Lehigh Valley Iron Company
History
In 1853, Stephen Balliet (1781-1854), his sons Stephen Balliet Jr. and Aaron Balliet (1813-1895), and Benjamin Levan (1806-1886) joined together to create Balliet & Co., with the goal of creating and running an iron furnace[1]. The land for the furnace was purchased on the west bank of Coplay Creek and totaled twelve acres[2]. The foundation for the first furnace was constructed in the fall of 1853, and, in 1854, the 14-foot bosh and 45-foot tall furnace stack was erected[3].
Advancement
Following Stephen Balliet's death in 1854, Balliet & Co. underwent internal reconstruction. Joseph Laubach and Lewis A. Buckley were added to the firm as partners[4] and the company was incorporated as the Lehigh Valley Iron Company[5]. Laubach was made president and Levan was elected to become the secretary, treasurer, and superintendent of the company[6]. The company company continued to advance their work with the iron furnaces, building a superintendent's house on the property in 1855 and expanding its resources by purchasing hematite ore-beds in Whitehall Township, PA; Bucks County, PA; and the Ogden Magnetic Ore-Mines in Sussex, NJ[7].
Additional furnaces were constructed on the property in the years that followed. The second anthracite blast-furnace[8] had a 16-foot bosh and 55-foot high stack and was built in 1862, around the same time that a group of eleven brick and frame houses was established[9]. To meet the increasing production demands on the company, a third furnace was built five years later, its dimensions including a 16-foot bosh and a stack height of 55-feet[10]. The company also erected an additional ten brick houses for its increased workforce of close to one hundred men[11].
Stephen Balliet & Co. also owned the Maria Forge on Poco Creek in Carbon County. The forge was initially built in 1753 and was rebuilt in 1846. The forge had two forge fires, two puddling furnaces, and a water-driven hammer. In 1856 the forge made approximately 78 tons of bar[12].
Coplay Iron Company
The company continued its operation until 1878, when financial difficulties forced the company to cease working[13]. The furnaces were blown out at the end of the year and remained cold until later the following year, when the Coplay Iron Company (Limited), which had been incorporated earlier that year, resumed production[14]. The new company had forty corporators, including E. P. Wilbur as the president; William H. Ainey as the treasurer and secretary; Valentine W. Weaver as the superintendent; and Wilbur, Ainey, Weaver, W. Dodson, Aaron Balliet, Joseph Laubach, R. M. Gummere, and Dr. John S. Wentz as directors of the company[15]. The company began outputting around thirty thousand tons of foundry pig iron annually[16]. The company reorganized under the name of Coplay Iron Company in 1885, continuing production until its liquidation in 1890 [17].
Notes
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Roberts et al. 1914, 633
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Roberts et al. 1914, 1041
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Lesley 1866, 171
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Mathews and Hungerford 1884, 504
- ↑ Roberts et al. 1914, 633
References
- Lesley, Peter. 1866. The Iron Manufacturer’s Guide to the Furnaces, Forges and Rolling Mills of the United States; with Discussions of Iron, Etc. New York,: John Wiley [1].
- Mathews, Alfred, and Austin N Hungerford. 1884. History of the Counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Everts & Richards.
- Roberts, Charles Rhoads, John Baer Stoudt, Thomas H. Krick, and William J. Dietrich. 1914. History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families. Vol. I, Allentown, PA: Lehigh Valley publishing Company, Limited.