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Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnaces

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c. 1840. 159 Cedar Ave.
  • (© George E. Thomas)

These four huge stone blast furnace bases are the only remnants of the massive plant once operated by the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company, which began here in 1840 as the Scranton, Grant and Company. When the Civil War ended, the plant boasted the largest iron production capacity in the United States. In 1880 these furnaces produced 125,000 tons of pig iron, which was converted in its rolling mill and foundry into T-rails and other end products. However, in a stunning blow to its hometown, Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company (it was renamed in 1891 when it merged with Scranton Steel Company) dismantled the plant in 1902 and moved it to Buffalo, New York, to be closer to the high-grade iron ores coming out of the Mesabi Range. The fate of American industry and their towns was at hand.

Writing Credits

Author: 
George E. Thomas
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Data

What's Nearby

Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel (Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station)
The Estate (Joseph H. Scranton House)
Scranton Life Building
Bosak Bank Building
Elm Park United Methodist Church

Citation

George E. Thomas, "Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company Furnaces", [Scranton, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-LK12.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 2

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, George E. Thomas, with Patricia Likos Ricci, Richard J. Webster, Lawrence M. Newman, Robert Janosov, and Bruce Thomas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 485-485.

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