Richmond Furnace Historical and Archeological District | |
Location | State, Cone Hill, and Furnace Rds., Richmond, Massachusetts |
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Coordinates | 42°21′21″N73°22′32″W / 42.35583°N 73.37556°W |
Area | 290 acres (120 ha) |
Built | 1763 |
Architect | Bartram, I.N., & Co.; Richmond Iron Works Co. |
Architectural style | Federal, Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 99001044 [1] |
Added to NRHP | August 31, 1999 |
The Richmond Furnace Historical and Archeological District is a historic industrial area located on State, Cone Hill, and Furnace Roads in Richmond, Massachusetts. The industrial history of the site dates to 1763 when the first grist and sawmills were built. In 1829, the first stone furnace was constructed for the production of iron from abundant hematite ore found nearby. It was rebuilt in 1863, and overhauled in 1905 to increase capacity. The area saw industrial iron production until 1923. [2] The historic district also includes several other houses and buildings related to the iron works. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. [1]
The Richmond Furnace district is located in southern Richmond, in an area that is now almost entirely rural in character. It covers an area about 290 acres (120 ha) in size, that is roughly L-shaped. The vertical part of the L is organized around Furnace Brook, which flows roughly south on the east side of Massachusetts Route 41. Industrial remnants are found mainly on the east side of the brook, between Furnace Pond (whose dam is crossed by Pilgrim Road) and areas south of Furnace Road. The main furnace is located on private land between Furnace Lane, now a short spur with a few houses on it, and the brook. The base of the L extends further east from this area, including a few more houses and industrial remains, the most prominent a water-filled quarry on the north side of Furnace Road. The eastern extent of the district is on Cone Hill Road, where some industry-related housing stands, as does the Cone Hill Cemetery, where individuals associated with the works are buried. Surviving elements of worker and management housing are found on most of the named roads, with a cluster located on Route 43 near Pilgrim Road. [3]
In 1829, brothers John H., Charles and George Coffing established the Richmond Iron Works on the site. The Coffings has previously worked at the Salisbury Iron Works in nearby Connecticut. In 1834, a second furnace, 32 feet high x 9.5 feet wide was built at Van Deusenville, in nearby Great Barrington. By 1855, the company used 9,000 tons of ore to produce 3,200 tons of iron. [4]
The Van Deusenville furnace operated until 1896. It was dismantled in 1906. By 1908, the Richmond site had an annual capacity of 5,000 tons, and produced pig iron for car wheels and machinery. [5] The main furnace was described at that time as measuring approximately 33 feet tall by 9.5 feet wide at its base. [5]
The Burden Iron Works was an iron works and industrial complex on the Hudson River and Wynantskill Creek in Troy, New York. It once housed the Burden Water Wheel, the most powerful vertical water wheel in history. It is widely believed that George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., inventor of the Ferris wheel, had occasion to observe the wheel while a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The iron works site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an archaeological site in 1977. The Burden Ironworks Office Building was previously listed in 1972.
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The Furnace Hill Brook Historic and Archeological District in a historic district in Cranston, Rhode Island.
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Furnace Brook Parkway is a historic parkway in Quincy, Massachusetts. Part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, it serves as a connector between the Blue Hills Reservation and Quincy Shore Reservation at Quincy Bay. First conceived in the late nineteenth century, the state parkway is owned and maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and travels through land formerly owned by the families of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, passing several historic sites. It ends in the Merrymount neighborhood, where Quincy was first settled by Europeans in 1625 by Captain Richard Wollaston. The road was started in 1904, completed in 1916 and added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2004.
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The Grubb Family Iron Dynasty was a succession of iron manufacturing enterprises owned and operated by Grubb family members for more than 165 years. Collectively, they were Pennsylvania's leading iron manufacturer between 1840 and 1870.
Isabella Furnace was a cold blast charcoal iron furnace located in West Nantmeal Township, Pennsylvania. The furnace was named for Isabella Potts, wife of one of the partners, a member of the Potts ironmaking family. Isabella was the last iron furnace to be built in the county, in 1835, and was operated by members of the Potts family and their partners until 1855, when they lost control of it in a bankruptcy. It returned to the family in 1881, when it was purchased by Col. Joseph Potts, who modernized it. The furnace, the last to operate in Chester County, went out of blast in 1894, a few months after Col. Potts' death, but remained largely intact until after his son's death in 1943. The remains of the furnace complex have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1991.
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The Beckley Furnace Industrial Monument is a state-owned historic site preserving a 19th-century iron-making blast furnace on the north bank of the Blackberry River in the town of North Canaan, Connecticut. The site became a 12-acre (4.9 ha) state park in 1946; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Washington Iron Furnace is an historic iron furnace, located in Rocky Mount, Franklin County, Virginia. The granite furnace was built around 1770, and measures 30 feet high on its south face. It helped establish industry in the county, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The Furnace Grove Historic District encompasses the remains of a historic 19th-century iron processing facility near Bennington, Vermont. Located on the north side of Vermont Route 9 east of the town center, its production peaked in the 1830s, and was afterward converted into a gentleman's farm. Surviving elements of its past include the remains of iron smelting furnaces, housing, and agricultural outbuildings. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
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