The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a

steel mill A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...

in the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

area communities of Braddock and

North Braddock North Braddock is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. North Braddock was organized from a part of Braddock Township in 1897. The borough prides itself in being the "Birth Place of Steel" as the home of Andrew Carnegie's ...

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, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It has been active since 1875. It is currently owned by

U.S. Steel United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in severa ...

and is known as Mon Valley Works – Edgar Thomson Plant on its official website.

History

The mill occupies the historic site of

Braddock's Field Braddock's Field is a historic battlefield on the banks of the Monongahela River, at Braddock, Pennsylvania, near the junction of Turtle Creek, about nine miles southeast of the "Forks of the Ohio" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Here, in 1755, was ...

, on the banks of the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-cen ...

east of

. On July 9, 1755, in the

Battle of the Monongahela The Battle of the Monongahela (also known as the Battle of Braddock's Field and the Battle of the Wilderness) took place on 9 July 1755, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, at Braddock's Field in what is now Braddock, Pennsylvania, e ...

, French and Indian forces from

Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne (, ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort French colonization of the Americas, established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny River, Allegheny and Monongahela River, Monongahela rivers. It was lat ...

defeated the expedition of British General

Edward Braddock Major-General Edward Braddock (January 1695 – 13 July 1755) was a British officer and commander-in-chief for the Thirteen Colonies during the start of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the North American front of what is known in Europe ...

, who himself was mortally wounded. Braddock's Field was also the site of a rally of rebellious militiamen and farmers during the

Whiskey Rebellion The Whiskey Rebellion (also known as the Whiskey Insurrection) was a violent tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax impo ...

, prior to a massive march on the town of Pittsburgh on August 1, 1794."The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania, Buck, Solon J. The site is on the banks of the Monongahela, which provides cost-effective, riverine transportation of coke, iron and finished steel products. The Edgar Thomson Steel Works was designed and built because of the

Bessemer process The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation ...

, the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel. In the process, air blowing through the molten iron removed impurities via

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...

. This took place in the Bessemer converter, a large ovoid steel container lined with clay or

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

. In the summer of 1872, while in Europe,

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

learned about the Bessemer process. He returned to Pittsburgh with plans to build his own Bessemer plant. Some of the partners, stockholders, and connected people were William Coleman, Andrew Kloman, Henry Phipps Jr., David McCandless, Wm. P. Shinn, John Scott, David A. Stewart, James Robb Wilson and

Thomas M. Carnegie Thomas Morrison Carnegie (October 2, 1843 – October 19, 1886) was a Scottish-born American industrialist. He was the brother of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and co-founder of the Edgar Thomson Steel Works (a steel manufacturing company). Ear ...

. The firm was known as Carnegie, McCandless, and Company. The plant was named after J. Edgar Thomson, who was the president of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

Carnegie Brothers and Company Carnegie Brothers & Company, Ltd. was created by the consolidation of the steel businesses owned by Andrew Carnegie in the early 1880s. Those steel and coke works that were consolidated were: * Sciota Ore Mines * Union Iron Mills * Edgar Thomson ...

was created by the consolidation of the

steel business Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

es owned by

in the early 1880s. Those steel and coke works that were consolidated were: *

Sciota Ore Mines Sciota may refer to: Places * Sciota, Illinois * Sciota, Pennsylvania Sciota is an unincorporated community in Hamilton Township in Monroe County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pen ...

Union Iron Mills Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

*Edgar Thomson Steel Works *

Lucy Furnaces Lucy Furnace was a pair of blast furnaces in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the Allegheny River in Lawrenceville. The furnaces were part of the Carnegie Steel Company, with the first furnace erected in 1871 by brothers Andrew and Thomas M. Carne ...

Monastery Coke Works A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

Larimer Coke Works Larimer may refer to: Places * Larimer County, Colorado *Larimer Hill, Indiana * Larimer, Pennsylvania *Larimer Square, Denver *Larimer Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania Larimer Township is a township in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Unite ...

Edgar Thomson Steel Works, Braddock Avenue, and Turtle Creek

The merging of these separate business operations into one resulted in the newly formed company owning an interest of nearly $5 million. On January 1, 1873, ground work began on the Edgar Thomson Steel Works in Braddock Twp. It has been estimated that the plant was built for about $1.2 million. The mill was built by

Alexander Lyman Holley Alexander Lyman Holley (Lakeville, Connecticut, July 20, 1832 – Brooklyn, New York, January 29, 1882) was an American mechanical engineer, inventor, and founding member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He was consider ...

, who found a manager to run the mill, Captain Bill Jones, a

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

veteran. On August 22, 1875, the Edgar Thomson Steel Works' hulking Bessemer converter produced its first heat of liquid steel, destined to become 2,000 steel rails for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Within one year of beginning production the mill was able to create 32,228 tons of steel rail. The district was known as Bessemer, later incorporated as North Braddock. Captain Jones described the steel mill writing, "This is the most powerful rail mill in the country; amongst its notable productions are a 62 lb. rail 120 feet long, rolled in five minutes from the time of drawing the bloom from the furnace and 600 rails 56 lb. per yard rolled in 11 1/2 hours." With continual improvements in production the mill was capable of producing 225 tons of steel rails per day. By the late 1880s James Gayley took over as manager of the plant. In 1892, the workers of the plant took part in one of the most serious strikes in U.S. history. The

Homestead Strike The Homestead strike, also known as the Homestead steel strike, Homestead massacre, or Battle of Homestead, was an industrial lockout and strike that began on July 1, 1892, culminating in a battle in which strikers defeated private security age ...

arose when

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a maj ...

, an associate and partner of Carnegie, took over while Carnegie traveled to Scotland. Frick attempted to cut the wages of the steel workers. The steelworkers at the Duquesne and Edgar Thomson Works joined the strike and shut their mills down in sympathy. Frick took extreme measures. He brought in thousands of strikebreakers. When he sent in 300 Pinkerton guards to protect the strikebreakers, a riot broke out, resulting in 10 deaths and thousands of injuries. To prevent any further bloodshed, the governor, Robert Pattison, sent two brigades to stop the fighting. Carnegie, McCandless and Company recommenced operations with non-union immigrant workers. In 1901, Carnegie sold the

Carnegie Steel Company Carnegie Steel Company was a steel-producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was form ...

, including the Edgar Thomson Works, to

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

Elbert H. Gary Elbert Henry Gary (October 8, 1846August 15, 1927) was an American lawyer, county judge and business executive. He was a founder of U.S. Steel in 1901, bringing together partners J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Charles M. Schwab. The city ...

and other investors, as part of the foundation of

. In October, 1984 a Merrill Lynch analyst infamously predicted that U.S. Steel would close Thomson within a few years. The plant survived the collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s, which shuttered famous plants, like the

Homestead Steel Works Homestead Steel Works was a large steel works located on the Monongahela River at Homestead, Pennsylvania in the United States. The company developed in the nineteenth century as an extensive plant served by tributary coal and iron fields, a ra ...

in Homestead, or the

National Tube Works National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

in Mckeesport, and became the last integrated mill in the valley, an area which once contained 90,000 people employed in the basic steel industry.

Current operations

Currently, two blast furnaces (Furnaces No. 1 and No. 3) continue in operation at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works, which remains part of U.S. Steel. In 2005, the mill produced 2.8 million tons of steel, equal to 28% of U.S. Steel's domestic production. The mill employs about 900 persons, some of whom belong to the second or third generations of their families to work in the mill. Among improvements to its physical plant is a $250 million continuous caster, which converts liquid steel directly into slabs, installed in 1992. In April 1995, the mill was designated a historic landmark by

ASM International ASM International is a Dutch headquartered multinational corporation that specializes in design, manufacturing, sales and service of semiconductor wafer processing equipment for the fabrication of semiconductor devices. ASM's products are use ...

, a society that honors works of structural engineering. Other structures that have been honored by the society include the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

and the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

. On May 2nd 2019, US Steel announced it will invest more than $1 billion to the Mon Valley Works. The upgrades will include a sustainable endless casting and rolling facility at the Thomson Plant, and a co-generation facility at the Clairton Plant. The Mon Valley Works would have been the first facility in the United States to incorporate technology combining thin slab casting and hot rolled band production into one continuous process. The upgrade was cancelled in 2021.

Images

File:EdgarThomsonSteelWorks75DPI.jpg, A

Bessemer converter The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation w ...

blowing a heat of steel File:Temperature Exchanges at Edgar Thompson Plant of US Steel.jpg, Temperature Exchanges at Edgar Thompson Plant of US Steel located in Braddock, Pennsylvania. File:EdgarThomsonSteelWorks.JPG, Inside of the plant, circa 1915 File:EdgarThomsonWorks10.JPG, Works on October 26, 2007

References

External links

*
Historic pictures and schematics of the area's rail serviceU.S. Steel Website — Facilities
{{coord, 40.392, N, 79.854, W, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Ironworks and steel mills in Pennsylvania History of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmarks Industrial buildings and structures in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings completed in 1872 U.S. Steel Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Labor History 1872 establishments in Pennsylvania