Hibernia Park Iron Masters 5M Road Race - Coatesville, Pennsylvania - Running

The Hibernia Park Iron Masters 5M Road Race is a Running race in Coatesville, Pennsylvania consisting of a 5 Miles.

Very scenic rolling 5 mile loop. Amish Farms, Quiet country roads. Large pavilion at start & finish. The 1st owner of the property now known as Hibernia was George Harrison, a weaver, who lived here from as early as 1744 until he sold the land to Samuel Downing in the early 1790's. He may have lived in the part of the mansion that was the original farmhouse. Downing built the 1st iron forge at Hibernia on the West Branch of the Brandywine to convert pig iron into bar iron. The iron works property passed through several ownerships from 1808 until 1821, when Charles Brooke purchased the property and became its most prosperous ironmaster.

By 1850, the Hibernia Iron Works, also known as Hibernia Forge, included two iron forges, two heating furnaces, a rolling mill, grist mill, the mansion, and several houses for the employed families. There was also a farm, gardens, orchards and other improvements. These all helped Hibernia become a self-sustaining operation for the Ironmaster family and hired staff, as well as for the 16 men and boys, their families, and the 18 oxen, horses, and mules which worked at producing the iron.

When Brooke conveyed the 1,594-acre property to his three sons in 1862, he did so with the understanding that he and his wife could remain in the Mansion House without charge for the rest of their lives. The Hibernia Forge operations ceased in the late 1870's, some years after a period of management by Horace Beale.