Historic Resource Study - Cambria Iron Company
Brown SA and National Park Service. 1989. Historic Resource Study - Cambria Iron Company. Historic Resource Study. Pennsylvania
The Cambria Iron Company made an important contribution to American industrialism. Founded in 1852, the company was regarded as one of !he greatest of the early modem iron and steel works. Forerunner of Bethlehem Steel Company, United States Steel Corporation, and other late nineteenth and early twentieth century steel companies, the Cambria plant became a model of the industry. In the 185os, 1860s, and 1870s, Johnstown attracted the best and brightest minds in the industry -William Kelly, George and John Fritz, Daniel J. Morrell, Ruben W. Hunt, William R. Jones, and Alexander Holley. Together and individually, these men advanced iron and steel technology through invention and industrial design in Johnstown, work which was widely copied by other iron and steel companies. This enormous contribution signalled the end of America's reliance on British-produced rails and allowed the expansion of the nation's railroad network. Several buildings remain in the "Lower Works" from this significant time period. Dated and surveyed by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), these include: the ca. 1864 blacksmith shop, ca. 1884 blacksmith shop area, ca. 1870 pattern shop, ca. 1865 foundry, ca. 1880 foundry addition, ca. 1874 office building, ca. 1881 car shop, and portions of the 1870 rolling mill. Second generation buildings ca. 1890s associated with lhe original four blast furnaces remain, as do remnants of the 1878-1880 blast furnaces #5 and #6. and the second generation machine shop, ca. 1906. Emphasis in research for this resource study was placed on the Cambria Iron Company's early years of influence and contributions to the technological progress made in the iron and steelmaking processes. The iron and steel masters associated with Cambria are nationally significant, and during the mid-1870s Cambria was the largest rail producer in America. After Andrew Carnegie's entrance into the steelmaking business Cambria's influence diminshed even though its growlh did not. It remained a significant independent steel plant. This resource study traces Cambria's takeover by other steel corporations, and its social, economic, and labor impacts on the city of Johnstown. Mention is made of Franklin, Gautier, Rosedale, and other Cambria installations, and lengthy descriptions of the Cambria plant in later years' appear in the appendixes, included for reference purposes.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Brown, Sharon; National Park Service
- Date of Issue
- 1989-09
- Units
- HIST
- Keywords
- Cambria Iron Company 1852-1880, Cultural Resources, ehistory, History, Impact of the Cambria Iron Company, Iron and Steel Industry, Ironworks, smelting, Technological Contributions of the Cambria Iron Company, The Cambria Iron and Steel Company 1880-Present