Colebrookdale Furnace: Pennsylvania's First Iron
Near Reading, Pennsylvania
Around seventeen twenty, a group of ironmasters established a blast furnace on Iron Stone Creek, roughly half a mile east of this spot, naming it after the famous Coalbrookdale works in England. Colebrookdale Furnace is often described as among the first blast furnaces built in Pennsylvania. Its founders, including Thomas Rutter and Thomas Potts, used local iron ore and charcoal from the surrounding forest to produce pig iron that fed blacksmiths and craftsmen across the region.
The furnace operated in an era when Pennsylvania iron was laying the groundwork for what would eventually become the industrial backbone of the United States. From this quiet creek valley, the Pennsylvania iron tradition began.
