Carnegie Steel Company
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | |
Products | steel, coal, coke, flat-rolled and tubular steel products, railroad rails |
---|---|
Services | manufacturing |
Carnegie Steel Company was a
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was formed in 1892 and was subsequently sold in 1901 in one of the largest business transactions of the early 20th century, to become the major component of U.S. Steel
. The sale made Carnegie one of the richest men in history.
Creation
Carnegie began the construction of his first
Braddock, Pennsylvania.[1] The Thomson Steel Works began producing rails in 1874.[2] By a combination of low wages, efficient technology infrastructure investment and an efficient organization, the mill produced cheap steel, which sold for a large profit in the growing markets of industrial development. Carnegie alone estimated that 40% was returned on the investment, i.e., a profit of $40,000 from a $100,000 investment in the mill.[3]
The profits made by the Edgar Thomson Steel Works were substantial enough to let Carnegie and his partners, including
George Lauder, and Henry Phipps Jr., buy other nearby steel mills. These included the Homestead Steel Works, which Carnegie acquired in 1883.[4] The presence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio
rivers provided transport for the heavy materials used in steel production. Each plant was near to or alongside a river.
Carnegie agreed to Frick's subsequent proposal that the various plants and assets, including H. C. Frick & Company, be consolidated into a single company. This consolidation occurred on July 1, 1892, with the formation of the Carnegie Steel Company.[5]
Operations
The company headquarters were located in the
early skyscraper in Downtown Pittsburgh.[6] Built to show its use of steel in its construction, the building was fifteen stories high and was left uncovered for a full year. The Carnegie Building was demolished in 1952.[7]
Carnegie Steel made major technological innovations in the 1880s, especially the installation of the
Homestead Strike along with demands for reduced working hours and against pay cuts. After the unsuccessful strike the company continued to expand and profits grew year on year, with the company having earned net profits of $21 million in 1899.[8]
U. S. Steel) in the vicinity of Pittsburgh
.
Name | Location | Rail Service | Type of Facility |
---|---|---|---|
Carnegie Carrie Furnaces | Rankin | Union RR | Steel Mill – 5 Blast furnace stacks |
Clark works | Pittsburgh | Allegheny Valley | Hoops, bands, light rails |
Donora works | Donora | Pgh, Virginia & Charleston | Steel Mill – 2 Blast furnace stacks |
Duquesne works | Cochran | Union RR | Steel Mill – 4 Blast furnace stacks |
Edgar Thomson works | Braddock | Union RR | Steel Mill – 11 Blast furnace stacks |
Homestead works | Munhall | Union RR | Steel Mill |
Howard axle works | Howard | Union RR | Forge |
Isabella furnaces | Etna | West Penn | Steel Mill – 3 Blast furnace stacks |
Lower Union Mills | Pittsburgh | Allegheny Valley | Iron Mill |
Lucy furnaces | Pittsburgh | Allegheny Valley | Steel Mill – 2 Blast furnace stacks |
Monessen works | Monessen | Pittsburgh and Lake Erie | Rolling Mill and Steel works |
McCutcheon works | Allegheny | Pittsburgh and Western | Hoops, bands, light rails |
Painter works | South Side | Pittsburgh and Lake Erie | Processing |
Upper Union mills | Pittsburgh | Allegheny Valley | Iron Mill |
Galvanizing plant | South Side | Pittsburgh and Lake Erie | Processing |
Sale
Carnegie Steel Company was sold in 1901 to
subsidiary companies. The name of the subsidiary company was changed to the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company
in 1936.
See also
References
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, p. 144
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, p. 161
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, p. 170
- ^ "Rivers of Steel – Homestead Works". Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, p. 396
- ^ "Mellon Square". Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
- ^ "Pittsburgh's Feuding Architectural Landscape. And a Bell Tower". Doors Open Pittsburgh. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, p. 578
- ^ "Map of the Pittsburgh district showing railroad terminals and location of iron and steel works having track connections (circa 1906)".
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, pp. 580–588
- ^ "History of United States Steel Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
- ^ Nasaw, D., 2006, p. 687
Further reading
- Krass, Peter (2002). Carnegie. p. 612. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2017. A standard scholarly biography, along with Nasaw and Wall.
- Krause, Paul (1992). The Battle for Homestead, 1880–1892: Politics, Culture, and Steel. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 548.
- Nasaw, David (2006). Andrew Carnegie. Major biography along with Krass and Wall.
- Misa, Thomas J. (1995). A Nation of Steel: The Making of Modern America, 1865–1925. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Sabadasz, Joel (1992). "The Development of Modern Blast Furnace Practice: The Monongahela Valley Furnaces of the Carnegie Steel Company, 1872–1913". JSTOR 40968252.
- Wall, Joseph (1970). Andrew Carnegie. Oxford University Press. p. 1137. A standard biography along with Nasaw and Krass.
External links
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. OH-33, "Carnegie Steel-Ohio Works, Steam Engines, 912 Salt Springs Road, Youngstown, Mahoning County, OH", 22 photos, 2 photo caption pages
- Carnegie Steel Company Records, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center.