Join us here at the Lukens Executive Office Building as we watch a nationally broadcast monthly talk presented by the Iron and Steel Heritage Forum.
Dr. Kevin Righter: Philadelphia's Pencoyd Iron Works: Forging Along the Schuylkill River.
Two cousins Percival and Algernon Roberts – 5th generation Americans of Welsh descent – started Pencoyd Iron Works in 1852. This industry was a stark departure from the family farming enterprise (dating back to 1680s).
This company produced 12 railroad car axles in its first year 1852, and increased to 10,000 by 1880. Pencoyd developed an assembly line of steel making, hammering, forging, rolling, straightening, drilling, riveting, and pressing along a half mile stretch of the Schuylkill River. The steelmakers at Pencoyd perfected the process of open hearth steelmaking, and developed rolling mills that produced specialized shapes for structural steel.
Pencoyd bridge engineers and workers designed and built hundreds of bridges many of which are still in use. Pencoyd made steel for the first elevated railways in New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Chicago; the longest roof span in 1891 (Jersey City trainshed); and the tallest building in New York City in 1895 (Manhattan Life Insurance Building). Pencoyd built international bridge projects including the famous Atbara Bridge in 1898 in Sudan, and many others in Japan, Mexico, Uganda, and Taiwan.
In 1900 Pencoyd, along with 25 other companies, merged to form American Bridge company. In 1902 American Bridge was bought by US Steel, and Pencoyd plant continued operations until 1943.
