When the Iron was Hot: African American Ironworkers of Muirkirk

When the Iron was Hot: African American Ironworkers of Muirkirk. . , The Snowden family owned the Patuxent Iron Works until 1847, when Andrew and Elias Ellicott purchased land from the Snowdens and erected the Muirkirk Furnace. They operated the furnace until 1860 when it was purchased by one of Boston's leading iron manufacturers, William E. Coffin. Coffin's son, Charles renamed it the Muirkirk Ironworks and managed it until his death in 1912, when it was passed on to his son Ellery., After emancipation (1864 in Maryland), little changed in the racial composition, treatment and conditions for the labor force of the Muirkirk Ironworks. Coffin provided homes and schooling for the ironworkers' children, as well as employment for their wives. Muirkirk ironworkers even shopped at the company store on credit., Living and working together led to the formation of a thriving community close to the ironworks. One of the first structures built for this new community was a church. In 1868, six men paid five dollars each for a plot on Muirkirk Road to erect "a place of public worship for the colored people of the neighborhood." The log chapel they built was named Queen's Chapel after one of the original founders and functioned as both a church and a school., Twenty years later, Augustus Ross, a Muirkirk ironworker, purchased land east of the Muirkirk Ironworks and built a two-story log home. Other ironworks purchased property and built houses, forming the community of Rossville. A neighborhing plot of land was sold to the Benevolent Sons and Daughters of Abraham, who constructed Rebecca Lodge #6, also known as Abraham Hall. The members of this benevolent society pooled their money to create an insurance fund that paid illness and death benefits to its members., The Patuxent Ironworks and Muirkirk Ironworks contributed to the identity of the greater Laurel area and African American ironworkers were essential to that identity. The communities they built as enslaved and free people serve as vital reminders of the ironworkers' place in the story of America's industrial past., [Captions:] , Stationery from the Muirkirk Ironworks highlights the celebrated tensile strength of its pig iron, ca. 1900. The company also had its own rail and telegraph line on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad., Charles Coffin managed the Muirkirk Ironworks from 1860 until his death in 1912, ca. 1904., Ironworkers with their children in front of homes built for and rented to them by Charles Coffin, ca. 1925. Several families often lived in a single house., Muirkirk ironworkers. Back row (left to right): John Weems, unknown, Meshach Conway, William Tolliver, Benjamin Conway, unknown. Middle Row: William Stewart, Will Franklin, unknown. Front Row: Shadrach Conway, Reason Ross, ca. 1920., African American men at the Ironworks with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks visible in the foreground, ca. 1920. After the Ironworks closed, many of Muirkirk's workers got jobs with the railroad., Charcoal kilns at Muirkirk Ironworks, ca. 1920. Charcoal was manufactured practically year-round. The buildings located closely behind the kilns housed African American workers and their families.