Thomas Rutter I (c1660-1730) of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the Birth of the Pennsylvania Iron Industry PADutch Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of

Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong Counties

Published in two parts

and Spangler

Genealogical and Personal History of Western

its people and animals with his camera

Thomas Rutter I (c1660-1730) of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the Birth of the Pennsylvania Iron Industry PADutch Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia ofThomas Rutter was an English Quaker and blacksmith who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1684. In 1714, he traveled up the Schuylkill River to Manatawny Creek and built Pennsylvania's first ironwork, a bloomery forge. Five years later, he converted his forge to a refinery forge and built Colebrook Dale Furnace, Pennsylvania's first cold blast furnace. When he blew the spark of life into it, the vast iron and steel industry of Pennsylvania was born.