Franklin township
Huntingdon Furnace
Did you know? The iron works in Franklin Township was not one man's idea. It took three, and each of them brought something different.
The county history says that about the year 1796 a company was formed by Mordecai Massey, Judge John Gloninger of Lebanon, and George Anshutz to put up a furnace called Huntingdon on Warrior's Mark Run. The division of labor is spelled out plainly: Massey owned the land, Gloninger put in the money, and Anshutz brought the skill, "acquired in the manufacture of iron in Europe."
The history also passes along a story it does not vouch for. "It has been said that the company commenced with one horse and a pair of oxen at the old seat."
The first location did not work. It was abandoned after some time and another furnace was built about a mile farther down the run. Martin Dubbs and George Shoenberger came into the company later, which traded as John Gloninger and Company and then as Gloninger, Anshutz and Company.
It ran on charcoal, and it kept running on charcoal until the wood ran short and the works were abandoned in 1870. Nearly three quarters of a century. The county history says it "was conducted with great prudence, and enriched its owners."
Three men, one horse and a pair of oxen, and a furnace that outlasted all of them.
From the record
Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.
These are near the site of the ancient. Huntingdon Furnaée., About the year 1796 a company was formed by Mordecai Massey, Judge John Gloninger, of Lebanon, and George Anshutz to erect a furnace called " Huntingdon," on the Warrior's Mark Run, in Franklin township, Huntingdon Co. The first named was the owner of the land, the second contributed money, and the third skill, acquired in the manufacture of iron in Europe. It has been said that the company commenced with one horse and a pair of oxen at the "old seat." The location was not favorable, and after some time was abandoned, and another furnace was built about a mile farther down the run. Besides the persons named, Martin Dubbs and George Shoenberger were subsequently members of the 'company, which was known as "John Gloninger & Co.," and as " Gloninger, Anshutz & Co." This establishment, run on charcoal until the scarcity of wood led to its abandonment in 1870, was conducted with great prudence, and enriched its owners. In its early days many stoves were cast, and the familiar legend " Hunting2 Lytle, p. 304. ` pa LOA TÉ A * IRON. MANUFACTURE. 55 don Furnace" may yet be seen in localities where wood is still used as fuel.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 371,306 of the scanned text
The building yet remains, but most of the equipments have been removed, Stockdale's manufacturing interests being limited to the grinding-mills before named. The building of Huntingdon Furnace was the beginning of the most important era in the industrial history of Franklin township. In 1792, George Anshutz, a native of Alsace, France, erected the first blast-furnace in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh, which was abandoned after two years' operation, on account of the mistake made in locating it there, * being too remote from the ore-mines. Returning to the East, Mr. Anshutz had his attention directed to the rich ore-fields of Franklin, and was not slow to see that water-power, wood for charcoal, and all the elements for carrying on a successful business were close at hand. He at once conceived the idea that there a blast-furnace could be easily maintained which might be made the nucleus of an immense iron trade. Filled with this idea he succeeded in enlisting in his enterprise Mordecai Massey, afterwards, Judge John Gloninger, of Lebanon, and Martin Dubbs, of Philadelphia, who formed themselves into the firm of John Gloninger & Co., for the purpose of establishing a charcoal blast-furnace, and carrying on mining atsome point in Northwestern Huntingdon County.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 1,785,374 of the scanned text
A furnace has been built near the forge. In 1795 or '96, George Anshutz and John Gloninger erected Huntingdon Furnace, in Franklin township, three miles from the mouth of Spruce creek. Yielding large profits, the owners invested them in other iron works in adjoining counties and in several forges on Spruce creek. The furnace is now owned by G. & J. Shoenberger, but has not been in blast for some years. Notwithstanding the failure to make the Juniata more navigable than it was in its natural condition, its waters were used for the conveyance of the surplus products of the country to market as early as 1796. In that year, the first ark appeared in the Susquehanna. It had been taken there from the Juniata by Cryder, an enterprising German, and was laden with flour manufactured at his mill above Huntingdon. The mouth of the Swatara, at Middletown, was then considered the termination of navigation on the Susquehanna, being believed to be impracticable below that point. Bat Cryder surmounted the difficulties by which others had been deterred, passed the falls and cataracts and other obstacles which had been regarded as so dangerous, descended safely to Baltimore, and reaped a rich reward from the profits of his meritorious undertaking.Milton Scott Lytle, History of Huntingdon County (Lancaster: William H. Roy, 1876) · character 215,957 of the scanned text
What the fact check changed. FIRES IN EIGHT DAYS. Two errors, one of them the sole-credit trap that is already on the standing list. ERROR 1, the date. The post says "built in 1805." Africa 1883 says "About the year 1796 a company was formed ... to erect a furnace called 'Huntingdon,' on the Warrior's Mark Run, in Franklin township." Nine years off, and note the source's own hedge, "about the year," which the rewrite keeps. ERROR 2, SOLE CREDIT. The post says it was "built in 1805 by Alsatian immigrant George Anshutz." It was built by a company of three, and Africa is unusually specific about who did what: Mordecai Massey owned the land, Judge John Gloninger of Lebanon contributed the money, and Anshutz contributed the skill. Giving one man all of it is a factual claim and it is wrong here. This is the same defect the loop corrected in the Gregg post in batch 000. CUT, no source: the list of "seven original structures" (stone blast furnace stack, brick company store, ironmaster's mansion, gristmill with equipment, mill house, worker's house, office building). the check did not open a survey that enumerates them. CUT, no source: "By 1810, Huntingdon County's iron industry roared with eleven furnaces, eight forges, three rolling mills, and twelve naileries." Four precise counts in one sentence. The word "nailery" does not appear anywhere in the nine-book corpus. Cut entirely rather than partially. COMPLICATION THE POST GLOSSES: the post calls it "a complete iron plantation ... with seven original structures," implying continuity from 1805. Africa says the FIRST location "was not favorable, and after some time was abandoned, and another furnace was built about a mile farther down the run." So whatever stands today is the second works, not the original seat. Any post about surviving structures has to say which furnace it means. WHAT THE ORIGINAL MISSED: the three-way division of land, money and skill; the one horse and pair of oxen, carried with the source's own hedge "it has been said"; and the charcoal run lasting until 1870.
Checked 2026-08-01 · County history, independently fact checked