Special to 1808Delaware, from the Delaware County Historical Society
On March 15, the Delaware County Historical Society will be presenting a program on the history of foundries in Delaware County. Foundries are factories where castings are produced by melting metal, pouring liquid metal into a mold, then allowing it to solidify.
There have been foundries in Delaware County since the 1850s. Olentangy Iron Works was an early foundry located on South Sandusky St. next to the Delaware Run. In the 1950’s, General Castings moved into the foundry on Toledo St. which was built in 1914 and continued to grow with acquisitions, during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2003, Liberty Casting Co. purchased General Casting Co., located on Liberty Rd and continues to operate today.
Liberty Casting’s business is based on the melting of scrap iron and pig iron in induction furnaces and after the addition of other ingredients, molten iron is poured into sand molds. Once cooled, the castings are shaken out of the molds and sent off site for grinding, heat treatment and painting. Its primary customers include compressor, blower and plastic machinery companies, machine-tool makers, pump manufacturers and heavy construction equipment firms.
This program will be presented by DCHS volunteer, Steve Schmitt and will be held at The Barn at Stratford, 2690 Stratford Road in Delaware, at 7pm, and via Zoom conferencing. Reserve your seat(s) through EventBrite which can be accessed on the DCHS website – www.DelawareOhioHistory.org.
The Delaware County Historical Society is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote, preserve and sustain interest in the history of Delaware County. The Barn at Stratford is operated by DCHS as an event venue for weddings, corporate meetings, and other special occasions. To learn more, visit the venue and society websites at barnatstratford.org and delawareohiohistory.org.
