| Iron was in much
demand during wartime, but it was not until 1864 that
ironmasters in the North began to realize distinct profits.
Fluctuations in the tariff statues had so much to do with the
business vitality of America's furnaces, as competition with
British pig iron and bar iron was intense. In its last decade of
operation, Cornwall Furnace operated at a loss.
 The
Bessemer and open-hearth processes of steel production, the use
of anthracite, the widespread use of code, the discovery of Lake
Superior iron ore deposits, and the urbanization of factories
(to locate them near rail terminals) weighed heavily against the
Coleman's old-fashioned system. In 1879, Robert Habersham
Coleman, having completed his education at Trinity College in
Hartford, Connecticut, and recently married, took over the
managing control of the family's holdings. The tragic death of
his young bride, Lillie, soon followed, and by 1881 he was fully
immersed in details of business. His worth was then about seven
million dollars; 1889 the estimate had surged to thirty million.
He was opening a series of technically advanced anthracite
furnaces, and he shut down Cornwall Furnace forever on February
11, 1883.
Robert Habersham Coleman's glorious decade followed. He
modernized production and marketing on the family's thousands of
farm acres in Lancaster, Lebanon, and York Counties. He obtained
controlling interest in a bank in Lebanon and opened a rolling
mill. In 1889, he created the magical summer colony of Mount
Gretna (see "The Magic of Mount Gretna: An Interview with Jack
Bitner" by Diane B. Reed in the Spring 1992 edition), a pleasure
stop on his Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad. He built houses,
schools, and a church for his workers and their families. By his
second wife, Edith Johnstone of Baltimore, he had five children.
In Florida, he acquired a railroad construction company and a
fifty-mile stretch of the Jacksonville to Palatka Railroad. His
beneficence knew no bounds; he generously supported his alma
mater and his college fraternity, as well as St. James Episcopal
Church in Lancaster where his family had long been communicants.
But the seemingly impossible happened. The unsinkable Coleman
empire began to tremble.
 Robert
Habersham Coleman lost a lawsuit against the Grubb family, which
had been taking ore without compensating the Colemans, In 1891,
he lost another suit, this one to the Pennsylvania Trust
Company. The award: a staggering one-and-a-half million dollars.
If financial reverse were not enough, he also realized that he
was tubercular. When stock market investors panicked over low
gold reserves in 1893, the Coleman fortune vanished. At the age
of thirty-seven, Robert Habersham Coleman and his family left
Lebanon County for Saranac Lake in New York's Adinondacks, where
he lived as a recluse until he died in 1930 (see "A Dynasty
Tumbles" by Jan Margut Habecker in the Winter 1875 edition). The
Cornwall iron ore banks, because of the location of ore close to
the surface were still being mined by succeeding owners until
the 1960s.
Today, the rich legacy of Cornwall's illustrious career is
evident to visitors who tour the spectacularly preserved site,
donated by Margaret Coleman Freeman Buckingham to the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1932. As they drive through
quaint Minersvillage, they can't help but admire picturesque
company-built stone houses lining the street. From the Cornwall
Iron Furnace grounds, they can see the Coleman family's opulent
mansion (now a private retirement center), one decorated with
exquisite furniture from Napoleon's palace and ancient relics
from Pompeii. Then begins the tour of the charcoal barn and the
furnace building. As the giant wooden wheel turns and the
machinery hums, visitors can literally feel the power of
American industry at the place where it all began.
Designated a National Historic Landmark,
Cornwall Iron
Furnace is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission. Days and hours of operation are subject to
change; please call ahead at (717) 272-9711. Guides conduct
tours until an hour before closing. A Visitors’ Center located
in the old charcoal barn contains exhibits and a museum shop.
There is an admission fee.
For information write: Cornwall Iron Furnace, Post Office Box
251, Cornwall, Pennsylvania 17016; or telephone (717) 272-9711.
Persons with disabilities who need special assistance or
accommodation should telephone the historic site in advance of
their visit to discuss their needs. Persons who are deaf, hard
of hearing, or speech impaired who wish to contact a hearing
person via Text Telephone may use the PA Relay Center at (800)
654-5984. |
