Robesonia Furnace
Heidelberg Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Founded 1794 as Reading Furnace by ironmaster George Ege. In 1845 Henry P. Robeson expanded the furnace, spurring establishment in 1855 of the town of Robesonia. Although the furnace itself ceased operation and was razed in 1927, the Georgian-style ironmaster's mansion, Italianate office building, workers' houses, and other structures survived. The district is located one mile south of here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Ironmaster George Ege founded this furnace in 1794 as Reading Furnace, part of the charcoal-iron industry that flourished across colonial and early Pennsylvania. Henry P. Robeson enlarged it in 1845, and the growing works gave rise to the town of Robesonia in 1855. Though the furnace was razed in 1927, the ironmaster's Georgian mansion, Italianate office, and workers' houses still stand a mile away as a preserved industrial village.
Why it matters
The surviving district preserves the world of the Pennsylvania iron plantation, the charcoal-fueled furnaces that made the region an early cradle of American heavy industry.
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Related people
- · George Ege
- · Henry P. Robeson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Charming Forge
Womelsdorf, PA · est. 1947
Charming Forge rose in 1749 as part of the iron plantations that made colonial Pennsylvania an industrial powerhouse of the British Empire. It was once held by the flamboyant ironmaster and glassmaker Baron Henry William Stiegel and later run for a half-century by George Ege. During the Revolution, Hessian prisoners were put to work cutting a rock channel to supply the forge with water.
Union Canal
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John A. Shulze
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