Reaney, Son & Archbold
| Defunct (1871) | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1859 |
| Headquarters | Chester, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Products | Iron ships, steam engines, other iron products |
| Total assets | $1,000,000 (1859) |
| Owner | Thomas Reany, William B. Reaney, Samuel Archbold |
Reaney, Son & Archbold was a short-lived 19th-century American iron shipbuilding company located on the Delaware River at Chester, Pennsylvania. The company was established in 1859 by Thomas Reaney (formerly of the firm Reaney, Neafie & Levy) but it was undercapitalized from the outset, and like many other American shipbuilding companies, fell victim to the shipbuilding slump that followed the American Civil War.
Notable ships built by the company included the Passaic class monitors USS Sangamon and USS Lehigh, and the Casco class monitor USS Tunxis. It also built the sidewheel steamer Samuel M. Felton, which was the fastest ship on the Philadelphia-Wilmington route for some years.
After the yard went into receivership in 1871, it was purchased by John Roach, who would subsequently transform it into America's largest, most modern and most productive shipyard from the 1870s through the mid-1880s.
In 1844, three mechanics, Thomas Reaney, Jacob Neafie and William Smith, established the Penn Works in Philadelphia for the manufacture of steam engines and other products. The Works, which eventually became known as Reaney, Neafie & Levy, soon added shipbuilding to its product line.
After fifteen years with the company, during which time he acquired experience in the building of both iron and wooden ships, Thomas Reaney decided to establish a shipyard of his own in partnership with his son, William B. Reaney. Selling his share of Reaney, Neafie & Levy to the other two partners (who renamed it Neafie & Levy) Thomas Reaney purchased the property of the Pennsylvania Oil Works at Chester, Pennsylvania, whose plant had recently been destroyed by fire. With its 1,200 feet of frontage along the Delaware River, at a point where the River was a mile wide and 21 feet deep, the property was an ideal location for a shipyard. Reaney named his new company Reaney & Son, and spent about a million dollars outfitting the yard for iron shipbuilding. The yard was thereby very well equipped, but the large expenditure on plant and machinery was to leave the company chronically short of cash.
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