Finding Aid to The Old Furnace Foundation, Inc. Records, ORG.225

[Identification of item], ORG.225, The Old Furnace Foundation, Inc. Records, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, U.S.A.

This collection consists chiefly of records generated by the Old Furnace Foundation since its incorporation in 1972. This includes meeting minutes, financial reports, membership and share ownership documents, incorporation documents, records generated by preservation activity concerning the Old Furnace and its designation as a historic location, research notes and materials for historical and genealogical research, newsletters and memos published by the Foundation, registers and planning documents for family reunions, assorted correspondence of Foundation members, and miscellaneous items. The oldest items in the collection are some of the newspaper clippings, the oldest dated as being from 1953.

Materials are organized into files based on type. Contents of files are arranged chronologically where possible.

The Old Furnace Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization that maintains the Washington-Ormand Furnace Tract, which includes the namesake Ormand Furnace (built circa 1786), a picnic shelter, and a footbridge. The Foundation also organizes the annual Ormand family reunion, which meets on the tract. The tract is located in Gaston County, North Carolina, west of Bessemer City along Long Creek Road. The Ormand family first came into possession of the furnace (then called the Washington Furnace) in 1826, when iron manufacturer John Fulenwider died and his family sold the Washington Furnace and the surrounding 350-acres to the neighboring Ormands. The Ormand family operated the furnace through the late nineteenth century, though by 1918 it was no longer in use. In 1968 the tract was broken up and sold, though Joe and Lida Whitehurst purchased the furnace and its current eleven-acre parcel, in turn selling the land to the Old Furnace Foundation, Inc., in 1972. (Historic Structures Survey Report, WBS No. 17BP.12.R.67, prepared by Frances Alexander of Mattson, Alexander and Associates, Inc. For North Carolina Department of Transportation, Human Environment Section, September 18th 2017 https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/historic-preservation-office/PDFs/ER%2017-1846.pdf, pp. 6,12-13)

The Old Furnace Foundation was incorporated on January 4th, 1972. According to the materials, Ormand family reunions have been held since 1897. On February 27th, 1987, the Gaston County Board of Commissioners designated the furnace as historic property.

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• •  The Old Furnace Foundation Inc. Records, Box 1 (folders 1-8a)
  ORG.225.1

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• •  The Old Furnace Foundation Inc. Records, Box 2 (folders 8b-14)
  ORG.225.2

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Ormand Family

Historic buildings--Preservation and restoration

Nonprofit organizations

Historic buildings

Ironworks

Iron Industry and Trade

Gaston County (N.C.)

Received as a gift, February 2, 2023.