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The Granville Historical Society
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Museum
Description:The Society owns and maintains the Museum on East Broadway and the Old Academy Building on S. Main Street. Collections were started with the founding of the society in 1885, and include pioneer objects that were brought by the original settlers. The rich archives of the Society are a source for the historical documentation of the Granville community. We hold the non-current records of the Village of Granville as well as many personal and family papers. There are also many historical objects on display in Museum's main hall and basement. Below is just one example of the items on display. The Granville Iron Works:
An 1818 Columbus Gazette carried an advertisement for J. R. Munson's Granville Furnace Company, managed by Pardon Sprague. It announced that orders for Franklin, Ten Plate, Box, and other stoves were "being thankfully received and filled on short notice" Four hundred pounds of castings were produced that year the most unusual being the barrel of a cannon which was later fired at the opening of the Ohio Canal at Licking Summit. However, local ore deposits were shortly exhausted. Transport of ore from distant deposits was very expensive. By the late 1820's several managers had tried and failed to make the Furnace remunerative. It was hoped that the feeder for the Ohio Canal would provide cheaper transport. Augustine Munson and other influential citizens invested heavily in the Ohio Canal, but the national economic crisis and their combined indebtedness severely affected the local economy and prospects for the success of the Furnace In 1834, Periander Taylor, manager of the Furnace, publicly cursed the dry season and castigated church members who had failed to pray for rain. He dared Heaven to open the skies as it had to Noah. A violent storm on July 1, 1834 damaged the feeder canal and inundated the floor of the furnace causing it to close down. After several other changes in ownership and interruptions in service the operators announced the dissolution of the Granville Furnace on January 17, 1838. Remnants of this early Granville industry can still be found. Spherical shaped iron ore with ring like bands, called Siderite Nodules are still found occasionally and pieces of slag, castings, charcoal and cinders still work up through the soil at the furnace site. The History of Granville by Henry Bushnell, 1889
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smaller of these two stoves was made at the Granville Furnace. After finding deposits of iron ore
and limestone in the Granville area, Jeremiah Munson, with the backing of his
brother Augustine, decided to build an iron producing manufactory where Clear
Run flows into Raccoon Creek near the present Maple Grove Cemetery. Limestone
was available and there was plenty of wood for charcoal. Sandstone was quarried
from Sugar Loaf to build the stack. On June 24, 1816 the first tapping of the
Granville Furnace took place and molten iron ran through the channels into
carefully prepared molds. That evening the whole village gathered at Granger's
Tavern in celebration.