Posted by: News_Desk on 02/27/2017 11:22 AM
Updated by: News_Desk on 02/27/2017 11:22 AM
Expires: 01/01/2022 12:00 AM
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Historic Knight Foundry Welcomes Visitors For Its First Open House
Sutter Creek, CA...Set in the heart of Sutter Creek, Knight Foundry – America’s last water-powered foundry and machine
shop and a premier relic of Mother Lode gold mining history – will open its doors to the public at its first Open House on Saturday, March 4, from 10am to 4pm. This is the first time in many years that tours will be available inside the Foundry. The Open House is a free event, and complimentary light refreshments will be available.
Visitors will be able to tour the Foundry floor, which looks much the same as the day the Foundry ceased operations in 1996, after being in business continually since 1873. On hand will be local historians and former Foundry employees who can talk about what it was like when the fires were going and the liquid iron was sizzling into the huge molds. David Weitzman, author and illustrator of Pouring Iron, a children’s book about the Foundry, is scheduled to be signing beautiful reproductions of two drawings from the book, which will be available for purchase.
Volunteers are hard at work getting the complex ready to welcome guests to the March 4 Open House. “I’m impressed with how hard everyone works, and how much gets done, in just one day,” said Robin D. Peters, member of the Sutter Creek City Council and chair of the Knight Foundry Alliance. “The dust is coming off the old equipment, some of which is already being set up for small demonstrations during the Open House.”
Recently donated to the City of Sutter Creek, Knight Foundry is one of the nation’s best-preserved 19th-century industrial complexes. From precision equipment for hard-rock gold mines, to the lights of San Francisco, to the impulse turbine systems that powered many of the state’s hydroelectric plants, the Foundry literally helped to build California.
Knight Foundry is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a California Historical Landmark and a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Plans are for the Foundry to serve as a living history museum and an educational resource that provides a unique window into Amador County’s and California’s history and heritage.
The Knight Foundry Alliance was established in January 2017 to lead preservation, restoration, and fundraising efforts for the Knight Foundry. Chaired by Robin D. Peters, Sutter Creek City Council, Alliance leadership includes Josie Cadieux-Faillers, Sutter Creek City Council; Ron Edgar, Volunteer Coordinator; and Frank Cunha, Coordinator. The Alliance is raising funds to finalize the acquisition of the Foundry complex contents, to implement urgent security and stabilization repairs, and ultimately to restore the historic facility.
Knight Foundry is located at 81 Eureka Street in downtown Sutter Creek, two blocks east of Main Street (old Highway 49). For details and information on donating and volunteering: knightfoundry.com, facebook. com/knightfoundry, theknightfoundry@gmail.com, 209-267-5647.
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