{"nrhp_refnum":"91001138","name":"Eliza Furnace","other_names":["Ritter's Furnace"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Lower Main St., Buffington and Blacklick Townships","address_restricted":false,"city":"Vintonville","county":"Cambria County","state":"PA","lat":40.48423988400003,"lon":-78.92209290099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-09-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Eliza Furnace is a stone charcoal iron furnace located just west of Vintondale on Lower Main Street, straddling Cambria and Indiana counties in Pennsylvania. Its only surviving structure from the furnace complex is the stack, with its heat exchanger and cast iron hot blast pipe.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the furnace is significant under Criterion A for industry as an example of a western Pennsylvania charcoal iron furnace that operated after eastern furnaces had abandoned charcoal, and as a small furnace serving local and regional markets. It is also significant under Criterion C for the rarity of its surviving hot blast stove and downpipe.","narrative":"Eliza Furnace is a stone charcoal iron furnace on Blacklick Creek west of Vintondale, Pennsylvania, in Cambria and Indiana counties. Built in 1846 by George Rogers of Ebensburg and David Ritter, who named it after Ritter's wife Eliza, it is the only remaining structure of the furnace complex, a stack about 32 feet tall. Its heat exchanger and cast iron hot blast pipe survive, along with Roman arches on its elevations. The furnace is valued as a representative example of late charcoal iron production in western Pennsylvania, when eastern furnaces had moved to coke or anthracite. Its output was sent to rolling mills in Johnstown and Pittsburgh, but poor local ore and high hauling costs to Johnstown kept it unprofitable. It produced about 1,000 tons in 1849 and closed in 1850. Its hot blast stove is considered a rare survivor of a once common type.","period_of_significance":"1846-1850","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The furnace ceased operations in 1850, was later purchased by the Vintondale Collieries, and was acquired by the Cambria County Historical Society in 1965.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.019803-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/91001138.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001138/5a42a783b4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91001138/5a42a783b4-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jet Lowe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eliza_Furnace.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jet Lowe</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eliza_Furnace.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992496","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Town_Trail","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5483961"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/cambria-county/eliza-furnace-91001138/"}