The Yorkville enquirer reported on Jan. 30, 1873 – “The Kings Mt. Ironworks is situated on the Broad River and is located near the new Airline Railroad. It has excellent quality ore and the iron manufactured there is considered of superior quality. The property has thousands of acres, good water power, and large beds of ore which were worked for 30 years. The old works on the river are about four miles from the railroad and the furnace at Kings Creek is about three miles from the railroad. Investors are planning on reopening the ironworks.”
The Yorkville Enquirer of Oct. 9, 1879 reported – “Describing the Kings Mount Mining Company – the Company owns about 700 acres of land about two miles from the Kings Mount Station on the airline railroad. The new mine shaft is 300 ft deep and has struck a vain producing 18-20 tons of ore daily. The tunnel to the shaft has a tramway. The mine employees 65 men and includes a stamp mill. Mr. Arthur Macy is the Supt. and the company has financial backing from investors in Penn., and N.Y.”
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City Directories and History: (Nesbitt Iron Manufacturing Company; Swedish Iron Manufacturing Company) Coopersville is the largest surviving antebellum iron manufacturing complex in South Carolina. The complex includes foundations of four large factory buildings, with a system of canal/sluiceways between them, and the remains of three furnaces. The Coopersville Ironworks complex exhibits the most complete and intact set of features associated with the early iron industry in northwestern South Carolina. The Coopersville Ironworks and Susan Furnace were developed between 1835 and 1843 by the Nesbitt Iron Manufacturing Company, the largest iron company in South Carolina. The Nesbitt Company was dissolved in the late 1840s, and the Swedish Iron Manufacturing Company of South Carolina operated the ironworks from 1850 until the Civil War. The main factory complex of the Coopersville Ironworks Site is the best preserved factory complex of any of the nineteenth century iron manufacturing companies of the region. The outlying furnace, Susan Furnace, exhibits a partially collapsed furnace and associated features, including foundations, sluiceways, slag heaps, and adjacent ore pits. This site is the one of the best preserved furnace operations in the area with the only disturbance being an early twentieth century railroad bed which passes through the site along the route of the old tram road. Listed in the National Register November 13, 1976.
View the redacted text of the nomination form for this National Register property. In addition the Historic Resources of Early Ironworks of Northwestern South Carolina includes historical background information for this and other related National Register properties. (Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History)
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WM HILL’S IRONWORKS IN YORK CO SC
Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.
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Does anyone have any information about the cemetery mentioned in the nomination form for the Cooperville site’s inclusion in the National Registry of Historic places? I am trying to find an ancestor by the name of John Hord. He and his family are listed on the same 1850 census page as George Hammerscold who was President of the Swedish Iron Manufacturing Company at the time. I assume he would have lived in the village of Cooperville. The village was part of Union County at the time of the census.
Thanks for your help.