Isabella Furnace
Encyclopedia
Isabella Furnace was a cold blast
charcoal iron
furnace
located in West Nantmeal Township, Chester County, 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 (nephew of Isabella), 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.
; the tract already included a fulling mill and a sawmill, and the transaction encompassed water rights to dam Perkins Run to power the furnace. The Potts and Rutter families were already extensively involved in the iron business in the vicinity of Philadelphia; Henry's father Joseph was a partner in Glasgow Forge, on Manatawny Creek
near Pottstown, Pennsylvania
, and Henry was involved in ironmaking there and at Warwick Furnace
, owned by his first cousin David Potts, Jr.
The furnace was completed by the end of the year and named in honor of Henry's wife Isabella, née Hitner. It proved to be the last sizable furnace erected in northern Chester County.
In the spring of 1836, Henry's brother David, formerly the owner of Springton Forge, was brought in as a partner and manager of the furnace. Henry retained a half interest and David and John each a quarter interest in Isabella Furnace. Ore from the furnace was obtained from the Jones and Warwick mines nearby; partners members of the allied Potts, Rutter, and Brooke families were among the partners in the mines. In 1839 and 1840, respectively, Henry and David's brothers Robert Smith Potts and Joseph Potts were brought into the partnership. Ultimately, David bought out most of the family interest, except for a moiety
held by his nephew, William A. Smith. David's nephew Charles Follen McKim
, later a noted architect, was born at Isabella in 1847. The furnace was well-run under David's direction, and in 1850, produced 1000 short tons (907.2 t) of iron per year. The furnace was converted to a forge
in 1853. However, changing conditions in the iron market in the mid-1850s badly damaged David's financial position. Isabella Furnace was assigned to Robert Smith Potts and Addison May, who sold it in the following year to John Irey and James Butler.
Irey was a carpenter who, like David Potts, had made iron at Springton Forge. Under the new owners, the output of the forge in 1856 was 560 short tons (508 t) of blooms. Irey bought out Butler in 1860 and thereafter operated the forge himself. During the early years of the Civil War
, the East Brandywine and Waynesburg Railroad built along the East Branch of the Brandywine on its way from Downingtown
to Waynesburg, now Honey Brook
. Its Wyebrooke station was about a half-mile south of the forge and provided a rail outlet for its products. The forge was remodeled in 1864 and it was presumably then that it became a furnace again, but Irey's operations during the Civil War were not profitable.
He sold out in 1865 to the brothers Bentley H., William D., and Horace V. Smith, members of an ironmaking family associated with Joanna Furnace
and the mines around Warwick. William D. and Horace V. Smith were particularly associated with the management of the furnace until 1881. About 1870, as the Wilmington and Reading Railroad built through the region on the way from Wilmington, Delaware
to Birdsboro, Pennsylvania
, it established a station called "Isabella" about a mile northwest of the furnace.
In 1880, a new figure appeared upon the scene: Col. Joseph D. Potts (1829–1893), son of David Potts. Raised at Isabella Furnace, he regarded it as home. Potts made a fortune in the railroad and transportation industry, in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad
and elsewhere. When he retired from that business, he desired to return to the property where he had been raised and become an ironmaster, like so many of his family before him. He won over the Smith brothers, who were reluctant to sell, and closed on the property on February 28, 1880.
Potts was willing to make substantial investments in modernizing the furnace. His improvements included conversion from water to the more reliable steam power for creating the furnace blast. Potts also arranged for the construction of a spur line to the furnace from the East Brandywine and Waynesburg, which had come under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad
in 1876. This facilitated the shipment of raw materials to, and iron from, the furnace; in 1884, Isabella was reported to be using a combination of the local ores and imported Spanish ore to produce "car-wheel" pig iron
, sold under the "Wyebrooke" brand. At this time, the annual capacity of the furnace had increased to 3000 short tons (2,721.6 t) of iron due to the modernization. Soon after buying the furnace, Col. Potts appointed his elder son, William M. Potts, manager of the furnace; William's younger brother, Francis L. Potts, was also associated with Isabella until 1886. In that year, Isabella underwent its last rebuilding. By 1892, the furnace was using a blend of local ores, ore from Lancaster County
, Elba, and Lake Superior
, and reported an annual capacity of 6000 short tons (5,443.1 t).
In 1891, Col. Potts began building a nearby mansion, which he named "Langoma", which he intended as a residence for himself and his son William. However, he died in December 1893 and did not live to see it completed. William, his wife, and mother did move into "Langoma", but ironmaking at the furnace ended in April 1894, not long after Col. Potts' death. It was the last iron furnace operating in Chester County. The furnace and railroad spur were left largely intact, although unused. The slow dilapidation of the furnace produced a remarkable aesthetic effect. Henry Seidel Canby
referred in 1935 to "its moldering cupola furnace, like a Persian mosque of the twelfth century, its long walls and sleepy half-drained dam." This slow decay was accelerated after the death of William M. Potts in 1943, when the railroad was taken up and other metal was reclaimed for scrap. Even after this, HABS
photographer Ned Goode said of the furnace in 1959 that "its wild setting in an over-grown field is quite striking".
After the death of William Potts, the ruined furnace was sold by his estate to Frank Bloise, who sold it in 1945 to Langoma Industries, a clothing firm with which Bloise was involved. Langoma Industries intended to set up a clothing factory and a surrounding worker's town on the Potts estate. It was still owned by Langoma Industries in 1959. Ultimately, the property was converted to a private residence by Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Leiberman, who sold the property about 1983.
A Hexamer General Survey plan of the furnace made in 1890 shows a number of structures arranged along the hillside sloping down to Perkins Run. Atop the hillside were a "coalhouse", "orehouse", and "screenhouse"; three large warehouses (about 100' x 50' each) with railroad trestles running into them for the delivery and storage of raw materials. Their elevated position allowed charcoal and ore to be moved directly to a crusher house and a charging house on the edge of the hillside; the mixed coal and ore could then move across a charging bridge into the top of the furnace stack, whose base was at the foot of the hill. Attached to the base of the furnace were a "wheel house", apparently used for storing casting sand and fire brick
, and a casting house where molten iron from the furnace could run into molds. Just to the northwest lay the boiler shed and blowing engine for the furnace's steam-powered tuyere
s, and several ancillary buildings also lay in the floodplain on both sides of Perkins Run.
Current aerial photography shows the coalhouse, casting and crushing houses, blowing engine house, and a small storage building have been reroofed and appear to form part of a private residence. The furnace stack appears to be largely demolished, and other buildings are gone; the foundations and lower walls of the orehouse and screenhouse are still evident.
Cold blast
Cold blast, in ironmaking, refers to a furnace where air is not preheated before being blown into the furnace. This represents the earliest stage in the development of ironmaking...
charcoal iron
Charcoal iron
Charcoal iron is the substance created by the smelting of iron ore with charcoal.All ironmaking blast furnaces were fueled by charcoal until Abraham Darby introduced coke as a fuel in 1709. The more economical coke soon replaced charcoal in British furnaces, but in the United States, where timber...
furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
located in West Nantmeal Township, Chester County, 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 (nephew of Isabella), 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
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1991.
History
The original operators of the furnace were Henry Potts and his brother-in-law (and second cousin) John Potts Rutter, who bought a tract of land from Robert Wilson on April 1, 1835 for the furnace site. The land was along Perkins Run near where that stream emptied into the East Branch Brandywine CreekEast Branch Brandywine Creek
The East Branch Brandywine Creek is a tributary of Brandywine Creek in Chester County, Pennsylvania in the United States.-Course:The creek starts in Suplee near Honey Brook, and joins the West Branch Brandywine Creek in Lenape. From its source, the creek flows east, then southeast, passing through...
; the tract already included a fulling mill and a sawmill, and the transaction encompassed water rights to dam Perkins Run to power the furnace. The Potts and Rutter families were already extensively involved in the iron business in the vicinity of Philadelphia; Henry's father Joseph was a partner in Glasgow Forge, on Manatawny Creek
Manatawny Creek
Manatawny Creek is an tributary of the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania in the United States.Manatawny Creek joins the Schuylkill River at Pottstown in Montgomery County.-References:...
near Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States northwest of Philadelphia and southeast of Reading, on the Schuylkill River. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the...
, and Henry was involved in ironmaking there and at Warwick Furnace
Warwick Furnace Farms
Warwick Furnace Farms is a historic district in northern Chester County, Pennsylvania that includes the ruins of an early iron furnace, the ironmaster's house and workers' houses, as well as a historic farm house and barns now used in the operation of a working farm...
, owned by his first cousin David Potts, Jr.
David Potts, Jr.
David Potts, Jr. was an Anti-Masonic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.David Potts, Jr. was born at Warwick Furnace, Pennsylvania, about eight miles from Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He became an ironmaster, and owner and manager of Warwick Furnace...
The furnace was completed by the end of the year and named in honor of Henry's wife Isabella, née Hitner. It proved to be the last sizable furnace erected in northern Chester County.
In the spring of 1836, Henry's brother David, formerly the owner of Springton Forge, was brought in as a partner and manager of the furnace. Henry retained a half interest and David and John each a quarter interest in Isabella Furnace. Ore from the furnace was obtained from the Jones and Warwick mines nearby; partners members of the allied Potts, Rutter, and Brooke families were among the partners in the mines. In 1839 and 1840, respectively, Henry and David's brothers Robert Smith Potts and Joseph Potts were brought into the partnership. Ultimately, David bought out most of the family interest, except for a moiety
Moiety title
Moiety title is legal term describing a portion other than a whole of ownership of property. The word derives from Old French moitié meaning "half" , from Latin medietas "middle", from medius....
held by his nephew, William A. Smith. David's nephew Charles Follen McKim
Charles Follen McKim
Charles Follen McKim FAIA was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead, and White....
, later a noted architect, was born at Isabella in 1847. The furnace was well-run under David's direction, and in 1850, produced 1000 short tons (907.2 t) of iron per year. The furnace was converted to a forge
Forge
A forge is a hearth used for forging. The term "forge" can also refer to the workplace of a smith or a blacksmith, although the term smithy is then more commonly used.The basic smithy contains a forge, also known as a hearth, for heating metals...
in 1853. However, changing conditions in the iron market in the mid-1850s badly damaged David's financial position. Isabella Furnace was assigned to Robert Smith Potts and Addison May, who sold it in the following year to John Irey and James Butler.
Irey was a carpenter who, like David Potts, had made iron at Springton Forge. Under the new owners, the output of the forge in 1856 was 560 short tons (508 t) of blooms. Irey bought out Butler in 1860 and thereafter operated the forge himself. During the early years of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the East Brandywine and Waynesburg Railroad built along the East Branch of the Brandywine on its way from Downingtown
Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Downingtown is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 7,891. Downingtown was settled by English and European colonists in the early 18th century and has a number of historic buildings and structures.-History:The town was...
to Waynesburg, now Honey Brook
Honey Brook, Pennsylvania
Honey Brook is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,713 at the 2010 census. It is surrounded by the township of the same name, and both are referred to locally collectively as Honey Brook.-History:...
. Its Wyebrooke station was about a half-mile south of the forge and provided a rail outlet for its products. The forge was remodeled in 1864 and it was presumably then that it became a furnace again, but Irey's operations during the Civil War were not profitable.
He sold out in 1865 to the brothers Bentley H., William D., and Horace V. Smith, members of an ironmaking family associated with Joanna Furnace
Joanna Furnace Complex
The Joanna Furnace Complex was an iron furnace that operated from 1792 to 1901 in Robeson Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Samuel Potts and Thomas Rutter III and named for Potts's wife Joanna...
and the mines around Warwick. William D. and Horace V. Smith were particularly associated with the management of the furnace until 1881. About 1870, as the Wilmington and Reading Railroad built through the region on the way from Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
to Birdsboro, Pennsylvania
Birdsboro, Pennsylvania
Birdsboro is a borough along the Schuylkill River in Berks County, Pennsylvania, eight miles southeast of Reading. In the past, Birdsboro was noted for its large foundries and machine shops, none of which remain in operation today.-History:...
, it established a station called "Isabella" about a mile northwest of the furnace.
In 1880, a new figure appeared upon the scene: Col. Joseph D. Potts (1829–1893), son of David Potts. Raised at Isabella Furnace, he regarded it as home. Potts made a fortune in the railroad and transportation industry, in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
and elsewhere. When he retired from that business, he desired to return to the property where he had been raised and become an ironmaster, like so many of his family before him. He won over the Smith brothers, who were reluctant to sell, and closed on the property on February 28, 1880.
Potts was willing to make substantial investments in modernizing the furnace. His improvements included conversion from water to the more reliable steam power for creating the furnace blast. Potts also arranged for the construction of a spur line to the furnace from the East Brandywine and Waynesburg, which had come under the control of the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
in 1876. This facilitated the shipment of raw materials to, and iron from, the furnace; in 1884, Isabella was reported to be using a combination of the local ores and imported Spanish ore to produce "car-wheel" pig iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
, sold under the "Wyebrooke" brand. At this time, the annual capacity of the furnace had increased to 3000 short tons (2,721.6 t) of iron due to the modernization. Soon after buying the furnace, Col. Potts appointed his elder son, William M. Potts, manager of the furnace; William's younger brother, Francis L. Potts, was also associated with Isabella until 1886. In that year, Isabella underwent its last rebuilding. By 1892, the furnace was using a blend of local ores, ore from Lancaster County
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
, Elba, and Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
, and reported an annual capacity of 6000 short tons (5,443.1 t).
In 1891, Col. Potts began building a nearby mansion, which he named "Langoma", which he intended as a residence for himself and his son William. However, he died in December 1893 and did not live to see it completed. William, his wife, and mother did move into "Langoma", but ironmaking at the furnace ended in April 1894, not long after Col. Potts' death. It was the last iron furnace operating in Chester County. The furnace and railroad spur were left largely intact, although unused. The slow dilapidation of the furnace produced a remarkable aesthetic effect. Henry Seidel Canby
Henry Seidel Canby
Henry Seidel Canby was a critic, editor, and Yale University professor.Canby was born in Wilmington, Delaware and attended Wilmington Friends School...
referred in 1935 to "its moldering cupola furnace, like a Persian mosque of the twelfth century, its long walls and sleepy half-drained dam." This slow decay was accelerated after the death of William M. Potts in 1943, when the railroad was taken up and other metal was reclaimed for scrap. Even after this, HABS
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
photographer Ned Goode said of the furnace in 1959 that "its wild setting in an over-grown field is quite striking".
After the death of William Potts, the ruined furnace was sold by his estate to Frank Bloise, who sold it in 1945 to Langoma Industries, a clothing firm with which Bloise was involved. Langoma Industries intended to set up a clothing factory and a surrounding worker's town on the Potts estate. It was still owned by Langoma Industries in 1959. Ultimately, the property was converted to a private residence by Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Leiberman, who sold the property about 1983.
Buildings
The original stack of the furnace was 33 feet (10.1 m) high, with a 6.5 feet (2 m) bosh. Either the 1864 or 1881 remodeling increased the height to 35 feet (10.7 m), with a 7.75 feet (2.4 m) bosh. The last remodeling, in 1886, enlarged the stack to 60 feet (18.3 m).A Hexamer General Survey plan of the furnace made in 1890 shows a number of structures arranged along the hillside sloping down to Perkins Run. Atop the hillside were a "coalhouse", "orehouse", and "screenhouse"; three large warehouses (about 100' x 50' each) with railroad trestles running into them for the delivery and storage of raw materials. Their elevated position allowed charcoal and ore to be moved directly to a crusher house and a charging house on the edge of the hillside; the mixed coal and ore could then move across a charging bridge into the top of the furnace stack, whose base was at the foot of the hill. Attached to the base of the furnace were a "wheel house", apparently used for storing casting sand and fire brick
Fire brick
A fire brick, firebrick, or refractory brick is a block of refractory ceramic material used in lining furnaces, kilns, fireboxes, and fireplaces. A refractory brick is built primarily to withstand high temperature, but will also usually have a low thermal conductivity for greater energy efficiency...
, and a casting house where molten iron from the furnace could run into molds. Just to the northwest lay the boiler shed and blowing engine for the furnace's steam-powered tuyere
Tuyere
A tuyere, also can be spelled as tuyère, is a tube, nozzle or pipe through which air is blown into a furnace or hearth.Air or oxygen is injected into a hearth under pressure from bellows or a blast engine or other devices...
s, and several ancillary buildings also lay in the floodplain on both sides of Perkins Run.
Current aerial photography shows the coalhouse, casting and crushing houses, blowing engine house, and a small storage building have been reroofed and appear to form part of a private residence. The furnace stack appears to be largely demolished, and other buildings are gone; the foundations and lower walls of the orehouse and screenhouse are still evident.
Further reading
- Hagley Digital Archives, American Iron and Steel Institute photograph collection (several photographs before and after abandonment)
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Forges and Furnaces Collection (#212) (various records 1871–1921)
- Historical Society of Pennsylvania, William McCleary Potts Collection (#1401) (correspondence of the last manager)
- Pennsylvania State Archives, Photograph Collection MG-218 (one photograph)
External links
- Hexamer Survey showing plan of Isabella Furnace in 1890.