Edward and George Brooke, descendants of ironmaster William Bird, established the Birdsboro Iron Foundry Company in 1867. With the advent of steel, it became the Birdsboro Steel Foundry and Machine Company, and then the Birdsboro Corporation in 1960. In Birdsboro, workers cast steel for ships and large parts including anchors, industrial pump housings, and rail car parts in multiple bays, some up to 1,480 feet long and 50 feet high. During World War II, the U.S. Navy built the Armorcast plant to be operated by the corporation, but its role soon shifted to manufacturing Sherman and Patton model tanks for the U.S. Army through the Korean War. At its peak, the plant employed over 1,400 workers. Birdsboro also designed and built an 8,000 ton hydraulic press, the largest of its kind in the world, to help an aircraft company speed production of large parts, and used a mobile sand slinger capable of hurling one ton of sand per minute to fill casting molds. The Birdsboro Corporation purchased Armorcast in 1972 and closed the plant in 1988 after failed contracts and labor strikes.