The Patuxent Iron Works was an

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

along the

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States.

History

Some sources that say the company was founded before 1734 by Richard Snowden and family on the site of their family's earlier iron works.Cook, William G., with edits by Mrs. Carol-jean Webster. 1976. Patuxent Iron Works, chapter 9 of ''Montpelier & the Snowden Family'', pp 295-302 Yet another source says that Snowden, Joseph Cowman, and three other partners founded the Patuxent Iron Work Company in 1736. In truth, the Patuxent Iron Works was originally started much earlier, in 1705, by Snowden and Cowman and three other partners: Edmund Jenings, John Galloway and John Prichard. When Joseph Cowman and Edmund Jennings later sold their shares of the enterprise to Snowden in 1748 and 1749 respectively, each for the sum of "Four Hundred and five Pounds Sterling," both indentures, dated March 18, 1748, Scanned photocopy of a handwritten page and March 27, 1749, referred to the original Articles of Agreement, dated July 5, 1705, that created the company: ''"Whereas by certain Articles of Agreement bearing Date the fifth Day of July seventeen Hundred and five made between the said Richard Snowden the said Joseph Cowman a certain Edmund Jenings John Galloway and John Prichard They the said Richard Snowden Joseph Cowman Edmund Jenings John Galloway and John Prichard did enter into several Covenants and Clauses of Agreement with each other for the Carrying on an Iron Work or Works the Business of a Furnace and Forge then and now Erected on the Head and Branches of Patuxent River."'' A 1753 letter by

Charles Carroll of Annapolis Charles Carroll II (1702–1782) known as Charles Carroll of Annapolis to distinguish him from his similarly named relatives, was a wealthy Maryland planter and lawyer. His father was Charles Carroll the Settler, (I – the first), (1661–172 ...

noted that Snowden's forge was the only one in Maryland to have ore near navigable waters (i.e. the Patuxent River). According to tax records, the company had on average 45 enslaved workers from 1760 to 1780, who worked as foreman, founders, laborers and blacksmiths. Though both the Snowdens and Cowmans were wealthy

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

whose children intermarried, they owned slaves for a century. After Richard Snowden Jr.'s death in 1763, the iron works went to John, Thomas, and Samuel Snowden. "In 1831 the furnace and forge were sold by Thomas, Richard and Edward Snowden to Evan T. Ellicott and Company, who erected another furnace, 28 feet high and 8 feet wide at the boshes, and a

puddling furnace Puddling is the process of converting pig iron to bar (wrought) iron in a coal fired reverberatory furnace. It was developed in England during the 1780s. The molten pig iron was stirred in a reverberatory furnace, in an oxidizing environment, ...

and roughing mills or converting

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 bars for the Avalon works above Relay." (The site of the Avalon Works is located in today's

Patapsco Valley State Park Patapsco Valley State Park is a Maryland state park extending along of the Patapsco River south and west of the city of Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It ...

). The works were "dismantled and demolished" in 1856, "under the ownership of William Wilkins Glen, John Glenn, Jr., and Robert Lemmon."Park (2003). p. 63 The ruins were visible a long time afterward.

References

{{coord, 39, 04, 45, N, 76, 47, 50, W, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-MD, display=title Ironworks and steel mills in Maryland Industrial buildings and structures in Maryland Industrial history of Maryland Foundries in the United States Buildings and structures in Laurel, Maryland Demolished buildings and structures in Maryland