Office and Store - Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site - Elverson, PA
Posted by: 
Janila
N 40° 12.346 W 075° 46.424
18T E 434152 N 4450881
The Buckley and Brooke Office and Store was opened by the second owners of the furnace village, the Brooke family.
Waymark Code: WMZ712
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2018
Views: 3
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site illustrates the adaptability of founder Mark Bird as he initially rebelled against the colonial government by refining cast iron into wrought iron, a process formerly completed by sending the cast iron to England for the refining. As the Revolutionary War began, Bird moved from making refined stove plates to cannons and shot. After the war, Bird was not able to recover financially from the role he played in promoting independence and he was forced to sell the plantation to the Brooke family. By 1816, a clever plantation manager by the name of Clement Brooke, succeeded in making iron products that became very popular along the East Coast until 1837. Again, the business began to flounder but picked up when the Civil War created a demand for pig iron, the product from which cast iron is made. With the end of the war and the development of the Bessemer steel production process, came the demise of the iron forge business. Hopewell remained a summer residence for descendants of the second owners, the Brookes, until 1935 when it was sold to the US government.
Listed as a contributing building to the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, this building is described on the nomination form as: "One story masonry, bank constructed Office and Store with cellar and frame lean-to storage area. Served as Furnace clerk's office and general store. Constructed ca. 1780. Restored 1981."
Under the Inventory for this site on the nomination form:
"The farms were owned by the Furnace partners, but often cultivated by farmers who had reciprocal arrangements with the Furnace. In addition, some of the surrounding neighbors of the Furnace had accounts at the Furnace store, trading crops and vegetables for blacksmith services and iron products. Many of these foodstuffs, were used to feed the ironmaster and his family, as well as the employees who boarded. Available for purchase at the Furnace store were a wide variety of clothing, fabrics, personal care,and household items, as well as food items."
From the NPS website (
visit link) :
"The Buckley and Brooke Office and Store operated for much of the furnace history. The company clerk kept the various account books for the furnace operations as well as served as the company paymaster. Workers at the furnace had accounts at the store and frequently purchased food, clothing or household items. Today, this building allows visitors to step back in time and purchase reproductions of items sold historically as well as hear the latest village gossip."
The nomination form for the Hopewell Village National Historic Site has not yet been scanned and uploaded to the NRHP website. It you wish to view it, I have uploaded it to my blog at (
visit link) .