For nearly a century, Lime Rock was home to the Barnum & Richardson Company, founded in 1830 by Milo Barnum and his son-in-law Leonard Richardson to manufacture cast iron goods from locally smelted iron. The foundry stood beside Salmon Kill, sharing water power with a nearby iron furnace, and its buildings once straddled the creek where the highway bridge stands today. Barnum & Richardson became best known for railroad car wheels whose unusual resistance to cracking and wear was attributed to Salisbury Iron, a raw material competitors could not match unless they also bought iron from Salisbury furnaces. As the business expanded, the company acquired furnaces, foundries, mines, and the New England Chemical Company, becoming the largest employer in the Salisbury area and the largest maker of railroad car wheels in the United States through plants in Lime Rock, Chicago, and Huntington, West Virginia. When cast steel became cheap enough to replace Salisbury Iron, the market shifted, cast iron car wheels were eventually outlawed in the U.S., and no scientific investigation was ever made into the iron's special properties. The Lime Rock foundry itself was severely damaged in the 1955 flood, after which the buildings were demolished and the road was straightened, erasing most traces of the once prosperous industry. Work there was hot and physically demanding, but according to William Wallace, superintendent of the East Canaan Barnum & Richardson furnace, the men were competent, well paid, well treated, and known for high morale and practical jokes that entertained visitors.