The Lukens National Historic District

Issac Pennock, properly considered the founder of the business which became the Lukens Steel Company, began his career in the manufacture of iron in the early 1790s when he erected a mill at a place called Rokeby on the Buck Run in Chester County, about four miles south of Coatesville. This operation, calledthe Federal Slitting Mill, produced blacksmith iron, barrel staves, and miscellaneous iron products.

In 1816 Dr. Charles Lukens, the son-in-law of Isaac Pennock, came into the business of iron making. Dr. Luken is remembered for having rolled the firstboiler plate in America, documented in 1818, thus setting the company's ire, the re-heated over an ordinary grate fire and rolled into plates or sheets. The plate rolls were about 16" to 18" in diameter and from 3' to 4' long, driven by an overshot water wheel. As the increase in demand for Lukens plate required greater power, the overshot water wheel was replaced by a breast wheel and a flywheel was also introduced. This the led to larger rolls of 21" in diameter and 66" in length.

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Show me all markers in:  Coatesville, PA  |  Chester County  |  19320  |  Pennsylvania  |  United States of America

Terracina
Brandywine Mansion
Brandywine Mansion
The Lukens Mill - Late 1800s
Charles Lukens Huston House Site
The Lukens Mill - Early 1900s
Charles Lukens Huston House
Graystone - Abram Francis Huston House
The Modern Mill
Lukens Executive Office Building

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