The Coventryville Historic District is a

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

and historic village in

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially referred to as Chesco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in ...

, United States that enjoyed a significant role in the early American metal industry.

History

Coventryville's origins lie in the iron

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

founded in 1717 by Englishman Samuel Nutt, an early American industrialist and member of Pennsylvania's Assembly in 1723–26. Named for his native home of

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

, England, Coventry was the first forge in Chester County and was located at the confluence of the north and south branches of French Creek a short distance from rich

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

deposits. In 1723, Nutt formed a partnership with Mordecai Lincoln (great-great grandfather of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

), and iron pioneer William Branson and expanded the operation to include two furnaces, Warwick and Reading. It was at Reading Furnace under Branson's operation that same year that experiments led to the production of early

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

. After Nutt's death in 1737, Coventry passed to his nephew Samuel Nutt Jr. whose wife, Rebecca Savage inherited the site upon his death. Upon her marriage to Robert Grace, Coventry and Warwick were joined to become Rebecca Nutt and Company. It was Robert Grace's close friendship with

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

that led to the popular legend of the Franklin Stove prototyped at Grace's home, Coventry Hall. In 1757, Coventry and Warwick passed to Thomas Potts, Rebecca's son-in-law and father of John, founder of nearby Pottstown. By the time of the Revolution Coventry had passed his brother Samuel and Thomas Rutter. It was under the Thomas Potts/Rutter ownership that Coventry and Warwick supplied munitions for the Continental Army. In the early 19th century, Coventry forge was enlarged and re-equipped and much of the present village was constructed. During this time, however,

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

coal began to replace charcoal as fuel and new techniques for manufacturing iron and steel were developed. Smaller operations like those at Coventry and nearby Hopewell lay far from coal deposits and outside rail transportation centers and declined with only brief peaks in production during the American Civil War. Coventry Forge ceased operations entirely in 1871. The village today consists of structures dating from the early 18th century until the mid 19th including workers housing, the Inn, the ironmaster's house (Coventry Hall) and the mid 19th century

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church. While the realignment of Route 23 to the south of the village in 1959–1960 obliterated a portion of the forge site, the Coventryville Historic District remains an intact concentration of original eighteenth and nineteenth century structures. The community was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978.Bennett, Margaret, et al. Coventryville Historic Districtvia Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, August 1977. Accessed 2009-07-17.

References

* * * {{Chester County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Chester County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Chester County, Pennsylvania