Keshler Thibert dives into the history of a Philadelphia foundry owner and the first defense contractor of the United States government

Contributor Jonathan Schmalzbach talks with a designer and a printmaker about their obsession with manhole covers and public utility as creative muse

The deserted industrial site of Pencoyd Iron Works is next on a growing list of riverside redevelopment along the Schuylkill. Contributor Mick Ricereto takes us deep inside the history of the family-owned foundry and farmland that dates back to the city’s founding

Robert Wood’s renowned foundry at the corner of Ridge Avenue and 12th Street on Spring Garden Street once produced some of the nation’s finest ornamental iron work. The neighborhood is slowly awakening with renewal, yet the revered company’s former site remains an empty, blighted lot