The Salem Iron Factory, which was located along the Waters River in Danvers, Massachusetts, was founded by the inventor Nathan Read (1759-1849) in 1796. Read had purchased the thirty-four acre Endecott farm bordering on the Waters River in 1792. In 1794, he purchased additional land along the river and received permission in 1795 from the town of Danvers to build a mill and dam across the river. Read then made a proposal to potential investors to form an iron factory which would manufacture sheet iron, anchors, chains, cables, nails, and other iron materials used in shipbuilding. The articles of agreement establishing the company were signed in May 1796. The nineteen original shareholders included many prominent Salem residents, among them, E.A. Holyoke, Joshua Ward, Joseph Peabody, Joseph Sprague, and William Stearn. Read sold the Waters River Mill, and his rights to the bridge and dam, to the Directors of the Salem Iron Factory in 1796. He was appointed treasurer and agent of the company in 1797, with Jonathan Allen acting as foreman. Although there were similar iron factories at Canaan, Connecticut, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the machinery which Read designed for the Salem Iron Factory required fewer workers. Read continually attempted to improve the factory's machinery. In 1798, he invented a nail machine which cut and headed nails in a single operation. Read resigned as agent of the company in 1800, when he was appointed to Congress, and sold his shares in 1810 after he had moved to Belfast, Maine.

John Osgood took over Read's position and was succeeded by Archelaus Rea in 1819. Between 1800 and 1820, the Salem Iron Factory primarily manufactured anchors and nails employing Read's nail cutting machine. In 1810, they expanded their operation with the purchase of the Danvers and Beverly Iron Works. According to William Bentley's diary, the manufacture of nails was not particularly successful because of competition in the local area. Between 1820 and 1840, the company gradually shifted to the production of iron rods and sheet iron.

In 1843, Factory trustees Joseph Peabody, William Pickman, and Archelaus Rea, sold the factory to Matthew Hooper, who changed the name to the Danvers Iron Works. Hooper sold the company to William and James P. Fisk of Cambridge in 1854, but foreclosed the mortgage in 1857. He then sold the company to John Sylvester of Somerville, and the company was held by the Sylvester family until 1920.