Originally founded as the Presque Isle Foundry in 1840, the company
originally produced plows, stove pots, and kettles. In 1844, the
Presque Isle Foundry produced their first steam engine and boiler,
indicative of an emerging boom in that sector of Erie manufacturing. By
1851, the name was changed to Erie City Iron Works as the company
expanded its product line to include freight cars, circular saw mills,
and cannon balls. In 1859, the Erie City Iron Works produced an engine
and boiler that was used in drilling the world’s first successful oil
well at Drake’s Well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. This historic
contribution to the first commercially successful oil well in the world
led Erie City Iron Works into playing an important role in the oil
industry boom that occurred soon after. In 1866, George Selden and John
H. Bliss became co-owners of the Iron Works, who enjoyed years of good
fortune—owed in no small part to the oil boom.
Erie City Iron Works continued to make steam engines, boilers, and
succeeded in securing a contract for the first standpipe for the Erie
City Water Works. Selden, who became president of the company in 1898,
was instrumental in the continuing success of the Erie City Iron Works
by making sales trips around the world and drafting plans for the
company to produce its first hydraulic riveter. After World War I, the
company began to make boilers alone, and also began using coal-
pulverizing technology. Through the early 1940s, Erie City Iron Works
supplied boilers for the American war effort in World War II.
In 1966, Zurn Industries acquired The Erie City Iron Works, in the
process creating its Zurn Energy Division. It was then purchased by
Aalborg Industries in 1997. They continued to make boilers, but added
the manufacture of heat recovery steam generation for diesel engines
and gas turbines. In 2004, the Indeck Group acquired the company in a
bankruptcy sale.
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