Fitchburg Iron Furnace

Jerry Davis

10/30/2025

October 29, 2025

In the early and mid-1800s stone furnaces built for smelting iron dotted the Kentucky landscape.  The plentiful timber for charcoal, limestone for flux and low-grade iron deposits enabled entrepreneurs to produce much needed iron for settlers. Later, an iron industry developed making Kentucky the third largest iron producer in the United States. The Fitchburg Iron Furnace, built in 1868, was the largest stone furnace built in Kentucky and possibly the world. The two-stack furnace is 115 feet wide, 60 feet high and 40 feet deep. It was operational until 1873 and at its peak, employed 1000 workers and supported a town of 2000 residents. In 1870, 10,000 tons of pig iron were produced.

Advances in smelting technology in the mid-1900s and the discovery of high-grade iron ore deposits in other parts of the country changed the industry and small-scale stone furnaces were no longer competitive. Only a handful of Kentucky’s furnaces were producing iron into the late 1900s.

The furnace is located on Fitchburg Rd. near Ravenna, Kentucky. The only remaining evidence of the enterprise is the stone furnace standing beside a stream in a sparsely populated hollow. It is a scenic area but well off the beaten path. 

References:

Fitchburg Furnace - Wikipedia

Dr. Thomas Clark’s Kentucky Treasures: A historian’s list of 11 places that shaped the state. (2005) p. 50-53.