Howell Works

The basic workforce was divided into three different groups:

• ore raisers for mining the bog iron from the swampland,
• woodchoppers and woodsetters for charcoal production, and
• furnace workers, who included casters and molders.

Because of the area's isolation, Allaire realized he had to provide virtually all the facilities of a small town to satisfy the daily needs of his employees. Consequently, he hired additional artisans: a blacksmith, carpenters, brickmakers to supply bricks for new buildings on the grounds, farmers to grow food and raise cattle, millers, bakers, butchers and so on. In effect, Allaire built an almost entirely self-contained community.[6]

In 1824, Allaire sold 50% of the Works to his brother-in-law John Haggerty, who in turn sold his share of the business in 1827 to Thomas P. Wallworth. Allaire and Wallworth incorporated the business[5] in 1828 as the Howell Works Company, with a capital of $150,000.[7] By 1833, Allaire was the sole owner once again.[5]

Howell Works Company $1 note

Company tokens

In 1831, the Howell Works secured a US Postal contract and opened its own Post Office. In the same year, the New Jersey Legislature passed an act prohibiting the use of "tickets" - in effect, banning the use of currencies other than the state's official currency. Allaire had been planning to issue his own scrip prior to passage of the act.[8] In 1832, he initiated a test case.[9]

The courts found that the Allaire scrip did not violate the Act because they were "due bills" (IOU's). Allaire began issuing his workers the scrip, which was redeemable at the company store on the grounds, as well as accepted as payment by businesses in the local area. The scrip was issued in a variety of denominations, from tokens worth a few pennies to notes with a value of between $1 and $10.[9]

As Allaire's business grew, Howell Works became a major transportation center. In 1833 Allaire upgraded the original wooden carriage house, built in 1825, with a larger brick building. He established a stagecoach company that ran a freight-wagon line between Howell Works and his depot at Eatontown Dock (modern-day Oceanport). Later he built another depot at Red Bank further north. To transport the pig iron from Red Bank to New York, Allaire purchased Cornelius Vanderbilt's steamer Bellona[10] and established the first regular steam packet service between the two localities.[3] Other steamboats used by Allaire to transport goods and supplies to and from the Howell Works included the Frank, David Brown, Osiris, Iolas and Orus.[11]

Allaire expanded the Howell Works Company Store in 1835 by constructing a new four-story brick building at a cost of $7,000 to house the steadily expanding range of goods for sale.[12] The Store's goods included meat, fish and dairy products stored in the basement; hardware, flour, coffee, wine, liquor, groceries, ironware and other goods on the ground floor; and a wide range of furniture to suit buyers of different means on the second floor. The top floor held bulk items and was also used a storage area. The Store also contained the Howell Works Post Office, an apothecary, and an early example of a soda fountain. Customers came from miles around to shop there. At this time, the Store may have been the largest in the entire state of New Jersey.[13]

Allaire was not only interested in the physical wellbeing of his employees. In 1832, he built a church on the Howell Works grounds. The Church was Episcopal in keeping with Allaire's personal faith; however, he was tolerant of other faiths and did not require his employees to attend services.[14]

A strong believer in education, Allaire did require the children of his employees to attend school, which he provided free of charge. Lessons were held three days a week, from dawn to dusk, for children of both sexes between the ages of about five or six to eleven or twelve. Children old enough to train as apprentices could continue their schooling on a part-time basis if they so desired. Lessons were held inside the chapel and provided by the resident minister—retained by Allaire at a salary of $500 per year—and an assistant.[15]

Panoramic view of Howell Works, 1853, showing coal depot and furnace at top, store and other buildings center, and residential buildings at bottom.

By 1836, Howell Works had expanded to its peak operation and size. By this time, the Works employed 400 to 600 workers, including not only those who lived in the Works community but many people from the surrounding region. The Works had expanded to over sixty buildings, including a large three-storey charcoal depot storing charcoal, bog iron and flux; the company store and the church; a carriage house and stables; a bakery, gristmill and slaughterhouse; a blacksmith, carpentry shop and wheelwright; an enamelling furnace; numerous row houses for married employees; and finally Allaire's mansion, which included a dormitory wing for the Works bachelors, managed by a housekeeper.[5][16]

The blast furnace now included two smaller furnaces or cupolas in addition to the main furnace, all of which were housed in a large casting shed and adjoined by an office, bridgehouse and wheelhouse (the latter containing a large waterwheel to pump air into the furnace). The cupolas were added for the production of cast-iron products, which Allaire was able to manufacture as a result of the surplus pig iron from the Works. His company manufactured items including pots, pans, skillets, kettles and other holloware; along with andirons, pipes, tools and machine castings. Some of these items were sold at the company store, but most were shipped north for sale in New York.[17] Allaire established file and screw factories, the latter of which manufactured the first screws made on mechanical lathes.[5]

At the peak of Howell Works' production, however, Allaire's business empire suffered a series of financial and other setbacks from which it would never fully recover. In October 1836, his steamship the William Gibbons ran aground and was destroyed.[3] In May of the following year, the Panic of 1837 began, triggering a prolonged recession throughout the United States. At about the same time, the Howell Works furnace blew out.[18] The loss of the William Gibbons, along with difficulties in obtaining loans and the loss of product demand caused by the Panic, prevented the Works from returning to full production for two years.[3][18]

Allaire was unable to obtain loans to take possession of his latest steamship, Home, for more than a year after its construction. Soon after he did so, Home sailed only a few voyages before foundering and sinking off North Carolina in October 1837. One hundred people died and the ship was uninsured. The accident cost Allaire $89,708, but his reputation suffered more because of the loss of life.[19]

Howell Works was rendered redundant by the discovery in the early 1830s of abundant deposits of iron ore and anthracite coal in the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvanian pig iron was cheaper to produce than that of the Works. As coal burns hotter than charcoal, the iron was processed to higher quality. The Howell Works furnace was extinguished for the last time in 1846.[5][20] Some operations continued until about 1850, when the Works was formally declared bankrupt.[3]