During the Industrial Revolution, this site became the center of Franconia's economy. A dam about 200 feet upstream supplied water power to an iron smelter across the river and to grist, saw, and bobbin mills on this side, and steel was produced here. Franconia's original pioneers had settled in 1772 on level land along the Ham Branch, now Rt. 116, where they could raise crops and harvest trees. About a quarter century later, construction of an iron smelting furnace on the far bank of the Gale River shifted the village center to this location. Sea merchants from Salem, Massachusetts, using profits from foreign trade, formed the New Hampshire Iron Factory Company and built the core of the furnace in 1805 on the site of an earlier forge. The granite block stack was rebuilt twice to improve efficiency. The smelter operated in fall and winter, when farmers worked there for low wages, and in 1850 the 50 workers each earned from $20 to $33 a month. The company maintained boarding houses for workers along Main Street just south of here. The original Iron Mine Tavern was hauled by oxen to this area and became a popular inn, then was rebuilt twice after fires before its final burning in 1960. The Civil War brought the decline of the iron industry here as furnaces were built in Pennsylvania closer to the population area. By 1870 the furnace was abandoned, and fire destroyed the building in 1884. Metal parts were later salvaged for World Wars I and II. Only the granite stack and the shed's foundations remain from Franconia's industrial origins.