BENTON — Benton Foundry Inc., which began as Harrington Foundry in 1863, is one of the oldest, continuously operating foundries in the country, its owner said.

During its 140 years, the business has been owned and operated by three generations of the Harrington family, followed by three generations of the Hall family.

Newton Harrington built the original foundry across Coles Creek from the current location when he returned from service in the Civil War, said Beth Anne Savage, his great-granddaughter.

The foundry started by making sled shoes and Harrington plows.

Herbert T. Harrington, Newton's son, took over the business and built a new foundry at the present site along Route 487 just north of Benton.

Soon after, Herbert built a sawmill next door that made shingles and did custom sawing.

Alfred, Roy and Stanley Harrington then took over the operation around 1918, said Savage, Alfred's daughter.

Harold Ackerman, whose father worked at the foundry in the 1940s, told a group of about 60 people at the Brass Pelican recently about some of the foundry's history.

The Benton News and North Mountain Historical Society hosted the breakfast meeting, and about 30 people toured the foundry afterward.

Ackerman said pancake griddles, stands for making and repairing shoes, and dinner bells were made at the foundry.

For a few years during World War II, the foundry produced up to 2,500 75mm shells a day as well as stove tops for the Army and Navy, he said.

Savage said her family used the shell casings as door stops around the house.

Consumer goods, such as Koal King stoker stoves and bases for clothes irons, were also made, Ackerman added.

Ackerman said he was told the Harrington family made all the manhole covers in Bloomsburg.

His father ran a blast furnace and lost sight in one eye in an accident at the foundry. His dad then ran the Gulf station in Benton, for which he was more well known, Ackerman said.

Savage said her family once had seven different elf figurines made at the foundry.

She said her father was the type of man who gave things away, so she thought they were all gone until she found one tucked away in the corner of a closet.

She also remembers the foundry making sewing machine heads for Singer, and that her father stayed on for a while after selling the foundry to make sure employees were retained, she said.

Three generations of the Harrington family owned and operated the business before it was taken over by the Hall family in 1958, she said. A fourth-generation Harrington worked at the foundry, she added.

Fritz Hall said he remembers members of the Harrington family at his home one night when he was a kid, trying to talk his father into buying the foundry.

His father, Alfred, and partner Elmer Kime paid $25,000 for the building and 150 acres back then, and changed the name to Benton Foundry, Fritz said. The Kime family had another foundry in Hallstead, he said.

Hall's father died suddenly of a heart attack in 1974, and Fritz and his brother were fired from the company.

After some legal maneuvering, Fritz and his brother were able to buy the Benton Foundry and make it separate from the Hallstead operation