Lukens Steel Company

Lukens Steel Company, located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, is the oldest steel mill in commission within the United States.

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.

Isaac Pennock established The Federal Slitting Mill in 1793 on Buck Run, a stream about four miles south of Coatesville, Pennsylvania. 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. 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.

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. In 1849 the men renamed the mill Gibbons and Huston. Gibbons had married Rebecca’s oldest daughter Martha, while Dr. Charles Huston married the youngest Isabella. Not long after, Gibbons left the family business to become a co-founder of The Bank of Chester Valley. 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. 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.

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