Pennsylvania Furnace
Franklin Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The remaining buildings here were part of the iron works established about 1810. Operating first as a charcoal iron manufactory, the furnace later used coke. Iron was made here as late as 1888.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Established around 1810, Pennsylvania Furnace was one of the many iron works that flourished along the streams of the Juniata region in the early 19th century. It began by smelting ore with charcoal from the surrounding forests, then adapted to coke as fuel technology changed, keeping iron flowing here as late as 1888. The surviving buildings offer a tangible link to nearly a century of ironmaking.
Why it matters
Pennsylvania Furnace's long life—bridging the charcoal and coke eras—embodies the transformation of American iron production across the 19th century, from rural forest works to fossil-fueled industry.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Scotia
Patton Township, PA · est. 1954
About two miles from this marker, Andrew Carnegie established the iron center of Scotia in 1881, part of the vast industrial empire that made him a titan of the Gilded Age. Workers' houses went up, a railroad was laid, and machinery was set to work extracting and processing iron ore to feed Carnegie's steelmaking. Today only scattered remains survive of a place that once bustled with industry.
Juniata Iron
Worth Township, PA · est. 1947
Between 1790 and 1850 the streams of this region powered dozens of charcoal furnaces and forges, and the metal they produced—known as Juniata iron—was reckoned the finest in America. Its ruins still line the valleys, silent monuments to a once-thriving trade. The industry's long reign came to a close as coal- and coke-fired methods overtook the older charcoal process.
McAlevy's Fort
Jackson Township, PA · est. 2018
In 1778, as the Revolution reached the Pennsylvania frontier, Col. William McAlevy — a pioneer settler and Revolutionary War officer — raised a blockhouse near this spot to shelter early settlers from raids. Decades later, in the 1840s, the entrepreneur Robert McBurney founded a village here and spent the following years developing it. Nearby 19th-century ironworks and mills fueled the community's growth, layering an industrial chapter atop its frontier origins.
Centre Furnace
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