Shadyside Iron Furnace
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Built on lowlands here in 1792. Birth of the iron industry in the Pittsburgh region. It made stove and grate castings. Closed about a year later due to lack of ore and wood.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
On these Monongahela lowlands in 1792, just as the young republic was pushing industry west of the Alleghenies, a small charcoal-fired furnace began casting stoves and grates. It is remembered as the first stirring of what would become Pittsburgh's defining trade. The venture proved fragile, though: within roughly a year the nearby supplies of iron ore and hardwood for charcoal ran short and the fire went cold.
Why it matters
This brief, failed furnace marks the literal beginning of the iron and steel industry that would make Pittsburgh the forge of industrial America.
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Themes & tags
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