Ironworks

File:Burmeister og Wain (1885 painting).jpg

1885 painting of an ironworks

An ironworks or iron works is a place where iron is melted and shaped into heavy iron and steel products. The word "ironworks" can mean both one place or many places.

Ironworks became common after blast furnaces replaced older ways of working with iron. In the 19th century, a typical ironworks had one or more blast furnaces and other equipment for making iron. Later, when the Bessemer process was invented, more ironworks began to make steel, and they were often called steelworks instead.

The work done in ironworks is called ferrous metallurgy, which means working with iron. Sometimes, people use the word "siderurgy," which comes from Greek words for iron and work. This word is more common in French, Spanish, and other Romance languages than in English.

In the past, towns often grew around ironworks because people needed the jobs and housing provided by the ironworks. When the ironworks closed or changed, these towns often struggled and did not grow as much economically.

Ironworks Media

• Adolph Menzel - Eisenwalzwerk - Google Art Project.jpg

  The Iron Rolling Mill (Eisenwalzwerk), 1870s, by Adolph Menzel.

• Iron Mills - A View near Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire.jpeg

  A South Wales iron mill in 1798

• VysokePece1.jpg

  Blast furnaces of Třinec Iron and Steel Works.

• Painting of the Toronto Rolling Mills, an iron rails factory founded in 1857 by a group of businessmen led by railway magnate Sir Casimir Gzowski. At that time, it was the largest iron mill in Canada and the largest manufacturer in Toronto. The introduction of steel rails led to its closure in 1873.

• Dalsbruk - Stålverket.jpg

  The ironworks of Dalsbruk in Kimitoön, Finland

• Wappen Eisenhuettenstadt.png

  Coat of arms of Eisenhüttenstadt ("city of ironworks"), Germany

• Schofield's Iron Works, 5th & Poplar Sts., circa 1877 - DPLA - 50a66763a14ba4954b2b9be24f5b1e19.jpg

  Schofield's Iron Works in Macon, Georgia, circa 1877.