Speedwell Ironworks 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 ...

in Speedwell Village, on Speedwell Avenue (part of

U.S. Route 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massa ...

), just north of downtown Morristown, in Morris County,

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 ...

, United States. At this site Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse first demonstrated their electric telegraph. Speedwell Ironworks also provided most of the machinery for the SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The site is still open to the public, and has seven buildings on display. The site, now named Historical Speedwell, is a historic site of the Morris County Park Commission. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1974.

History

Situated at a natural

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

of the

Whippany River The Whippany River is a tributary of the Rockaway River, approximately 20 mi (30 km) long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. It rises in Morris County, in Mendham Township west of Morristown, and flows generally ENE in a ...

, several hydraulic powered forges existed, predating the establishment of the ironworks by

Stephen Vail Stephen Vail (1780–1864) was a founding partner of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia and the creator of the Speedwell Ironworks in Morristown, New Jersey. Biography Stephen Vail was born in Malapardis, New Jersey on June 28, 1780. ...

and two business partners. Vail became sole owner of the works in 1815 and expanded it, producing a variety of agricultural and industrial machinery. The ironworks innovated the first durable iron tire for railroad locomotives in January 1836. With changing industrial trends and a decline in the flow of the Whippany River, the ironworks were shut down in 1873, its equipment being sold to ironworks in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and Coatbridge,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The remains of the Ironworks buildings burned in 1908, and the property is now a public park. Speedwell Park

Stephen Vail also bought an adjacent lot to which he eventually retreated in 1844 for an active retirement. The Vail Homestead or Speedwell Village, as it is sometimes known, is the site of Historic Speedwell, a

, part of the Morris County Park Commission. The site is set up as an open-air 19th century estate, complete with residential buildings, a granary and two carriage houses. The site is currently open to the public, with 19th century ironworking materials and historical artifacts about communication on exhibit. Today, the site is maintained as a public park and museum by the Morris County Park Commission. It includes nine buildings furnished to depict life at Speedwell during the early 19th century. The Vail House, a historic house museum restored to 1840s period style, possesses some original family furniture and Vail memorabilia. The Wheel House houses an operational overshot waterwheel. The Homestead Carriage House houses an exhibit on the SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, with an engine built at the Speedwell Ironworks, and an exhibit about the history of the ironworks. The Ford Cottage is a 19th-century saltbox cottage, the Moses Estey House is an 18th-century Georgian mansion, and the early 19th century L'Hommedieu-Gwinnup House houses changing exhibits and education space. On exhibit in the factory buildings are 19th century ironworking materials and historical artifacts of communication. Speedwell Village was declared a

in 1974, preserving seven buildings. and The designation was made in recognition of the role the facility and its proprietors the Vails played in the development of the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

Telegraph

The old factory building on the grounds of the ironworks was constructed by Stephen Vail for hobby purposes upon his retirement. It is the site of the first public demonstration of the Morse electromagnetic telegraph on January 11, 1838. Although Morse and Alfred Vail had conducted most of the research and development in the ironworks facilities, they chose the factory house for demonstration. Without the repeater, the range of the telegraph was limited to two miles (3 km). The inventors had pulled two miles (3 km) of wires inside the factory house for the demonstration. The first public transmission was witnessed by a mostly local crowd.

References

External links

*
American Memory by the Library of Congress

Traveler's photos of Historic Speedwell
* Som
historic photos
of the Speedwell Factories and Speedwell Village from The North Jersey History and Genealogy Center/Morristown & Morris Township Public Library
Morris Tourism Bureau Historic Speedwell

Morris Parks Official Webpage for Historic Speedwell

Historic factory building
{{National Register of Historic Places Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey Industrial buildings completed in 1837 Industry museums in New Jersey Technology museums in New Jersey Museums in Morris County, New Jersey Communications in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Morris County, New Jersey Morristown, New Jersey Ironworks and steel mills in the United States

History

Telegraph

See also

References

External links