Today the "Eisenhütte in Augustfehn" epitomizes good gastronomy, art exhibitions by national artists and high quality concerts. But what is the term "ironworks" all about? To do this, one has to briefly look at the history of Augustfehn, which is a relatively young part of the community. It was founded in the mid-19th century with the aim of reclaiming the uninhabitable moorland. In 1845 the settlement only had 5 settlers and also 5 years later, after the official establishment of the town, there was no demand for colonies.
But again, the water plays an important role in the region: The good transport links via the water and the large deposits of peat made Augustfehn interesting for foreign entrepreneurs. In 1856 they founded the Oldenburg Ironworks Society in Augustfehn. Initially, attempts were made to extract large amounts of iron from the lawn iron ore that occurs in the bog. That turned out to be too little profitable. Instead, puddling and rolling mills were expanded and pig iron was obtained from Westphalia and England. It was processed into a high-quality iron that was exported across Europe.