Guerber Engineering

Last updated

Guerber Engineering Co.
IndustryCivil engineering
Founded1901
FounderPaul A. E. Guerber
Defunct1981;43 years ago (1981)
FateAbsorbed by Lewis Industries, Inc.
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
Lehigh Valley
Key people
William B. M. Hutchinson
Morris J. Dimmick
Products Structural engineering
Steel

The Guerber Engineering Co. was a civil engineering firm that served most of the Lehigh Valley during the first half of the 20th century, erecting many of the steel elements of most notable buildings in the valley during this time period.

Contents

History

The company was established in 1901 by Paul A. E. Guerber, a mechanical engineer and graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology operating originally out of Allentown, Pennsylvania before moving to West Bethlehem. In 1913, William B. M. Hutchinson was named president and chairman of Guerber Engineering. [1] Hutchinson would transform the company into Bethlehem Fabricators, Inc. in the early 1930s, no longer offering structural engineering services nor structural steel elements, instead focusing on the production of gas‐fired heaters and other metal products. [2] [3] The company, both under Guerber and Hutchinson's tenure had a close connection with Lehigh University, with Hutchinson being an alumnus. As such many recent Lehigh graduates in the early 20th century were employed upon graduation by the firm. [4] [5] [6] Morris J. Dimmick served as the company's vice president from the 1930s to his retirement in 1960. [7]

Bethlehem Fabricators would be purchased and merged into Lewis Industries, Inc. in 1981. Lewis Industries is a local industrial conglomerate that at the time began to move into the steel fabrication industry. However, by 1984, the former Bethlehem Fabricators plant would be shuttered as part of the wider Rust Belt with 335 people losing their jobs. [8] [9]

Notable projects

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allentown, Pennsylvania</span> Home rule municipality in Pennsylvania, United States

Allentown is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, in the United States. It is the third-most-populous city in Pennsylvania with a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census and the largest city in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the nation as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easton, Pennsylvania</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) river that joins the Delaware River in Easton and serves as the city's eastern geographic boundary with Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethlehem, Pennsylvania</span> City in Pennsylvania, United States

Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781, making it the second-largest city in the Lehigh Valley after Allentown and the seventh-largest city in the state. Among its total population as of 2020, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,343 were in Lehigh County. The city is located along the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethlehem Steel</span> American steel company, 1857–2009

The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success and productivity, the company was a symbol of American manufacturing leadership in the world, and its decline and ultimate liquidation in the late 20th century is similarly cited as an example of America's diminished manufacturing leadership. From its founding in 1857 through its 2003 dissolution, Bethlehem Steel's headquarters and primary steel mill manufacturing facilities were based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of Pennsylvania-related articles</span>

The following is an alphabetical list of articles on people, places, and things related to Pennsylvania in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Valley</span> Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States

The Lehigh Valley, known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic and metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh and Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bounded to its north by Blue Mountain, to its south by South Mountain, to its west by Lebanon Valley, and to its east by the Delaware River and Warren County, New Jersey. The Valley is about 40 miles (64 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide. The Lehigh Valley's largest city is Allentown, the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and the county seat of Lehigh County, with a population of 125,845 residents as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asa Packer</span> American politician

Asa Packer was an American businessman who pioneered railroad construction, was active in Pennsylvania politics, and founded Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He was a conservative and religious man who reflected the image of the typical Connecticut Yankee. He served two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1857.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canvass White</span> American engineer and inventor

Canvass White was an American engineer and inventor. He was chief engineer at the Delaware and Raritan Canal and he patented Rosendale cement, which became the dominant cement in the United States until 1900.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eugene Grace</span>

Eugene Gifford Grace was the president of Bethlehem Steel from 1916 to 1945, and chairman of the board from 1945 until his retirement in 1957. He also served as president of the American Iron and Steel Institute, and sat on the board of trustees for Lehigh University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Route 1002 (Lehigh County, Pennsylvania)</span> Highway in Pennsylvania

State Route 1002(SR 1002), locally known as Tilghman Street and Union Boulevard, is a major 13.8 mi (22.2 km) long east–west road in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The majority of the roadway is the former alignment of U.S. Route 22, maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as a Quadrant Route, and is not signed except on small white segment markers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Canal</span> United States historic place

The Lehigh Canal is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern regions of Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of 20 years beginning in 1818. The lower section spanned the distance between Easton and present-day Jim Thorpe. In Easton, the canal met the Pennsylvania Canal's Delaware Division and Morris Canals, which allowed anthracite coal and other goods to be transported further up the U.S. East Coast. At its height, the Lehigh Canal was 72 miles (116 km) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 78 in Pennsylvania</span> Highway in Pennsylvania, US

Interstate 78 (I-78) is a major east–west Interstate Highway stretching from Union Township, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, in the west to the Holland Tunnel and New York City in the east. In Pennsylvania, I-78 runs for about 78 miles (126 km) from the western terminus at I-81 in Union Township east to the New Jersey state line near Easton in Northampton County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hill to Hill Bridge</span> Bridge in Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Hill to Hill Bridge is a road crossing of the Lehigh River and linking the south and north sides of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Allentown, Pennsylvania</span>

Allentown, Pennsylvania is the home for the global and U.S. corporate headquarters of several companies, including Air Products, PPL Corporation, and others. The largest employer in the Lehigh Valley is Lehigh Valley Health Network with almost 8,000 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert H. Sayre</span>

Robert Heysham Sayre was vice president and chief engineer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He was also vice president and general manager of Bethlehem Iron Company, the corporate precursor to Bethlehem Steel. The borough of Sayre, Pennsylvania and the small city of Sayre, Oklahoma were named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allentown National Bank</span> United States historic place

The Allentown National Bank, originally named the Allentown Bank, is an historic bank building located on Centre Square in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Built in 1905, the building is a large eight-story, steel frame and masonry-clad structure in the Beaux-Arts style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allentown station (Central Railroad of New Jersey)</span> Defunct train station in Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown station is a defunct train station in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was constructed by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) and Reading Railroad in 1888 and 1889. For most of the late 19th and early 20th century, it provided passenger train service between Allentown and various U.S. Coast locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Structural Steel Company</span>

The Lehigh Structural Steel Company is a former steel manufacturing company located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company was sold in 1992 to Thomas & Betts, and its facilities were closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehigh Line (Norfolk Southern)</span> Railroad line in central New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania

The Lehigh Line is a railroad line in Central New Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is owned and operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway. The line runs west from the vicinity of the Port of New York and New Jersey in Manville, New Jersey via Conrail's Lehigh Line to the southern end of Wyoming Valley's Coal Region in Lehigh Township, Pennsylvania.

The Catasauqua Branch was a short railway line in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the state of Pennsylvania. It was part of the Lehigh and New England Railroad and ran from a point south of Bath to Catasauqua, where it interchanged with the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroad. The line opened in 1914 and was partially abandoned in 1961 on the Lehigh and New England Railroad's bankruptcy and closure. Conrail abandoned the remainder in the 1990s.

References

  1. "RP Hutchinson great grandfather to gray cabaniss William B Myers great great grandfather". The Morning Call . newspapers.com. January 28, 1915. p. 7.
  2. "William Hutchinson Dead; Led Bethlehem Fabricators". The New York Times . Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  3. Heller, William Jacob (1920). History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the Grand Valley of the Lehigh. Lehigh Valley: American Historical Association. pp. 566–567. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  4. SHANKWEILER, FRED L.; BOYLE, FRANK T. (1917). Men of Bethlehem. Bethlehem . Retrieved October 11, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. Lehigh University Alumni Directory. Bethlehem. 1915. Retrieved October 11, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. Alumni and Students of Lehigh University. Bethelhem. 1917. Retrieved October 11, 2023.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Samuels, Karen (June 12, 2011). "Morris J. Dimmick: A Man Ahead of His Time". Patch Media . Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  8. "BETHLEHEM FABRICATORS, INC". opencorporates.com. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  9. "FABRICATOR CLOSES PLANTS; ONE IN SALISBURY UNAFFECTED". The Morning Call . Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  10. ""Project 237" Documents". Lehigh University . Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  11. "Glendon Hill Road Canal Bridge". historicbridges.org. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  12. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.