Carlisle Iron Works
South Middleton Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Founded about 1762 by John Rigbie and Co. Operated after 1781 by Michael Ege, noted ironmaster of the period. Ruins of the charcoal furnace still stand.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Established around 1762, the Carlisle Iron Works turned the abundant ore, timber, and waterpower of the Cumberland Valley into iron during the colonial and early national periods. After 1781 it passed to Michael Ege, one of the region's most prominent ironmasters, whose family built a small empire of furnaces and forges. The ruins of its charcoal furnace still stand as a reminder of that early industry.
Why it matters
Backcountry iron plantations like this one powered early America with tools, hardware, and munitions, seeding the industrial strength the nation would later depend on.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Ye Olde Sulphur Spa Historical Society9.6 mi away
- Appalachian Trail Museum12.6 mi away
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Related people
- · John Rigbie
- · Michael Ege
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Charles Albert "Chief" Bender
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Charles "Chief" Bender was one of the great pitchers of baseball's early modern era, anchoring the Philadelphia Athletics from 1903 to 1914 and helping them capture five pennants and three world championships. The son of a mother who was half Ojibwe, he attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School on this very site from 1898 to 1901 before rising to become one of the sport's first World Series stars. His 212 career wins carried him into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954.
Williams Grove
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In the decades after the Civil War, farmers organized into the Grange movement to fight railroad monopolies and share knowledge, and Williams Grove became one of its great gathering places. Founded in 1874 by Robert H. Thomas of the Pennsylvania State Grange, the Great Grangers' Interstate Picnic Exhibition drew crowds estimated at 100,000 or more in a single week by the 1890s. The nearby John Williams House, built around 1799, anchored the site to an earlier era of rural Pennsylvania life.
Thomas Butler
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About 1764, Thomas Butler set up his home and gunshop on this lot, the workshop still standing behind the house. When war came, Butler and his five sons all served as officers in the Revolution, earning the family its lasting nickname, the "Fighting Butlers." Their gunmaking trade tied the household directly to the arming of a rebellion.
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