Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site

During the 17th century, iron was used to manufacture a number of indispensable goods, including nails, horseshoes, cookware, tools, and weapons. The production of iron required a complex manufacturing process that could only be done by an industrial enterprise. This process was not available in North America during the early years of English colonization, which meant that all iron goods had to be imported. As it took at least two months to sail to the nearest foundry, iron goods were very expensive. Winthrop believed that because the colonies had a cheap and abundant supply of raw materials, an iron works in Massachusetts could produce goods that could be sold profitably in the New England and Chesapeake Colonies as well as in England itself. In 1641, Winthrop sailed to England to get the capital he needed to fund the enterprise. Winthrop selected a site in Braintree, Massachusetts (now part of present-day Quincy, Massachusetts) as the location of the first Iron Works. Construction began in 1644 and was completed in 1645. On October 15, 1645, Winthrop secured the Undertakers an exemption from taxes and a 21-year monopoly on iron production from the Massachusetts General Court. After arriving in Massachusetts, Leader reviewed the previous site survey and looked into some other locations. He selected a location on the Saugus River. The river was navigable for shallow draft vessels and could be dammed to power machinery. The surrounding forests could be used to make charcoal. Bog ore could be mined from nearby ponds, swamps, riverbeds, and bogs. Limestone, which was normally used for flux, was not available, but through trial and error it was found that gabbro, which could be mined in nearby Nahant, would work as a flux. The new iron works, which was called Hammersmith, began operations in 1646. It consisted of a blast furnace for producing pig iron and gray iron (the later of which was poured into molds to make firebacks, pots, pans, kettles, and skillets), a forge where pig iron was refined into wrought iron and a 500-pound hammer was used to make merchant bars, which were sold to blacksmiths for manufacture into finished products, and a rolling and slitting mill where flat stock that could be used to manufacture nails, bolts, horse shoes, wagon tires, axes, saw blades, and other implements was produced. At the time, it was one of the most technologically advanced iron works in the world. The less experienced local men who worked at the Iron Works met with frequent and sometimes fatal accidents. The Scots mostly worked as unskilled laborers, performing tasks like chopping wood. Some learned skills such as making charcoal, blacksmithing and carpentry. == Site reconstruction and restoration ==

After the iron works closed, the site fell into disuse and became hidden by underbrush. In 1898, the Lynn Historical Society erected a historical marker near the site which read "The First Iron Works. The first successful iron works in this country established here. Foundry erected in 1643. Joseph Jenckes built a forge here in 1647 and in 1652 made the dies for the first silver money coined in New England. In 1654 he made the first fire engine in America." Eventually, the plaque too became obscured by the underbrush and remained camouflaged until it was discovered during the restoration of the Iron Works. In 1915, antiquarian Wallace Nutting purchased the Appleton-Taylor-Mansfield House, a 1680s farmhouse near the iron works site which was believed to be the former home of the ironmaster of the Saugus Iron Works. He renamed the home Broadhearth and undertook an extensive, albeit embellished, restoration of the home. Nutting used Broadhearth to showcase his collection of antiques, photographs, and reproduction furniture. In 1917 he added a blacksmith's shop to the property and hired a blacksmith to manufacture and sell reproductions of early ironwork. In 1920, Nutting, who was having financial troubles, sold the house to Boston antiques dealer Charles L. Cooney. After Cooney's death, his widow sold it to another Boston antiques dealer, Philip Rosenberg. Upon purchasing property, Rosenberg promised Louise Hawkes of the Parson Roby Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution that he would only sell the house to the DAR or the Town of Saugus. In 1938, the DAR purchased a piece of the former Iron Works property out of foreclosure for $50. In 1941, Rosenberg offered to sell the house to Saugus and the DAR, however neither could meet his asking price. Instead he reached an agreement with the Alumni Association of the Henry Ford Trade School, which intended on moving the building to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. News of the impending move caused outrage amongst Saugus residents and preservationists who, after extensive discussions, convinced Henry Ford not to acquire the building. In exchange, Ford wanted the Alumni Association reimbursed what it spent on the property. Fundraising efforts in Saugus were disappointing, so William Sumner Appleton, President of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, proposed splitting the cost between the state, town, and the public. When it became clear that this plan would not work, Appleton created a nonprofit, called the First Iron Works Association, to purchase and maintain the property. In 1943 the First Iron Works Association (FIWA) purchased the farmhouse as well as the DAR's piece of the former Iron Works property. In September 1948, FIWA president J. Sanger Attwill approached archaeologist Roland W. Robbins who had discovered the site of Henry David Thoreau's cabin on Walden Pond about trying to find the site of the Iron Works. Robbins was interested in the idea of digging at a site that was over three hundred years old, the challenge of working on a site where there little information, including no plans or sketches, and the opportunity to work at what may have been the first iron-manufacturing plant in the American colonies. Robbins' excavations uncovered the major manufacturing units of the Iron Works, including the foundations of buildings, remains of the blast furnace, holding ponds, and canal, a 500-pound hammer used in the forge, and a waterwheel that powered the bellows for the blast furnace, along with its wheel pit. The wheel was saved by biologists from Harvard University, who developed a process to preserve it. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), metallurgic experts, specialists from Harvard University's biological laboratory and botanical museum, and a professional photographer. He also received assistance from collectors and experts, including Smithsonian curator C. Malcolm Watkins, MIT professor Herbert H. Uhlig, and Harvard professor Elso Barghoorn. Robbins abruptly left the Iron Works in 1953. Robbins departure came not long after a dispute with Bent, who wanted Robbins to give tours of the excavation site on weekends in addition to his other duties. According to archaeologist and author Donald W. Linebaugh, it was also due in part because of the decision of the FIWA to base the reconstruction of the Iron Works primarily on documentary evidence instead of archaeological evidence. Robbins also clashed with the project's architects, thinking them to be ignorant about and uninterested in archeological data. The Boston architecture firm of Perry, Shaw & Hepburn, Kehoe & Dean, which was responsible for the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, was hired to reconstruct the Iron Works. The reconstruction was based on archeological evidence and historical documents, as well as partially on conjecture. The Saugus Iron Works was opened on September 18, 1954, the first day of Saugus' three-day celebration of the town's 325th anniversary. Benjamin Franklin Fairless, chairman of U.S. Steel, served as master of ceremonies at the dedication. Also participating in the ceremony were Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Governor Christian Herter, First Iron Works Association President J. Sanger Attwill, and Inland Steel Company chairman Edward L. Ryerson. ==Becoming a National Park==

After it opened to the public, Saugus Iron Works operated as a private museum run by the First Iron Works Association and funded by the American Iron and Steel Institute. In 1961, the AISI announced that it would no longer pay its annual maintenance subsidy, which left the future of the site uncertain. On April 5, 1968, the Saugus Iron Works was added to the National Park Service system and renamed the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site. The park is open seasonally, spring through fall. ==Gallery==

Image:Saugus Iron Mill - forge with bellows.JPG|Reconstructed forge, interior view; note water-powered bellows Image:Saugus Iron Works - general plan.JPG|General site plan Image:Saugus Iron Works near Boston, MA.jpg|Saugus Iron Works (1971 photograph) Image:The Furnace at Saugus Iron Works, MA.jpg|The furnace Image:Saugus Iron Works house.jpg|Saugus Iron Works house Image:Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site 2.JPG|Saugus River at the Iron Works Image:Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site.JPG|Forge, rolling and slitting mill, and Saugus River Image:Saugus Ironworks Forge and Mill, Saugus MA.jpg|Forge and rolling and slitting mill == See also ==