Latest news with #JohnPotts
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How Britain's Protectionist Trade Policies Created Valley Forge
When students of the Revolutionary War hear the words Valley Forge, they probably think of an iconic image: Gen. George Washington kneeling in the snow, surrounded by log cabins, praying for aid. The Continental Army endured the winter of 1777–78 at Valley Forge, while the British hibernated in nearby Philadelphia. It was that winter, so the semimythologized story goes, that the Americans were sharpened from a ragtag militia that had done little more than strategically retreat during the war's first two years into a force capable of challenging the redcoats. But before Valley Forge became the "Valley Forge" of American military history, it had already played a smaller, unofficial role in the fight for independence. This "forge" in its name was a small ironmaking operation established on the banks of the Valley Creek in 1742 as the Mount Joy Forge. It was just one of dozens of small ironworks that popped up across the hills of eastern Pennsylvania in the decades before the revolution. The densely wooded region provided ample fuel for furnaces that smelted iron ore into pig iron and other forms of workable metal, which could subsequently be forged into tools and household goods. The supply chains ran down the river to Philadelphia and from there to the rest of the colonies and the world. In 1750, however, the British government tried to intervene in that burgeoning market. With the passage of the Iron Act, the American colonies were allowed to produce only unfinished iron and were allowed to export it only to Britain. Finished products would have to be reimported from Britain—with a high tax applied, naturally. Existing forges, like the one where the Continental Army would later encamp, were allowed to continue operating but could not expand production without permission from the crown. The law was not always obeyed, as a small exhibit in the stables at Valley Forge National Historical Park explains. In some cases, it may have been openly flaunted. John Potts, who bought the Mount Joy Forge in 1757, founded another forge in the area in 1752, seemingly in defiance of the Iron Act (though historians at the site are unsure of its exact legality). In the long run, the Iron Act was an utter failure. The mercantilist law incentivized both American producers and colonial officials to ignore it and helped galvanize support for independence among Pennsylvania's commercial classes. The British army destroyed the Mount Joy Forge on its way to occupying Philadelphia in the fall of 1777. But neither brute military force nor protectionist trade policy could stamp out the market for Pennsylvania iron—without which there would never have been a Valley Forge to serve as the turning point for Washington's army. The post How Britain's Protectionist Trade Policies Created Valley Forge appeared first on
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
York in the 1980s: long-lost pub inside iconic York building - do you miss it?
TODAY'S archive photo takes us back more than 40 years to a long-lost bar in an iconic York building. The photo dates from 1981 and shows a couple relaxing in style inside the bar at The Bonding Warehouse, on the York riverside by Skeldergate Bridge. In the 1980s, the venue was a bar and restaurant - a totally different purpose from when it was first built in the 1800s to hold goods that were being traded through the bustling port of York. Fast forward 100 years and by the 1980s, The Bonding Warehouse was a popular watering hole and decent steak restaurant, winning praise from residents and tourists alike for its 'middle-of-the-road' meals at reasonable prices. In May 1985, Evening Press writer John Potts popped along to the old, restored warehouse to find the rather bleak-looking old building now a lively and welcoming eating place. By the 1990s it was a comedy venue; some of the biggest stars of today gigged there. The idea of a bonding warehouse for York had been discussed since 1833 when merchant traders held a meeting in Merchants Hall, York. Read more: Memories of York's Bonding Warehouse: from pub and steak house and comedy club to luxury living and offices - 150 years of change By August 1873, the warehouse was so 'busy' and 'packed full of goods' that by June 1874, plans had been drawn up to build an adjoining block of three storeys. After its reincarnations as a pub, restaurant and entertainment venue through the 1980s and 1990s by 2000 it closed, following the devastating floods of November that year. It is now an upmarket apartment block with office space. Share your photos and memories of York on our Facebook page Why We Love York - Memories. Find us at:
