NJDARM: Archives Collection Guides: Batsto Iron and Glass Works, Account Books, Arthur D. Pierce Collection, 1821-1881

Institutional History

The Batsto Iron Works had its beginnings in 1766, when the colonial Assembly passed an act enabling Charles Read, Esq., to erect a dam over Batsto Creek for the purpose of establishing a bar iron works. To provide fuel for the furnace, Read and his partners acquired timber rights to 60,000 acres of land surrounding the site. In 1770, the business was purchased by John Cox, with Joseph Ball retained as manager. Ball operated the furnace during the Revolutionary War, at which time the Batsto works produced Howitzer cannons, gunshot, and cannonballs for the American forces.

In 1778, Cox sold the furnace to Thomas Mayberry, who in turn sold his interests the following year to Joseph Ball. Batsto's forge was erected in the summer of 1781 for shaping iron produced at the Batsto furnace. In 1784, William Richards (Ball's uncle), who had been associated with the furnace prior to the war, returned to Batsto and acquired full ownership of the works. During the next several decades, the Richards family built a sizeable iron industry in southern New Jersey, with ownership also of the Atsion, Weymouth, and Martha Furnaces in Burlington County, and the Washington Furnace in Monmouth County.

William Richards continued operation of the Batsto works until 1809, when he retired and turned over management of the business to his son, Jesse. During the War of 1812, the Batsto works again produced ball and shot for the American military effort. With the settlement of the estate of William Richards in 1824, Batsto furnace was sold at auction to Jesse's nephew, Thomas S. Richards. Jesse Richards, however, was retained as manager and, in 1829, he purchased half-interest in the works. That year, Jesse Richards also rebuilt the furnace. During the 1830s, two to three thousand boatloads of cargo were handled at Batsto. With the discovery of coal in the Allegheny Mountains, however, the Batsto furnace, which depended on vast supplies of timber for fuel, was destined to become obsolete.

In 1846, Jesse Richards purchased the remaining half-interest in the iron works from the estate of Thomas S. Richards. At this time, he inaugurated the manufacture of glass at Batsto by adding the first of two glass factories to the complex. Richards' glass business was entered into at first in partnership with James M. Brookfield, and concentrated on the production of window panes. The second glass factory at Batsto was completed by Richards in 1848. This same year, the furnace, which had been in operation for over eighty years, was permanently closed down (though some iron was produced as late as 1855 in a small "cupola" operation). During the next decade, the nationally-reputed southern New Jersey glass industry boomed. The Batsto glassworks thrived for several years, but by the time of Jesse Richards death in 1854, Batsto profits were threatened by competition from other nearby works (including those of Jesse's brother Thomas, and of his former employee, William Wescoat). Thomas H. Richards, Jesse's son, took over management of Batsto after his father's death. He operated the business until 1867, when possession of the works was turned over to Francis H. Holmes, the company's main creditor. The glasshouse fire went out for the last time on 15 June 1867.