Manufacturing in Charlotte

Manufacturing in Charlotte. . The blast furnace was Charlotte's major manufacturing facility. It was in operation from 1868 to 1927. Coal from Pennsylvania came in by rail. Hematite ore and limestone from Furnaceville arrived by barge. The furnace produced molten iron and the work was dirty, hot and dangerous. Many furnace workers lived across from the factory in company-built houses. , At one time, Charlotte's furnace was considered to be on of the finest foundries in the nation. The railroad built trestles on site that delivered coal to the furnace and loaded the iron onto ships. , Charlotte had a basket factory that operated from 1897 to 1914. A brush factory started in 1884 on Hannah's Terrance. There was a shingle factory on River Street. , On Latta Road, there was George Latta's ashery that produced potash and perlash and a cooperage owned by Andrew Milligan, where coopers fashioned barrels out of the staves that came from David Holden's stave and heading factory. , On Boxart Street, there was a cement factory, Rochester Folding Box Company and a feldspar plant that ground ore into powder used by glassmakers and insulator producers. , There were two brickyards. Wilder and Evans operated in the 1850's and Jones and Denise started in the 1860's. Bricks made at these yards were used to build many Charlotte buildings and homes, village schoolhouses and the blast furnace.