Harte, Charles Rufus, comp.

The Oxford Furnace in Warren County, N.J., was one of the oldest blast-furnaces in the state. It was constructed by Jonathan Robeson of Philadelphia in 1741-1742 and placed in blast on March 9, 1743. It was thereafter owned and operated by members of the Robeson and Shippen families. In 1831 it was leased by the firm of Henry, Jordan & Company, who were succeeded by George W. & Selden T. Scranton. Selden T. Scranton organized the Oxford Iron Company in 1863, but it failed in 1878. It was reorganized as the Oxford Iron & Nail Company in 1880, but the development of Great Lakes ores and the mass production of wire nails destroyed the market for old-fashioned cut nails, and the furnace was blown out in 1884.

The new furnace of 1871 was revived briefly but failed again in 1895. The property was purchased by the Empire Steel & Iron Company in 1898 and operated successfully until 1921. The Empire Steel & Iron Company was purchased by the Replogle Steel Company in 1922, and they assigned the property to another subsidiary, the Warren Pipe & Foundry Corp. The furnace was deeded to the state as an historic site in November 1935. The mines and other property were sold to the Alan Wood Steel Company in 1941.

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