Iron Industry
The impact of the Lehigh Valley’s iron industry on the Macungie area was profound. Ore mines were opened on most of the farms in Lower Macungie, where at least sixteen mines were opened before 1859. Eventually more than 76 were opened in Lower Macungie alone, almost one-third of all the mines in Lehigh County. Most were limonite mines, leased by large iron companies or their agents. Some of the ore was taken to the local iron companies in Macungie and Alburtis, and some was shipped by railroad to further destinations.
Lockridge Furnace in Alburtis was owned by the Thomas Iron Company, one of the area’s most prominent iron-smelting companies. The two Lockridge furnaces were large and modern. One was put into blast in 1868, the other in 1869. They operated until the early 1920s, and the site is now a county museum. Ore was brought to the complex from local mines by horse-drawn carts and by the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad, which extended into the Rittenhouse Gap area and very productive mines where magnetic ores were found deep in the hills.
The Millerstown Iron Company in Macungie, on the other hand, was a small operation, one of several along the former East Pennsylvania Railroad, and it had difficulties remaining profitable. It was under construction in 1873 when a financial “panic” hit the ironmaking industry hard, putting many furnaces out of blast at least temporarily. Its great claim to fame, locally at least, is that its superintendent from 1880 to 1890 was a superb amateur photographer who has left us many photographs from the late 1880s. The furnace was in and out of blast until 1913, and was reactivated briefly during World War I. It finally closed down in 1918.
The furnaces throughout the Lehigh Valley produced “pig iron.” The pigs were bars of iron weighing over 90 pounds that were cast in sand troughs on the floor of the cast house. They were shipped out by railroad to be sold to rolling mills and foundries that processed them into final products.
It is hard for us today to imagine what it was like to live here with so many mines in production. We can try to picture it through words written in 1884 by a local attorney and historian describing what he termed the “golden age” of mining in Lower Macungie:
it seemed as if almost everybody who owned a tract of land, however small, had been seized with the mining fever. Leases were made, shafts sunk, and the “hidden treasure” sought for everywhere. Ore-washeries and smoke-stacks seemed to spring up throughout the township like mushrooms in a hot-bed, while the fires from the chimneys of two furnaces and a foundry … lit up the night with their lurid flames. Although many beautiful farms were laid waste, the owners thereof reaped a rich harvest in the shape of royalties, and considered themselves amply compensated for the unsightly gaps made in their land …
The ubiquitous ore delivery carts were recalled by a Macungie man writing in the early 1900s:
The delivery of this ore, by strings of teams, every weekday throughout the year was an interesting sight. Roads were generally poor and this continual hard wear by heavy wagons made and kept them worse. In summer months especially the procession of ore trains raised clouds of dust that hung over the wagons. In winter the snow was ground up and creaked, making an eery sound.
The impact of the Lehigh Valley’s iron industry on the Macungie area was profound. Ore mines were opened on most of the farms in Lower Macungie, where at least sixteen mines were opened before 1859. Eventually more than 76 were opened in Lower Macungie alone, almost one-third of all the mines in Lehigh County. Most were limonite mines, leased by large iron companies or their agents. Some of the ore was taken to the local iron companies in Macungie and Alburtis, and some was shipped by railroad to further destinations.
Lockridge Furnace in Alburtis was owned by the Thomas Iron Company, one of the area’s most prominent iron-smelting companies. The two Lockridge furnaces were large and modern. One was put into blast in 1868, the other in 1869. They operated until the early 1920s, and the site is now a county museum. Ore was brought to the complex from local mines by horse-drawn carts and by the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad, which extended into the Rittenhouse Gap area and very productive mines where magnetic ores were found deep in the hills.
The Millerstown Iron Company in Macungie, on the other hand, was a small operation, one of several along the former East Pennsylvania Railroad, and it had difficulties remaining profitable. It was under construction in 1873 when a financial “panic” hit the ironmaking industry hard, putting many furnaces out of blast at least temporarily. Its great claim to fame, locally at least, is that its superintendent from 1880 to 1890 was a superb amateur photographer who has left us many photographs from the late 1880s. The furnace was in and out of blast until 1913, and was reactivated briefly during World War I. It finally closed down in 1918.
The furnaces throughout the Lehigh Valley produced “pig iron.” The pigs were bars of iron weighing over 90 pounds that were cast in sand troughs on the floor of the cast house. They were shipped out by railroad to be sold to rolling mills and foundries that processed them into final products.
It is hard for us today to imagine what it was like to live here with so many mines in production. We can try to picture it through words written in 1884 by a local attorney and historian describing what he termed the “golden age” of mining in Lower Macungie:
it seemed as if almost everybody who owned a tract of land, however small, had been seized with the mining fever. Leases were made, shafts sunk, and the “hidden treasure” sought for everywhere. Ore-washeries and smoke-stacks seemed to spring up throughout the township like mushrooms in a hot-bed, while the fires from the chimneys of two furnaces and a foundry … lit up the night with their lurid flames. Although many beautiful farms were laid waste, the owners thereof reaped a rich harvest in the shape of royalties, and considered themselves amply compensated for the unsightly gaps made in their land …
The ubiquitous ore delivery carts were recalled by a Macungie man writing in the early 1900s:
The delivery of this ore, by strings of teams, every weekday throughout the year was an interesting sight. Roads were generally poor and this continual hard wear by heavy wagons made and kept them worse. In summer months especially the procession of ore trains raised clouds of dust that hung over the wagons. In winter the snow was ground up and creaked, making an eery sound.
