Union Mfg Co Cast Iron Cover / Face Plate

Toledo, Ohio cast its iron with industrial purpose. This Union Mfg Co circular cover plate — 7¾ inches of gray iron marked UNION MFG CO · TOLEDO O in crisp raised relief around the rim — is not cookware. It is the other side of the Ohio foundry record: the fittings, covers, and closures that sealed furnace ports, boiler inspection openings, and gas line flanges in the buildings of a city that grew from 31,000 people in 1880 to over 168,000 by 1910. Somebody cast this piece in Toledo, bolted it over an opening, and left it to do its work. The Union Mfg Co foundry that made it has left almost no trace in the historical record. This cover plate survives to say it was there.