Greenwood Furnace
Why it's listed
Greenwood Furnace is an iron plantation site in McAlevys Fort, Huntingdon County, where a charcoal blast furnace operated from 1834 until 1904. Established by Norris, Rawle & Co., the furnace produced pig iron for refining at the Freedom Forge in Mifflin County. Production rose through the 1850s and 1860s; a second furnace stack was erected in 1868, and by 1870 the operation reported $400,000 in capital, 230 men and 3,096 tons of iron, making it the county's largest iron operation. The surviving remains include stack ruins, the ironmaster's stone mansion, an 1865 stone church, a log meat house, workers' housing foundations, a gristmill site, a tavern site, and a tram right-of-way running toward mines on the hillside. The site is listed for its importance to industry in the county and for the archaeological information its remains may yield about the operation of an iron plantation and the life of its workers.
Significance in brief: The district is nominated under criterion A for its importance to industry in Huntingdon County, as the county's last charcoal iron furnace to operate, closing in 1904. Some components are nominated under criterion D for the archaeological information they may yield. The nomination describes the remaining resources as good representatives of the iron plantation type and the site as the county's most complete and best-preserved iron 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) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 89001819, listed November 13, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | PA 305 in Greenwood Furnace State Park, McAlevys Fort |
|---|---|
| County | Huntingdon County |
| Listed | November 13, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89001819 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1834-1904 |
| Architectural style | Other: iron plantation |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Historic - Non-Aboriginal |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Furnace operated until 1904; the land was later acquired by the state for a tree nursery and a state park, and the site is open to the public. |
| Acreage | 135 |
| Coordinates | 40.64285, -77.77475 (NPS GIS) |
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.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 89001819.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.