In 1995, it was one of the three largest producers of plate steel and the largest domestic manufacturer of alloy-plate. It is ranked fourth out of 24 public steel corporations in profitability, earning 14.8% equity five years in a row. The company produces carbon, alloy, and clad steel plates along with stainless steel sheets, strips, plates, hot bands, and slabs.
After receiving a loan in 1810, Pennock went into a partnership with Jesse Kersey to form Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory. Kersey's father-in-law was Moses Coates, a member of the founding family of Coatesville.[2] After seven years as partners, Pennock bought Kersey's share of the business and then leased it to his son-in-law, Dr. Charles Lloyd Lukens. The following year the mill became the first in the United States to produce boilerplates and soon joined the shipbuilding industry. In 1818, Lukens produced the iron for the first iron-hull vessel in the United States.
Dr. Charles Lloyd Lukens died in 1825, leaving the steel mill to his wife Rebecca Lukens. This inheritance made Rebecca Lukens the first woman in the United States to be a part of the iron industry. She was also the first female chief executive officer of an industrial company. She became a huge icon for the steel mill when she saved it from bankruptcy by making the company the nation's chief producer of boilerplates. They were sent to England to be used in some of the first railway locomotives.[3][4]
When Rebecca retired in 1847 she became a silent partner with Abraham Gibbons, who was one of her sons-in-law, and was the sole manager of the mill. The company was known as A. Gibbons and Company. The following year Gibbons took on his brother-in-law, Dr. Charles Huston as a partner. Dr. Huston was also one of Rebecca's sons-in-law.[5] In 1849 the men renamed the mill Gibbons and Huston. Gibbons had married Rebecca's oldest daughter Martha,[5] while Dr. Charles Huston married the youngest Isabella.[6] Not long after, Gibbons left the family business to become a co-founder of The Bank of Chester Valley.[5] After Gibbons left, Isabella took the role as senior partner through her mother's estate. She also bought her sister Martha's share. Huston went on to build a new steam-powered mill in 1870. During 1881 the company started to produce steel and iron and changed the name from Gibbons and Huston to Charles Huston and Sons. After Rebecca died Isabella and Charles changed the name to Lukens Rolling Mill.[7] With all the changes another mill had to be built in 1890 making the company the largest mill in the United States. Within the same year the mill changed from a family partnership to a corporation, converting the name to Lukens Iron and Steel.[8][9]
Several years later in 1897 Dr. Huston died leaving the company to his sons, Abram Francis Huston who became president of the company and Charles Lukens Huston who became works manager. By 1882 Charles Lukens Huston made it a part of his daily routine to go around the mill and meet all the employees and was proud to be able to greet them by name. He also performed sermons to the men and women that worked and wanted to listen.[10] Sales offices began to open all over, including Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, New Orleans and New York City. Not long after the opening the mill became the largest producer of open-hearth steel and steel plates on the Eastern side of the United States.
In 1903 Lukens had a new addition put on a steam-driven mill and that produced 136 inch wide steel plates. These were the largest plates being created in the United States. During 1917 the company adjusted the name again to Lukens Steel Company. Continuing through the year Lukens started to produce 204 inch steel plates making it the creator of the World's largest plate. Two years later the plates increased another two inches to 206, staying at the World's largest plate mill for over 40 years.
In 1925 Abram Huston's son-in-law, Robert Wolcott, took his place as president of the mill. During World War I the company lost money but returned into good fortune in 1929 with a net income of $876,563 on sales nearing $20.4 million. Wolcott pushed the company through the tough times of The Great Depression. Production rates fell from 446,774 tons to 165,731 tons. Wolcott made a lot of cost reductions, intensive sales, and additional services such as partial fabrications before shipment in attempt to save the company. In 1930 the clad plate, which includes permanent bonding of two or more different metals that protects against rust, corrosion and abrasion, was brought to the production line. This gave Lukens the biggest inclusive line of clad steel in the business.
1937 led to an agreement with the Steel Workers Organization Committee. They accommodated the union members for a compromised agreement pertaining to wages, hours and benefits. By 1940 the company's debt was reduced and it was ready to prepare for the incoming demands of World War II. The U.S. Navy built a finishing mill that Lukens leased and operated to meet the demands. They named a Liberty ship after Rebecca Lukens. When 1944 rolled around the employment reached a record high of 6,166. As the war came to a close the profits hit a new record of $2.8 million, net sales hit $61.5 million and production of steel was at 578,461 tons. In 1949 Wolcott was succeeded by Charles Lukens Huston Jr. making him the 5th generation to own the company.
The greatest production of steel was in 1953 when the mill produced 763,461 tons. Net sales reached $130.5 million and income at $10.2 million in 1957. A year later a new steel producing facility was built surrounding a 100-ton electric furnace. The Coatesville mill now covered 725 acres (293ha) and 3,250,000 square feet (302,000m2) of building space.
Lukens supplied the steel beams used in construction of the World Trade Center in New York.[12]
1970 brought completed construction of a $12.8 million strand casting facility that produced steel slabs faster and reduced handling costs. By 1974 production of raw steel reach 958,000 tons and net sales reached $283.4 million. Huston Jr. retired that year ending the family dynasty since 1810. The following year the mill equipped four enormous electric furnaces that phased out the open-hearth furnaces. Economic problems hit the company hard in the late 70's. High energy costs, interest rates, and employment costs as well as competition from other metals and cheap imported material put a decrease on net income from 4.2% to 1.3% and plates sales dropped from 11% to 8%.
W.R. Wilson became president and chief executive officer in 1980. In 1981, Lukens acquired General Steel Industries Inc., a producer of steel, crushing and conveying machinery, reflective highway signs, and protective coats for oil and gas pipelines, for $66 million.[13] The company also bought 3.6 miles of railroad from Conrail called Brandywine Valley Railroad Co. The next year, Lukens would make two small purchases each year and one large every three years with non-steel productions. That same year steel was removed from the name to become Lukens Inc. From January through September 1982 in order to decrease costs the company reduced its work force by 22% and cut employee's pay 10%.
Over the following year the mill lost $14 million putting it back into the red zone for the first time since 1938. Profit came back when Wilson cut costs by $50 million over four years. In order to do so he had to let go of half of the white-collar salaried staff. He was also able to straighten out a thirteen-year lawsuit by agreeing to pay 1,300 black workforce members $2.5 million in reimbursement and arranged to put a target to fill 18% of its hours and salary positions with black workers.
1988 earned a profit of $33.4 million on sales of $605.3 million and Lukens sold Canadian Lukens. The company won the largest single order in history. It consisted of a $74 million contract to supply carbon and military alloy plates over five years to be used in construction of two Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carriers, at the time the largest warships in the world. By the next year the company hit a record profit of $41.5 million on sales of $644.9 million. Military orders turned the company around once again. The mill supplied alloy plate steel for projects like the Army's Abrams tank and the Navy's Aegis class cruisers, ballistic missiles and submarines.
Around October 1991 a walkout over financial and healthcare issues caused 1,200 plus workers at Lukens to unite at the Coatesville mill. The workers wanted to eliminate contracting out. Nonunion workers were hired to perform duties not directly tied to making steel along with salaried employees kept the mill running. About 85% of the normal production was kept going during the 105-day walkout that ended with the strikers not getting what they wanted.
In 1992, Lukens purchased Washington Steel Corporation for $273.7 million. Washington gave Lukens enough volume to rationalize building a new rolling mill in Conshohocken, Pa adaptable to stainless and carbon products. This system was called Steckel Mill Advanced Rolling Technology (SMART). The SMART technology was able to produce stainless coil plates up to 102inches when the former limit was 60inches.
New chairmen and CEO R.W Van Sant sold Flex-O-Light producer of highway safety products, Ludlow-Saylor division, South Central Florida Express, Inc. in 1994 and Energy Coating Co to Dresser Industries Inc in 1995, which brought Lukens $70 million. Producing raw steel from an electric-arc furnace at the Coatesville plant produced 70% of their slabs. The Washington Stainless Group including the Washington Steel Corp's melting, continuous casting and hot-rolling facilities in Houston, Pa and the rolling and finishing facilities were in Washington, Pa.
Bethlehem Steel eventually bought Lukens in 1997 for $400 million in cash and stock.[14]
21st century
In 2003, International Steel Group Inc (ISG) bought Bethlehem for $1.5 billion.[15] The following year ISG was bought out by Mittal Steel for $4.5 billion.[16] In 2006 Mittal Steel and Arcelor merged to make a steel company three times the size of any other steel company for $33.6 billion.[17]
In early 2015, during the restoration of a home that once belonged to Rebecca Lukens, a trove of business correspondence from 1834 was found inside the walls. Historians have begun studying the letters and fragments to learn more about the company and the state of the commerce that was happening at the time.[18]
Coatesville is a city in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,350 at the 2020 census. Coatesville is approximately 39 miles west of Philadelphia. It developed along the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike beginning in the late 18th century. It spans U.S. Route 30, the "Main Line" highway that runs west of Philadelphia.
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.
Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 by a merger of the former companies Aceralia (Spain), Usinor (France) and Arbed (Luxembourg).
ArcelorMittal Dofasco is a steel company based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Dofasco is a standalone subsidiary of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest integrated steel producer.
Weirton Steel Corporation was a steel production company founded by Ernest T. Weir in West Virginia in 1909. It was at one time one of the world's largest producers of tin plate products.
Point Lisas is a major industrial centre in Trinidad and Tobago and is host to the Point Lisas Industrial Estate and the Port of Point Lisas, both of which are managed by Plipdeco. Point Lisas is located in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago and on the Gulf of Paria coastline.
International Steel Group(ISG) was an American steel company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, which was established by the New York investment firm WL Ross & Co LLC to acquire the assets of bankrupt steel companies and combine them together in a new company.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is Ukraine's largest integrated steel company, founded in 1934 and located in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine.
The Brandywine Valley Railroad is a class III railroad operating in Pennsylvania.
The Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange, better known by its acronym ARBED, was a major Luxembourg-based steel- and iron-producing company. Created in 1911 after the merger of three steel-producing companies, ARBED had a significant role in the economy of the Grand Duchy until it merged in 2002 with two other European steel companies to create Arcelor.
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second largest steel producer in the world, with an annual crude steel production of 88 million metric tonnes as of 2022. It is ranked 197th in the 2022 Fortune Global 500 ranking of the world's largest corporations. It directly and indirectly employs around 200,000 people and its market capital is $25 billion. The total value of company assets is estimated to be around $100 billion.
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., formerly Cliffs Natural Resources, is a Cleveland, Ohio-based company that specializes in the mining, beneficiation, and pelletizing of iron ore, as well as steelmaking, including stamping and tooling. It is the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America.
The Lukens Historic District encompasses four properties in Coatesville, Pennsylvania associated with the 19th and early 20th-century history of the Lukens Steel Company and the family of Rebecca Lukens (1794–1854). Lukens was the first woman to head a major industrial firm in the United States, and played a leading role in the development of the American steel industry. The district was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1994.
Hunan Valin Steel Co., Ltd. is a Chinese state-owned company based in Changsha. Founded in 1997, it is primarily engaged in the smelting, manufacture and sale of iron and steel products, as well as nonferrous metal products. As of 8 November 2016, the company was a constituent of SZSE 1000 Index but not in SZSE Component Index. With a market capitalization of $2.3 billion in May 2015, the company was ranked #1,858 on Forbes Global 2000 list.
Primitive Hall is a brick house built in 1738 in rural Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States, by Joseph Pennock. The house was occupied by his descendants until 1960, when it was donated to and restored by a foundation controlled by his descendants. The house was listed by the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Rebecca Lukens (1794–1854), born Rebecca Webb Pennock, was an American businesswoman. She was the owner and manager of the iron and steel mill which became the Lukens Steel Company of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Fortune Magazine called her "America's first female CEO of an industrial company" and its board of editors named her to the National Business Hall of Fame in 1994.
Dr. Charles Lukens, Charles Lloyd Lukens M.D., was the son of David and Sarah (Lloyd) Lukens of Gwynedd in Montgomery County. Charles met Rebecca Pennock, later known as Rebecca Lukens through her father Isaac Pennock. He was married in 1813. Charles and Rebecca had six children. All but two died; Isabella and Martha Pennock Lukens. Two of the buildings still stand today and are known as the "Terracina " and the "VFW". Charles Lukens died in 1825, short after, his wife took over and added onto the steel mill. Rebecca later died and had her children's husbands take over. In 1890, the last of the family partnerships was dissolved, and the business organized as a stock company under the name "Lukens Iron & Steel Co". Now Operating as ArcelorMittal The new title reflecting the fact that steel was steadily replacing iron for many industrial uses.
The Galați steel works, formally Liberty Galați, is a steel mill in Galați, Romania, the country's largest.
The Wilmington and Northern Branch is a partially-abandoned railway line in the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania. It was constructed between 1869 and 1870 by the Wilmington and Reading Railroad, a predecessor of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad. At its fullest extent it connected Reading, Pennsylvania, with Wilmington, Delaware. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway leased the line in 1900. With the Reading Company's bankruptcy and the creation of Conrail in 1976 the line's ownership fragmented, and the section between Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, has been abandoned.
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