Historical Society To View Early Connecticut Iron Industry

When one talks about the great iron-making centers of the American Industrial Revolution, Connecticut rarely comes to mind. Yet throughout much of the Colonial era and the early years of the new nation the state’s northwest hills were alive with the sounds of industrial  might. The region was cloaked in smoke, rumbled with the stroke of trip hammers, rang with the sounds of hammers striking iron, and the glowing night sky reflected hundreds of furnace fires.

Northwestern Connecticut specialized in the production of equipment for the marine trades, war material, and later railroad rolling stock, from before the War of Independence, through the beginnings of the industrial age, the Civil War, and even into the twentieth century. Though iron and steel now comes from elsewhere, Connecticut has always been an armory for the nation.

The Newtown Historical Society will present a slide and lecture program focusing on the charcoal and iron industry of northwestern Connecticut, eastern New York, and southwestern Massachusetts from the 1700s to the early 1900s, on Monday, November 8, at 7:30 pm, in the meeting room of the Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

Conducted by Walter Landgraf, the program will include illustrations of colliers constructing charcoal hearths and burning the wood to provide the vital fuel and carbon for the processing of local iron ore.

Mr Landgraf will provide an overview of the design, construction and operation of cold and blast furnaces. Historic and present-day pictures of the furnaces along the Blackberry, Hollenbeck and Housatonic Rivers will be shown, as well as the Mt Riga and Roxbury sites. In addition, specimens of local ore, slag, charcoal and iron will be displayed.

Walter Landgraf is a retired high school science teacher with a strong interest in environmental as well as historical subjects. He serves as the naturalist for the Peoples State Forest, maintains the Stone Museum there, and is a Trails Chairman for the Connecticut Forest and Park Association. He is an active member of the Barkhamsted Historical Society and the Committee for the Preservation of the Beckley Furnace. His research interests include Native Americans, archeology and geology in addition to early industrial history.

All programs of the Newtown Historical Society are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served after the program. For further information, call the Society at 203/426-5937.