Repository

Heinz History Center

Title

Eichleay Engineering Corporation Records and Photographs

Creator

Eichleay Engineering Company.

Collection Number

MSS 960

Extent

15 linear feet (20 boxes, 2 shelf items)

Date

1889-1989

Abstract

The John Eichleay Jr. Company began raising, moving, shoring, and underpinning houses and commercial structures in the Pittsburgh region in the late 1880s. As their reputation grew, the company performed hundreds of jobs around the country during the early 20th century. During and following World War II, the Eichleay Engineering Corporation transitioned from house moving to industrial construction and mechanical installation. The Eichleay Company Records and Photographs document the company's business operations and primarily consist of photographs, as well as meeting minute ledgers and advertisements.

Language

The material in this collection is in English.

Author

The guide to this collection was written by Alex J. Toner and Megan Massanelli.

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

John Eichleay Jr. began moving houses in the late 1880s. Eichleay Jr. was born in Birmingham (today Pittsburgh's South Side) in 1854 and entered into the carpentry trade at an early age. He married Margaret Pollitt and the two had four sons: John Pollitt (J.P.E), Walter (W.B.E.), Harry, and Roy (R.O.E.). By the mid-to-late 1880s, Eichleay Jr. was an assistant building inspector for the City of Pittsburgh, and by 1890 the Pittsburgh city directory listed his occupation as "house raiser". Eichleay Jr. also served as director of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce from 1908 through 1911, as well as a director of Saint Joseph's Hospital.

The John Eichleay Jr. Company, incorporated in 1902, performed the raising, moving, shoring, and underpinning of houses and buildings. Prior to the development of hydraulic jacks, structures were raised using acme threaded screw jacks turned in unison by a team of men signaled by a foreman. Once the structures were jacked to the necessary height they were repositioned using rails and rollers, movement that rarely was detectable by those inside the building. The more spectacular moves garnered the company increased business, as well as attention from the public and the press. In 1903, the company raised the home of Captain Samuel S. Brown from the banks of the Monongahela River 160 feet up a cliff side. In 1915, the company moved Bethlehem Steel President Charles Schwab's house 1,500 feet over tree tops to a new location on his estate.

Eichleay Jr.'s sons became involved with their father's business while they were still in their teens. J.P began in 1899, and Walter and Harry Eichleay began their employment with the company in the 1890s. Roy Eichleay, the youngest brother, wouldn't begin working for the company until 1915. During the company's incorporation in 1902, J.P. Eichleay was named vice president and director. He succeeded his father as president of the company after John Eichleay Jr.'s death in 1922. J.P. also served as president of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce between 1919 and 1924.

In addition to moving structures, the John Eichleay Jr. Company began fabricating structural steel for shoring and underpinning heavier structures, as well as stockpiling supplies and equipment for erecting new industrial buildings. They opened a yard on the South Side on Wharton Street, which was largely expanded by 1905. The company also managed real estate interests, a boat and barge enterprise, and leased their machinery and equipment.

By the early 1920s, the company had problems raising capital and was overextended financially, which resulted in a recapitalization effort and the selling of assets and real estate. However, the ongoing financial issues didn't disrupt the 200 to 300 jobs the company performed annually during the 1920s, which included large structural moves in Pittsburgh and around the United States. Nevertheless, as the Depression took hold in the 1930s, the company faced a reduction in job contracts.

In 1936, John W. Eichleay, son of J.P. Eichleay, became the president of the Eichleay Engineering Corporation of Delaware, which was incorporated specifically to move and install piping at the Hoover Dam, and funded in part by contractor Babcock and Wilcox Corporation of Ohio. That same year the John Eichleay Jr. Company was forced into bankruptcy. In a fortunate turn of events, the Engineering Corporation was able to reacquire most of the former company's equipment, employees, and clients. A second incorporation, the Eichleay Engineering Corporation of Pennsylvania, was also created in 1936 for tax purposes.

As was the case throughout most of the country, World War II served as an economic and manufacturing catalyst for the Eichleay Engineering Corporation. Business emphasis shifted from structural moving to industrial and mechanical expansion of manufacturing plants involved in war-time production. Eichleay also innovated blast furnace construction and installation methods that reduced the amount of time the furnace had to be out of service. Such design, engineering, construction, and mechanical installation services led to direct contracting with major Pittsburgh manufacturers after the war as the company transitioned from house and commercial moving to general construction and contracting in the second half of the 20th century. The company remains in business today as Eichleay Engineers Inc. of California.

Scope and Content Notes

The Eichleay Engineering Corporation Records and Photographs document the company's business operations primarily through images that depict house raising and moving, structural engineering, industrial construction, and mechanical installation. Six ledger books contain board of managers, stockholders, and directors meeting minutes from 1903 through 1936. Quorum at most Board of Directors meetings between 1926 and 1928 consisted of J.P.E, W.B.E., R.O.E., Henry K. Holmes, and William J. Herbster (W.J.H.). There is a series of promotional materials, including a selection of advertising copy for Eichleay services between the 1930s and 1960s. Throughout the collection are newspapers and magazine clippings documenting company moves and operations, as well as individual projects.

Arrangement

The Eichleay Engineering Corporation Records and Photographs have been separated into the following five series:

Conditions Governing Access

None.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of John W. Eichleay Jr. in2010

Archives accession #2010.0227

Additional Eichleay Company photographs were transferred by the University of Pittsburgh's Archives Service Center in 2014.

Archives accession #2014.0208

Preferred Citation

Eichleay Company Records and Photographs,1889-1989, MSS 960, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center

Processing Information

Processed by Alex J. Toner in June 2013

Processed by Megan Massanelli in May 2015

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.

Container List