Federal Slitting Mill, Later the Rokeby Iron Works
On September 21, 1793, Isaac Pennock purchased a site on the Buck Run in West Marlborough Township, where he erected what became known as the "Buck Run" or "Federal" Slitting Mill. Isaac Pennock's father, Joseph, Jr., bitterly opposed his son's undertaking such a hazardous venture "when wheat was selling at $3.00 a bushel," and refused financial assistance to his son. However, Isaac obtained this and in 1796 sold the property which then contained a "water slitting mill" and a sawmill to George Harlan and retired to a large farm in East Marlborough Township.

In 1798, to protect a mortgage, Isaac Pennock reacquired the slitting mill, and from then on appears on the early records as "Ironmaster." Here, iron bars purchased from various forges were reheated and rolled into sheets, after which they were "slit" into rods for general blacksmith use.

At the time of his death, in 1824, Pennock left a personal estate valued at over $100,000, over 1000 acres of land which included two iron works properties, the Federal Slitting Mill, and the Brandywine Iron Works. After his death, his widow, Martha (Webb) Pennock, rebuilt the Federal Slitting Mill as the "Rokeby Iron Works." These were operated in succession by her two sons, Isaac W. Pennock and George W. Pennock. In 1837 they were sold with the consent of Isaac Pennock's residuary heirs to Francis G. Parke and his brothers-in-law, Dr. Francis Gardner and Thomas H. Gardner. In 1860 the Rokeby Iron Works belonged to Mrs. A. Fisler, but, in 1866, they were removed, and a paper mill erected in their place by J. B. Broomell, whose grandson, Mr. Joel Baker, now owns the property. The houses built for both Isaac Pennock and his son, Isaac W. Pennock, remain, as well as the old "bank" or village of workmen's houses, and the picturesque mill dam.

The Brandywine Iron Works,
Later Lukens Steel Company
In 1810, Jesse Kersey, a Friends minister, who was also interested in John Vickers' Pottery in Downingtown, together with Isaac Pennock of the Federal Slitting Mill on Buck Run, purchased a farm and sawmill property from Moses Coates, father-in-law of Kersey, on the Western Branch of the Brandywine at what is now Coatesville. Kersey, at the same time, purchased from Moses Coates a tract of land on the south side of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike which he proceeded to have surveyed and to sell as building sites, apparently offering, as an inducement, the proximity of an iron works, which, by bringing in revenue to the community, would enhance the value of the lots. This was the first real estate development of the present City of Coatesville.

Upon the foundations of Moses Coates' former sawmill they erected the Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory. In 1817 Pennock purchased Kersey's interest and took over the entire property at a valuation of $14,000 placing in charge his son-in-law, Dr. Charles Lukens, who had previously been his partner for several years at the Federal Slitting Mill. Dr. Lukens leased "Brandywine" from his father-in-law at the rental of $420 a year. At some expense the mill was remodeled for rolling plates, charcoal iron being about to replace copper for use in steam boilers. In the spring of 1825, iron plates were rolled here for the boiler and the protecting side sheets of the Codorus, built in York, Pennsylvania, by the firm of Davis, Gartner and Webb, the first known ironclad steamship. In 1824 Isaac Pennock died leaving his daughter, Mrs. Lukens, the right to choose her portion of the estate at a valuation to be appraised and subject to her mother's life tenure. In the summer of 1825 Dr. Lukens died, after having exacted a promise from his widow to carry on the business. In spite of many difficulties including heavy losses for the first few years of her manufacturing career and opposition from her family, Mrs. Lukens' iron business, with the generous granting of credit on bar iron from Dr. Lukens' friends, among whom were Charles Brooke of Hibernia and, it is said, James Sproul, and the shrewd advice and assistance of her brother-in-law, Solomon Lukens, was placed in such an enviable position that, in describing conditions of about 1835, she could say "our character for making boiler iron stood first in the market, hence we had as much business as we could do." In 1837 she had a bitter controversy with some of her neighbors up stream, who finally succeeded in getting her to slightly lower the mill dam. This was the year of a severe panic through which the course of the Brandywine business was carefully steered. Toward the end of 1837 a profitable market seems to have been found in New Orleans, and the winter of 1840 was entirely spent in rolling iron plates for that territory, many of which were doubtless used in the boilers of Mississippi River steamboats.

The death of Mrs. Lukens' mother in 1844 caused a lawsuit on the part of some of the Pennock heirs, which dragged out for a number of years and apparently resulted in Mrs. Lukens having to make heavy payments to her father's estate before she could consider the Brandywine property actually hers. About 1840, upon Solomon Lukens' retirement to a farm, another brother-in-law, Joseph Bailey, came into the business for a few years, but about 1842, Abraham Gibbons, who had married Martha, Dr. and Mrs. Lukens' oldest daughter, came in as a partner and Mr. Bailey purchased and moved to the Pine Iron Works near Pottstown. In the meantime, about 1834, the mill had been entirely rebuilt from its foundation with new dam, wheels, castings, furnaces, mill head and mill house; "not a vestige of the old remained."

In 1849, Dr. Charles Huston, who had married Dr. and Mrs. Lukens' second daughter, Isabella, was admitted as a partner. On Mrs. Lukens' death in 1854 the business was carried on for a short time by Mr. Gibbons and Dr. Huston, but shortly afterwards Mr. Gibbons withdrew to become the first president of the National Bank of Chester Valley, leaving Dr. Huston in full charge. Dr. Huston's wife, Isabella Pennock (Lukens) Huston, subsequently purchased her sister's share in the estate, and since then the principal owners of the business have been her descendants. About 1859, in order to avoid confusion with a competitor who had recently taken the name "West Brandywine Iron Works," the name of the plant was changed to "Lukens Iron Works." In 1859 Charles Penrose, son of James Penrose, who had operated Laurel Iron Works, and grandson of Isaac Pennock, came in as partner, and the firm was called "Huston and Penrose." During this period Dr. Huston handled the commercial end of the business and Mr. Penrose the management of the employees.

In 1876, Dr. and Mrs. Huston's oldest son, A.F. Huston, was taken into the firm, and in 1879 their second son, Charles Lukens Huston, was made a partner, the latter being still active in the business. After 1881 the firm name was changed to Charles Huston and Sons. By this time former manufacturing processes were changing. The old water-driven mill had been remodeled into a puddle mill and a new steam plate mill built. About 1881 the mill started to roll an increasing number of steel plates so that to avoid excessive breakage of rolls, the two-high roughing and finishing mill was changed into a two-high roughing and three-high finishing mill. The first steel slabs were purchased from Schoenberger & Company of Pittsburgh. In 1890 the business was incorporated as the Lukens Iron and Steel Company, with Dr. Charles Huston, president, A.F. Huston, first vice-president, Charles L. Huston, second vice-president and works manager, Joseph Humpton, treasurer, and R. B. Haines, Jr., secretary. Dr. Huston had previously obtained some notice by publishing in 1878 and 1879 in the Journal of the Franklin Institute a series of articles upon the behavior of iron under varying conditions of heat and stress in which he was perhaps two generations ahead of his time.

In 1891 two 30-ton acid open hearth furnaces were built to make steel, which were later increased in capacity to 35 tons. Four 35 ton basic open hearth furnaces were added to this. In 1899 a 48-inch three-high Universal Mill was built which makes plates with rolled edges from eight to 48 inches wide and with lengths up to 100 feet. In the same year a new open hearth steel plant was built with four 50-ton basic furnaces which were later increased in number to ten. In the summer of 1903 still another three-high plate mill was put in operation, larger than any of its predecessors with rolls 140 inches long and capable of rolling plates up to 136 inches wide. A 120-inch plate mill which had been enlarged to 134 inches was, during 1904, reduced in length of rolls to 112 inches. In 1916 a new 204-inch plate mill was commenced and the first plate rolled on May 22, 1918l In the same period eight 90 ton basic open hearth furnaces were built to take care of the increased plate production, making a total of 24 open hearth furnaces. These have been lately reduced in number by increasing the capacity of 50- and 90-ton furnaces and eliminating entirely the 35-ton furnaces. In 1916 the Lukens Iron and Steel Company was reorganized as the Lukens Steel Company with the following offers: A.F. Huston, President; C.L. Huston, vice president and works manager; H. B. Speakman, vice president and purchasing agent; Joseph Humpton, secretary and treasurer; C. F. Humpton, assistant secretary and treasurer.
In 1919 the 204-inch plate mill was changed to a 206-inch mill. This mill for the past 23 years has enabled Lukens Steel Company to roll wider plates than any other in the world. It is of the four-high reversing type. About 1927 the old 84-inch mill was discontinued and a new two-high roughing and four-high finishing 84-inch mill installed to take care of the lighter gauges of plates. From 1810 until 1916 as the ownership and management was principally in the hands of those who were raised as Friends, none of the product was sold where it was known to be used for war purposes.

So far the company has been unusually fortunate in its relation with its employees, some of whom have held responsible positions for the fifth generation and many for the second and third generations of the same family.
In 1907 the Lukens Iron and Steel Company purchased extensive ore and blast furnace properties in Virginia. The subsidiary, which at present holds the ore properties, is known as the Allegheny Ore and iron Company. In 1927 a subsidiary was formed to more economically work up small patterns. This is called the By-Products Steel Corporation and is wholly owned. In 1930 a subsidiary was formed to use welded plates to replace cast machinery parts at greater strength and less weight and cost. This has had an extensive development to date and is known as Lukenweld, Inc. The present officers of the Lukens Steel Company are: president, R. W. Wolcott; vice-presidents, Charles L. Huston, D. L. Wolcott, F. H. Gordon; treasurer and assistant secretary, J. W. Herman; secretary, Stewart Huston. The president of Lukenweld, Incorporated, is Everett Chapman; of Byproducts Steel Corporation, R. W. Moffett, and of Allegheny Ore and Iron Company, Stewart Huston.

"Brandywine House," as Mrs. R. W. Lukens called the iron works mansion, is still in existence in a much changed form at the south end of the Lukens Employees Cooperative Store, and a portion of the old "bank" or group of employees' houses remains next to the tracks of the W. & N. Railroad. The indomitable spirit of Dr. Lukens' wife and Isaac Pennock's daughter still lives and the business which she, against heavy odds, perpetuated remains as a continuing incentive to her descendants.

The Caln Iron Works, Later the Valley Iron Works
This was built about 1837 on the West Branch of the Brandywine above Rock Run by Mrs. Isaac Pennock, presumably after the sale of the Rokeby Iron Works, for her son, George W. Pennock, and her son-in-law, Dr. Jesse Coates, the site being on the portion of Isaac Pennock's real estate which had been selected as her share in the residuary estate by Dr. Coates' wife, Martha Webb (Pennock) Coates. It was never operated by either George W. Pennock or Dr. Coates, but seems to have been leased. Dr. Coates' sons, immediately before the War Between the States, purchased and later operated the locust Point Iron Works in Maryland where it is said some of the iron plates for the Monitor were rolled. The name of the "Caln Iron Works" was probably changed to the "Valley Iron Works" about the time when that portion of East Caln Township was incorporated in Valley Township in 1852. In 1853 it was purchased by Charles E. and Joseph L. Pennock, previously described in connection with Laurel Iron Works, and great-grandnephews of Isaac Pennock who had for two years, from 1851 to 1853, operated Laurel under lease from Steele and Worth. During their ownership, iron plates were rolled here for the City of Peking, which made its maiden voyage in 1874 to California through the Straits of Magellan, the largest American steamship ever to be floated at that time and second only in the world to the famous British vessel, the Great Eastern.

In 1888 the business was purchased by W. W. Kurtz and Sons, bankers of Philadelphia, and operated by Mr. H. K. Kurtz until 1893 when it was discontinued. Later the property was purchased by the Worth brother and by them sold in 1915 to the Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company. It is now completely dismantled.

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