The Morgan Iron Works was a 19th-century manufacturing plant for marine steam engines located in New York City, United States.

The Morgan Iron Works remained a leading manufacturer of marine engines throughout the 19th century, producing at least 144 in the period between 1838 and 1867, including 23 for U.S. Navy vessels during the American Civil War.

[2] In 1845, the U.S. Congress made a number of legislative changes, including the establishment of subsidies, which were aimed at allowing American shipping lines to compete more effectively with their British counterparts.

The new legislation contributed to a growing demand in the United States for steamships, encouraging Morgan to divest himself of the last of his shares in sailing vessels and plough the money instead into the Secor plant,[3] which was expanded to include one and a half blocks between Eight and Tenth Streets.

Quintard also began diversifying the firm's products, manufacturing machinery for Cuban sugar mills and large pumps for a Chicago water company.

[8] In 1852, he decided to replace some of his older ships, and ordered Texas (1,151 tons), Louisiana (1,056 t), Mexico (1,043 t), Perseverance (827 t) and Meteor (542 t) all of which had engines built by the Morgan Iron Works.

[9] In the same period, Morgan lost to accidents four of his existing ships: Palmetto, Globe, Galveston and the newly built Meteor, with a total value of $250,000.

[10] By the end of the decade, the Morgan Works was one of America's leading manufacturers of marine steam engines, specializing in medium-sized machinery for coastal and river service.

[11] After the war, the U.S. government auctioned off at firesale prices the hundreds of ships it had requisitioned during the conflict, depressing the market and leaving U.S. shipyards and marine engine builders with little or no work.

Unlike his competitors, John Roach had been able to maintain his profits in the postwar period by diversifying his plant into the manufacture of machine tools and selling them to the U.S. Navy, which was in the process of upgrading its shipyards.

[13] John Roach meanwhile was planning to add shipbuilding to his engine building business, and he saw the Morgan Iron Works with its dockyard on the East River as a stepping stone toward this goal.

[13] By securing the premises of the Morgan Iron Works and buying out his remaining competitors, Roach had established a near ship and engine building monopoly in New York.

[21] After a costly political battle over a naval contract for the USS Dolphin in 1885, Roach, by now a terminally ill old man, retired and placed his business empire into receivership.