The Iowa Barb Wire Company located its eastern plant in Allentown in 1886. It would eventually produce up to 100,000 tons of barbed wire, nails and staples each year. The United States Army was a major buyer from the mill during World War I, along with the British and French. The plant produced goods until 1943 when it was closed. It remained derelict until the late 1960s when it was torn down.