Penfield Homestead Museum

History

In 1962, the extended Penfield Family completed acquisition of the Penfield Homestead and deeded it over to the new Penfield Foundation board. Incorporated in 1967 as a non-profit organization, it began preservation work on the Homestead and other related structures, including the foundations at the site of the old Crown Point Iron Company. In 1974, the entire hamlet of Ironville earned the designation of Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Ironville is known as the “Birthplace of the Electrical Age” due to Allen Penfield’s industrial use of Joseph Henry’s invention – the electro-magnet.

The Museum properties now include the Homestead, the Parsonage, the former 2nd Congregational Church, the former Penfield farm and barns, the mill pond and ironworks’ foundations along Putnam Creek.

The mission statement of the Penfield Homestead Museum is “Crown Point – People and History”. We are carrying out this work by preserving and protecting the historic landscape, hamlet and homestead, associated with its mid 19th century American civic, cultural and industrial history. 

Our archive and research collection includes many one-of kind artifacts on topics ranging from local genealogy to the long forgotten mining community of Hammondville.

We encourage you and your family to visit Penfield Homestead Museum.