View source for Jones and Laughlin Steel Company

{{Short description|American firm (1852–1968)}}
{{redirect-distinguish|J&L|JL (disambiguation){{!}}JL|J&L Grubb|J. & L. Lobmeyr}}
{{Infobox company
| name                = Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation
| image               = CENTER- EAST ELEVATION OF BESSEMER BUILDING; LEFT- CHARGING HOUSE, ELEVATED FROM HOT METAL BRIDGE, LOOKING SW. - Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh Works, Morgan HAER PA,2-PITBU,62A-11.tif
| image_size          = 275px
| image_upright       = <!-- default: 1 -->
| image_alt           = 
| image_caption       = Ruins of the J&L Steel Corp's Morgan Billet Mill Engine, 1993
| former_name         = American Iron Company
| type                = [[Privately held company|Private]]
| traded_as           = 
| industry            = [[Steel]] production
| founded             = {{Start date|1852}} in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| founders            = [[Bernard Lauth]]<br />[[Benjamin Franklin Jones (industrialist)|Benjamin Franklin Jones]]
| defunct             = {{End date|1968}}
| fate                = [[Mergers and acquisitions|Acquisition]]
| hq_location_country = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| key_people          = 
| services            = 
| revenue             = {{Decrease}}[[United States dollar|$]]903.6 million
| revenue_year        = 1968<ref name="fortune"/>
| profit              = {{Decrease}}$35.8 million
| profit_year         = 1968<ref name="fortune"/>
| assets              = {{Decrease}}$1,092.8 million
| assets_year         = 1968<ref name="fortune"/>
| equity              = {{increase}}$703.9 million
| equity_year         = 1968<ref name="fortune"/>
| parent              = [[Ling-Temco-Vought|LTV Steel]]
| num_employees       = {{Decrease}}39,531
| num_employees_year  = 1968
| footnotes           = Financials via the [[Fortune 500]]'s 1968 historical database. 1968 was J&L's final year before its acquisition.<ref name="fortune">{{cite web |title=FORTUNE 500: Jones & Laughlin Steel |url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/snapshots/1968/3213.html |website=[[CNN Money]] |publisher=[[Fortune 500]] |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref>
| embed               = 
}}

[[File:Jones & Laughlin Pittsburgh Works 1955.ogv|thumb|Stack array of the Jones and Laughlin Pittsburgh Works on the south side of the [[Monongahela River]], 1955.]]
The '''Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation''', also known as '''J&L Steel''' or simply as '''J&L''', was an American steel and iron manufacturer that operated from 1852 until 1968. The enterprise began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by [[Bernard Lauth]] and [[Benjamin Franklin Jones (industrialist)|Benjamin Franklin Jones]], about {{cvt|2.5|mi|km}} south of [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]] along the [[Monongahela River]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Family's Fourth |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |issue=April 13 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,756010-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025100728/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,756010-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |access-date=2008-08-09 | date=1936-04-13}}</ref>  Lauth's interest was bought in 1854 by [[James Laughlin (industrialist)|James Laughlin]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Jones, Benjamin Franklin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Suu9yUKdA8IC&dq=%22Jones+and+Lauth%22&pg=PA679 |format=book |access-date=2008-09-30 |isbn=978-0-313-23908-3 |last1=Ingham |first1=John N |date=September 1983| publisher=Greenwood Press }}</ref>  The first firm to bear the name of Jones and Laughlin was organized in 1861, and headquartered at Third & Ross in [[downtown Pittsburgh]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/executiveorders/index.php?pid=180 |title=Executive Order 10340 |work=[[Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum]] |access-date=3 February 2013 |archive-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410130122/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/executiveorders/index.php?pid=180 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/12/06/98793913.pdf |title=Jones-Laughlin Steel to be Reorganized |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=6 December 1922 }}</ref>

==History==
Originally producing only iron, the enterprise began the production of [[steel]] in 1886. Over the ensuing 60 years, the company expanded its facilities and its operations along both sides of the [[Monongahela River]] on the South Side of [[Pittsburgh]] and along the [[Ohio River]] at [[Aliquippa, Pennsylvania|Aliquippa]]. The [[Hot Metal Bridge]] across the Monongahela River was built to connect Eliza blast furnaces making [[pig iron]] on the Hazelwood side of the river with the open hearth steel furnaces on the south side of the river.

In 1905, a new plant was begun at [[Aliquippa, Pennsylvania|Aliquippa]], Pennsylvania. The company also owned coal mines in western Pennsylvania in its early days, including some reached by an incline in Pittsburgh's [[South Side (Pittsburgh)|South Side]] which connected to the railroad over the bridge adjacent to the Hot Metal Bridge. Other mines were along the nearby [[Becks Run]], also directly connected by [[H.B. Hays and Brothers Coal Railroad|railroad]]. The incline and mines were gone before 1900, but mining continued in Pennsylvania towns such as [[East Bethlehem Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania|Vestaburg]] and elsewhere.

<!-- !!trivial!! On January 9, 1907, an explosion at the Eliza Furnace plant in the Soho district of Pittsburgh killed 1334 of the 35 workers at the furnace, only George Knox surviving the in a flood and rain of molten metal unscathed-- >.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Evening Express and Evening Mail|location=Cardiff|date=10 January 1907|title=Molten Steel Flood|page=3|edition=Sixth|number=6067|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4171656/4171659}}</ref>  The coroner found that workers had left the gang in the preceding few days, fearing for their safety.-->
The former Otis Steel company along the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was purchased in 1942, and then in the mid-1960s, a finishing plant was constructed in Hennepin, Illinois.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Boom Town 1965 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833948,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127073901/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833948,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 27, 2008 | magazine=Time | date=1965-07-09 | access-date=2010-05-07}}</ref>
<!-- !!trivial!! Similar explosions to the 1907 incident took place in April and May 1942, the second one resulting in two fatalities.<ref name="House 1943">{{Cite book|author=United States. Congress. House|title=Hearings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2vZwVqFOhrEC&pg=RA4-PA772|date=1943|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=4}}</ref>-->

In 1937, J&L was the subject of a landmark decision of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], [[NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.]], which upheld the constitutionality of the [[Wagner Act]] and the Federal Government's power to regulate labor relations by way of the commerce clause. The decision forced J&L to recognize the labor rights of its employees including their right to unionize.

J & L Steel (known to its employees as simply "J &amp; L", sometimes pronounced "jane ell") provided the most able competition to the [[Carnegie Steel Company]] in the vicinity of [[Pittsburgh]]. J & L also had [[subsidiary]] mills in other cities such as Los Angeles in the late 1940s.

[[Ling-Temco-Vought|Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc.]] of [[Texas]] offered to purchase 63 percent of J & L Steel on May 10, 1968.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hHQzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=dukDAAAAIBAJ&dq=ltv%20jones%20%26%20laughlin&pg=7362%2C3921904|title=American Stock Mart Hits Record|work=The Spokesman-Review |date= May 10, 1968|page=10}}</ref> An agreement was reached on May 14, and the purchase was completed for approximately $428.5 million (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|428500000|1968|r=2}}}} today) by June 1968.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=llr |title=Complaint, United States v. Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc. |work=[[Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review]] |access-date=3 February 2013}}</ref>  It took full control of the company in 1974. As a result of the [[Steel crisis|Steel Crisis]] and the [[1973–1975 recession|1973 Recession]], the J & L mill in Los Angeles closed.

In 1978, J & L Steel (as a subsidiary of LTV) acquired [[Youngstown Sheet and Tube]]. In 1981, J & L Steel bought a stainless steel mill from [[McLouth Steel]] Products in [[Detroit]], which was probably an attempt to try to get closer to the auto market.

By the 1980s, the LTV Conglomerate was in full decline. In 1984, J & L was merged with [[Republic Steel]] and the name of Jones and Laughlin completely disappeared.<ref>History of Republic Steel. https://republicsteel.com/about-us</ref>

===J&L Coal Incline===
[[File:Oldhotmetalconduit.jpg|thumb|[[Hot Metal Bridge]], formerly used by Jones and Laughlin to transport steel across the Monongahela River]]
The ''J&L Coal Incline'' was a {{convert|1300|ft|m|adj=on}} [[funicular|incline]] in [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]], Pennsylvania connecting a coal mine to the J&L iron making facility.  It ran from Josephine Street, between South 29th street and South 30th Street on the lower end to Sumner Street on its upper end.<ref>{{cite web |title=1916 Map of Pittsburgh (shows right of way, past the reservoir) |url=http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?view=entry;cc=maps;entryid=x-20090330-hopkins-0027 |access-date=2011-04-22}}</ref>
It was supplied with coal from the ''American Mine'', opened in 1854.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Wall |first1= J. Sutton |title= Report on the coal mines of the Monongahela river region from the... |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qBQgRge4JF0C&q=%22Coal+Hill%22+Railroad |volume= 40 |year= 1884  |pages= 174 |chapter= VII mines on pool no. 1 American Mine}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chance |first=Henry Martyn |title=Report of Progress... |year=1884 |page=174 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ip0MAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Ormsby+Mine%22&pg=PA175 |access-date=2008-09-08}}</ref>

===From hot strip to mixed-use development===
Dismantling of the buildings which housed J & L Steel produced an upsurge of building on the tracts of land where the buildings had stood. By September 2005, numerous new structures had been erected on both sides of the [[Monongahela River]].  The [[Pittsburgh Technology Center]] now stands on the north side of the Monongahela River where the blast furnaces once stood and the [[SouthSide Works]], a commercial and residential development, stands on the south side where milling operations occurred. The [[Hot Metal Bridge]] has been converted into a road bridge and a pedestrian/bike bridge (which forms part of the [[Great Allegheny Passage]]).

On what was once Hazelwood Works of the J & L operations, [[Hazelwood (Pittsburgh)|Hazelwood]] Green is now a 178-acre mixed-use riverfront redevelopment site. Hazelwood Green was purchased in 2002 by Almono LP and was officially opened to the public in April 2019, with the public dedication of new roads – Hazelwood Avenue and Blair Street extensions – through the site.  Mill 19, the last remaining structure from the Hazelwood Plant, is being refurbished to serve as a mixed use development including a robotics lab run by [[Carnegie Mellon University]].

==Facilities==

===Aliquippa===

A contract for the construction of four blast furnaces each outputting 500 tons per day,<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=17 |date=25 April 1907 |title=Pittsburgh in the Pig Iron Trade |page=1279 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-04-25_79_17/page/1279/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref> totaling {{cvt|22|x|85|ft|m}}, was awarded to the ''Ritter-Conley Mfg. Co.'' in December 1906, which at the time had blast furnaces of the same dimensions under construction for Indiana Steel Co. at Gary. The new furnaces included modern skip hoist and sealing arrangement for material charging, and two were expected to be finished in July 1907. The furnaces were to be accompanied by 16 Kennedy-Cooper hot air stoves of {{cvt|22|x|100|ft|m}}.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=78 |issue=25 |date=20 December 1906 |title=Contract for Jones & Laughlin Furnaces |page=1705 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1906-12-20_78_25/page/1705/mode/1up?q=%22Laughlin%22}}</ref> Furnace #3 with 4 stoves was actually ordered in May 1907.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=22 |date=30 May 1907 |title=Jones & Laughlin Steel Company... |page=1660 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-05-30_79_22/page/1660/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref>

A bridge from [[Ambridge, Pennsylvania|Ambridge]] to Aliquippa, being designed in April 1907.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=15 |date=11 April 1907 |title=The Iron and Metal Trades / Pittsburgh / Structural Material |page=1148 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-04-11_79_15/page/1148/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref>

From the ''Wisconsin Engine Company'', building in April 1907, 2 cross compound engines to drive a {{cvt|600|kW|hp}} generator.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=16 |date=18 April 1907 |title=News of the Works |page=1214 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-04-18_79_16/page/1214/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref>

From [[Allis Chalmers]] 10 blowing engines. Also, two 250V, 94 rpm DC generators of {{cvt|1,000|kW|hp}} each for various plant loads ordered in April 1907<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=17 |date=25 April 1907 |title=News of the Works |page=1286 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-04-25_79_17/page/1286/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref> and in June 1907 four 1,000&nbsp;kW Bullock engine type generators, a {{cvt|500|kW|hp}} generator set, 2 Tomlinson barometric tube converters.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=25 |date=20 June 1907 |title=News of the Works |page=1888 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-06-20_79_25/page/1888/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref>

===South Side===
In June 1907, construction was announced of four new Talbot open hearth furnaces totaling 1,000 tons per day.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Iron Age |volume=79 |issue=24 |date=13 June 1907 |title=The Jones & Laughlin Company... |page=1814 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_chiltons-iron-age_1907-06-13_79_24/page/1814/mode/1up?q=%22Aliquippa%22}}</ref>

==Historic sites==
Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. is a builder of record for a number of bridges and other structures that are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref>{{NRHP url|id=64500389|title=Highway Bridges in Nebraska MPS}}</ref>

Works include:
*[[Big Blue River Bridge (Surprise, Nebraska)|Big Blue River Bridge]], Twp. Rd. over Big Blue R., 1&nbsp;mi. SE of Surprise, [[Surprise, Nebraska]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>
*[[Brewer Bridge]], Co. Rd. over the Niobrara R., 14.7&nbsp;mi. E of Valentine, [[Valentine, Nebraska]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/> 
*[[Hill Annex Mine State Park|Hill Annex Mine]], off US 169, [[Calumet, Minnesota]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>
*[[Nine Bridges Bridge]], private rd. over Middle Channel of the Platte R., 3.9&nbsp;mi. N of Doniphan, [[Doniphan, Nebraska]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>
*[[Prairie Dog Creek Bridge]], Twp. Rd. over Prairie Dog Cr., 8.5&nbsp;mi. S and 1&nbsp;mi. W of Orleans. [[Orleans, Nebraska]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/> 
*[[Southwest Fifth St. Bridge]], SW Fifth St. over Raccoon R.. [[Des Moines, Iowa]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co., Killmar), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>
*Turkey Creek Bridge, Co. Rd. over Turkey Cr., 2&nbsp;mi. W and 1&nbsp;mi. S of Ragan, [[Ragan, Nebraska]] (Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.), NRHP-listed<ref name=nris/>

==See also==
{{commons category|Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, Pittsburgh}}
*[[National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation]]
*[[Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer]]
*[[Interstate 180 (Illinois)]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |title=Portraits in Steel : An Illustrated History of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation |first1=David H. |last1=Wollman |first2=Donald R. |last2=Inman |year=1999 |location=[[Kent, Ohio]] |publisher=[[Kent State University Press]] |isbn=978-0873386241}}
*Vukmir, Rade B. The Mill(2016). Sewickley, Pennsylvania: Dichotomy Press. {{ISBN|978-1944351014}}.
* Vukmir, Rade B. The Mill(1999), University Press of America, Baltimore, MD, {{ISBN|978-0761814153}}.
* The Mill(Revised Edition)(2016). Dichotomy Pres, Sewickley, PA. {{ISBN|978-1944351014}}.

==External links==
*[https://historicpittsburgh.org/collection/jones-laughlin-steel-corporation-photographs Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Photographs, 1864-1953 online collection] MSP #33 from the Library & Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center
*[http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-AIS197307 Finding aid to the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Historical Records] at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
*[http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-AIS197423 Finding aid to the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Pittsburgh Works Earnings Records] at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
*[http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-AIS197809 Finding aid to the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Records] at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
*[http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-AIS198807 Finding aid to the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Pittsburgh Works Records] at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
*[http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-AIS201006 Finding aid to the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Aliquippa Works Records] at the Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
*{{HAER |survey=PA-48 |id=pa0057 |title=Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh Works, Morgan Billet Mill Engine, 550 feet north of East Carson Street, opposite South Twenty-seventh Street, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA |photos=35 |data=4}}

{{Ling-Temco-Vought}}
{{Pittsburgh Corporations}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Rolling mills]]
[[Category:Steel companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Railway inclines in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Bridge companies]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:1852 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1852]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1852]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Pittsburgh]]