Iron works in Pottsville, Pennsylvania | 1860s

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Washington Iron Works Pottsville in Schuylkill County Pennsylvania Civil War 19th century Larger

In the mid-19th century, Pottsville was the industrial heart of Schuylkill County.

Surrounded by dozens of anthracite mines dotting the neighboring hills and valleys, the Schuylkill County seat became the transportation hub for the transport of anthracite to Philadelphia and other points on the Eastern Seaboard.

Pottsville in the 1860s from Lawton's Hill by AM Allen
Pottsville during the Civil War era (NYPL)

In order to support the surrounding collieries and the railroad links between them, Pottsville became a center of production for iron products.

These are illustrations from the 1864 Schuylkill County map showing the iron works that existed just in Pottsville in that era.

Illustrations from the Library of Congress collection.

Here are a few more images of the iron industry in Pottsville at the time.

Two steam pumps, “Bull engines,” being manufactured at the George W. Snyder works in 1872. These were going to the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company’s Tunnel Colliery near Ashland, PA. (Getty Museum)
Monument of Henry Clay in Pottsville. Buildings and smoke from the Palo Alto Iron Works are just to the left of Clay’s statue. (Getty Museum)

More stories about Pottsville in the 1860s

An illustration of Pottsville, Pennsylvania | 1861

An 1863 assassination attempt on a US Army commander near Pottsville, PA

How Pottsville commemorated the first anniversary of the Confederate army’s surrender | 1866

A painting of a US Army cavalryman at Pottsville – 1863

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