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Cambria Iron Company

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Coordinates:40°20′10″N78°55′23″W/ 40.336°N 78.923°W/40.336; -78.923
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Cambria Iron Company
Blacksmith Shop in 1958
Cambria Iron Company is located in Pennsylvania
Cambria Iron Company
Cambria Iron Company is located in the United States
Cambria Iron Company
LocationJohnstown, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°20′10″N78°55′23″W/ 40.336°N 78.923°W/40.336; -78.923
Area482 acres (195 ha)
ArchitectCambria Iron Co., et al.
NRHP referenceNo.89001101[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJune 22, 1989[1]
Designated NHLDJune 22, 1989[3]
Designated PHMCMarch 04, 1947[2]

TheCambria Iron CompanyofJohnstown, Pennsylvania,was a major producer of iron and steel that operated independently from 1852 to 1916. The company adopted many innovations in the steelmaking process, including those ofWilliam KellyandHenry Bessemer.

Founded in 1852, the company became the nation's largest steel foundry within two decades. It was reorganized and renamed theCambria Steel Companyin 1898, purchased byMidvale Steel and Ordnance Companyin 1916, and sold to theBethlehem Steel Companyin 1923.[4]

The company's facilities, which extend some 12 miles (19 km) along the Conemaugh and Little Conemaugh rivers, operated until 1992. Today, they are designated as aNational Historic Landmark District.Several works by the firm are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[1][5]

Facilities

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The industrial facilities of the Cambria occupied five separate sites in and aroundJohnstown, Pennsylvania.Its earliest facilities, known as the Lower Works, are located on the east bank of the Conemaugh River, north of downtown Johnstown and the Little Conemaugh River.

The Gautier Plant is northeast of downtown Johnstown on the south side of the Little Conemaugh. Further up that river is the extensive Franklin Plant and Wheel Plant, while the Rod and Wire Plant is located on the west side of the Conemaugh River, north of the Lower Works.

Each of these facilities represents a different phase of development and growth of the steel industry. The Lower Works no longer has significant traces of the earliest facilities used in steel manufacturing. All five of these areas comprise theNational Historic Landmark Districtdesignated in 1989.[6]

Company history

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Warehouse of Cambria Iron Works after the 1889Johnstown Flood.

The Cambria Iron Company was founded in 1852 to provide iron for the construction ofrailroads.In 1854, the iron works, which had gone out of the blast, were purchased by a group of Philadelphia merchants led byMatthew Newkirk.After a fire destroyed the main rolling mill in 1857, Newkirk persuaded his co-investors to rebuild it on a larger scale.[7]

The company grew rapidly and by the 1870s, was a leading producer of steel and an innovator in the advancement of steelmaking technology. It performed early experiments with theKellyconverter, built the firstblooming mill,and was one of the first plants to use hydraulics for the movement of ingots. It built one of the first plants to use theBessemer processfor making steel at a large scale. The company's innovations, methods, and processes were widely influential throughout the steel industry.[6]

The company was at its height in the 1870s, under the long-term leadership of general managerDaniel Johnson Morrell,who had overseen the expansion of the works into one of the largest producers of rails in the United States. He helped to end US dependence on British railroad construction imports.[8]A Republican, Morrell also served as a member of the40th United States Congressand41st United States Congressesfrom Pennsylvania, from 1867-1871.

Morrell became concerned about theSouth Fork Dam,which formedLake Conemaughabove Johnstown and Cambria Iron Company's facilities. To monitor the dam, Morrell joinedSouth Fork Fishing and Hunting Club,which owned the dam. Morrell campaigned to club officials to improve the dam, which he had inspected by his own engineers and by those of thePennsylvania Railroad.Morrell offered to effect repairs, partially at his own expense, but was rejected by club president Benjamin F. Ruff. Morell died in 1885, his warnings unheeded.

On May 31, 1889, the dam failed, unleashing theJohnstown Flood.The flood killed more than 2,200 people—then the largest disaster in U.S. history—and badly damaged the Cambria Iron Company's facilities along the rivers. The company reopened one week later, but at reduced capacity, and it was eclipsed by other producers as it rebuilt.[8]

View fromWestmont, Pennsylvania.Blacksmith shop (octagon roof) and machine shop (raised roof) in the center.

After Morrell's death, his club membership was purchased by Cyrus Elder, who became the club's only Johnstown native; most of the men were from Pittsburgh. Elder was a former news editor who had become chief legal counsel for Cambria Iron Company.[9][10]His wife and daughter died in the flood. He continued to be a notable civic leader. He also wrote books and poetry.[11]

In 1916, Cambria Iron was acquired byMidvale Steel and Ordnance Company.Midvale sold the company toBethlehem Steelin 1923.,[6]It operated continuously until 1992.[8]

Cambria Steel Company had formed aproprietarysubsidiary shipping company calledFranklin Steamship Companyof Cleveland in 1906 and Beaver Steamship Company in 1916. Both companies were sold toBethlehem Steamship Companyin 1924.[12]

Works produced

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Infrastructure whose parts were manufactured by the Cambria Company include the following (with variations in attribution). All have been listed on theNational Register of Historic Places(NRHP):

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdefghijkl"National Register Information System".National Register of Historic Places.National Park Service.July 9, 2010.
  2. ^"PHMC Historical Markers".Historical Marker Database.Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Archived fromthe originalon December 7, 2013.RetrievedDecember 19,2013.
  3. ^"Cambria Iron Company".National Historic Landmark summary listing.National Park Service. Archived fromthe originalon June 5, 2008.RetrievedJuly 2,2008.
  4. ^"History of Steelmaking in Johnstown".Frank & Sylvia Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center website.Johnstown Area Heritage Association. Archived fromthe originalon May 24, 2009.RetrievedJanuary 9,2010.
  5. ^Highway Bridges of Iowa MPS
  6. ^abc"NHL nomination for Cambria Iron Company".National Park Service.RetrievedApril 7,2017.
  7. ^Newkirk, Matthew (1869).The memory of the just is blessed: a memorial of Matthew Newkirk.Princeton Theological Seminary Library. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen, and Haffelfinger.
  8. ^abcJohnstown, Pennsylvania, 1904by Charles Luther Morgan, Library of Congress, World Digital Library, 1904. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  9. ^Johnstown’s Flood of 1889: Power Over Truth and The Science Behind the Disaster,by Neil M. Coleman, Springer, 2018, page 185. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  10. ^"Benjamin Franklin Ruff (1835-1887)", "Johnstown Memorial", National Park Service. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  11. ^"Cyrus Elder (1833-1912)", "Johnstown Memorial", National Park Service. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
  12. ^"Scanner, v. 7, n. 4 (January 1975): The Oakes Fleets".www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca.
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