Starting from four farmhouses in 1801, and a population of 154 in 1831, the development of Middlesbrough in the second half of the nineteenth century is unparalleled in England. Gladstone called the town 'the youngest child of England's enterprise, but if a child, an infant Hercules.'
Development began with Joseph Pease, the Darlington industrialist, who saw the possibilities of Middlesbrough as a port for North East coal, but the great leap forward began with the discovery of iron ore in the Cleveland Hills in 1850. In 1841, Bolckow (pronounced Belko), who had come to England in 1827, formed a partnership with John Vaughan of Wales, and started an iron-foundry and rolling mill at Middlesbrough. It was Vaughan who discovered the ironstone deposits. Pig-iron production rose tenfold between 1851 and 1856. Bolckow became mayor in 1853 and Middlesbrough's first MP.
Bolckow was an extensive benefactor to Middlesbrough and presented Albert Park to the town. He also erected the St Hilda's schools. He originally lived in Cleveland Street, but later on resided at Marton Hall. This is now demolished, as is Vaughan's house (for which the billiard-room alone cost £50,000. Bolckow is buried in Marton churchyard.
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner says of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge: '...A European monument, one is tempted to say is the transporter bridge of 1911, 850 feet long and 225 feet high, and in its daring and finesse, a thrill to see from anywhere.'
As a sign of how things have changed in Bolckow's town over the century, Middlesbrough was Environment City of the Year in 1991. The Guardian of 14.12.91 remarks:

'Middlesbrough ... won the title after suffering more than a hundred years of soot-laden adjectives... The last ten years has seen the creation of nature reserves, gardens and parks, and the air this year was declared cleaner than Eastbourne.'