James Laughlin (March 1, 1806 – December 18, 1882) was an Irish-American banker and capitalist, a pioneer of the iron and steel industry in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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 ...
.
He was born near
Portaferry in
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
, Ireland, the son of James Laughlin, Sr. He was educated at Belfast, and after leaving school he assisted his father in taking care of his estate until age twenty, when his mother died and the family came to America. Upon his arrival he entered into partnership with his brother Alexander.
Involvement in Pittsburgh
In 1854, Laughlin bought the retiring
Bernard Lauth
Bernard Lauth (August 23, 1820 in Alsace, France – June 25, 1894) he founded the American Iron Works in 1850, and formed a partnership with B.F. Jones in 1851. In 1854, Lauth retired from the steel firm, selling his partnership to James H. Lau ...
's interest in the steel partnership with
Benjamin Franklin Jones.
The company was renamed Jones and Laughlin in 1861, later reorganized as
J&L Steel
The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and Benjamin Franklin Jones, a few miles (c 4 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in ...
.
In 1844, Laughlin was appointed as a
corporator to the board responsible for establishing the
Allegheny Cemetery.
In 1852, Laughlin and his associates, including B.F. Jones, founded a banking organization that, when chartered, was the
First National Bank of Pittsburgh,
later
Pittsburgh National Bank
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 U.S. state, states and the D ...
.
Laughlin was the first president of the
Western Theological Seminary in
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 ...
.
He was a founder of the Pennsylvania Female College,
which later became
Chatham University
Chatham University is a private university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally founded as a women's college, it began enrolling men in undergraduate programs in 2015. It enrolls about 2,110 students, including 1,002 undergraduate students an ...
. Laughlin died on December 18, 1882.
References
External links
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Historical Records 1871-1953, AIS.1973.07, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh.
Records of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, MSS#33 Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
1806 births
1882 deaths
People from County Down
American steel industry businesspeople
Businesspeople from Pittsburgh
Burials at Allegheny Cemetery
American bankers
19th-century American businesspeople
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