11/27/2025
HURON IRON COMPANY: There’s a plaque near the northwest corner of Darrow and Vermilion¬-Savannah (a.k.a. State Route #60) Roads that, quite noticeably, goes unnoticed by most passers-by. In a nutshell it tells the story of a day when the community of Vermilion, 0., then part of Huron County, was an iron producing region. Although local residents have long referred to the spot as "Furnace Corners," the root of the appellation - the reason for its being called "Furnace Corners" has become as nearly obscure as the ruins of the old plant itself. Now but a pile of hand hewn stone , its wooden bones long turned to dust, very little of the building remains as a passing curiosity to an occasional hiker and to the diverse and sundry denizens of the Ohio woodlands which surround it. What took place here in just a yesteryear is, almost, forgot.
In the year 1834 three men - most notably Messrs. Ford, Sanford, and Tracy from the Geauga Iron Company formed the Huron Iron Company. They apparently chose the area just south of the soon to be incorporated Village of Vermilion because of its proximity to bog iron ore and other deposits found beneath the nearby lake ridge formations. Bog iron ore refers to impure iron deposits that develop in bogs or swamps by the chemical or biochemical oxidation of iron carried in the solutions. It was discovered during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, and most Viking era iron was smelted from bog ore. It was widely sought in colonial America, and during the American Revolution it was used by the military forces to manufacture cannon balls. It was also used in the manufacture of various castings used in shipbuilding, wrought iron railings, cooking and heating stoves, plows, kettles and a plethora of miscellaneous household and farm implements. There was, therefore, not only a tremendous need for these items in colonial America, but also the post-Revolution America, which included the settlement and development of our community. Consequently the proprietors of the Huron Iron Company constructed a blast furnace for the manufacture of such items south of town. Lined with native sandstone it was 30 feet high and 9 feet in diameter. Bog ore came from the nearby Scott farm. Charcoal was obtained from the surrounding forest, and limestone came by barge from the Sandusky area. The limestone was, interestingly enough, unloaded at piers in the lake off what is currently Sherod Park, and then trucked by horse and oxen to the iron works at Furnace Corners. In 1835 Wilkeson & Co. purchased the operation and continued manufacturing items for the next two decades. But by 1855 improvements in shipping on the Great Lakes made obtaining a better grade of ore from the upper regions of the nation a less onerous task and the old furnace was abandoned.
At this time a Cleveland doctor by the name of Philo Tilden built a new furnace along the Vermilion River in the area just west of the current home of the Vermilion Boat Club. Tilden's operation employed some 60 men. But it only lasted for ten years. And unlike the operation at Furnace Corners, nothing is left of Tilden's company.
That which took place at Furnace Corners was more the norm than the exception in 19th century America. If the market wasn't saturated with the products produced by the ironworks, the local supplies of raw materials to make them eventually ran out, and the Ironmasters moved on to another locale. That which is left is the stone shell of the Ironmaster's office, the stump of a once great furnace, and a few piles of slag now overgrown with vines, weeds, and covered with the leaves from the forest grown wild and wonderful around it. And two-tenths of a mile east of these ruins on the northwest corner of Darrow and State roads there is an historical marker which, like the place and time it celebrates, goes largely unnoticed.
Ref: Text of "Dedication of Historical Marker - Route 60 - Vermilion, June 14, 1969.
