How did Iron Works Creek in Pennsylvania get its name? This page provides a brief history about Iron Works Creek in Pennsylvania, the people who settled on it, and the industry rising around it.
A small stream wholly in Northampton Township, flowing southeasterly across the southwestern part of the township and emptying into Broad Axe Creek at Holland. The county bridge over this stream was built in 1830. Formerly it was a noted mill stream. As to the origin of the name, H. F. Whitall, a resident of the township, in answer to an inquiry in the Bucks County Intelligencer, says under date of September 23, 1823, “I have often heard my grandfather say that there was a furnace on the creek…. There was an idle man who roamed over the country by the name of Phil Diacord, who often brought iron ore to the neighbors around, but kept it a secret as to where he obtained it.” General Davis1 also refers to the tradition of the iron works and quotes George W. Henry, of Frankford, who said the iron works was merely an ore washing mill, operated prior to 1812.
- Davis, Vol. I, p. 342. [↩]