The Community

The Community. . The furnace owners constructed a town composed of tenant and boarding houses, forge Stock house, spring houses, and company store (now the Oregon Grille Restaurant 2007) to support furnace operations and to house 200 residents. , Tenant Houses-Workers Row , Married workers rented tenant houses along workers row for about a dollar a month. The 1850 census indicates that nine people lived in one of the tenant houses. Each house was approximately 14' x 16', 1-1/2 stories high and consisted of two rooms total. , Boarding House , Roughly 30'x 40' and three stories high, the boarding houses were divided into three large spaces tor accommodating bachelor workers who rented floor space. In August 1850, Patrick Neal's family was hired to live in and keep one of the boarding houses, providing meals and sleeping quarters for the workers. , Family Life , Women and children played an important roll in the town's work force. , A Child's World , Children did go to school. The children of the furnace town attended school in Ashland. A wagon and team was provided to transport youngsters to the school. Education on average consisted of one to five years of instruction. When not in school children were expected to help with daily chores including gathering firewood, hauling tending gardens, and feeding animals. In addition young girls were trained in domestic activities. In general young people were expected to assume adult roles at an early age including assisting in furnace work/operations. , "A Woman's Work Is Never Done" , Women cared for the household by cooking, baking, sewing, childrearing, gardening, laundering, cleaning and preserving foods. They even hired themselves out to work as maids and seamstresses. The monumental nature of these tasks required large blocks of a woman's daily time. The days were hard and tedious, equally matching the labors of the mine and furnace workers. , The Manager's Family , The Iron Master and his family enjoyed the benefits of a higher salary including a variety of amenities and upscale furnishings.