Phoenixville Historic District (Boundary Decrease)

Phoenixville's Phoenix Iron Works, on the banks of French Creek in Chester County, Pennsylvania, was the largest iron and steel producer in the county and one of the largest in southeastern Pennsylvania. By 1881 it used 60,000 tons of ore annually and employed 1,500 men. The works closed in 1987, and most of its buildings were cleared during redevelopment in the 1990s. This boundary decrease removes the cleared industrial land from the original district and keeps the surrounding resources. These include the North Hill Neighborhood of residences and commercial buildings, the Company Offices, the Phoenix Iron Works Foundry, and a group of transportation and industrial buildings on Bridge Street. The original district was valued for its nineteenth-century industrial history and its collection of local architecture. The loss of the iron works has weakened the district's ability to convey that history, which is why the boundary was revised.