POTTSTOWN

borough (town), Montgomery county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., on the Schuylkill River, 37 miles (59 km) northwest of Philadelphia. The region's first iron forge (known as Pool) was erected there (1716) by Thomas Rutter, and the Coventry forge produced the first commercial steel in Pennsylvania in 1732. The town, laid out in 1753 by John Potts (an ironmaster whose father, Thomas, had been associated with Rutter), was known as Pottsgrove until 1815, when it was incorporated as a borough and the present name adopted. Arthur St. Clair lived there when he was elected president of the Continental Congress (1787). The iron industry had produced an economic boom by the 1880s. Pottstown is now the trading centre for a farm, dairy, and industrial region with manufactures including auto parts, plastic products, and dies; food processing is also important. Pottsgrove Manor (1752) was used briefly as headquarters by George Washington during the winter of 1777-78. The Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles, which has a collection of antique automobiles, and a campus of Montgomery County Community College are also in Pottstown. Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (a restored 19th-century iron-making plantation) and adjacent French Creek State Park, Augustus Lutheran Church (1743), and Ringing Rocks Park are nearby. Pop. (1990) 21,831; (1998 est.) 21,465.