Mary Ann Furnace Historic District
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it and the district's reference point.
Why it's listed
Mary Ann Furnace, an iron plantation in Longswamp Township in Berks County, Pennsylvania, was erected in 1789 by Jacob Lesher beside the Little Lehigh Creek. Its operation passed to his son-in-law Reuben Trexler in 1808 and then to Trexler's son Horatio in 1837, who ran it until the furnace closed in 1869. The surviving complex includes the collapsed furnace stack, a stone manager's house with Federal-style entrance frontispieces, an office building, a bank barn, a dated 1854 blacksmith shop, a charcoal house, a stone dam and a worker's house. Reuben Trexler is credited with making the first anthracite stoves in Pennsylvania around 1820, and the furnace later cast the Lehigh Coal Stove until 1857. The district is valued for its early role in the iron industry of eastern Pennsylvania and for the integrity of its buildings, which together show the layout of the original plantation.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | 1789-1869 |
|---|---|
| Styles | other: 99 iron furnace |
| Areas of significance | Industry, Architecture |
| Acreage | 9 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Mary Ann Furnace Historic District (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.