Content area
Full Text
Hidden in the woods along the bank of the Conodoguinet Creek in East Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, are the remains of an early business enterprise. The site was first the home of a forge producing iron plate and bar and later a nail factory producing cut nails-an enterprise which lasted for decades in the 1800s.
In 1802, Abraham Neidigh acquired land at the junction of the Conodoguinet Creek and the Susquehanna. He built a dam across the creek and, being a blacksmith, he harnessed the waterpower to operate a forge and possibly a grist mill. In 1815, Neidigh laid out a portion of his farm into building lots, but this new town, called Fairview, was slow to grow in the early years (Figure l).
In 1830, businessmen from Harrisburg, Norman Callendar, along with J. S. and B. J. Weistling, purchased twenty-five acres on which to construct a rolling mill. The men from Harrisburg, which was just across the Susquehanna River from the mouth of the Conodoguinet Creek, built the mill and rebuilt the dam that existed just up stream of the mouth of the creek. According to deed records, there were a series of partners involved in the property but eventually Callendar formed a partnership with Gabriel Heister in 1831. Heister died shortly thereafter in 1832 and his son Augustus O. Heister, became a partner the Fairview Rolling Mills. A description of the mill appeared in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania.
FAIRVIEW ROLLING MILLS.
Nearly opposite the State Capitol, on the west side of the Susquehanna river, and at the mouth of the Conodoguinnett creek, Messrs. Hiester [sic] and Callender, have lately erected the "Fairview Rolling Mills." They take their name from the beautiful situation of the village near which they are located, being in full view of Harrisburg, and the surrounding country. This is certainly one of the most delightful spots on the banks of the Susquehanna, celebrated as it is for beautiful and variegated scenery.1
The Fairview Rolling Mills produced iron plate and bar (Figure 2). To produce iron bar at that time required four important things: mechanical power to drive a waterwheel, fuel for heating the metal, iron ore or iron source, and a work force The power for the rolling mill...