{"nrhp_refnum":"91001136","name":"Franklin Furnace Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Circle Dr. and Cinder St., St. Thomas Township","address_restricted":false,"city":"Edenville","county":"Franklin County","state":"PA","lat":39.95897832300005,"lon":-77.82226727099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-09-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Franklin Furnace Historic District is an iron plantation in the Franklin Furnace area of St. Thomas Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, comprising a stone iron furnace stack, a manager's house/office, four worker's houses and the ruins of a barn. The furnace stack was built in 1828 by Peter and George Housum.","why_significant":"The district is significant under Criterion A for industry as a representative small iron plantation tied to the Pennsylvania iron industry, and under Criterion C for its vernacular worker's housing and office/manager's house. The furnace stack is regarded as a well preserved stone furnace, and its cast iron date plate is described as unusual and perhaps singular in Pennsylvania. The district retains many elements of the plantation, which the nomination treats as rare in the county.","narrative":"Franklin Furnace is a small iron plantation in the Franklin Furnace area of St. Thomas Township, Franklin County, built around a stone furnace stack dated 1828 and set in the valley of Wilson Run. The stack, about thirty feet square and thirty feet tall, retains its casting and tuyere arches, and a cast iron plate above the casting arch records the builders, Peter and George Housum. The district also includes a manager's house and office from about 1828, four worker's houses along Cinder Street, and the ruins of a barn. The Housums, who came west from Berks County, bought 1,238 acres in 1827. The furnace changed hands several times, and by 1878 it employed seventy-five men and had thirty company houses nearby. Its products included stoves, but local ore proved unsuitable and transport costs made it unprofitable. Operations largely ended by 1882.","period_of_significance":"1828-1882","architect_builder":"Peter and George Housum (builder); the nomination lists the architect as unknown","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Furnace ceased full operation by 1882, with residual activity until 1886; several worker's houses have been resided and have additions, and the barn is in ruins.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.564747-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/91001136.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001136/6c648f2663-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001136/6c648f2663-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franklin_Furnace_HD_FrankCo_PA_11.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franklin_Furnace_HD_FrankCo_PA_11.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992965","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Furnace_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5491518"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/franklin-county/franklin-furnace-historic-district-91001136/"}