One of Smethwick's significant industrial enterprises of the 19th century was the Fox, Henderson Company, formerly Brannah, Fox and Co., which built the steel structure for the Crystal Palace in 1851. At its peak this employed about 2,000 people at the London Works. The bankruptcy and closure of the firm in 1856 had a devastating effect on the local economy. The site of the London Works was later acquired by Chamberlain and Nettlefold, and in 2014 was cleared to build the new Midland Metropolitan Hospital, amalgamating the Sandwell General Hospital at West Bromwich with the City Hospital, Dudley Road.