| Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site | |
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  Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Location | Union Township,Berks County, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Nearest city | Reading, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°11′55″N75°46′32″W / 40.19861°N 75.77556°W /40.19861; -75.77556 |
| Area | 848 acres (343 ha) |
| Established | August 3, 1938 |
| Visitors | 49,980 (in 2005) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site |
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in southeasternBerks County, nearElverson, Pennsylvania,is an example of an American 19th century ruraliron plantation, whose operations werebased around a charcoal-fired cold-blast iron blast furnace.The significant restored structures include thefurnace group(blast furnace,water wheel, blast machinery, cast house and charcoal house), as well as the ironmaster's house, a company store, the blacksmith's shop, a barn and several worker's houses.
Hopewell Furnace was founded about 1771 byironmaster Mark Bird, son of William Bird, who had been one of Pennsylvania's most prominent ironmasters. The site's most prosperous time was during the 1820-1840 period with a brief return to significant production during the American Civil War. In the mid-19th century, changes in iron making, including a shift from charcoal-fueled furnaces toanthracite-fueled steel mills, rendered smaller furnaces like Hopewell obsolete. The site discontinued operations in 1883.
In 1938, the property was designated Hopewell VillageNational Historic Site under the authority of theHistoric Sites Act, thereby becoming one of theearliest cultural units of the National Park System.
Today, Hopewell Furnace consists of 14 restored structures, 52 features on the List of Classified Structures, and a total of 848 mostly wooded acres. Hopewell FurnaceNational Historic Site is located in theHopewell Big Woods and bordered byFrench Creek State Park on three sides and State Game Lands 43 on the south side, which preserves the lands the furnace utilized for its natural resources.
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In 1761, Mark Bird took over the family business after the death of hisironmaster father. This included two forges and a furnace on 3000 acres. Bird expanded the business to 8000 acres by 1763, and added the Hopewell and Jones Good Luck mines. In 1770, he purchased several tracts in Berks and Chester Counties, planning a furnace on French Creek near his father's forge and the Hopewell mine. By 1771, the Hopewell Furnace was in operation, and an early stove plate was imprinted "Mark Bird-Hopewell Furnace - 1772." By 1775, Bird was a member of thePennsylvania Committee of Correspondence and thePennsylvania Provincial Conference. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, Bird served as a colonel of the Second Battalion of Berks County militia, was elected to thePennsylvania General Assembly, and served as a judge for Berks County. As Deputy Quartermaster General of Pennsylvania, his furnace provided cannon and shot to theContinental Army andContinental Navy. However, payments from Congress were insufficient to cover his over-expanded business, and Bird was forced to close down his Berks County ironworks in 1784 following the national economic downturn. Bird noted, "...I was Ruined, by the Warr, it was not Drunkenness, Idleness or want of Industry." Following floods and fire, Bird was forced to mortgage his Hopewell andBirdsboro properties in 1786. In 1788, the Hopewell plantation was auctioned off to James Old and Cadwallader Morris, while Bird fled to North Carolina, a debtor's refuge. Bird died there in 1816.[1]
By 1789, Hopewell Furnace was the second largest of 14 furnaces in Pennsylvania with annual capacity of 700 tons. Yet, the operation was still not profitable. In 1794, James Wilson bought the operation, but was forced to auction the complex in 1796, and fled to North Carolina to avoid his creditors. In 1800, Daniel Buckley, and his brothers-in-law Matthew and Thomas Brooke, purchased the furnace and operated it as a family business for the next 83 years. Daniel Buckley was succeed upon his death in 1828 by his son Matthew Brooke Buckley, and then his grandson Edward S. Buckley. In 1801, the two bellows were repaired. In 1804, the furnace was renovated, a newcharcoal house built, the water wheel andhead race remodeled, with theovershot wheel replaced by a breastshot wheel. In 1805, astamping mill helped recover iron from the slag, which operated until 1817. The partners were forced to close down operations from 1808 until 1816, due to the national recession, and land title litigation. In 1817, acupola furnace was added to resmeltpig iron intocast iron tosand cast sash weights, pots, skillets, kettles, flat irons, wheels, mill screws, apple mill nuts, clock weights, anvils, hammers, grates, grindstone wheels, mold boards, and stove plates. The 1830s were the most profitable years, and from 1825 until 1844, stove plates were the most lucrative product. In 1839, 5,152 stoves were produced. While Clement Brooke served as resident manager and iron master from 1816 until 1848, he added a cellar, kitchen and southwest wing to the ironmaster's house, enlarged the spring house and company store, and built tenant houses and a schoolhouse. Stove plate production ended in 1844, and over the next four decades, mainly pig iron was produced. Customers included theReading Railroad. Dr. Charles M. Clingan, Clement Brooke's son-in-law, succeeded as resident manager over the next 10 years. He was followed by John R. Shafer for the next 15 years, and Harker Long as the last resident manager. The furnace ceased operations on 15 June 1883, and the remaining pig iron stock sold off over the next five years.[1]: 33–65
In 1935, the federal government purchased the property from Louise Brooke, daughter of Dr. Charles and Maria Clingan, paying $100,000 for 4000 acres. In 1938, the Secretary of the Interior designated the area as a National Historic Site, and plans proceeded to restore the area to its prosperous period of 1820 to 1840. In 1946, 5000 acres of the recreation area were deeded to the state, keeping 848 acres for the historic site. Restoration began in the 1950s, and by 1952, the furnace, blacksmith shop, water wheel and blast machinery, barn, tenant houses, and cast house had been rebuilt and restored. This included the use of woodendowels andhand hewn beams.[1]: 67–72
Due to being one of the oldest established units in the National Park Service, Hopewell Furnace had deferred maintenance costs of $7,983,521 in 2015, $7,526,855 in 2016, $6,835,475 in 2017, and most recently published $7,443,553 in 2018. Much of this comes from costs of repair and maintenance needs. Local support groups for the site are recently focused on preserving and cataloging documents from the furnace's active period, in order to better interpret and present the history of the area.
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