Vesta Furnace

Musselman/Vesta Furnace Office Building (above)

The Musselman/Vesta Furnace was built in 1868 by Henry Musselman from Marietta and Henry Miller Watts. It was the last of eight anthracite-fired hot blast iron furnaces to be built on the river floodplain between Columbia and Marietta and the last complete blast furnace to be constructed in Lancaster County.

It is located in the Chickies Historic District.

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, these anthracite iron furnaces, along with the related canal and railroad structures that served them, created an industrial complex on the Susquehanna River floodplain that had local and regional importance as a producer of pig iron. The furnaces exemplified the technology of the period by their use of anthracite coal and hot blast for the smelting of iron ores, a process which dominated the iron industry for a brief time before the use of coke as a fuel became more important. Furnaces such as the Musselman/Vesta Furnace used anthracite coal which was brought down from northeastern Pennsylvania, at first via the Pennsylvania Canal System which bordered the river, and later by railroad lines. Local iron ores were available, along with local limestone for flux. The pig iron produced in the furnaces was used by local rolling mills to make rails for the growing railroad industry.

These furnaces helped to make Pennsylvania a leader in iron production in the second half of the 19th century. Lancaster County ranked high in the state in production of pig iron during this period.

Shortly after the completion of the Musselman/Vesta Furnace in 1868, the partnership of Musselman and Watts, which had been responsible for building the neighboring Marietta #1 and #2 furnaces as well, dissolved. Henry Musselman took the new furnace, which he named Musselman’s Furnace, and H. M. Watts kept the Marietta Furnaces.

By 1870, Musselman’s Furnace was producing an annual yield of 5,400 tons of pig iron. In 1879, H. Musselman and Sons sold the furnace to the firm of Watts, Twells and Company. In subsequent years, the furnace was remodeled several times. Ores for the furnace were obtained from Maryland and West Virginia, as well as from Cornwall and local mines. By 1886, its annual capacity had increased to 22,500 tons of pig iron. Renamed the Vesta Furnace, its products were described as “neutral forge and superior foundry iron” and sold under the brand name “Vesta.” (Vesta was the Roman goddess of the hearth whose temples had an eternal flame. The success of blast furnaces was related to how long each blast lasted.)

In 1887, the furnace was sold to Columbia Rolling Mill Company, remodeled in 1890 with the addition of two Whitewell stoves, and sold in 1899 to Susquehanna Iron and Steel Company (which also owned the Aurora Furnace in Wrightsville), who modernized it and in 1908 sold it to the Susquehanna Iron Company.

In 1917, the Susquehanna Iron Company sold the furnace to E.J. Lavino of Sheridan, Pennsylvania. Lavino put it back into operation, smelting scrap and producing ferromanganese used for high grade steel, during World War I.

According to George Miller, a local Marietta resident who had worked at the furnace for 16-years before it closed, ten carloads of scrap iron and manganese ore were fed into the furnace each day to produce a daily output of 80 tons of ferromanganese. Miller noted that the manganese ores came from all over the world, and its ferromanganese product was shipped by rail to steel mills in Youngstown, Ohio, Coatesville and Pittsburgh. The furnace burned coke (five carloads per day) which came from Connellsville in western Pennsylvania. By that time, the furnace had four hot blast stoves which preheated air to 1300-degrees Fahrenheit, two large blowing engines, a gas washer and dryer to precondition gases before they were sent to pre-heaters and boilers and an elaborate pumping system to bring water from the river to the steam engines. New stock sheds and new railway lines on concrete piers were also added. Remains of the pump house, piers and other foundations are visible today among the undergrowth on the site.

The Lavino Company owned the furnace company until 1949, but production of iron ceased in the 1920’s and the furnace was dismantled sometime between 1928 and 1934. The property was eventually acquired by Lancaster County as part of Chickies Rock County Park.

The Musselman/Vesta Office Building is the only intact structure that remains from the furnace complex. Marietta Restoration Associates, Inc. leases the building from the County of Lancaster (Department of Parks and Recreation) and is responsible for restoration of the building, with plans to restore it to its original 1880’s appearance, in collaboration with Rivertownes PA USA.

The building is strategically located at the western gateway to the Chickies Rock County Park, a natural starting place for those who visit the park. Anticipated future use of the building is a Chickies Park Visitor Information Center and Interpretive Museum Building that will include a diorama display of the Musselman/Vesta Furnace of the late 1800’s. The exhibit will include photos, information and artifact displays from all seven of the furnaces, the nearby lumber mill and the canal and railroad that were in the Chickies Historic District. The stories of the people who lived and worked at the sites would be featured. The ruins of the Musselman Furnace could be preserved and labeled as an archaeological educational area for schools and the public after seeing the model of what once existed.

In addition, other educational programs may be offered in Natural Science fields. They could include a study of the life of Professor Samuel S. Haldeman (1812-1880). An internationally renowned naturalist, he lived in a mansion at the base of Chickies Rock where he did most of his scholarly research. The wildlife in and around the Susquehanna River and the geology of the Chickies Rock anticline, a natural marvel, are other fields that may be included for public education.

The building is strategically located at the western gateway to the Chickies Rock County Park, a natural starting place for those who visit the park. Anticipated future use of the building is a Chickies Park Visitor Information Center and Interpretive Museum Building that will include a diorama display of the Musselman/Vesta Furnace of the late 1800’s. The exhibit will include photos, information and artifact displays from all seven of the furnaces, the nearby lumber mill and the canal and railroad that were in the Chickies Historic District. The stories of the people who lived and worked at the sites will be featured. The ruins of the Musselman Furnace could be preserved and labeled as an archaeological educational area for schools and the public after seeing the model of what once existed.

How you can help?

Send donations to Musselman/Vesta Fund, c/o Marietta Restoration Associates, P.O. Box 3, Marietta, PA 17547
Attend the annual fundraising Pig Iron Fest at Chickies Rock County Park the last Sunday in September. Furnace tours and a car show are among the attractions.
Purchase a print of the original artwork of Klaus Grutzka that illustrates the furnace during the Lavino period.
Purchase prints of original artwork by Dave Haneman. His sketches feature artistic representations historic buildings and their elements. These prints are available–framed, unframed or on slate that was removed from the original roof of the office building–by contacting MRA, 100 West Market Street, P. O. Box 3, Marietta, PA 17547.
Call Lenny Droege at 717-426-1977 or MRA at 717-426-4736 or contact us through this web site to learn about opportunities for volunteering your time and talent.