Central Furnaces, 2650 Broadway, east bank of Cuyahoga River, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

Significance: The history of Central Furnaces in continuous operation for almost one hundred years illustrates Cleveland's role as one of the Nation's leading iron and steel centers. The plant was established in 1881 by the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company to supply pig iron to its steel works at Newburgh. In 1899, this company was acquired by the American Steel & Wire Company of New Jersey, which in turn was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation just two years later. After 1933, when the Newburgh steel works closed, Central Furnaces continued to produce merchant pig iron for a variety of foundry customers. Furnace D (1911), still extant, represents one of the early experiments in thin-lined furnace construction. An ore-unloading dock, installed in 1908, features two 10-ton-capacity Hulett unloaded built by the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company of Cleveland.
Survey number: HAER OH-12
Building/structure dates: ca. 1883 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1887 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1911 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1927 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1954 Subsequent Work