The Robesonia Furnace Historic District, also known as the Reading Furnace and the Robesonia Iron Co. Ltd., is an historic, American

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 ...

and national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

that is located in

Robesonia Robesonia is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,061 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Once famous for its iron furnaces (c. 1794-1927), the t ...

Berks County, Pennsylvania 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 Ri ...

. It 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 1991.

History and architectural features

This district encompasses thirty-five contributing buildings and two contributing sites. They include a series of one-and-one-half-story, single workers' houses that were built circa 1825, a set of stone, frame and slag block duplexes that were built circa 1845, 1890 and 1910, and

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

s that were built roughly between 1913 and 1915. Other notable buildings are the Second Empire-style George Taylor Mansion (c. 1880), a

creamery A creamery is a place where milk and cream are processed and where butter and cheese is produced. Cream is separated from whole milk; pasteurization is done to the skimmed milk and cream separately. Whole milk for sale has had some cream re ...

building, a shed with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

, a log-and-stone furnace boarding house (c. 1800), a miller's house (c. 1820), a fire station (c. 1910), a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

-style ironmaster's mansion that is also known as Ege Mansion (c. 1807), and an Italianate-style furnace office. The contributing sites are the industrial remains of the Robesonia Furnace, which was established in 1794 by George Ege and then demolished in 1927 after its acquisition by

Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...

. ''Note:'' This includes This complex was listed on the

in 1991.

References

External links

Friends of the Robesonia Furnace website
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Georgian architecture in Pennsylvania Italianate architecture in Pennsylvania Second Empire architecture in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1807 Historic districts in Berks County, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Berks County, Pennsylvania