Pig iron
Benjamin, Jonathan, Elias, George, Charles, and Thomas Ellicott from Pennsylvania created the Avalon Iron Works in 1822, purchasing Dorsey's Forge and the Elkridge Furnace land. Andrew Ellicott built new furnace in 1826 manufacturing nails and rolled and split iron. Pig iron was used to create nails using waterpower at the forge in the 1800s. More than 100 people worked at the complex by the 1850s. The same year the Ellicott's furnace operations were foreclosed on by the Maryland Bank after iron prices dropped drastically. The Union Bank of Maryland purchased 700 acres including the forge for $25,000 in April 1850.