[OR_Archaeology] OSWEGO IRON FURNACE CELEBRATION July 24

[Susan White]

OSWEGO IRON FURNACE CELEBRATION THIS WEEKEND

On Saturday, July 24th, the City of Lake Oswego will celebrate the
completion of preservation work on one of Oregon’s oldest landmarks,
the stone blast furnace built by the Oregon Iron Company in 1866.  

The community celebration, dubbed “The Furnace Blast,” will feature
music, refreshments, exhibits, furnace tours, and a blacksmith
demonstration.  Festivities, which are free, will begin at 10 am in
George Rogers Park. 

The garden surrounding the furnace will be dedicated to the memory of
former Lake Oswego mayor Bill Gerber, who died in 2005.  An interpretive
kiosk beside the furnace will explain the role of the furnace in
Oswego’s early iron industry.  

The Oswego Iron Furnace is one of Oregon’s oldest landmarks and is
listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was the first
iron furnace on the Pacific Coast and is the only surviving historic
furnace west of the Rocky Mountains.  Between 1867 and 1885 it supplied
pig iron to foundries from Portland to San Francisco.  

For more information please contact Kathy Kern-Schilling at
503-675-3983.