Ohio History Journal

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BLAST-FURNACES OPERATED BY THE

BLAST-FURNACES OPERATED BY THE

SEPARATIST SOCIETY OF ZOAR,

OHIO

 

 

BY E. J. BOGNAR

 

A most important contribution to the success of the

Separatist Society of Zoar was iron ore. The village

of Zoar was founded in 1817 by 300 or more Sepa-

ratists who had embarked early that spring from

Wurtemburg,1 Germany. The party was led by one

Joseph M. Bimeler2 and the desire for religious free-

dom brought them to this country where they settled in

the inviting wooded region of the Tuscarawas Valley.

Since the people had little or no money and few

worldly possessions it was quite necessary for them to

manufacture most of the things they needed. The party

that settled here fortunately counted in their ranks

learned craftsmen of various kinds. Being of German

stock, they had mastered their trades with characteristic

Teutonic thoroughness. Consequently we find that

these people made everything that they needed, such

as wearing apparel, machinery, household goods, ve-

hicles and other necessaries of life. At the height of

its prosperity the Society boasted some 12,000 acres, a

tannery, flour-mill, lime-kiln, foundry, woolen-mill, ma-

 

1 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, Vol. VIII, July, 1899.

2 Originally Baumler, which name was later changed to Bimeler, and

is so known today in Zoar and elsewhere.--Ed.

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