The Industrial Heritage of Dinosaur Park

The Industrial Heritage of Dinosaur Park. . , The History of Dinosaur Park , In the 1800s and early 1900s, the Arundel clays of Prince George's County were mined for siderite, or iron ore. Iron furnaces located throughout the region melted down the siderite to produce iron used in construction and manufacturing. In 1858, African American miners working in open pit mines were the first to discover dinosaur fossils in Maryland., Dinosaur Park is located on land once owned by Richard Snowden, who resided in Montpelier Mansion. From the 1650s through the mid-1800s, the Snowden family owned several iron furnaces, hundreds of acres of land, and a large force of enslaved African Americans. The African Americans at the ironworks dug large chunks of iron ore out of the dense clays of the Muirkirk Ironworks, which was located near present day Us Route 1. The Ironworks shut down in the early 1920s. Eventually the mines wre used to supply clay for making bricks and pigments for paint. The brickyard operated until 2005 when the land was sold to a development company., The African American Workers of the Muirkirk Ironworks , During the late 1800s, many African Americans worked on farms in warm weather and mined iron ore during the winter. An ironworker named Augustus Ross purchased land near the ironworks and constructed a log home in the late 1800s. Other African American ironworkers followed and soon the community of Rossville was formed. There, the African American ironworkers of Muirkirk built a strong and vibrant community with churches, schools, and social clubs that is still evident today., [Captions:] , Charcoal kilns at Muirkirk, ca. 1920. Charcoal was manufactured year round. The buildings located behind the kilns housed African American workers and their families. , Courtesy of Historical Society of Washington, D.C., Making the molds for pig iron. The bar molds resembled a sow nursing her piglets, hence the term "pig iron." Pig iron was used to manufacture items such as firebacks and cannon shot or was further processed into wrought iron at a forge. , Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, The Muirkirk Ironworks with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks visible in the foreground, ca. 1920. After it closed, many of Muirkirk's workers got jobs with the railroad. , Courtesy of B&O Railroad Museum, The furnace used at the Muirkirk Ironworks to manufacture pig iron, ca. 1921. The stack measured 38 by 8.5 feet with a production capacity of 7,000 tons. It was built in 1847, rebuilt in 1888 after a fire, and eventually closed in 1920. , Courtesy of Historical Society of Washington, D.C., Ironworkers with their children in front of homes built for and rented to them by Charles Coffin, ca. 1925. Several families often shared a single house. , Courtesy of Maryland State Archives