{"nrhp_refnum":"96001192","name":"August, Wendell, Forge","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"620 Madison St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Grove City","county":"Mercer County","state":"PA","lat":41.16597276500005,"lon":-80.06406580599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, gabled, steel-frame manufacturing building for hand-hammered aluminum products at 620 Madison Street in Grove City, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, constructed in 1932. It sits in a residential neighborhood on the northeast side of town.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the forge is significant for its early production of hand-hammered aluminum for decorative arts and architectural ornamentation, associated with the Moderne and Art Deco styles of the 1930s. It is described as among the leaders in designing and producing hammered aluminum gift wares, and as one of the largest and oldest hand forge operations in the United States.","narrative":"Built in 1932 in Grove City, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, the Wendell August Forge is a one-story, gabled, steel-frame manufacturing building with a rock-faced cast concrete block exterior and a poured concrete floor. Its interior is lit by a glazed roof monitor and steel-frame windows, and coal-fired forges once lined the factory floor, with as many as thirteen in use in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The forge was founded by Wendell August, who moved his hand-forged metalware business from Brockway to Grove City, where it began producing hammered aluminum. Craftsman Otto Pisoni is credited with developing the techniques for hand forging aluminum in the mid-1920s. The company's gift wares and architectural pieces, including teller windows and bank fixtures, helped establish hammered aluminum as a decorative art. The property is significant for this role in the development of American hand-hammered aluminum goods. Several craftsmen trained here went on to found their own firms.","period_of_significance":"1932-1940","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"no style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The business was in operation and produces hand-hammered products in the original forge building; the forge closed during World War II and reopened in 1946.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.767384-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/96001192.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001192/f1e443d9a5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001192/f1e443d9a5-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wendell_August_Forge_site.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wendell_August_Forge_site.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995723","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_August_Forge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7982382"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/mercer-county/august-wendell-forge-96001192/"}