America’s First Iron Puddling Furnace

In 1817 ironmaster Isaac Meason and Welshman Thomas Lewis built a puddling furnace and bar rolling mill here using a process from Wales that revolutionized the iron industry. It removed carbon from brittle pig iron creating malleable wrought iron in one step, making iron production much more efficient and less costly. Later, “puddlers” in Pittsburgh formed the first metals union, the Sons of Vulcan, fore-runner of United Steelworkers. (Dedicated: Sunday, September 10, 2017)