01/28/2020
This post takes us out of NJ to Whitehall Township, PA, and the Thomas Iron Companies Hokendauqua, Pa Iron Works. The plant had two furnaces which both went into blast in 1855. And later after the completion of the Civil War, two additional furnaces were constructed and went into blast in 1873 and 1874 respectively. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the 20th century major changes were happening in the iron industry, switching from local ore to foreign ore, and the change from using anthracite coal to coke for fueling the furnaces, took away the competitive edge that the Thomas Iron Company had on its competitors. In the early 1910’s there was an attempt to save the now rapidly declining company, but most were futile attempts at stopping the inevitable. The last remaining furnace in operation was the #3 Furnace renamed Mary Furnace at Hokendauqua which was abandoned in 1927 at which time the Hokendauqua plant was sold to the behemoth Bethlehem Steel Company which scraped the entire plant in 1936. Thomas Iron Company lasted in name only until June of 1942 when it officially terminated its charter.
Today remains of the Hokendauqua Plant can be found on the banks of the Lehigh River east of Coplay. At the time of my visit (a few years back) which was totally unplanned, the site was posted as private property however, you could legally enter the site to walk the paths that would take you near some of the ruins. However, it was highly discouraged to enter or climb any of the ruins, due to the hazardous nature of the site. Would recommend looking into the current legal state of the site before entering in case the status has changed.
