Bonner - Historical Summary: Pittsburgh Steel Mills
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98765432112345678
Angela Bonner
ELE-731
11/1/2017
Historical Summary: Pittsburgh Steel Mills Pittsburgh, affectionately known as the “Steel City”, garnered its nickname due to at one point in time producing one half of the nation’s steel output (Dilisio). Steel paved the way for billionaires, caused a stock market explosion, helped build cities lined with tall skyscrapers all around the nation, made weapons of war, and gave birth to one of the strongest labor unions that ever existed. In 1760, explorers discovered “Coal Hill”, which would later become known as the Mount Washington neighborhood (Duverge). Coal Hill was home to one of the most valuable deposits of coal in the entire United States. The abundant supply of coal became key to the emergence of future industries that Pittsburgh would be known for, such as steel. Steel is made by alloying iron with carbon to produce the much stronger steel, and even though that sounds simple, steel was very expensive to manufacture at that time, so the United States imported almost all of its steel. However, The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods to the United States and stimulated American manufacturing and the production of Steel in Pittsburgh (Carnegie Mellon University). In 1856, the British engineer Henry Bessemer developed the Bessemer process for making steel. This process greatly lowered the cost of producing steel. Two years later the Siemens-Martin open-hearth method was developed, which furthered allowed the use of steel for railroads, construction, and other industrial processes. This would be the beginning of the abundance of manufacturing of steel in Pittsburgh. In 1873 the United States, which had not produced steel rails before the Civil War, produced nearly 115,000 tons (Gordon). This was one-eighth of all American rail production during that time, and in the years after the Civil War, the American steel industry grew with great speed. A milestone in steel production was achieved in 1875 when the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock began to make steel rails using the new Bessemer steelmaking process. The Edgar Thomson Works was the first plant in the Carnegie Steel Company, founded by Andrew Carnegie (ExplorePAHistory). This Edgar Thomson Works sold rail at the lowest cost in the entire nation, which enabled Carnegie to expand steel production in the city from rails to bridges, tunnels, and eventually buildings. His production fueled westward expansion of railroad lines and transportation of good out of Pittsburgh and people into Pittsburgh. Carnegie did not stop there because he bought the rival Homestead Steel Works in 1883 and Duquesne Steel Works in 1891. Therefore, by 1900, Carnegie Steel was the country’s …show more content…
When the union refused to accept the new conditions at the plant, Frick began locking the workers out of the plant (University of Pittsburgh).
Ultimately, the conflict became violent and ended up leaving several dead and wounded. …show more content…
In
1901, J. P. Morgan and attorney Elbert H. Gary founded U.S. Steel by combining Andrew
Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company with Gary's Federal Steel Company and William Henry
"Judge" Moore's National Steel Company, making, at one time, U.S. Steel the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world (ExplorePAHistory).
1914 saw the beginning of World War I. Pittsburgh steel mills supplied 80% of the munitions steel during World War I (Pennsylvania State University). Even though steel mill workers endured bad working conditions, long hours, and low wages before, condition briefly improved during the war because employers did not want them to go on strike again.
However, once the war was over, the improvements did not last. Many workers went on strike, hoping to force their employers to raise wages and improve conditions, and the largest strike occurred among the steel workers from 1919 to 1920. This was known as the
"Great Steel Strike of 1919," and it eventually involved more than 350,000 workers (Ohio
History Central). The American Federation of Labor organized the strike, and
Bonner - Historical Summary: Pittsburgh Steel Mills Comments Share
FileEditViewInsertFormatToolsTableAdd-onsHelpAll changes saved in Drive 100% Normal text Times New Roman
12
A Editing
To enable screen reader support, press Ctrl+Alt+Z To learn about keyboard shortcuts, press Ctrl+slash
98765432112345678
Angela Bonner
ELE-731
11/1/2017
Historical Summary: Pittsburgh Steel Mills Pittsburgh, affectionately known as the “Steel City”, garnered its nickname due to at one point in time producing one half of the nation’s steel output (Dilisio). Steel paved the way for billionaires, caused a stock market explosion, helped build cities lined with tall skyscrapers all around the nation, made weapons of war, and gave birth to one of the strongest labor unions that ever existed. In 1760, explorers discovered “Coal Hill”, which would later become known as the Mount Washington neighborhood (Duverge). Coal Hill was home to one of the most valuable deposits of coal in the entire United States. The abundant supply of coal became key to the emergence of future industries that Pittsburgh would be known for, such as steel. Steel is made by alloying iron with carbon to produce the much stronger steel, and even though that sounds simple, steel was very expensive to manufacture at that time, so the United States imported almost all of its steel. However, The War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods to the United States and stimulated American manufacturing and the production of Steel in Pittsburgh (Carnegie Mellon University). In 1856, the British engineer Henry Bessemer developed the Bessemer process for making steel. This process greatly lowered the cost of producing steel. Two years later the Siemens-Martin open-hearth method was developed, which furthered allowed the use of steel for railroads, construction, and other industrial processes. This would be the beginning of the abundance of manufacturing of steel in Pittsburgh. In 1873 the United States, which had not produced steel rails before the Civil War, produced nearly 115,000 tons (Gordon). This was one-eighth of all American rail production during that time, and in the years after the Civil War, the American steel industry grew with great speed. A milestone in steel production was achieved in 1875 when the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock began to make steel rails using the new Bessemer steelmaking process. The Edgar Thomson Works was the first plant in the Carnegie Steel Company, founded by Andrew Carnegie (ExplorePAHistory). This Edgar Thomson Works sold rail at the lowest cost in the entire nation, which enabled Carnegie to expand steel production in the city from rails to bridges, tunnels, and eventually buildings. His production fueled westward expansion of railroad lines and transportation of good out of Pittsburgh and people into Pittsburgh. Carnegie did not stop there because he bought the rival Homestead Steel Works in 1883 and Duquesne Steel Works in 1891. Therefore, by 1900, Carnegie Steel was the country’s …show more content…
When the union refused to accept the new conditions at the plant, Frick began locking the workers out of the plant (University of Pittsburgh).
Ultimately, the conflict became violent and ended up leaving several dead and wounded. …show more content…
In
1901, J. P. Morgan and attorney Elbert H. Gary founded U.S. Steel by combining Andrew
Carnegie's Carnegie Steel Company with Gary's Federal Steel Company and William Henry
"Judge" Moore's National Steel Company, making, at one time, U.S. Steel the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world (ExplorePAHistory).
1914 saw the beginning of World War I. Pittsburgh steel mills supplied 80% of the munitions steel during World War I (Pennsylvania State University). Even though steel mill workers endured bad working conditions, long hours, and low wages before, condition briefly improved during the war because employers did not want them to go on strike again.
However, once the war was over, the improvements did not last. Many workers went on strike, hoping to force their employers to raise wages and improve conditions, and the largest strike occurred among the steel workers from 1919 to 1920. This was known as the
"Great Steel Strike of 1919," and it eventually involved more than 350,000 workers (Ohio
History Central). The American Federation of Labor organized the strike, and