SITE OF THE MERAMEC IRON WORKS - St. James, Missouri - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

Near the spring is the SITE OF THE MERAMEC IRON WORKS, established by Thomas James and Samuel Massey in 1826. Only one of the old open-hearth furnaces still stands, a monumental pyramid of cut stone. The ore was mined in the near-by banks of the Meramec, lime for flux and wood for charcoal came from the surrounding hills, and the great spring provided water power. Thomas James, owner of the mines and iron works, was born in Maryland in the 1770's. According to well-founded tradition, he learned of the Missouri iron deposits from a band of Shawnee Indians who visited his Brush Creek furnace in Adams County, Ohio.  In 1826, with his foreman, Samuel Massey, and a force of miners, he began work. The village which he developed included a store, a blacksmith shop, and a gristmill. No saloons were allowed. The smelted iron was hauled to Washington and St. Louis until the  construction of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway through the region about 1860, when St James became the shipping point. The furnace was operated until1873 and the mine until about 1891. - Missouri:  A Guide to the "Show-Me" State, Tour 5, pg. 411.

The old iron furnace stack is in the Meramec Springs Park, operated by the James Foundation.  The park is a popular trout fishing destination.  Along with the main furnace stack other smaller chimneys from the iron processing have been restored.