{"nrhp_refnum":"73001593","name":"Etna Furnace","other_names":["See Also:Etna Furnace (Boundary Increase)","Etna Furnace (Boun"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"N of Williamsburg, Catharine Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Williamsburg","county":"Blair County","state":"PA","lat":40.52620303650005,"lon":-78.18596907188834,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-04-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Etna Furnace is an early 19th-century iron-making community on the upper Juniata River near Williamsburg in Blair County, Pennsylvania, with a stone furnace and a set of surrounding workers' and company buildings. Construction began in 1805 by the Etna Iron Furnace Company.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the furnace and its contiguous structures are one of the best surviving examples of an early iron-making community in the state, both in the number of buildings and their variety. It also notes that the surviving industrial facilities and workers' housing still remain in fairly good condition. A section of the Union Canal adjoins the property, and the nomination holds that proper restoration could make it an excellent example of mid-19th century iron production and company-owned communities.","narrative":"Begun in 1805 on a heavily wooded tract along the upper Juniata River, Etna Furnace was built as more than an iron works. Its founders, Barree Billy Moore, John Canan and James Stewart, formed the Etna Iron Furnace Company and laid out a complete community. Surviving structures include a four-sided stone furnace about 16 feet high, a blacksmith shop, a long three-family tenant house with four chimneys, a stone store and paymaster's office dated 1832, and a horse and mule barn. Several buildings are now reduced to ruins or foundations. The furnace was active until the late nineteenth century, and during the years after the Civil War it produced as much as 100 tons of charcoal iron and 600 tons of bloom iron annually. Its value lies in the variety and number of its remaining buildings, which illustrate how a company-owned ironmaking settlement operated in the mid-nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:28.980796-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/73001593.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001593/70a6c86bdd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001593/70a6c86bdd-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jet Lowe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Etna_Furnace_near_Williamsburg.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jet Lowe</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Etna_Furnace_near_Williamsburg.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"91001369","name":"Etna Furnace (Boundary Decrease)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/etna-furnace-boundary-decrease-91001369/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992418","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etna_Furnace_(Williamsburg,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5404701"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/blair-county/etna-furnace-73001593/"}