John Roach & Sons

Last updated
John Roach & Sons
TypePrivate
IndustryShipbuilding
Founded1 Jan 1864
Founder John Roach
Defunct1885
Headquarters
Chester, Pennsylvania
,
United States
ProductsIron and steel ships, marine steam engines, iron and steel products
ServicesShip repairs
OwnerRoach family
Number of employees
4,000+
Subsidiaries Etna Ironworks
Morgan Iron Works
Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works
Chester Rolling Mill
Hirsch Propeller Company
Chalmers-Spence Company
Chester Pipe and Tube Company
Combination Steel and Iron Company
Standard Steel Casting Company
United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company

John Roach & Sons was a major 19th-century American shipbuilding and manufacturing firm founded in 1864 by Irish-American immigrant John Roach. Between 1871 and 1885, the company was the largest shipbuilding firm in the United States, building more iron ships than its next two major competitors combined. It was also by far the largest contractor to the U.S. Navy during this period, and at its peak is said to have been the nation's largest employer behind the railroads.

Contents

Overview

The company, originally named John Roach & Son, was established in 1864 as the operating and marketing firm for Roach's Etna Iron Works in New York, and gave Roach's eldest son, William Henry Roach, a stake in the business. Roach's other sons later joined the partnership. [1]

As Roach's business empire expanded, a number of new companies were added as subsidiaries, the most important of which were the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works in Chester, Pennsylvania, which was the main shipbuilding facility, and the Morgan Iron Works in New York. A network of other companies supported these two manufacturing plants, [2] making John Roach & Sons one of the first companies in the United States to adopt the vertical integration model. [3]

Subsidiaries

Subsidiaries of John Roach & Sons included:

Other companies owned and controlled by the Roach family which may or may not have been formally incorporated as subsidiaries of John Roach & Sons include:

History

At its peak, John Roach & Sons is said to have had a larger payroll than any other company in the United States with the exception of the railroads, employing in excess of a total of 3,000 men at the Delaware River Shipbuilding Works and Morgan Iron Works alone.

The innovative Columbia, constructed by John Roach & Sons in 1880, was the first ship to use incandescent light bulbs. SS Columbia Undated Photograph.png
The innovative Columbia, constructed by John Roach & Sons in 1880, was the first ship to use incandescent light bulbs.

John Roach & Sons remained the nation's largest shipbuilder from the establishment of the Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding and Engine Works in 1871 until 1885, building more tonnage of iron ships in these years than its next two major competitors combined. In 1880, the innovative coastal passenger steamship Columbia was constructed at John Roach & Sons. Destined for the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, Columbia was the first ship to utilize a dynamo and was the first structure other than Thomas Edison's Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory to use incandescent light bulbs. [10] [11] [12] The company was forced into receivership in 1885 after the voiding of several U.S. Navy contracts by a hostile Cleveland administration, which suspected Roach of corruptly receiving government contracts under previous Republican administrations. The ships involved were the US Navy's first four steel-hulled warships, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and Dolphin. The award of all four ships to the same builder was a factor in the corruption charges. [13] Roach Sr. died in 1887, while the company was still in receivership. [14]

After the windup of John Roach & Sons and sale of assets to pay creditors, Roach's heirs found themselves still in possession of the Delaware River Works and the Morgan Iron Works, and they continued to build ships at the Delaware Works under the management of Roach's eldest surviving son John Baker Roach until the latter's death in 1908. [15] [16] In all, John Roach and his heirs built a total of 179 ships between 1871 and 1908. After the retirement of the Roach family from the business, railroad heir W. Averell Harriman acquired the Chester shipyard, renamed it the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation, and used it to build merchant ships during World War I. [17]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Swann, p. 23.
  2. ↑ Swann, Chapter III.
  3. ↑ Swann, pp 73-74.
  4. ↑ Swann, pp. 13-14, 26.
  5. ↑ Swann, pp. 24-25, 54-55.
  6. ↑ Swann, pp. 51, 55-56.
  7. ↑ Swann, p. 59.
  8. 1 2 3 Swann, p. 60.
  9. 1 2 Swann, p. 151.
  10. ↑ Jehl, Francis Menlo Park reminiscences : written in Edison's restored Menlo Park laboratory, Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Whitefish, Mass, Kessinger Publishing, 1 July 2002, page 564
  11. ↑ Dalton, Anthony A long, dangerous coastline : shipwreck tales from Alaska to California Heritage House Publishing Company, 1 Feb 2011 - 128 pages
  12. ↑ Swann, p. 242.
  13. ↑ Friedman, pp. 18-19
  14. ↑ Swann, pp. 225-227.
  15. ↑ Swann, p. 236.
  16. ↑ Heinrich, p. 160.
  17. ↑ Heinrich, p. 178.

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References

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