Catoctin Furnace was constructed in 1774 by four brothers Thomas, Baker, Roger and James Johnson to produce pig iron from locally mined hematite.

[2][3] Operated as a blast furnace by 1776, this foundry provided ammunition (cannonballs) for the American Revolutionary War.

[4][5][6] They also state that iron from this furnace was (much later) used to make plates for the USS Monitor; however that is considered unlikely by researchers.

The entire complex closed in 1903 (attributed to rising costs and the too-late introduction of a rail link).

In 1973, the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc. was formed by G. Eugene Anderson, Clement E. Gardiner, J. Franklin Mentzer, and Earl M. Shankle to “foster and promote the restoration of the Catoctin Furnace Historic District…and to maintain the same exclusively for educational and scientific purposes…to exhibit to coming generations our heritage of the past…” The Catoctin Furnace Historical Society, Inc., celebrates, studies, and preserves the rich history of this pre-revolutionary industrial village, including the architecture, cultural landscapes, lifeways, and foodways of the workers.