Guide to the Koppers Company, Inc. Records 1902-1993

Arrangement

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Koppers Company, Inc. Records
Creator
Koppers Company, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Collection Number
MSS 990
Extent
15.5 linear feet (25 boxes + O/S)
Date
1902-2009
Date
1917-1988
Abstract
Koppers Company, Inc. was established by the German engineer, Heinrich Koppers, as a coke production company in 1907. Koppers had invented a chemical-recovery coke oven that greatly increased the quality of coke output while also stimulating recovery of coal gases, tar, and other chemicals. Koppers sold his controlling stake in the company to a group of investors including Andrew Mellon and H. B. Rust in 1914. At this point, the company's headquarters were transferred from Chicago to Pittsburgh, Pa. With this transition, H. B. Rust was elected president and CEO of Koppers. Koppers would establish itself as a world leader and innovator in coke and coke by-product production. The Koppers Company, Inc. Records are comprised of administrative records, research and development materials, manuals, patents (1902-1935), financial records, public relations and product catalogs, and photographs that document the evolution of Koppers' business functions.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Sierra Green and Nick Hartley. The guide to this collection was revised by Bryan Brown in May 2021, following an accession to the collection.
Sponsor
This collection has been made accessible as part of NHPRC-funded Basic Processing and Documenting Democracy grants.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

History

The roots of Koppers Company, Inc. can be traced to German engineer, Heinrich Koppers, and his innovations in the coke production industry. Koppers invented a chemical-recovery coke oven that greatly increased the quality of coke output while also augmenting heating efficiency and economy. In addition, Koppers' process stimulated recovery of coal gases, tar, and other chemicals. After meeting with representatives from the United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) in 1907, Koppers agreed to build a coke plant in the United States. The H. Koppers Company was incorporated five years later in 1912, with company headquarters in Chicago, Il. After managing his company remotely from Essen, Germany for two years, Koppers sold his controlling stake in the company to a group of investors including Andrew Mellon and H. B. Rust. At this point, the company's headquarters were transferred from Chicago to Pittsburgh, Pa. With this transition, H. B. Rust was elected president and CEO of Koppers, a title he would hold until his retirement in 1933. Following Rust's retirement, leadership of Koppers was placed in the following men: J. P. Tierney (1933-1944), General Brehon B. Somervell (1946-1955), Fred C. Foy, (1955-1960), Fletcher L. Byrom (1960-1968), Douglas Grymes (1968-1986), and Glen Tenley (1986-1988).

At the onset of World War I, Koppers answered the wartime demand for coke by expanding their coke production at an average pace of adding one complete coke plant every 60 days. Recognizing the value of innovation in business, Koppers established a research division in 1915. While assuaging the nation's need for coke, H. B. Rust and other Koppers administrators also recognized an opportunity to expand into the coal, gas, chemical and public-utility industries. Throughout the course of this expansion, Koppers supplied gas from their coke plants to various cities, including New York, New Haven, Montreal, St. Paul, Philadelphia, and Chicago. In addition, Koppers acquired coal mines to supply their plants, purchased shares in railroad companies that transported their coal, and bought a metal-fabricating company to fill their industrial equipment needs. It was during this period of diversification that Koppers began to develop tar refining and tar products, wood preserving, plastics and chemical industries as an offshoot of their established coke production functions.

With the Second World War came an unprecedented demand of basic coal chemicals and chemically-derived products. From this demand arose Koppers' exploration into rubber and plastics production throughout the 1940s and 1950s, which stimulate production of chemicals such as styrene, polystyrene, polyethylene, and the coal-petroleum chemical, ethylbenzene. In addition to rubbers and plastics, Koppers also extended itself into the dye industry with the acquisition of Aniline Products Company and its plant in Lock Haven, Pa. in 1955. Koppers continued to expand its lucrative work in chemicals and plastics throughout the 1950s and 1960s in the form of expanded industrial chemical, resin, and coatings production. Throughout the 1970s, Koppers stimulated production of road-paving chemicals while also becoming invested in genetic engineering. Koppers consolidated its various industrial pursuits in the 1980s which included selling off its Engineered Product division, its wood-laminating business, and some of its coke plants. In addition, Koppers established a subsidiary referred to as Keystone Environmental Services in 1986 to manage and address internal environmental concerns while also marketing its environmental technology to other industries.

In 1988, a controlling stake in Koppers was acquired by Beazer, a British conglomerate, for 1.81 billion dollars. While Koppers' headquarters remained in Pittsburgh, Beazer sold the company's chemical and allied products division. In 2013, Koppers was engaged in producing carbon materials and chemicals as well as railroad and utility products. It maintained facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, China and South Africa.

Scope and Content Notes

The Koppers Company, Inc. Records are comprised of administrative records, research and development materials, manuals, patents (1902-1935), financial records, public relations and product catalogs, and photographs that document the evolution of Koppers' business functions. The Koppers Company, Inc. Records are housed in 24 boxes and are arranged in four series: Administrative Records, Financial Records, Photographs, and Oversized Materials.

Arrangement

The Koppers Company, Inc. Records is arranged into four series.

  1. Series I. Administrative Records, 1902-2009 (bulk 1917-1988)
  2. Series II. Financial Records, 1946-1977 (bulk 1974-1977)
  3. Series III. Photographs, 1917-1993 (bulk 1917-c. 1940)
  4. Subseries I. Prints, 1917-1993 (bulk 1917-1928)
  5. Subseries II. Lantern Slides, c.1910-1940
  6. Series IV. Oversized Material, 1937-1982

Conditions Governing Access

Some lantern slides in Series III of this collection are cracked. Please see reference staff concerning access restrictions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gifts from Fitzhugh Brown in 1998, 2001, and 2003.

Archives accession # 1998.0002, 2001.0153, and 2003.0028

Gift from Fitzhugh Brown and George Tannehill in 1999.

Archives accession # 1999.0010

Gift from Hatch Associates Consultants, Inc. in 2012.

Archives accession # 2012.0074 Gift from Mary Florence Brown in 2020. Archives accession # 2020.0032

Preferred Citation

Koppers Company, Inc. Records, 1902-2009 (bulk 1917-1988), MSS 990, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center

Processing Information

Preliminary processing by Sierra Green on 09/12/2013.

Preliminary completed by Nick Hartley in June, 2015.

Additional inventorying and EAD encoding completed byJames Northway in July, 2016. Finding aid edited after accession byBryan Brown in May, 2021.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.

Related Materials

Edmund S. Ruffin Papers, 1950-1975, MFF 4919, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.

Hager-Jones Family Papers, 1862-1990, MSS 189, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.

Coke Oven Plant Construction and Development in 1942. MFF 1106, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center.

Separated Materials

To library:

Koppers: Modern Coke Oven Design and Practice. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1938.

Koppers International: Builder of Industrial Enterprise. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1968.

Ovens, Chemicals and Men!. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1958.

Story of Coke and Coal Chemicals. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., n.d.

Koppers Company Annual Reports, 1960-1982, 1985.

Coal and Coke Research: a Selection of Reprinted Papers. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., ca. 1950. HD 9549 .K6 C6 f

Gas Fundamentals: a Compilation of Basic Gas Facts Needed for Evaluation of Problems Facing the Gas Industry Today. Pittsburgh; Koppers Company, Inc., 1950. TP 751 .K6 1950 f

Koppers. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1961. HD9715 .K6 K6 1936 ff.

Koppers and Research. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1961. F159.24 .K83 f.

Koppers-Becker Coke Ovens. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1944. TP336 .K83 1944 f.

W. C. Rueckel. New Principles in Heating Koppers-Becker Coke Ovens. [n.p.], Koppers Company, Inc., [n.d.]. TP 336 .R8 f

Charles Chauncey Russell. The Selection of Coals for the Manufacture of Coke. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., ca.1947. TP336 .R8 f

Michael A. Cardo. The Story behind Kobuta: Plancor 483. Pittsburgh, Koppers Company, Inc., 1966. HD9715 .K6 T5 1966 q

Thirteen Design Ideas Using Koppers Building Products. Pittsburgh: Koppers Company, Inc., 1966. HD9715 .K6 T5 1966 q

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • Koppers Company, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • Chicago By-Product Coke Company (Chicago, Il.)
    • Minnesota By-Product Coke Co. (St. Paul, Mn.)
    • Koppers Company, Inc. Seaboard Plant (Kearny, Nj.)
    • Brooklyn Union Coke Gas Company (New York, Ny.)
    • Connecticut Coke Company (New Haven, Ct.)
    • Koppers Building (Pittsburgh, Pa.
    • Allegheny Country Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • 11th Street Power Plant (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

    Personal Names

    • Rust, H. B.
    • Mellon, Andrew (1855-1937)
    • DuPont, Irénée (1876-1963)
    • Eaton, Cyrus (1883-1979)
    • Koppers, Heinrich (1872-1941)
    • Rust family
    • Brown family

    Geographic Names

    • Pittsburgh, Pa.

    Other Subjects

    • Chemical industry--United States
    • Coal--United States
    • Coke industry--United States
    • Coke industry and trade--United States
    • Gas industry--United States
    • Research, industrial--United States
    • Coke-ovens--United States

Container List

Series IV. Oversized Material, 1937-1982

Scope and Contents

This series is comprised of a public relations publication, a Koppers calendar, and issues of Fortune and Life (1937,1982) that pertain to Kopppers. In addition, this series also contains prints of the Koppers Building and Heinrich Koppers.