Etna Furnace (Boundary Increase)

Along Roaring Run near the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River, the Etna Furnace plantation includes a charcoal iron furnace begun in 1808 and a range of stone and log buildings from the 1830s. David Stewart built a gristmill here in 1793, and the cold-blast furnace went into blast in 1808. Henry S. Spang acquired the works in 1823 and expanded production after the Juniata Division of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal opened in 1832, raising output to 1,200 tons of pig iron a year by 1842. The ironmaster's house, dated 1832, has an ashlar front and coursed fieldstone sides. Surviving workers' houses, a tenant house, a bank barn and canal locks show how the plantation was organized. The nomination regards the group as a rare, well-preserved example of an iron plantation and as a source of information on ironmaking, canal construction and community life.