Raleigh Iron Works is coming along on East Whitaker Mill Road. Its two main buildings are hard to miss with their industrial-style designs, built with original steel dating back 100+ years.
In the 1950s, the site housed the Peden Steel Company plant. The business was called Raleigh Iron Works until James M. Peden purchased the bankrupt steel division in 1931. Peden Steel assisted in building many structures that still stand in Raleigh today, like Bragaw Hall at NC State.
Peden took apart and moved the original steel Bow Truss building, built in the 1800s, from downtown to its current location. This is where munitions during World War I and World War II barges were produced. As a community-oriented Raleighite, Peden was inducted into the Raleigh Hall of Fame in 2010.
Though the renovated buildings now feature modern elements like a second-floor slide, some of the original beams and structures found on the property were preserved and made into centerpieces of the designs.
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