Catoctin Furnace

file:Catoctin Furnace March 2021.jpg

Catoctin Furnace was constructed in 1774 by four brothers Thomas, Baker, Roger and James Johnson to produce pig iron from locally mined hematite.{{cite web

|url = http://www.si.edu/oahp/holthous/pz1889on.htm

|title = Records Relating to Pre-National Zoological Park Purchases

|publisher = Smithsonian Institution

|access-date = 2007-09-26

|archive-url = http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011111042038/http://www.si.edu/oahp/holthous/pz1889on.htm#

|archive-date = 2001-11-11

|url-status = dead

}}{{cite book

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ud-8Kr70DAC&dq=catoctin+furnace&pg=PA401-IA1

|title=History of Frederick County, Maryland

|author=T. J. C. Williams

|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com

|year=1979

|isbn=9780806380124

}}

Operated as a blast furnace by 1776, this foundry provided ammunition (cannonballs) for the American Revolutionary War.

Some sources state that it also provided cannons.{{cite book

|url=https://archive.org/details/statebankinginun00barnrich

|quote=catoctin furnace.

|title=State Banking in the United States Since the Passage of the National Bank Act

|author=George Ernest Barnett

|publisher=Johns Hopkins Press

|year=1902

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/statebankinginun00barnrich/page/46 46]

}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.emmitsburg.net/history_t/archives/business/catoctin_furnace.htm

|title=Catoctin Iron Furnace

|publisher=Greater Emmitsburg Area Historical Society

}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.emmitsburg.net/history_t/archives/gateway/chapter3.htm

|title=Gateway to the Mountains – Chapter 3: The Catoctin Iron Works

|author=George Wireman

|publisher=Greater Emmitsburg Area Historical Society

}}

They also state that iron from this furnace was (much later) used to make plates for the {{USS|Monitor}};

however that is considered unlikely by researchers.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/cato/hrs/hrs3.htm

|title=Catoctin Mountain Park Historic Resource Study – Chapter Three: Civil War and Decline of Industry

|author=Edmund F. Wehrle

|publisher=U.S. National Park Service

|date=March 2000

|accessdate=2007-09-30

}} Slaves operated the furnace during this time.{{cite web |author=Samantha Hogan |year=2016 |title=A forgotten history: slave graveyard builds better picture of early Catoctin Furnace life |url=https://www.fredericknewspost.com/places/local/frederick_county/thurmont-emmitsburg/a-forgotten-history-slave-graveyard-builds-better-picture-of-early-catoctin-furnace-life/article_33a363e9-9352-52f2-beb1-d05e7b5885fa.html |publisher=Frederick New Post}} In 2023 a research project identified 41799 descendants of these slaves and is considering to notify them.{{Cite web |last=Curry |first=Andrew |date=2023-08-03 |title=Forging connections |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/cemetery-dna-links-enslaved-people-hellish-forge-living-descendants-contacted |access-date=2023-08-05}}

The Johnson brothers owned the furnaces at the site at first collectively,

and after 1793 singly, until 1811.{{cite book

|url=https://archive.org/details/historymanufact00swangoog

|quote=catoctin furnace.

|title=History of the Manufacture of Iron in All Ages

|publisher=The Author

|author=James Moore Swank

|year=1884

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historymanufact00swangoog/page/n208 194]

}}

Ultimately, three furnaces were built at the site, each named for the site.

The first Catoctin Furnace was rebuilt a short distance away in 1787.

The second, named Isabella was built in the 1850s by Jacob Kunkel (references give dates from 1853 to 1867).

It still stands, within Cunningham Falls State Park.{{cite web

|url=http://www.hallowedground.org/component/option,com_jthg/theme,region/task,view/county,Frederick/Itemid,1/id,10/

|title=Catoctin Furnace at Cunningham Falls State Park

|publisher=The Journey Through Hallowed Ground

|accessdate=2007-09-27

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070723122732/http://www.hallowedground.org/component/option%2Ccom_jthg/theme%2Cregion/task%2Cview/county%2CFrederick/Itemid%2C1/id%2C10/

|archivedate=2007-07-23

}}

The first two furnaces burned charcoal.{{cite web

|url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/cato/culthist/furnace.htm

|title=Catoctin Iron Furnace

|publisher=U.S. National Park Service

}}

The third, which opened in 1873, burned coke{{cite book

|url=https://archive.org/details/directoryironan06instgoog

|page=[https://archive.org/details/directoryironan06instgoog/page/n50 32]

|quote=catoctin furnace.

|title=Directory of Iron and Steel Works of the United States and Canada

|publisher=American Iron and Steel Institute

|year=1890

}} (some sources say anthracite coal, though this would be more costly{{cite book

|url=https://archive.org/details/marylanditsreso00managoog

|page=[https://archive.org/details/marylanditsreso00managoog/page/n144 106]

|quote=catoctin furnace anthracite.

|title=Maryland, Its Resources, Industries and Institutions

|author=Maryland Board of World's Fair Managers

|publisher=Sun job office

|year=1893

}}).

The entire complex closed in 1903 (attributed to rising costs and the too-late introduction of a rail link).{{cite web

|url=http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/cunninghamhistory.html

|title=Catoctin Furnace at Cunningham Falls State Park

|publisher=Maryland Department of Natural Resources

|date=2002-08-28

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925073009/http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/cunninghamhistory.html

|archivedate=2007-09-25

}}{{cite web

|url=http://www.ce.jhu.edu/mdcive/catoctin.htm

|title=Civil Engineering in Maryland – Catoctin Furnace

|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070716144128/http://www.ce.jhu.edu/mdcive/catoctin.htm

|archivedate=2007-07-16

}}

File:Catoctin Furnace Stone, March 2021.jpg

The furnace's remains are located in Cunningham Falls State Park. A walking-tour handout is available in the park's visitor center.

In 1973, the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc. was formed by G. Eugene Anderson, Clement E. Gardiner, J. Franklin Mentzer, and Earl M. Shankle to “foster and promote the restoration of the Catoctin Furnace Historic District…and to maintain the same exclusively for educational and scientific purposes…to exhibit to coming generations our heritage of the past…” The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc., celebrates, studies, and preserves the rich history of this pre-revolutionary industrial village, including the architecture, cultural landscapes, lifeways, and foodways of the workers.

• Catoctin Mountain
• Cunningham Falls State Park
• Thomas Johnson (jurist)

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070621134152/http://www.sha.state.md.us/exploremd/oed/scenicByways/Catoctin.pdf Western Regio Catoctin Mountain Byway]
• [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3766/is_199904/ai_n8841349 Bringing history into classrooms: Reconstructing a colonial supply chain]
• [http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=1545 Catoctin Iron Furnace – No Time For War]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101029030148/http://dnr.maryland.gov/publiclands/western/catoctinfurnace.asp Cunningham Falls State Park: Catoctin Furnace]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070723122732/http://www.hallowedground.org/component/option%2Ccom_jthg/theme%2Cregion/task%2Cview/county%2CFrederick/Itemid%2C1/id%2C10/ Catoctin Furnace at Cunningham Falls State Park]
• {{HABS |survey=MD-478 |id=md0393 |title=Catoctin Furnace, Stack No. 2, U. S. Route 15, Catoctin Furnace vicinity, Frederick County, MD |photos=1 |supp=yes}}
• [https://apps.mht.maryland.gov/Medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-69.pdf Catoctin Furnace Historic District NRHP Nomination Form] at Maryland State Archives
• [http://catoctinfurnace.org Catoctin Furnace Historical Society]

{{National Register of Historic Places in Maryland}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1774

Category:Pre-statehood history of Maryland

Category:Ironworks and steel mills in Maryland

Category:Buildings and structures in Frederick County, Maryland

Category:Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland

Category:Tourist attractions in Frederick County, Maryland

Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland

Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Frederick County, Maryland

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Maryland

Category:Family of Thomas Johnson

Category:History of slavery in Maryland