The Southwark Foundry was established in 1836, first as a foundry only, but a large machine shop was soon added. The owners were S. V. Merrick, who became the first president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and John Henry Towne, who was the engineering partner. The firm designed and built steam engines and other heavy machinery and introduced the steam hammer into the United States under arrangement with James Nasmyth. From the designs of Capt. John Ericsson they built the engines for the “Princeton,” the first American man-of-war propelled by a screw, and later were identified with the Porter-Allen steam engine. Mr. Towne withdrew from the firm about 1848, and the firm name became successively Merrick & Son, Merrick & Sons, Henry G. Morris, and finally the Southwark Foundry & Machine Company. I. P. Morris & Company came from Levi Morris & Company, founded in 1828, and for many years were engaged in a similar work. In 1862 Mr. J. H. Towne, above referred to, was admitted to the firm as the engineering partner, and the firm name then became I. P. Morris, Towne & Company, until about 1869 when Mr. Towne withdrew. At his withdrawal the firm name was restored to its original form, I. P. Morris & Company. It is now a department of the Cramp Ship Building Company. During the Civil War the works were occupied largely in building engines and boilers for government vessels, and blast furnace and sugar mill machinery. During this period Henry R. Towne, son of J. H. Towne, entered the works as an apprentice, served in the drawing room and shops, and finally was placed in charge of the erection at the navy yards of Boston and Kittery of the engines, boilers, etc., built for two of the double-turreted monitors. Returning to Philadelphia, he was made assistant superintendent of the works. J. H. Towne was a mechanical engineer of eminence in his day, whose work as a designer showed unusual thoroughness and finish. He was a warm friend and admirer of both William and Coleman Sellers, and through his influence, Henry R. Towne was at one time a student apprentice in the shops of William Sellers & Company, acquiring there an experience which had a marked influence on his future work. Both of the firms with which J. H. Towne was connected built machine tools for themselves and for others, especially of the heavier and larger kinds, and thus were among the early tool builders. I. P. Morris & Company, about 1860, designed and built for their own use what was then the largest vertical boring mill in this country.[213] [213] From correspondence with Mr. Henry R. Towne.