Lawrence Furnace

Lawrence Furnace, Lawrence County, Ohio, previously known as “Crane’s Nest.”

The daily ton was 15. The stack was 40 feet high. The blast was hot charcoal. In 1833, John Campbell and Andrew Ellison built Lawrence Furnace for J. Riggs & Company.  The following stories were abstracted from area newspapers.

Ironton Register, January 17, 1878 – IMPORTANT LAND SALE – Negotiations are pending between Mr. John Peters and the Belfont Iron Works to purchase 1000 acres of mineral lands by the latter near the end of the Iron Railroad.

The agreed-upon terms are $30 per acre or $30,000 for the entire tract. The only thing in the way now is the accomplishment of a complete transfer, the affairs of Lawrence Furnace Company being somewhat entangled in Trustees and Bondholders.

If this sale could be consummated, it would be of much interest to the community, for it would bring an increased array of our fine natural resources to the market. Lawrence Furnace property embraces more land than is necessary for one furnace, and the excess should be brought into development.

Ironton Register, June 4, 1857 – The Ironton Rolling Mill “fired” again last Monday after being stopped a month because of the “strike;” the Lawrence Mill, it will be recollected, went into operation last week.

Ironton Register, October 27, 1887 – The funeral of Peter Clay, who died from injuries received at the Lawrence Mill, will take place at Wesley Chapel on Thursday morning at 10 o’clock. All invited. The employees of Lawrence Iron Works will attend in a body.

Ironton Register, February 28, 1878 – The Lawrence Mill is fully operational. The forge department will probably be idle next week on account of the accumulation of muck bar. The mill shipped about 200 tons to St. Louis by the Means last week, and another 100 tons to the same place Monday, on the steamer, Alice.

Ironton Register, January 30, 1879 – The Lawrence Mill is idle but starts next Monday again.

Ironton Register, March 8, 1894 – (from the obituary of Cambridge Culbertson) . . . He (Cambridge) was one of the pioneer residents of this region, having first come to this county when his father, John Culbertson, bought the Lawrence Furnace property from Andrew Ellison’s heirs and moved there from Steam Furnace, Ky.

The elder Mr. Culbertson operated the furnace and accumulated considerable wealth, and Cambridge was associated with him. Later, the deceased became interested in Junior Furnace and in furnace property in Tennessee. Cambridge was married to Miss Emily Rankin, who, with two sons and two daughters, survived him.

Ironton Register, June 20, 1895 – John Peters, Sr., who though over 80 years old, is still actively engaged in the management of Lawrence Furnace. . . John Peters bought the Lawrence Furnace individually from Culbertson, Means & Co. This is an old furnace built in 1834 when a young man, John Peters, had been employed as a laborer. It is valuable property, among the most desirable of its kind in Southern Ohio, and is still owned and controlled entirely by his family.

Semi-Weekly Irontonian, November 8, 1907 – John Campbell stated that his most trying experience was the first night in the woods at “Crane’s Nest,” or Lawrence Furnace. A cabin or shelter protected from the weather, but there was no bedding, and he had only a stove pipe buried in the earth for a pillow.