Codorus Furnace: York County's Oldest Iron Landmark
Near York, Pennsylvania
About two and a half miles northeast of here stand the restored remains of Codorus Furnace, whose ironworks date to seventeen sixty-five. The state marker calls it the oldest remaining landmark of the iron industry in York County.
What makes Codorus unusual is who ran it during the American Revolution. James Smith, one of Pennsylvania's signers of the Declaration of Independence, is said to have operated the furnace during the war years, supplying iron essential to the patriot cause. The furnace used local ore and charcoal from surrounding forests, feeding the iron-hungry demands of a new nation fighting for its survival. Codorus stands as a rare survivor of colonial industrial heritage in a region where most such furnaces have long since crumbled.
