History

A seamless blend of practical, industrial space and a vibrant, collaborative community

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The Iron Fireman has a long—and some might say somewhat quirky—history of being a space for making (things). Though what is manufactured has changed over the years, the act and art of making has not.

Originally constructed in the 1920s for a manufacturer of residential furnace parts, the Iron Fireman Manufacturing Company found success through the invention of automating coal heating. While seemingly archaic by today's standards, the Iron Fireman was an innovative, automatic coal feeding system for residential coal furnaces and considered highly state-of-the art for its era. The archival advertisements of the product are worth checking out!

After the eventual decline in the use of coal furnaces, the building adopted a number of other uses, including the creation of airplane parts, before going dormant for a number of years.

In 2016, SKB acquired the building with the vision of restoring it to its former glory days of prolific making. It is a workhorse of a building designed for modern day business. A sizable investment in renovations resulted in a building-wide overhaul that restored the building’s spirit while creating updated spaces for growing businesses, light industrial and commercial manufacturing.

Today, Iron Fireman is home to a vibrant community of creative, tech, manufacturing, and production businesses. See what’s made here.