Sharon's Yesterdays & Tomorrow

An Outline of the Growth of Sharon and its Industries....

and a History of the McDowell National Bank, June 1935

Sharon's Industrial History 

Sharon’s prominence as an industrial center had its beginning with its first settler, Benjamin Bentley. He built the first saw mill and grist mil on his place in 1802. The mill was located on the site of the now closed Stewart Iron Works. 

The term “Indian-giver” probably arose from incidents like the following The Indians traded Mr. Bentley a dog that was half wolf for three bushels of meal, and, after the meal was consumed, returned for the dog which they wanted to trade for more meal. They did not get the dog. 

In 1808 Bentley sold his land and his mill to Samuel Quinby who, in turn, sold it to Conrad Q. Carver who operated the mill for many years. The March of Progress is here illustrated by the fact that the construction of the canal destroyed the water power which operated the mill, and it was discontinued. 

The first blast furnace, the Clay Furnace, was built by Vincent [&] Himrod in 1845 and was named after Henry Clay. The same year a furnace was built at West Middlesex. Both furnaces were the charcoal type.

At that time all furnaces were built in the sides of hills at least as high as the tops of the furnaces. The ground was leveled off at the top of the hills to hold ore and fuel. A wagon road was built up the hills for the purpose of hauling the materials. 

The furnace was built of large stones, some of them weighing as much as a ton. The base of the furnace was about twenty feet square, tapering to the top to ten or twelve feet. A wooden bridge was constructed, reaching from the top to the leveled off ground. The bridge was sided, had a roof and was known as the "bridge house." 

The "bridge house" would hold enough fuel for one night and ore enough for three or four days. The machinery for blowing consisted of two-cylinder boilers set at the top of the stack in such a manner that the flame from the furnace passed directly under them. The cylinder was a large tube made of wood about four feet in diameter. 

Hot blasts were then unknown and, when first introduced, were partially heated from the furnace. In order to economize hear as much as possible part of the pipe, through which the wind passed, was placed under the boilers. Other pipes were made in hollow rings or U’s and built in an oven close to the stack. The oven was fired with stove coal. 

The idea of bringing gas from the top of the furnace to the base of the stack was first considered by Frank Allen, manager of the Clay Furnace. The blowing cylinders produced a pressure of about three pounds per square inch and were considered quite powerful. 

The average daily yield of iron was about three tons, but occasionally reached five tons. 

In 1846 six more blast furnaces were built. These early furnaces met with many difficulties. The use of mineral coal was new, and local ores produced an inferior quality of iron. The yield was small. 

In 1840 General Curtis, who was a heavy dealer in coal, decided that an iron foundry located near his coal would be profitable. At this time there was labor trouble in Pittsburgh, and General Curtis visited the leaders of the movement with the idea of having them join his venture. These men visited Sharon, reported favorably, and stock was subscribed. But, instead of a foundry, a rolling mill was built, and Sharon was established as an iron and steel center.

In 1850 large bodies of iron ore had been found on the south shore of Lake Superior, which would yield 90 per cent in bar iron. The first companies organized to develop Lake Superior ore were not successful, and disbanded as they could see no money in it.

Go to the next page