Speedwell Forge

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Speedwell Forge was built in 1760 in Elizabeth Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It operated continuously until 1854, when it closed as iron production moved west. The following are notes collected while researching the associated ironmaster's mansion for a National Historic Register nomination. The major players should be broken into separate wikis.

Peter Grubb owned the Cornwall Iron Furnace as well as the Cornwall iron mines, the richest source of iron ever found in America. Peter Grubb hired Robert Coleman

In the 1730s, Peter Grubb, a stone mason, began mining in what is now known as Cornwall, Pennsylvania, and literally stumbled upon one of the largest and richest iron mines ever found. (It was mined for over 240 years, until the open pit mine flooded in 1972.) In 1742, Grubb built the Cornwall Iron Furnace, which used a blast furnace to convert iron ore to pig iron. (So named because when it poured from the furnace into narrow channels on the floor, it resembled pigs suckling.)

C. 1735, John Jacob Huber, a German immigrant, set up a tavern on Newport Road, which ran from Lancaster PA to the port at Newport DE. (This tavern is now the Forgotten Seasons B&B.) In 1746 he sold the tavern and purchased 400 acres of land in what is now Elizabeth County. By 1750 he built Elizabeth Furnace and began casting five-plate stoves, some of which survive today. He hired another German immigrant, Henry William Stiegel, as clerk, and in 1752 Stiegel married Huber's daughter, Elizabeth. In 1757, Stiegel purchased his father-in-law's interest in the furnace. (The township later took its name from the furnace.)

James Old (1730-1809) emigrated from Wales in 1750. Arriving in Lancaster, he was employed at Windsor Forge in Caernarvon Township. A few years later, he struck out on his own and built Poole Forge, also in Caernarvon Township. In 1760, he and his partner David Caldwell purchased land from Huber along Hammer Creek, and built Speedwell Forge.

Blast furnaces produced cast iron and pig iron. For cast iron, the molten iron was scooped into sand castings and then cooled, which produced detailed designs for stove plates and similar uses. However, the iron still had many impurities, making it brittle, so most of the iron was formed into "pigs" and transported to nearby forges, where the iron was heated and huge trip hammers beat out the impurities, creating "bar iron." Forges would run 24 hours a day, and the trip hammers, powered by fast-running streams, could be heard five miles away. The bar iron was sold to blacksmiths, who would heat it and bend it into any shape necessary, from horseshoes to chandeliers.

To heat the iron, a forge needed an acre of trees every day. Colliers would cut down several hundred trees, split the wood, and build a massive bern in the forest. They would cover this in dirt and then sit it on fire, ensuring that the fire did not receive enough oxygen to fully ignite, but instead to smolder slowly for several days. This would turn the fresh wood into charcoal, which would burn at a much higher temperature than wood.

Furnaces produced "pig iron," which was then sent to forges to be made into "bar iron" that could be distributed to blacksmiths. In addition, most forges made stoves and other iron goods. During the Revolution and Civil War, of course, they made munitions. The process was virtually unchanged until the 1850s, when anthracite coal was mined and blast furnaces were used, and iron production moved west to places like Pittsburgh. Because of its distance from town, a forge had to be self-sustaining, employing farmers, lumbejacks, blacksmiths, horses, livestock, etc. Thus the iron master oversaw not just a forge, but a community. Today, most of the forges are gone, with the exception of Cornwall Furnace, which is a pretty cool tour.

Robert Coleman (1748–1825) was born in Caste Finn, Ireland, and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1764. Arriving penniless, his beautiful penmanship soon earned him a clerk position for the Reading Prothonotary. After two years, he was hired by Peter Grubb as a clerk at Hopewell Forge, in Lancaster County. However, in 1767, after only six months at Hopewell Forge, Coleman was hired by James Old, who had just leased Quittapahilla Forge in Lancaster County (now Lebanon County). Coleman lived with the Old family, travelling between Speedwell and Quittapahilla.

Because of its distance from town, a forge had to be self-sustaining, employing farmers, lumbejacks, blacksmiths, horses, livestock, etc. Thus the iron master oversaw not just a forge, but a community.

In 1767, Old took Coleman to Reading Furnace, in Chester County. In 1773, Coleman married Old's daughter, Anne. With the help of his father-in-law, Coleman leased Salford Forge, and began building his iron empire. In 1784, Coleman purchased Speedwell Forge from his father-in-law for 7000 pounds. After selling Speedwell, James Old purchased an interest in Hopewell Furnace in Berks County. There are indicators that he worked as a Justice of the Courts in Lancaster, and was a member of the State Assembly.

Coleman owned several furnaces during the Revolution, receiving many contracts for munitions and chain links, which were stretched across the bays to keep English war ships at bay. Coleman reinvested his profits, buying many forges and furnaces, even the Cornwall iron mine. He became Pennsylvania's first millionaire, and by the time of his death, his legacy was fully established.

Speedwell Forge was used as a training ground for his sons, before being promoted to furnaces.

By the 1850s, improvements in coal technology had produced anthracite coal, which burned hotter than bituminous coal. New furnaces burned hotter and were much more efficient, and the industry was moving west to places like Pittsburgh. As a result, many of the furnaces and forges closed. Speedwell closed in 1854; Cornwall held out until 1883. Some of the furnaces (including Cornwall and Hopewell) survived, simply because the furnaces were too massive to do anything with. Forges, on the other hand, could be completely dismantled and abandoned. As a result, there are no extant forges remaining in America.

The Speedwell property remained in the Coleman family, and they began breeding standardbred horses for sulkey racing. The quarter-mile training track is now used as the driveway for Speedwell Forge mansion, and the half-mile racing track is still visible at the top of the hill, in what is now a cornfield.

In 1942, the Margaret Coleman Buckingham sold the Speedwell property, and surrounding 1000 acres, to Gerald and Kathryn Darlington. In the 1960s, Pennsylvania state purchased about 500 acres along Hammer Creek and dammed it, creating Speedwell Forge Lake. In the 1990s, Lancaster County purchased about 300 acres also along Hammer Creek, and created the Speedwell Forge County Park.

Today, nothing remains of the forge above ground. There are supposedly some historic artifacts underwater, but the exact location of the forge is no longer known. The associated ironmaster's mansion was fully restored in 2005 by Dawn Darlington, granddaughter of Gerald and Kathryn Darlington, and converted into a bed and breakfast. In 2006, the property, which included a summer kitchen and paymaster's office, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.