserving and cataloging documents from the furnace’s active period, in order to better interpret and present the history of the area.

List of Previous Superintendents

*Lemuel A. Garrison: 11/28/1939 - 9/22/1941 *Ralston B. Lattimore: 9/23/1941 - 11/23/1942 *Emil C. Heinrich (Acting): 4/01/1943 - 4/16/1947 *Emil C. Heinrich: 6/11/1947 - 6/27/1947 *Catherine Fritz (Acting): 6/28/1947 - 8/23/1947 *Russell A. Gibbs: 8/24/1947 - 12/10/1949 *James Cass: 12/11/1949 - 5/31/1955 *Joseph R. Prentice: 7/29/1955 - 12/2/1961 *Benjamin J. Zerby: 1/21/1962 - 3/20/1965 *John C.W. Riddle: 6/13/1965 - 11/11/1972 *Larry Points (Acting): 11/12/1972 - 1/6/1973 *Wallace B. Elms: 1/7/1973 - 9/16/1975 *Elizabeth E. Disrude: 10/26/1975 - 2/27/1988 *Russell P. Smith (Acting): 2/28/1988 - 7/16/1988 *Derrick Cook: 7/17/1988 - 11/30/1995 *Josie Fernandez (Acting, then later Superintendent): 12/1/1995 - 4/26/1998 *Jeffrey Collins (Acting): 4/27/1998 - 8/1/1998 *William Sanders: 8/2/1998 - at least August 2005 *Edie Shean-Hammond: Started February 2006 *Kate Hammond: Started March 2012 *Steven Sims: Started Late June 2017 *Rose Fennell: 9/27/2020–Present

References

External links

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site: Administrative History
(National Park Service) *

* * ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs4Q_G7klEg Sand Molding at Hopewell Furnace - U.S. National Park Service(YouTube video)
Iron Casting at Hopewell Furnace - U.S. National Park Service
(YouTube video)
Charcoal Making at Hopewell Furnace - U.S. National Park Service
(YouTube video)
Friends of Hopewell FurnaceNational Park Service Deferred Maintenance 2018
{{authority control National Historic Sites in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania American Revolutionary War museums in Pennsylvania Museums in Berks County, Pennsylvania Industry museums in Pennsylvania Open-air museums in Pennsylvania Parks in Berks County, Pennsylvania Foundries in the United States Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area Industrial buildings and structures in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Berks County, Pennsylvania Protected areas established in 1938 1938 establishments in Pennsylvania Protected areas of Berks County, Pennsylvania Blast furnaces in the United States Ironworks and steel mills in Pennsylvania