The metalworkers : Robert Poole, his ironworks, and technology in 19th-century America
Steven C. Swett (Author), Stephen Marchesi (Illustrator), Baltimore Museum of Industry (Publisher)
In the mid-1850s, architect Thomas U. Walter made history when he chose iron instead of traditional marble as the material for the thirty-six columns that would encircle the dome of the newly enlarged United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Forty miles away, engineer and machinist Robert Poole set precedent, too, when he cast those columns in deep pits at his ironworks in the small village of Woodberry, outside Baltimore. Molding iron in this form and for this purpose had never before been attempted and was a triumph of ingenuity and craftsmanship. It was the age of iron, and Poole had made himself master of the metal. For over sixty years, he and his men turned out machinery that ran cable cars; powered flour, textile and paper mills; dredged rivers; and drove electricity-producing generators. Poole played a major role in the building out of America during the 19th century, but the breadth and depth of what he did--and, particularly, how he did it--has, until now, been an untold story, behind the scenes and largely unrecognized. In this biography of Robert Poole (1818-1903), journalist and historian Steven Swett describes how a youthful immigrant from Ireland caught the wave of technological innovation that was sweeping America, built a thriving business that provided jobs for thousands, and later donated the modern equivalent of millions of dollars to support institutions where he and they lived and worked.--Publisher
Print Book, English, 2022
Baltimore Museum of Industry, Baltimore, Maryland, 2022