the Schuylkill River Heritage Center which occupies 1,600 sq.ft. of the historic Foundry Building. The museum tells the story of the Phoenix Iron & Steel Company and also provides information about the industrial legacy of the Schuylkill River.(www.phoenixvillefoundry.org) The Hankin Group acquired the Phoenix Foundry property from PAEDCO in 2006 to create an event space. , the Phoenix Steel site is empty. Most of its buildings were dismantled. Only the old foundry and company office buildings remain from the once-sprawling complex; both have been restored and put to other uses. Products Besides the Griffen Gun and the Phoenix Column, the company produced iron for rails for the Pennsylvania Railroad and other eastern railroad lines, wrought iron for fencing and home decorative usage, and similar applications, as well as steel products. The Eiffel Tower in Paris used puddled iron from Phoenixville. Griffen Gun In 1855 John Griffen Jr. (1812-1884) developed the famous Griffen Gun while he was at the Safe Harbor Iron Works, a large rolling mill, located in Safe Harbor, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania) and was operated by the firm Reeves, Abbott & Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1855, the Phoenix Iron Works (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) foundry began producing six-pound smoothbore artillery pieces known as Griffen Guns, after inventor John Griffen Jr. (1812-1884). Hundreds were turned out before production shifted in 1861 to other Griffen designs. Company owner Daniel Reeves spent much money on equipment and processes to modernize the factory and make it one of America's leading producers of iron and steel. During the Civil War, the factory manufactured over 1,000 Griffen-designed 3-inch Ordnance rifles, the lion's share of the more than 1,400 similar guns eventually bought by the Army (see Field Artillery in the American Civil War). Produced by the company's unique rolling process, the 820-pound wrought iron barrels were durable and resisted bursting, unlike the cast iron gun tubes of Phoenixville's smaller competitors. At its peak, the factory was producing fifty rifles a week. Many of these rifled guns are in private collections, municipal parks, and at battlefields across the country, including the Gettysburg Battlefield. They are distinguished by the letters PIC (for Phoenix Iron Company) stamped on the muzzle. Phoenix column The Phoenix Column, patented by Samuel Reeves in 1862, was a hollow cylinder composed of four, six, or eight wrought iron segments riveted together. The resulting column was much lighter and stronger than the solid cast iron