Pine Grove Iron Works

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For the nearby 1830 and 1892 industrial areas, see Laurel Forge and Fuller Brick and Slate Company.
Pine Grove Iron Works
historic place
Pine Grove Furnace State Park Furnace.jpg
Pine Grove Furnace Stack
Country United States
State Pennsylvania
County Cumberland
Township Cooke
Part of Pine Grove Furnace State Park
Adjacent areas
2
Landform Mountain Creek valley
Location Pine Grove Furnace Stack [2]
 - coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Lowest point east side @ Mountain Creek
 - location [specify]
Works &
adjacent areas		 150 acres (61 ha) (approx.)[3]
Population 0 [specify]
Production 1764-1874, 1878-1895 [4]
NRHP Ref #
GNIS IDs[2]		 77001158[5]
1198297 (village)
1207388 (furnace stack)

The Pine Grove Iron Works was a southcentral Pennsylvania smelting facility during the Industrial Revolution. The works is notable for remaining structures that are historical visitor attractions of Pine Grove Furnace State Park, including the furnace stack of the Pine Grove Furnace.

File:1872 and 1899 Pine Grove Iron Works.png
1872 (top) & 1889 maps show the ore pits and railroad terminus. The "Mountain Creek" water race channel was north of the RR, while the creek through the topographic swale was south of the RR and flowed eastward under the RR bridge. The station was at Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found..

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Owners

c. 1930: PA Bureau of State Parks
1913: PA Department of Forestry
1877: S Mountain Mining & Iron Co
tbd: South Mountain Iron Company
c. 1874: Thomas Iron Company[1][6]
1864: South Mountain Iron Company
1864: Morehead[6]
1863: Jay Cooke & Co[7]
1845: E. Watts & W. Watts[6]
1838: F. Watts & Penrose[8]
1835: J. Ege & M. P. Ege[6]
1815: P. Ege[9]
1803: M. Ege[10]
1788: Arthur, M. Ege & T. Thornburg[6]
1783: M. Ege, J. Thornburg & T. Thornburg[6]
1773: Simon[10]
1772: McGrew[3]
1762: Stevenson[3]:270
1762 (137 acres): Pope[11]
1736: T. Penn & R. Penn[2][3]:269–70

Geography

The works occupied the small area around the furnace stack a "quarter of a mile from the" quarry.[12] Notable geographic points near the works include the Mountain Creek distributary point for the furnace water race on the west,[13] the wash race distributary point from Tom's Run (north),[13] and the confluence of the furnace's water race with the creek (east). Also to the east and southeast were the railroad bridge over the creek and the "east workings"[14] with the limestone quarry ("flux … pit 250'x75'x50' deep" in 1891)[1]:326 and Pine Grove bank No. 1.[14]

Pine Grove

Pine Grove was the village/town[15] associated with the iron works[1] (designated the "Pine Grove Furnace" populated place in 1979),[2] and village structures included the Methodist Episcopal Church and residences north of the east-west road through the area. By 1886 the village had a post office,[3] and the schoolhouse and c. 1790 Pine Grove Cemetery (Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.) were south of the village and the iron works.[13] A local store provide goods.[10]

History

Pine Grove Furnace was built about 1770,[not in citation given] the second of nine Cumberland County furnaces.[15] It was built and operated by Robert Thornburg and John Arthur, in the interest of George Stevenson, who already owned Laurel Forge downstream on Mountain Creek.[citation needed] The furnace smelted iron ore to produce colonial cast iron products such as wagon wheel iron,[1]:245 fireplace backs, iron kettles, ten plate stoves, and in the late 19th century, Baldwin Locomotive parts.[3]

The Pine Grove Furnace facilities were identified as "Pine Grove Iron-Works" by 1782 ("Mr. Eger's [sic] iron-works" in 1783),[4] and in addition to water raceways and charcoal hearths (traces of which are still visible), support facilities were built near the works, e.g., the 1829 L-shaped iron master mansion [5] (named "office" in 1872).[13] A saw mill was built c. 1777,[6]:56 and the Pine Grove No. 1 bank was used for limonite iron ore while two quarries provided limestone.[1] The 1870 South Mountain RR, with offices at Pine Grove, connected the furnace to limestone pits and three operating ore mines.[11]

The charcoal-fired furnace was deactivated in 1874,[7] and the engine house(s) continued pumping the ore pit (now Fuller Lake) to keep reduced water levels.[4] The cold blast furnace had been converted to hot blast by 1877, and remodelling in the 1877-8 winter including changes to allow alternate fuels.[4] Connellsville coke was first used on March 22/23, 1879; and anthracite was first used shortly afterward.[4] A rail extension to the Wild Cat pits,[15]:12 2.5 miles west of Pine Grove, was considered in 1880 but not completed.[16] Net iron output in the peak year of 1883 was 6,000 short tons (5,400 t).[8] The SMRR-succeeding 1891 Hunter's Run and Slate Belt Railroad and 1910 Gettysburg and Harrisburg Railway operated to the Pine Grove Railroad Station and the nearby Pine Grove Park.

Iron production ended in 1895, and the Pine Grove Iron Works was sold on September 12, 1913, as part of 3 tracts which became the majority of the Pine Grove Division of the South Mountain Forest[17] and, by 1931, the Pine Grove Furnace State Park.[8]

Historiography

The ownership chain of the Pine Grove Iron Works was published in 1886,[3] and a history by one of the superintendents was published in 1934.[11] After Flower's 1975 history was published,[18] the "Pine Grove Iron Works"[8] was listed on the National Register of Historical Places on April 13, 1977;[5] and "Pine Grove Furnace" was recorded as a "populated place" by the U. S. Geological Survey on August 2, 1979, during the Geographic Names Phase I data compilation.[2] The Ironmaster's Mansion was restored by 1985[19] and renovated from 2010 until April 5, 2011.[9][not in citation given] In 1991, Railroads to Pine Grove Furnace was published.[20]

External images
image icon Mansion photo before 1908
image icon Former grist mill (Appalachian Trail Museum)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.:92 NOTE: The Central Pennsylvania Conservancy claims the mansion was built in 1829.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. NOTE: The 2005 Frigm webpage is transcribed and augmented by the DCNR for their "History" webpage, which adds "In 1764, partners George Stevenson, Robert Thornburgh and John Arthur built an iron furnace along Mountain Creek." (both Ege, 1911, & Mercer, 1914, p. 90 identify Stevenson as "owner of the site" but the furnace was "built by Thornburg & Arthur".)
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Rose cites the 1911 Ege genealogy.)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (similarly-worded Franklin Institute journal of 1899)
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. NOTE: "Penn Township … included Cook [sic] Township until it was formed from the southern part of Penn on June 18, 1872."[1]
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (cites "report on the iron ore mines and limestone quarries of the Cumberland-Lebanon Valley, by E. B. d'Invilliers, in the An. Rept. Geol. Surv. of Pennsylvania")
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. per year.     p. 12: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.     p. 14: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (from Echo newspaper) NOTE: Lesley (1892, p. 245) identifies the Wild Cat pits 2 1/2 miles to the west of Pine Grove contained too much phosphorus and were never developed.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (Google Books version)
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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