History of Phoenixville
The Borough of Phoenixville was incorporated in 1849. Phoenixville is a growing community of over 16,000 people, situated twenty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia, in the northeast corner of Chester County. Phoenixville sits at the juncture of the French Creek and the Schuylkill River and is only four miles north of Valley Forge National Park. Phoenixville grew, developed and prospered because of its geography and the production of iron and steel products.
An Eighteenth Century rail works spawned the world renowned Phoenix Iron and Steel Company, and for nearly 200 years this company was an economic and geographic pivot on which the town grew and prospered. It even gave the town its name. Among other achievements, the Phoenix Iron and Steel Company produced a unique, patented field piece called the Griffen Gun, which was extensively used in the Civil War. The Phoenix Works also produced rails and structural supports for bridges and viaducts around the world. There are phoenix Columns supporting the Philadelphia water works, the Washington Monument and the huge Reading Railroad train shed in Philadelphia. At the height of production, Phoenix Iron and Steel Company employed over two thousand people.
Six Open Hearth Furnaces, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, produced more than 550 tons of steel daily. Phoenixville became the home to the rich cultural, racial and ethnic mix of people who came because of employment opportunities provided by the company. The character of the town was truly forged by the furnaces at the mill.