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The Douglas Furnaces. In
1869 Jonas J. Pierce
purchased fifty acres of land on the southwest suburb of Sharpsville,
on the line of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad. In 1870 the firm
of Pierce & Kelly was organized, and furnace No. 1 built, with
a stack fifty feet high and an eleven-foot bosh, and put in blast in
March, 1871. The
following year (1872) Gen. Pierce and
son, Wallace, obtained
an interest in the firm, which then became
Pierce, Kelly & Co.
Furnace No. 2 was erected the same year, the
stack being sixty feet high and fifteen-foot bosh, and blown in
February, 1873. In
1879 No. 1 was rebuilt and enlarged to a fifteen-foot bosh and
sixty-foot stack, and in 1881 No. 2 was likewise enlarged. The Douglas
was the pioneer of the upper furnaces. Bessemer, foundry and forge pig
metal are the products. The individual members of the firm are Jonas J. Pierce, George D. Kelly and
Wallace Pierce,
with Mr. Kelly as
general manager.
History
of Mercer County,
1888, pages 194-195
The
Douglas furnaces (two stacks) were built in
Sharpsville in 1870 by J. J.
Pierce, Wallace Pierce and G.
D. Kelly, who sold out to the Shenango Furnace Co., who
have torn down the two stacks and rebuilt one modern stack with
arrangements for one other stack, making the plant the most modern in
the state.
Twentieth
Century History of Mercer County,
1909, page 357
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Douglas: In 1869 Jonas J. Pierce purchased 50
acres of land in the southwest suburb of Sharpsville on the line of the
E. & P. R. R. In 1870 the firm of Pierce
and Kelly was
organized and Furnace No. 1 was built with a stack 50 feet high and a
11foot bosh. It was put in blast in March 1871.
In 1872
General Pierce and his son Wallace,
obtained an interest in the firm which then became Pierce, Kelly and Company Stack
No. 2 was erected in 1872, with stack 50 feet high and a 15 foot bosh
and put in blast in February 1873. These were rebuilt and enlarged in
1879 and in 1881
W. P. Snyder of Pittsburgh
bought all three of them [Douglas, Mabel and Spearman Furnaces] and
later incorporated the Shenango Furnace Company in 1906. Stack No. 1,
which had been on the site of the Douglas, was torn down in 1970. Stack
No. 4 was torn down in 1924. Stack No. 3 stands [in 1974] on the site
of the old Spearman Furnace. At this moment it is doubtful if No. 3
will ever operate again. For the first time in over 125 years,
Sharpsville will be without an operable blast furnace.
Sharpsville Centennial
Commemorative Booklet, 1974, page 28
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