{"nrhp_refnum":"75001654","name":"Big Bend Historical Area","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"6 mi. NW of Mercer on Shenango River","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mercer","county":"Mercer County","state":"PA","lat":41.29251561350006,"lon":-80.32638282992934,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-04-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Transportation","Exploration/Settlement"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Big Bend Historical Area is a district at a sharp right-angle bend of the Shenango River in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, marking the site of the early 19th-century Village of Big Bend. It contains the remains of an iron furnace, canal features, and lock and dam remains.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the village was one of the most industrialized towns along the Shenango Division of the Erie Extension Canal, and that the big bend was the location of one of the pioneer iron works in the United States. The Big Bend Iron Furnace, founded in 1846, was tied to the canal for shipping and was abandoned in 1860 when it became unprofitable. The area's visible remains illustrate canal-era transportation and industry.","narrative":"Along a sharp right-angle bend of the Shenango River in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, this 19th-century district preserves the site of the Village of Big Bend, a canal-era industrial community. The Big Bend Iron Furnace was founded in 1846 by McFarland and King, and on 1 April 1850 the partners opened a foundry attached to the blast furnace. Its castings were exchanged for wheat, rye, corn, oats and bacon, and all shipments moved by canal. The village had a canal loading wharf that served the charcoal furnaces of central Mercer County, and many of its residents worked on the canal or at the furnace and stove foundry. The furnace was abandoned in 1860 after mineral coal made it unprofitable. Visible remains today include the furnace site, the canal towpath, a loading bay, a hauling road, and the ruins of Dam No. 2 with a lock and lockkeeper's house. The site is significant for its link to early iron production and canal transportation.","period_of_significance":"1830-1860","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Ruins; the town site has no visible remains of buildings and was believed abandoned before the 1940s.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.00765-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/75001654.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001654/8ef1fa0705-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001654/8ef1fa0705-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shenango_River_in_Jefferson_Township.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shenango_River_in_Jefferson_Township.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996482","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bend_Historical_Area","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4905095"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/mercer-county/big-bend-historical-area-75001654/"}