Historical Marker
Texas Civil War Iron Works
Historical marker location:
US 79, Jacksonville, Texas
( About 8 miles west of Jacksonville on US 79. On south side, west of CR 3223 and Walnut Branch.)
Marker installed: 1965
To make farm and kitchen tools need in wartime, Chapel Hill Manufacturing Co. in 1863 set up plant on this site, processing native iron; used Cherokee limestone to purify the ore. Nearby hardwood supplied charcoal.
Crew included 100 Louisiana slaves. Ore from hilltop was fed through smokestack into furnaces on lower ground. Slag caught in furnace grates. Melted iron fell through and was cast into molds. Plant had associated sawmills, brickyards and commissary -- freighting goods from Mexico.
By the 1880's, at least 16 iron works operated in east Texas.