Believed to have been constructed in 1866, this facility was one of the largest of its kind in the nation. Its complex of 200 ovens was erected by the Leetonia Iron and Coal Company, later known as the Cherry Valley Iron Works, to supply fuel for pig-iron-producing blast furnaces that stood south of the site. The man-made beehive ovens transformed hard coal into coke by burning impurities out of the coal, producing the best fuel source for furnaces used to manufacture iron and steel. Operations ended in the early 1930s at the height of the Great Depression.
