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Manufacturers Index - Phoenix Iron Works (MI)

Phoenix Iron Works (MI)
Port Huron, MI, U.S.A.
Manufacturer Class: Wood Working Machinery & Steam and Gas Engines

History

Last Modified: Sep 17 2013 5:19PM by Jeff_Joslin
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This firm began in 1859 as William S. Jenks. After an 1861 fire he took as partner his son, Orrin L. Jenks, and built a new shop called the Phoenix Iron Works. They built mill machinery, including saw mills and shingle mills, plus mining machinery and steam engines for Great Lakes vessels. In 1899 the business was merged into another Jenks family business, The Jenks Ship Building Co.

Information Sources

From Umberhine & Gustin's Lake Shore Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1861-2, a listing under Port Huron, foundry and machine shops: "Jenks, W. S. & N., cor. Fourth and Union".
From Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, by George W. Hilton, 1997:
William Jenks... moved to Port Huron in 1858. There he established a machine shop in 1859, but after suffering a fire in 1861, he established the Phoenix Iron Works jointly with his son, Orrin L. Jenks. In 1890 William S. and Orrin Jenks, along with William G. Jenks and Angus M. Carpenter, incorporated the Jenks Ship Building Company, and opened a small shipyard on the site of Carpenter's coal yard on the north bank of the Black River just east of the Seventh Street bridge in Port Huron. The Jenks Ship Building Company absorbed the Phoenix Iron Works in 1899. ...
History of St. Clair County, Michigan, A. T. Andreas & Co., 1883, has this snippet:
THE PHŒNIX IRON WORKS. The largest foundry in the city is situated adjacent to the Chicago & Grand Trunk and Port Huron & Northwestern Railways, and facing St. Clair River. The business was first carried on by W. S. & N. Jenks, in a frame building built in 1857, when ten men were employed. In 1861, this building was destroyed by fire. In the same year large brick buildings were erected, and named the Phœnix Iron Works. In 1882, the business amounted to $125,000, and this year will, it is said, increase to $175,000. The new works and machinery cost $65,000, and seventy-five men are on the pay-rolls. Special attention is given to machinery for mining, milling and marine. This firm manufactures superior engines, from pattern invented in the works.