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America's First Iron Puddling Furnace

Fayette County · dedicated 2017 · 519 Laurel Hill Rd., at PA 51, Smock

In 1817 ironmaster Isaac Meason and Welshman Thomas Lewis built a puddling furnace and bar rolling mill here using a process from Wales that revolutionized the iron industry. It removed carbon from brittle pig iron creating malleable wrought iron in one step, making iron production much more efficient and less costly. Later, "puddlers" in Pittsburgh formed the first metals union, the Sons of Vulcan, fore-runner of United Steelworkers.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

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