Near Boyertown, Pennsylvania's first iron forge, in 1733 an Englishman named William Bird earned two shillings sixpence daily cutting wood. By 1740 he had accumulated enough capital to set up two charcoal-fired forges of his own where Hay Creek entered the Schuylkill half-dozen miles south of Reading. From these two forges sprang the present town of Birdsboro and the Birdsboro Steel Foundry & Machine Co. William Bird's eldest son Mark added other forges, a rolling mill, slitting mill and what is believed to be the first U. S. nail factory. By the Revolution...
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