Patuxent Iron Works

The Patuxent Iron Works was an ironworks along the Patuxent River in Maryland, United States.

History

According to some sources it was founded before 1734 by Richard Snowden and family, on the site of their family's earlier iron works.[1][2][3][4][5]

Other sources say it was in 1736 that Snowden, Joseph Cowman, and three other partners founded the Patuxent Iron Work Company.[6] A 1753 letter by Charles Carroll of Annapolis noted that Snowden's forge was the only one in Maryland to have ore near navigable waters (i.e. the Patuxent River).[7][8]

According to tax records, the company had on average 45 enslaved workers from 1760 to 1780, who worked as foreman, founders, laborers and blacksmiths. Though the Snowdens were Quakers, they owned slaves for a century.[2]

The iron works went to John, Thomas, and Samuel Snowden after Richard Snowden, Jr.'s death in 1763.[5]

"In 1831 the furnace and forge were sold by Thomas, Richard and Edward Snowden to Evan T. Ellicott and Company, who erected another furnace, 28 feet high and 8 feet wide at the boshes, and a puddling furnace and roughing mills or converting pig iron into bars for the Avalon works above Relay."[1] (The site of the Avalon Works is located in today's Patapsco Valley State Park).[9]

The works were "dismantled and demolished" in 1856, "under the ownership of William Wilkins Glen, John Glenn, Jr., and Robert Lemmon."[10] The ruins were visible a long time afterward.[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cook, William G., with edits by Mrs. Carol-jean Webster. 1976. Patuxent Iron Works, chapter 9 of Montpelier & the Snowden Family, pp 295-302
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Richard E. Miller (May 8, 2009). "Iron Production: Maryland's Industrial Past – The Iron Making Process Marker". HMdb.org, The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  3. ↑ "Pig Point: Star Spangled Banner Historical Trail". National Park Service. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  4. ↑ "Patuxent Iron". Maryland Daily Photo. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Park, John R (2003). Maryland mining heritage guide: including Delaware and the District of Columbia. Miami, Fla.: Stonerose Pub. Co. p. 64. ISBN 0970669720.
  6. ↑ Robert William Barnes. Colonial Families of Maryland Bound and Determined to Succeed. p. 217.
  7. ↑ Maryland Historical Magazine 25: 74. 1903. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Maryland Geological Survey. Maryland Geological Survey, Volume 9. p. 270.
  9. ↑ Park (2003). p. 61
  10. ↑ Park (2003). p. 63

Coordinates: 39°04′45″N 76°47′50″W / 39.07917°N 76.79722°W