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The Atlas Portland Cement Company, based in

Northampton, Pennsylvania Northampton is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 10,395 as of the 2020 census. Northampton is located north of Allentown, northwest of Philadelphia, and west of New York City. The borough is part of the Lehigh ...

, was one of the largest

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

companies of the world. Founded in Northampton in 1895, Atlas operated there until 1982 when it was bought out. It manufactured

Portland cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in the early 19th ...

, the most common type of cement in the world. In the early 20th century, Atlas Portland Cement Company produced eight million barrels for the construction of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

(1903-1914); its product was the majority of cement used on that project. For the construction of the

Singer Building The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, it was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broad ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, 22,600 barrels of cement were used. Some 151,000 barrels of Atlas cement were used in constructing the Empire State Building, completed in 1931. Atlas was among the dozens of cement companies that operated in the general vicinity of Northampton County, Pennsylvania in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Changes in technology and automation mean that in the 21st century, 150-200 workers can do the work that used to take thousands of employees in the plants. The company's legacy is remembered and interpreted in the Atlas Cement Memorial Museum, which was founded in 1997 by Edward Pany, a former employee at the company and a history teacher.

Management

Benjamin Franklin Affleck was president of the Universal Atlas Cement Company, after its merger with the Universal Portland Cement Company, from 1930 to 1936. He was noted by colleagues and area residents for his rise from humble beginnings in the company as a machinist to the head of sales, and later to presidency of the company. Affleck retired from the position just six years later, in 1936. On March 2, 1921, Affleck and thirty-nine other officers of cement corporations were indicted by a federal grand jury under the

Sherman Antitrust Act The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author. ...

for restraint of trade and attempts at monopoly. The companies involved were alleged to have tightly controlled the supply of cement, refusing to sell any builder more than the amount needed for a single job, and preventing them from using any unexpected surplus on other jobs; prices quoted on cement were invariably the same to the penny.

References

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External links

Atlas Cement Company Memorial Museum website
1895 establishments in Pennsylvania American companies established in 1895 Cement companies of the United States Companies based in Northampton County, Pennsylvania