11 Most Endangered
Knight Foundry
Year Listed: 1996
Location: California
Current Status: Favorable
Threat: Deterioration, Neglect
A center of innovation in California's Mother Lode country, the historic Knight Foundry, actively served the needs of the mining and lumber industries for over 120 years and is believed to be the only remaining water-powered foundry and machine shop in the United States. Established in 1873, Knight Foundry provided the specially crafted machinery and tools that made it possible to mine and process the gold and other minerals of California's Mother Lode and remained a commercial operation until economic conditions forced its close in 1991. A local preservation group tried to reopen the foundry as a working historic site, but revenues could not cover the costs, let alone the costs of the purchase and long-term preservation of the site. At the time of listing, the site was in danger of being lost forever.
Update
The Knight Foundry Corporation has been successful in raising funds to plan for and carry out long-term preservation efforts for the Knight Foundry. Between 1999 and 2005, the Corporation received a $35,000 Getty Preservation Planning Grant from the National Trust, a Save America’s Treasures grant of $250,000, and $50,000 in funding from the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. These funds have allowed the Corporation to complete a historic resource inventory, historic structures report, stabilization work, and environmental mitigation studies on the Foundry building. The Knight Foundry Corporation recently scored another victory in its quest to purchase the Foundry from the current owner. After forming a public/private partnership with the City of Sutter Creek in 2005, the City announced in 2007 that they had signed a purchase agreement with the Foundry owners. The Corporation is still in need of funds to rehabilitate the foundry, and is continuing its efforts to preserve the site through a capital campaign launched earlier this year.
