The earliest iron smelting furnace in America was constructed here in 1644 and was in operation by spring, 1645. Under the direction of John Winthrop, Jr., later governor of Connecticut and a participant in the early years of the Scientific Revolution, a coordinated enterprise established an iron industry in the young Massachusetts Colony, with later sites in what are now Braintree and Saugus. The furnace here smelted iron found in the immediate area, using a giant pair of bellows operated by a water wheel powered by the brook that runs through the site, still called Furnace Brook, and it operated until 1647. Solomon Willard designed and supervised construction of the Bunker Hill Monument of Quincy granite, begun in 1825 and dedicated in 1843. An architect, master artisan, builder of the Bunker Hill Monument, and father of the Quincy granite industry, Willard helped transform granite quarrying and finishing in Quincy into a major industry, making Quincy granite internationally famous.

Photo: G.W.Bartlett

Milton, Massachusetts · USA