Near Marietta in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
A Buried Story
Lancaster-York Heritage Region
| — | Susquehanna River Water Trail | — |
At the center of this industrial complex were eight anthracite iron furnaces, which manufactured tons of "pig iron" each year. Barges on the Pennsylvania Canal carried anthracite coal to this area from the northeastern part of the state. Enterprising ironmasters then transformed local iron ore into pig iron with the help of immigrant workers — especially German, Irish, and Welsh.
Local industries became even more dynamic and productive when the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mountjoy, and Lancaster Railroad completed a branch from Middletown to Columbia in 1850. An elaborate transportation network of roads, canals, and railroads allowed pig iron to be shipped to local rolling mills and to markets throughout the Chesapeake Bay region.
By the twentieth century, however, the local iron industry was in decline, a victim of competition with the far richer iron deposits of the Great Lakes region and the coal of western Pennsylvania. Today,
this page online
Erected by Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Railroads & Streetcars • Waterways & Vessels. A significant historical year for this entry is 1845.
Location. 40° 3.423′ N, 76° 32.143′ W. Marker is near Marietta, Pennsylvania, in Lancaster County. It is on Robert K Mowrer Drive south of Furnace Road, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1 Robert K Mowrer Drive, Marietta PA 17547, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in South-Central Pennsylvania, specifically in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and in the Susquehanna Valley. It is also in the American Northeast and in the Mid-Atlantic. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy and also one of the original Thirteen Colonies.
Other nearby markers. At
Credits. This page was last revised on July 8, 2019. It was originally submitted on July 8, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 561 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 8, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
