South Trenton in Mercer County, New Jersey — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Cooper & Hewitt .. Iron & Steel
Photographed By Gary Nigh, November 2007
1. Cooper & Hewitt .. Iron & Steel Marker
Inscription.
Cooper and Hewitt .. Iron and Steel. . Trenton initially developed as a center of iron and steel production as a result of the efforts of Peter Cooper, the well-known inventor, industrialist and philanthropist from New York City. In the mid-1840s, as Cooper began to turn his attention to the large-scale manufacture of wrought and cast iron, he saw Trenton as a key element in an emerging industrial complex that ultimately sprawled across the Middle Atlantic region and beyond. Iron ore mined around Andover in the New Jersey Highlands and the hills of Eastern Pennsylvania was semi-processed into pig iron in the furnaces at Phillipsburg. The material was then shipped by canal and rail to Trenton, along with coal for fuel, where two vast ironworks hammered, rolled and drew out finished manufactured items, like rails and structural beams, as well as plates, rod and wire for use by other metalworking businesses., In 1844-45, Peter Cooper set up his first ironworks in Trenton on the banks of the Delaware River at the foot of South Warren Street. Cooper was assisted by his son, Edward and son-in-law, Abram S. Hewitt in this endeavor which represented the first building block in the Cooper and Hewitt industrial empire. By 1854, the South Warren Street ironworks was producing 35,000 tons of finished iron annually, but capacity expanded enormously over the next century. Under a succession of owners – the South Trenton Iron Company, the Trenton Iron Company, the New Jersey Steel and Iron Company, the American Bridge Company and U.S. Steel – this plant mass-produced the first high quality iron and steel rails for the American railroads, the first structural I-beams for building construction, artillery carriages and gun-metal for the Union Army in the Civil War, the first steel made in the United State by the open hearth process, and countless materials for bridges and buildings all across the country and overseas., Just across town, alongside the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Rail Line, the Trenton Iron Company and their agents, the Cooper and Hewitt partnership, began in 1849-50 to construct a second ironworks site. This plant was developed more specifically as a wire mill that could supply, among other clients, the growing needs of the neighboring wire rope manufacturing and engineering business of John A. Roebling. By 1853, the factory was advertising their production of telegraph wire, bridge wire, wire fencing, rivets and spikes, all made from Andover ore. The Trenton Iron Company continued production at this wire mill until 1904 when its operations were acquired by U.S. Steel., Links to learn more – Ringwood Manor, Ringwood State Park; Invention Factory, Trenton
Trenton initially developed as a center of iron and steel production as a result of the efforts of Peter Cooper, the well-known inventor, industrialist and philanthropist from New York City. In the mid-1840s, as Cooper began to turn his attention to the large-scale manufacture of wrought and cast iron, he saw Trenton as a key element in an emerging industrial complex that ultimately sprawled across the Middle Atlantic region and beyond. Iron ore mined around Andover in the New Jersey Highlands and the hills of Eastern Pennsylvania was semi-processed into pig iron in the furnaces at Phillipsburg. The material was then shipped by canal and rail to Trenton, along with coal for fuel, where two vast ironworks hammered, rolled and drew out finished manufactured items, like rails and structural beams, as well as plates, rod and wire for use by other metalworking businesses.
In 1844-45, Peter Cooper set up his first ironworks in Trenton on the banks of the Delaware River at the foot of South Warren Street. Cooper was assisted by his son, Edward and son-in-law, Abram S. Hewitt in this endeavor which represented the first building block in the Cooper & Hewitt industrial empire. By 1854, the South Warren Street ironworks was producing 35,000 tons of finished iron annually, but capacity expanded enormously over the next century. Under a
Click or scan to see this page online
succession of owners – the South Trenton Iron Company, the Trenton Iron Company, the New Jersey Steel & Iron Company, the American Bridge Company and U.S. Steel – this plant mass-produced the first high quality iron and steel rails for the American railroads, the first structural I-beams for building construction, artillery carriages and gun-metal for the Union Army in the Civil War, the first steel made in the United State by the open hearth process, and countless materials for bridges and buildings all across the country and overseas.
Just across town, alongside the Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Rail Line, the Trenton Iron Company and their agents, the Cooper & Hewitt partnership, began in 1849-50 to construct a second ironworks site. This plant was developed more specifically as a wire mill that could supply, among other clients, the growing needs of the neighboring wire rope manufacturing and engineering business of John A. Roebling. By 1853, the factory was advertising their production of telegraph wire, bridge wire, wire fencing, rivets and spikes, all made from Andover ore. The Trenton Iron Company continued production at this wire mill until 1904 when its operations were acquired by U.S. Steel.
Links to learn more – Ringwood Manor, Ringwood State Park; Invention Factory, Trenton
Erected
Photographed By Gary Nigh, November 2007
2. Cooper & Hewitt .. Iron & Steel Marker
The drawings shown here are, "Typical cross sections of iron and steel rails produced at the Trenton Iron Works by the New Jersey Steel & Iron Company."
2004 by New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce. A significant historical year for this entry is 1854.
Location. 40° 11.914′ N, 74° 45.507′ W. Marker is in Trenton, New Jersey, in Mercer County. It is in South Trenton. Marker can be reached from New Jersey Route 29. This marker is part of South River Walk Park which is built over Route 29. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Trenton NJ 08611, United States of America. Touch for directions.
More about this marker. This is one of four subject markers under the 19th Century Arch.
Photographed By Gary Nigh, November 2007
3. The four subject markers under the 19th Century Arch
Credits. This page was last revised on February 16, 2023. It was originally submitted on December 18, 2007, by Gary Nigh of Trenton, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 2,494 times since then and 72 times this year. Last updated on February 2, 2021, by Carl Gordon Moore Jr. of North East, Maryland. Photos:1, 2, 3. submitted on December 18, 2007, by Gary Nigh of Trenton, New Jersey. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.