Speedwell Ironworks
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The Factory, Speedwell Village
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The Factory House, birthplace of the electric telegraph
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| Location | 333 Speedwell Avenue, Morristown, New Jersey |
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| Coordinates | 40°48′50.976″N 74°28′49.7568″W / 40.81416000°N 74.480488000°WCoordinates: 40°48′50.976″N 74°28′49.7568″W / 40.81416000°N 74.480488000°W |
| Built | 1837 |
| NRHP Reference # | 74001186 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 13, 1974 |
| Designated NHL | May 30, 1974 |
Speedwell Ironworks was an ironworks in Speedwell Village, on Speedwell Avenue (part of U.S. Route 202), just North of Morristown, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. At this site Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse first demonstrated the electric telegraph. Speedwell Ironworks also provided most of the machinery for the SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Situated at a natural gorge of the Whippany River, several hydraulic powered forges existed, predating the establishment of the ironworks by Stephen Vail and two business partners. Vail became sole owner of the works in 1815 and expanded it, producing a variety of agricultural and industrial machinery. The ironworks innovated the first durable iron tire for railroad locomotives in January 1836. With changing industrial trends and a decline in the flow of the Whippany River, the ironworks were shut down in 1873, its equipment being sold to ironworks in Brooklyn, Coatbridge, Scotland. The remains of the factory buildings burned in 1908, and the few surviving walls and foundations remain unrestored.
Stephen Vail also bought an adjacent 40-acre (160,000 m2) lot to which he eventually retreated in 1844 for an active retirement. The Vail Homestead or Speedwell Village, as it is now known, is the site of Historic Speedwell, a National Historic Landmark, part of the Morris county Park Commission. The site is set up as an open-air 19th century farm, complete with residential buildings, a granary and carriage house.
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