Guide to the Records of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation,1858-1953
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Records of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
- Creator
- Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
- Collection Number
- MSS#33
- Extent
- 1.75 cubic feet
- Date
- 1858-1953
- Abstract
- The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation was one of the largest iron and steel manufacturers in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. These records were generated and collected by the Public Relations Department of J & L and primarily document J & L's centennial in 1953 and the work done in preparation for the event.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project, a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Historical Sketch of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation was one of the largest iron and steel manufacturers in the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jones and Laughlin (J & L) grew out of the American Iron Works founded by John and Bernard Lauth in September, 1853. Four months later Benjamin F. Jones and Samuel Kier joined the firm, giving each man one-quarter controlling interest. The iron furnace and mill was located on the South Side of the Monongahela River, in the East Birmingham neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
The success of the firm was related to the expertise each man brought to it. According to the partnership agreement signed in December 1853, Jones controlled the Warehouse, books, accounts and finance. Bernard Lauth managed the rolling mills and Works. John Lauth supervised the small rolls and turning department. Kier had no listed duties. Each partner received $1,500 salary and retained a capital value of $5,000. What was unique about this iron works was the partners' steadfast determination to reinvest their profits back into the company instead of taking them as personal profits. The company did not pay its investors a dividend until 1870, choosing instead to build more facilities and expandits production capacity.
From 1855 to 1861, the company experienced many changes. Samuel Kier sold his interest to Jones, John Lauth sold his interest to his brother Bernard, and James Laughlin bought into the firm. In August of 1861, "Mr. Bernard Lauth ceased to be active in the business and was later bought out by the remaining partners" for a reported $100,000. This figure did not include an undisclosed sum Lauth received for his patent on the cold-rolled shafting process, acquired in 1859, which proved to be a profitable iron making improvement for the American Iron Works. With the departure of the original owners, the company changed itsname to American Iron Works-Jones and Laughlin's. As improvements in iron processing and the advent of steel making dramatically changed the industry, so too did J & L adapt to remain a top iron and steel producer. Through its first fifty years of existence J & L produced wrought iron, iron bars, and plates, from which nails were made. In 1886 J & L began making steel from its seven-ton Bessemer converter. By 1894 J & L was completely out of the wrought iron businessand produced only steel. As an example through sheer numbers, the J & L outputdramatically increased from its inception to the turn of the century and beyond: 1853, seven tons per day; 1857, 16 tons per day; 1862, 100 tons per day; 1876, 1,000 tons per day; and 1907, 5,000 tons per day.
In 1907, Jones and Laughlin began construction on their Aliquippa Works on aplot of land twenty six miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh in Beaver County. J & L also owned the 475 acres of land surrounding the new Aliquippa Works, which it 'sold' to a J & L subsidiary, the Woodlawn Land Company. J & L also named the community Woodlawn, until the name was changed to Aliquippa. The town was incorporated into a borough in 1909, the same year that the Aliquippa Works produced its first "heat" of steel. Employees bought tracts, built homes and created a new community around the factory. The Aliquippa Works allowed J & L to diversify its product line beyond structural steel and sheet metal. The new facility made various steel wire products, tin plates, seamless tubing, steel barrels and welded pipe.
Over the next thirty years J & L expanded at a steady rate with increases intotal output, employees and profits. By the start of World War II, J & L was the fourth largest steel producer in the world, producing over 4.8 million tons of steel a year and employing 45,000 workers. Despite operating in the direct shadow of United States Steel's Duquesne, Homestead and Edgar Thompson Works, J& L remained an independent steel company holding its own in a crowded market. The company's independence is reflected in its "family business" practices, as either a Jones or a Laughlin descendant controlled the firm until the 1930s. This independence ended with the merger of J & L and the French Ling-Temco-Vought Corporation (LTV) in 1974. Coupled with a depressed steel market of the 1970s, J & L rapidly declined in production and soon began demolishing older factories with no intention of rebuilding. The Aliquippa Works shut down most of itsfactories in May 1985. It went from a work force of over 10,000 in 1971 to less than 2,500 at its closing. By 1989 most of the South Side Works and the Eliza Furnaces across the Monongahela River were leveled. In the 1990s, the few remaining buildings serve as a distant memory of the thriving community these factories surrounded.
Scope and Content Notes
These records were generated and collected by the Public Relations Department of J & L and primarily document J & L's centennial in 1953 and the work done in preparation for the event. They include correspondence, company histories, manuals and other sundry items. The wealth of these records are found in the photographs which are separately arranged and described. The documentary material included in these records will be of primary use for researchers wishing to gain a better sense of the history of the company.
Arrangement
The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation Records are housed in four archival boxes and are arranged in two series.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acc# 1989.132
These materials were received in one accession.
Gift of LTV Corporation, (Records. Records were transferred to the Historical Society by James Eakin, Administrator of Assets Management) in1989.
Preferred Citation
Records of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, MSS#33, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Steven DoellonJune 21, 1993.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided byClay Reddingin February 1999.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Jones and Laughlin Steel Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- American Iron Works (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Eliza (Steel mill)
- Crawford, George Gordon, 1869-
- Jones, Benjamin F., (Benjamin Franklin), 1824-1903
- Jones, B.F., 1863-1928
- Jones, B.F., d. 1985
- Jones, Thomas, 1828-1889
- Jones, William Larimer, 1865-1926
- Jones, W.L., d. 1954
- Jones, W.L., III
- Kier, Samuel M., 1813-1874
- King, Willis, 1851-1936
- Laughlin, George M., Major, 1842-1908
- Laughlin, Henry A., 1838-
- Laughlin, Irwin, 1840-1871
- Laughlin, James, 1806-1882
- Laughlin, James, Jr.
- Lauth, Bernard, 1820-1894
- Lauth, John
- Allegheny County (Pa.) -- Industry
- Coal industry and trade -- Pennsylvania -- Allegheny County
- Coke industry and trade -- Pennsylvania -- Allegheny County
- Inland water transportation
- Inland waterway vessels
- Iron industry and trade -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Iron foundries -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Steel foundries -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Steel foundries -- Pennsylvania -- Aliquippa
- Steel foundries -- Ohio -- Cleveland
- Steel foundries -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh