Bessemer City

Bessemer City is a small suburban city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 5,340 at the 2010 census. The city is approximately 6mi northwest of Gastonia and west of Charlotte. It was settled in 1756 and founded in 1893.GeographyBessemer City is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.5km2, of which 12.4km2 is land and 0.1km2, or 0.78%, is water. The elevation at city hall is 904ft above sea level.HistoryBessemer City is named for Sir Henry Bessemer who created the Bessemer process for smelting iron. Bessemer City was founded on land purchased from the Ormand family, near the Sloan-Washington-Ormand Iron Furnace. Ironically, it was the Bessemer Process which made Bessemer City's early iron smelting industry obsolete.The earliest European settlement in the Bessemer City area dates to 1754, when King George II of Great Britain granted about 2000acre to James Ormand (1716–1771), who established the Ormand Mining Company to extract iron ore. By 1786, a furnace had been built on the land, called the Washington Furnace after the family of Colonel John C. Washington. The Old Ormand Furnace was used to process most of the iron ore that was mined in the area and today is one of the oldest remaining furnaces in the country. Despite a local tale that cannonballs were made during the Revolutionary War, there is no proof the furnace was built that early. The furnace was sold and later bought back by the family of Zenas Stanhope Ormand (b. July 12, 1802 - d. July 28, 1878). The furnace made iron implements and other products for local and statewide use and was in operation until the mid-19th century (when the Bessemer process made small furnace operations uneconomical). The "Old Furnace" is still owned by the Ormand Family Foundation, and the site is used as a gathering place for the Ormand, Ormond Family Reunion, one of the oldest family reunions in America, held annually since 1897.