Peter Grubb

Who was Peter Grubb?

Peter Grubb, the founder of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty, discovered Cornwall Iron Mines and established Cornwall Iron Furnace, together one of the largest ironworks in Colonial Pennsylvania. The Cornwall Iron Mines are the largest U.S. iron mines ever discovered east of Lake Superior.

The youngest of the seven sons of John Grubb and his wife Frances of Brandywine Hundred, Peter first learned the stonemasonry trade. In 1729, he built a water corn and boulting mill in Bradford, Pennsylvania. He constructed his first iron bloomery in 1737 at Furnace Creek, on the modern border of Lancaster and Lebanon counties.

Grubb constructed a regular iron furnace, known as Hopewell on Hammer Creek near his bloomery. As he started to operate Hopewell, Peter soon located three mountains of magnetic iron ore just west of the furnace. He decided to mine the ore and by 1739 had acquired over 1,000 acres that he called Cornwall Iron Mines, in honor of his father's birthplace. In 1742, he opened Cornwall Iron Furnace to take advantage of the discovery. Peter Grubb's Hopewell Forge Mansion, completed around 1740 and later occupied by his son Peter Jr., still stands about six miles from Cornwall on present-day Route 322.