Oxford Furnace, New Jersey

Oxford Furnace
Location Belvidere and Washington Avenues, Oxford, New Jersey
Coordinates 40°48′14″N 74°59′52″W / 40.80389°N 74.99778°W / 40.80389; -74.99778Coordinates: 40°48′14″N 74°59′52″W / 40.80389°N 74.99778°W / 40.80389; -74.99778
Area 0.6 acres (0.24 ha)
NRHP Reference # 77000919[1]
NJRHP # 2775[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP July 6, 1977
Designated NJRHP January 1, 1977

Oxford Furnace is located in Oxford Township, Warren County, New Jersey, United States. The furnace was built in 1741 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 6, 1977.[1]

History

Oxford Furnace as it appeared in the late 1800s.

Oxford Furnace was a furnace used for smelting iron located in Oxford Township, in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. Built in 1741, it was the third furnace in colonial New Jersey and the first constructed at a site where iron ore was mined. The first two furnaces (Tinton Falls and Mount Holly) extracted ore from bogs in South Jersey, impure deposits called bog iron.

The furnace was built by Jonathan Robeson and Joseph Shippen, Jr., both of Philadelphia, and owned by the Shippen family who lived nearby in Shippen Manor. A grist mill was built adjacent to the furnace in 1813. In 1835, it was the site of America's first successful use of the hot blast, in which preheated air was blown into the furnace, cutting production time.[3]

Oxford Furnace operated the longest of any of the colonial furnaces, not being "blown out" until 1884.[4]

The nearby Methodist Church was built from the old grist mill in 1913.[4] A restoration of the furnace occurred between 1997 and 2001.[4]

Though worn down by time, much of the site still stands. Oxford Furnace is listed on the State and the National Register of Historic Places.

Oxford Furnace in 2015

Notable residents

Notable residents of Oxford Furnace include George M. Robeson (1829-1897), Union Army general during the American Civil War, and United States Secretary of the Navy during the Ulysses S. Grant administration.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Warren County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. January 10, 2010. p. 19. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  3. ↑ Lewis, W. David. "The Early History of the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company: A Study in Technological Adaptation", Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. October 1972.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Oxford Furnace Incident". New Jersey Skylands. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  5. ↑ George Maxwell Robeson, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 24, 2007.


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