Reading Furnace Historic District | |
Location | Mansion Road, Warwick Township and East Nantmeal Township, Pennsylvania |
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Coordinates | 40°08′49″N75°46′08″W / 40.14694°N 75.76889°W |
Area | 13.3 acres (5.4 ha) |
Built | 1744 |
Built by | Drexel, Gottlieb |
Architect | Okie, Richardson Brognard |
NRHP reference No. | 87000797 [1] |
Added to NRHP | July 30, 1987 |
The Reading Furnace Historic District is a national historic district that is located in Warwick Township and East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. [1]
The Reading Furnace was built in 1736 by iron pioneer William Branson, then later owned by his grandson, a prominent Iron works owner and American Revolutionary War officer, Samuel Van Leer. [2] Branson also owned the nearby historical Warrenpoint House [3]
The furnace was a center of colonial iron making and is associated with the introduction of the Franklin Stove, and the retreat of George Washington's army following its defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, where they came for musket repairs. Nathanael Greene's company and Washington were both recorded encamping here. [4] [5] [6]
The location is listed as the site of one of George Washington's temporary headquarters. [4] [7] This furnace also supplied cannons and cannonballs for the Revolutionary Army. [8]
The district includes seven contributing buildings, two contributing sites, and one contributing structure with a former iron furnace and farm. The buildings are the mansion house, the tenant house, a barn, a large shed, and three outbuildings. The stone mansion was built in three sections between 1744 and 1936. The latest addition was completed under the direction of R. Brognard Okie.
The contributing sites are the remains of an eighteenth-century dam and the foundation of the 1736 Reading Furnace. The contributing structure is a stone arch bridge (1904). [2]
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. [1]
East Nantmeal Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,803 at the 2010 census. It, along with West Nantmeal Township, was originally part of a single Nantmeal Township, which was divided in 1739.
Warwick Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,507 at the 2010 census.
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.
This is a list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania. As of 2015, there are over 3,000 listed sites in Pennsylvania. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have listings on the National Register.
Speedwell Forge Mansion, also known as Speedwell Forge Homestead, is a historic home located at Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The ironmaster's mansion was built about 1760, and is a 2½-story, four bay wide and two bay deep, brownstone and fieldstone dwelling in the Georgian style. It was expanded about 1795 with a Georgian/Federal style wing. Also on the property are a contributing stone summer kitchen, stone and frame workshop, stone paymaster's office c. 1795), and stone privy.
The Brandywine Battlefield Historic Site is a National Historical Landmark. The historic park is owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, on 52 acres (210,000 m2), near Chadds Ford, Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
The Battle of the Clouds was an aborted engagement of the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War on September 16, 1777, in the area surrounding present day Malvern, Pennsylvania. After the American defeat at the Battle of Brandywine, the British Army remained encamped near Chadds Ford. When British commander William Howe was informed that the weakened American force was less than ten miles (16 km) away, he decided to press for another decisive victory.
Saint Peters is an historic, nineteenth-century, industrial, company village that is located in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Built near the Falls of French Creek in Warwick Township, it is situated in the Hopewell Big Woods.
The Coventryville Historic District is a historic district and historic village in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States that enjoyed a significant role in the early American metal industry.
Warrenpoint is an historic home located in Knauertown, Pennsylvania, in Chester County. The house was built in 1756 in the Georgian Colonial style by William Branson. Branson was recorded as Samuel Nutts partner who both owned Reading Furnace and Warwick Furnace Farms. William Branson and his Reading property are also associated with the Franklin Stove. William Branson's grandson Samuel Van Leer would play an important role in the American Revolutionary War and would take over the family business.
The Warwick Furnace Farms is a historic district that is located in northern Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States that includes the ruins of an early iron furnace that was owned by Anna Rutter Nutt, widow of Samuel Nutt.
Etna Furnace, also known as Mount Etna Furnace, Aetna Furnace, and Aetna Iron Works, is a historic iron furnace complex and national historic district located at Catharine Township, Blair County, Pennsylvania. The district includes five contributing buildings, six contributing sites, and two contributing structures. It encompasses a community developed around an iron furnace starting in 1805. Included in the district is the four-sided stone furnace (1808), gristmill site, canal locks, site of lock keeper's house, aqueduct, two small houses, the ruins of a charcoal house (1808), the foundation of a tally house, a blacksmith shop, bank barn, foundation of a boarding house, three family tenant house, two iron master' mansions, a store and paymaster's office, Methodist / Episcopal Church (1860), and cemetery with graves dating between 1832 and 1859.
Huntingdon Furnace is a national historic district and historic iron furnace and associated buildings located at Franklin Township in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. It consists of seven contributing buildings and one contributing structure. They are the iron furnace, office building, the ironmaster's mansion, log worker's house, a residence, the farm manager's residence, the grist mill and the miller's house. The iron furnace was moved to this site in 1805, from its original site one mile upstream. It measures 30 feet square by 30 feet high. The ironmaster's mansion was built in 1851, and is a 2 1/2-story, "L"-shaped frame dwelling. The grist mill dates to 1808, and is a 3 1/2-story, rubble stone building measuring 50 feet by 45 feet. The furnace was in operation from 1796, until it ceased operations in the 1880s.
Windsor Forge Mansion, also known as Windsor Place, is an historic, American home and national historic district located in Caernarvon Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
The Swatara Furnace is a historic iron furnace and 200-acre national historic district located along Mill Creek, a tributary of the Swatara Creek in Pine Grove Township, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
The Mary Ann Furnace Historic District, also known as Trexler's Furnace, is an historic "iron plantation" and national historic district located in Longswamp Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Richardson Brognard Okie Jr. (1875-1945) was an American architect. He is noted for his Colonial-Revival houses and his sensitive restorations of historic buildings.
The Thomas Bull House, also known as Robert's Plantation, the Redding Plantation, and Mt. Pleasant, is an historic, American home that is located in East Nantmeal Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Lahr Farm is a historic home and farm located in Warwick Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was originally owned by a wealthy Quaker ironmaster William Branson and part of his Reading Furnace estate. The farm has three contributing buildings; the main house, bank barn, and wash hour or latchen. The house is a 2+1⁄2-story, four-bay by two-bay, fieldstone dwelling with a gable roof. The farm was inherited by Branon's grandson a wealthy ironmaster Samuel Van Leer. The Van Leer Family's original surname spelling was Von Lahr. The farm remained in the Lahr family from 1834 to 1938.
Captain Samuel Van Leer was a military officer from Pennsylvania who served as a captain in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and as a lieutenant in the Chester County Light Horse Volunteers from 1781 to 1785. After his retirement from the military, he owned the Reading Furnace ironworks.
Head Quarters, at Reading Furnace [Pa.]