(
Satellite, on the south side of the canal built for this plant)
Note that if you click the thumbnails near the top of
this history, you can scroll through larger images.
 |
Steel Plant Museum of Western New York posted
This image is from the Hanna Furnace Corporation, see it on display in our exhibit "The Steel Crisis! The Decline of Buffalo's Steel Industry."
Just to clarify, Hanna Furnace only made pig iron and Donner-Hanna was a coke plant behind and half owned by Republic Steel.
They sold to many customers nationwide. One of their big local accounts was the Chevrolet Foundry in Tonawanda.
Hanna was on the south side of the Union Ship Canal, east northeast of Bethlehem Lackawanna. A park is there now.
Deborah Brown posted
Gary Walters: Don't forget Shanango Ingots at the end of the union ship canal. Eugene Rigby: Gary Walters Shanango took hot iron from Hanna Furnace to make molds |
 |
Photo via hmdb
Established in the early 1900s and productive until its closing in 1982; Hanna Furnace was Buffalo's lucrative pig iron manufacturer employing 800 and producing over 3,000 tons of pig iron per day The term "pig iron" arose from the old method of casting blast furnace iron into moulds arranged in sand beds such that they could be fed from a commin runner. The group of moulds resembled a litter of sucking pigs, the ingots being called "pigs" and the runner the "sow." Source http://www.pigiron.org.uk
The area before you was once packed with hundreds of proud workers in Buffalo's booming steel industry, an integral part of Western New York's industrial development. The city's many assets, including a strategic geographic location and strong labor force, positioned it as a major contributor to the economic growth of America. This growth would propel Buffalo's population to the 8th highest in the United States in 1910.
Geographically, Buffalo has no rivals. Access to the Great Lakes provided an unprecedented groundwork for marine-based commerce. The combination of marine, rail, and highway access created a unique transportation Paid Advertisement
Click on the ad for more information. Please report objectionable advertising to the Editor. hub ideal for the production, storage, and movement of goods. A cluster of companies would soon form along Lake Erie including Bethlehem Steel, the largest steel manufacturer in the U.S. from the 1930s until the 1970s.
Bathlehem Steel spurred the creation of many related industries including The Hanna Furnace Corporation, specializing in the process of steel production. Occupying nearly 70 acres of this site, Hanna Furnace stored an annual supply of 650,000 tons of iron ore, 150,000 tons of limestone, 350,000 tons of coke, employed 800 workers and produced 63,000 tons of pig iron per month at the peak of production during WWII.
|
 |
James Brese posted, cropped
Hanna Furnace Corporation, Buffalo, NY, Dock Department.
Debbie Matthews: I always thought those blast furnaces were part of the Bethlehem Steel Lackawanna Plant.
James Torgeson: Debbie Matthews The two plants were very close. There were another two blast furnaces at the Republic Steel plant on South Park, which wasn't too far away. |
 |
Bill bittner commented on his post
Hanna Furnace, Buffalo NY |
James Torgeson commented on a
post:
Hanna was a merchant iron plant that once had four blast furnaces. It shipped 10 and 35-pound pigs all over the country, by rail, truck and water. It also shipped hot metal to the adjacent Shenango Ingot Mold plant, and also to other area steel plants as the need arose. The pigs were also used in the trunks of employee cars during the winter!
 |
James Torgeson posted
Here's a plant layout for Hanna Furnace in Buffalo, from the centerspread of an employee handbook, circa late 1950s, early 1960s.
I forget how many tons of pigs were removed from the Union Ship Canal when it was remediated a few years back! |
 |
Steel Plant Museum of Western New York updated
A nice graphic of one of the pig casters at Hanna Furnace. This handbook is from the late 1950s or early 1960s.
|
The park was built on the land that had the storage piles. I noticed in a satellite image, that the foundations and floors for some of the building still exist. So the cleanup is going slowly. One business that has moved into this area is the
Hazmat Environmental Group.
 |
| 1965 Buffalo SE Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
 |
Bubba Dubs posted
Hanna Furnace, Buffalo New York date unknown. |
Mike Delaney
posted seven images with the comment: "A series of photos of Hanna Furnaces Buffalo, New York. Took Limestone in there once on a vessel. I believe these were all merchant pig iron furnaces. I know a friend of mine who sailed one of the Columbia crane boats took loads of pig iron ingots out of there."
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| 3 |
 |
| 4 |
 |
| 5 |
 |
| 6 |
 |
| 7 |
 |
Antoniao Ignazio Medina posted
Susquehanna Furnaces, Rodgers-Brown Iron Co. Lackawanna,NY. 1933. This photo was taken from east window of Main Office building of Bethlehem Steel Company.
[Some comments indicated this was also known as Hanna Furnace.] |
 |
James Torgeson posted
Some pig casting action was featured on this Hanna Furnace Christmas card. Year unknown. |
 |
| Digitally Zoomed |
 |
Michael Maitland commented on a post
Looking at pictures on line and found this ad |
 |
Robert Lackemeyer posted
A trip down to Tift St. caught Donner Hanna Furnace EMD SW-1 # 14, Buffalo, NY idling beautifully lit.
James Torgeson shared
National Steel's Hanna Furnace in Buffalo closed in 1982. |
Brian R. Wroblewski: Hanna Furnace, Union Ship Canal.
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| Bubba Dubs commented on Bill's post |
Buba Dubs
shared seven photos.
:)
