Atlas Portland Cement Company

Last updated
The Empire State Building (center) in Midtown Manhattan was built with 151,000 barrels of Atlas Portland cement in the early 20th century Midtown Manhattan from Jersey City September 2020 HDR.jpg
The Empire State Building (center) in Midtown Manhattan was built with 151,000 barrels of Atlas Portland cement in the early 20th century

The Atlas Portland Cement Company, based in Northampton, Pennsylvania, was one of the largest cement companies of the world. Founded in Northampton in 1895, Atlas operated there until 1982 when it was bought out. It manufactured Portland cement, the most common type of cement in the world.

Contents

In the early 20th century, Atlas Portland Cement Company produced eight million barrels for the construction of the Panama Canal (1903-1914); its product was the majority of cement used on that project. [1] For the construction of the Singer Building in New York City, 22,600 barrels of cement were used. Some 151,000 barrels of Atlas cement were used in constructing the Empire State Building, [1] 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 region of eastern Pennsylvania. 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. [1]

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. [2] [3] 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. [4] [5] Affleck retired from the position just six years later, in 1936. [6] [7]

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 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. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Franklin</span> Founding Father of the United States (1706–1790)

Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the first Postmaster General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cement</span> Hydraulic binder used in the composition of mortar and concrete

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 mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portland cement</span> Binder used as basic ingredient of concrete

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 century by Joseph Aspdin, and is usually made from limestone. It is a fine powder, produced by heating limestone and clay minerals in a kiln to form clinker, grinding the clinker, and adding 2 to 3 percent of gypsum. Several types of Portland cement are available. The most common, called ordinary Portland cement (OPC), is grey, but white Portland cement is also available. Its name is derived from its resemblance to Portland stone which was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. It was named by Joseph Aspdin who obtained a patent for it in 1824. His son William Aspdin is regarded as the inventor of "modern" Portland cement due to his developments in the 1840s.

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

Northampton County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 312,951. Its county seat is Easton. The county was formed in 1752 from parts of Bucks County. Its namesake was the county of Northamptonshire in England, and the county seat of Easton was named for the country house Easton Neston in Northamptonshire.

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

Northampton is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 10,395 as of the 2020 census. Northampton is located 7.8 miles (12.6 km) north of Allentown, 66.7 miles (107.3 km) northwest of Philadelphia, and 93.8 miles (151.0 km) west of New York City.

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

Stockertown is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The borough's population was 927 as of the 2010 census. It is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cadwalader (general)</span>

John Cadwalader was a commander of Pennsylvania troops during the American Revolutionary War and served under George Washington. He was with Washington at Valley Forge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district</span> U.S. House district for Massachusetts

Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district is located in central Massachusetts. It contains the cities of Worcester, which is the second-largest city in New England after Boston, and Northampton in the Pioneer Valley. It is represented by Democrat Jim McGovern.

Centerville is an unincorporated community in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. Centerville is now known primarily for being the location of Du Pont family estates, as well as several other wealthy business families from nearby Wilmington, and the home of Governor Jack Markell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franklin Simmons</span> American sculptor

Franklin Bachelder Simmons was a prominent American sculptor of the nineteenth century. Three of his statues are in the National Statuary Hall Collection, three of his busts are in the United States Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection, and his statue of Ulysses S. Grant is in the United States Capitol Rotunda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge</span> 18th and 19th-century American military officer and politician

Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge was an American physician, lawyer, farmer, and military officer who served as a colonel in the Massachusetts militia during the American Revolutionary War. Woodbridge was a commander at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and also owned a rum still, a wood lot, a grazing meadow, and a mill, and came to be the wealthiest man in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Colonel Woodbridge was also a member of the Massachusetts legislature for many years.

Rosendale cement is a natural hydraulic cement that was produced in and around Rosendale, New York, beginning in 1825. From 1818 to 1970 natural cements were produced in over 70 locations in the United States and Canada. More than half of the 35 million tons of natural cement produced in the United States originated with cement rock mined in Ulster County, New York, in and around the Town of Rosendale in the Hudson River Valley. The Rosendale region of southeastern New York State is widely recognized as the source of the highest quality natural cement in North America. The Rosendale region was also coveted by geologists, such as W. W. Mather, a geologist working for the State of New York, for its unusual exposed bedrock.` Because of its reputation, Rosendale cement was used as both a trade name and as a generic term referring to any natural hydraulic cement in the US. It was used in the construction of many of the United States' most important landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, Federal Hall National Memorial, and the west wing of the United States Capitol building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5-inch/25-caliber gun</span> Anti-aircraft gun

The 5"/25 caliber gun entered service as the standard heavy anti-aircraft (AA) gun for United States Washington Naval Treaty cruisers commissioned in the 1920s and 1930s. The goal of the 5"/25 design was to produce a heavy AA gun that was light enough to be rapidly trained manually. The gun was also mounted on pre-World War II battleships and aircraft carriers until replaced by the standard widespread dual-purpose 5"/38 caliber gun, which was derived from the 5"/25. Guns removed from battleships were probably converted for submarine use by late 1943, while a purpose-built variant for submarines was available in mid-1944, and was widely used by them. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 5 inches (127 mm) in diameter, and the barrel was 25 calibers long. It is referred to sometimes as a dual purpose gun and sometimes as an anti-aircraft gun, because of its comparative weakness against surface targets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt, Pennsylvania</span> Census-designated place in Pennsylvania, United States

Egypt is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of Egypt was 2,588 as of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cement City Historic District</span> Historic district in Pennsylvania, United States

Cement City Historic District is a historic district in Donora, Pennsylvania. The district includes 80 Prairie School concrete residences built in 1916–17. The homes served as housing for employees of the American Steel and Wire Company. Poured-in-place concrete houses had become popular in large-scale housing developments at the time, partly thanks to promotion by Thomas Edison; the homes built in Donora used a newly patented construction method from the Lambie Concrete House Corporation. Building the houses required a combined 10,000 barrels of Portland cement.

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

Paduasoy or padesoy is a luxurious strong corded or grosgrain silk textile that originated in Early Modern Europe. The term paduasoy first appeared in English in 1663.

The American Museum was a monthly American literary magazine published by Mathew Carey in the late-18th century. The American Museum "shares with the Columbian Magazine the honor of being the first successful American magazine."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coplay Cement Company Kilns</span> United States historic place

Coplay Cement Company Kilns, also known as the Saylor Park Industrial Museum, is an open-air historic site located at Coplay, Pennsylvania in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The nine kilns were built between 1892 and 1893 and used for the production of Portland cement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trojan Powder Company</span> American explosives manufacturer

The Trojan Powder Company was an American manufacturer of explosives founded in 1904 that made nitro-starch powder. It had a manufacturing complex in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and another facility at Roberts Landing near San Lorenzo, California. The company thrived during World War I (1914–18), continued research and development in the interwar-period, and during World War II operated a large facility in Sandusky, Ohio, under contract to the army. After the war, production scaled back. A facility in Oregon was sold for use by the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. In 1967 Trojan Powders became a division of Commercial Solvents Corporation (CSC). It was later acquired by the Ensign-Bickford Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nor-Bath Trail</span>

The Nor-Bath Trail is a 5.9-mile (9.5 km) multi-use rail-trail that runs between the boroughs of Northampton and Bath in Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Duck, Michael (20 May 2006). "Cement museum nurtures nostalgia in Pennsylvania". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  2. "Benjamin Franklin Affleck", The Christian Science Monitor, p. 13, February 15, 1944, retrieved March 27, 2008
  3. Hadley (1945), The Magic Powder, p. 261
  4. Audrey, Theodore (April 27, 1913), "He Made Himself a 'Profit Bringer': How B. F. Affleck Rose from a Machinist to Sales Manager", Chicago Tribune, p. E3, retrieved March 27, 2008
  5. Lesley, Robert Whitman; Lober, John Baptiste; Bartlett, George S. (1924), History of the Portland Cement Industry in the United States, International Trade Press, Inc., pp. 228–9
  6. "Benjamin Franklin Affleck", The Christian Science Monitor, p. 13, February 15, 1944, retrieved March 27, 2008
  7. Hadley (1945), The Magic Powder, p. 261
  8. "Indict 40 Officers and 74 Companies in Cement 'Trust'", The New York Times, p. 1, March 2, 1921, retrieved March 27, 2008