Introduction of the Rolled I-beam in the U.S.A. in the

Sara E. Wermiel

93

Introduction of the Rolled I-beam in the U.S.A. in the 1850s, Revisited

Sara E. Wermiel Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A.

Introduction

Of the new construction materials introduced in the nineteenth century, the rolled I-beam – a solid, metal structural element with a cross-section in the shape of a capital ‘I’ – was one of the most important. In the mid-1850s, two American rolling mills began to manufacture wrought-iron I-beams. These beams were rapidly adopted, and from an early date, beams in a range of sizes and weights, rolled in American mills, were available in the U.S. market. They were components of metal building frames, which evolved into skeleton-frame construction – one of America’s principal contributions to construction technology.

The story of the beginning of I-beam manufacture in America has been treated in several texts [1]. This paper revisits the history, expanding on and correcting earlier work. It also revisits the beginning of I-beam production in France and Great Britain.

Motivation for rolling I-beams

The main intended application for early I-beams was in fireproof floors, i.e., floors built without wood (except as a walking surface) or in which a noncombustible barrier protected a wooden structure. That this was understood to be the purpose of metal beams can be seen in the entry under ‘beam’ in the 1859 New American Cyclopædia; a brief definition of the term is followed by a long discussion of iron beams. The editors covered the history of fireproof building systems, mentioned Eaton Hodgkinson’s research on cast-iron beams, and noted the use of wrought iron to build the Conway and Britannia tubular bridges. For wrought iron beams, the editors wrote, “the most advantageous forms are the double flanched or I beam, and the box or tubular beam,” and “for floor beams the I form is ordinarily employed [2]”.

At this point, American I-beams were new to the market. When and where were I-beams first manufactured in the United States? Already in 1859, the Cyclopaedia editors credited Trenton Iron Co. with introducing the rolled iron I-beam, and, with one exception, the classic literature on the introduction of the I-beam focuses on this company [3]. And yet, several secondary sources credit Phoenix Iron Co. with being the first to roll I-beams. Indeed, both companies began the process to manufacture rolled I-beams in the early 1850s. Establishing precedence is challenging, partly due to the incommensurate surviving records: a considerable amount of Trenton Iron Co.’s business records survive, in collections at public libraries, while for Phoenix Iron Co., one main collection is known, and it contains few records from the critical 1850s period. These and other archival sources were scrutinized to learn the history of rolled I-beams in the U.S.


94

Prior art: introduction of rolled I-beams in France and Great Britain

Beams in an ‘I’ shape were made before the mid-nineteenth century, but they were either cast iron or fabricated from pieces of wrought iron. Cast-iron beams in an ‘I’ shape were used in Great Britain in the early 1800s. Thomas Tredgold, in his textbook on cast iron and strength of materials, recommended this shape. ‘I’-shaped cast-iron beams continued to be used in Britain even after Eaton Hodgkinson published his research showing that such beams were stronger for a given amount of metal in an asymmetrical shape, with more metal in the lower flange than in the top [4]. For beams made of wrought iron, a symmetrical ‘I’ shape was best for resisting bending stresses. In the U.S. in the 1840s, I-section, wrought-iron beams for use in buildings were fabricated from plates and channels [5]. Likewise, for bridges, wrought-iron plate girders in an ‘I’ section were made by riveting together a plate or plates forming a web, and angles, or plates and angles, riveted to the ends to form flanges. But plate girders were large, and the labor required to fabricate beams made them costly. A more cost-effect solution would be a one-piece (‘solid’) I-section rolled in wrought iron.

It was in France that solid rolled I-beams were first produced. In her published dissertation, French Iron Architecture, Frances Steiner cites the civil engineer and editor C. A. Oppermann who wrote that the first I-beams – fer à double T – were rolled for Eugène Flachat, engineer for the railway Compagnie du chemin de fer de l’ouest, which was growing and accordingly expanding its Saint-Lazare station in Paris. These beams were rolled by Jules Lagoutte, manager, at his ironworks at La Villette-Paris; J. Foy, civil engineer, gives the date as around 1846. Steiner wrote that the beams were only 11 cm deep and short lengths, so were joined together to compose the principal rafters in the trainshed [6].

Other French ironworks began to roll I-beams around this time. The ironworks of Montatiaire rolled two models for use in the framing of the same railway station [7]. By 1849, this ironworks and the Providence, at Hautmont (Nord), could roll beams in several sizes. The two companies exhibited their I-beams at the 1849 National Agricultural and Industrial Exposition in Paris. The former exhibited I-beams ranging from 10 to 22 cm deep, weighing 9 – 40 kg/m, while the latter exhibited pieces 11 to 18 cm deep, weighting 10 to 32 kg/m [8]. Steiner wrote that I-beams took off after 1848, when Charles-Ferdinand Zorès, a civil engineer, began to offer them at a lower cost [9].

The principal use of the beams in this period was in various fireproof floor systems, planchers en fer. Most of the systems called for smaller-sized beams, filled between with a composition usually made of plaster; the filling formed a ceiling or barrier, and wooden joists on top of the beams carried the floor deck. A British architect who visited building projects in Paris in the early 1850s to learn about the “iron floors” dated the take-off of these systems to the time following alterations to the Rue de Rivoli in 1852 [10]. In any event, by the end of the 1840s, several French firms manufactured I-beams, and by the 1850s, they were used in various structural applications in buildings, mainly in Paris. Drawings of these early I-beams show them as having small flanges (Fig. 1).

Sara E. Wermiel

95

Fig. 1. Early French I-beams with small flanges, used in two fireproof floor systems (Revue Générale de l'Architecture … vol. 9, 1851)

I-beams were rolled in Great Britain a few years after their introduction in France, around 1852-53. T. Murray Gladstone, an engineer from Liverpool, was perhaps the first to begin this business. Between 1849 and 1851, Gladstone, with Robert Pace – also a Liverpool engineer – built a large iron-manufacturing plant in Belfast, Ireland: the Belfast Iron Works. Gladstone intended to manufacture beams, for bridges and warehouses, and he attempted to roll them in large dimensions. In a presentation at a September 1852 meeting of the British Association in Belfast, he said he had experimented with making bars 8 inches deep with 4-inch flanges, and metal ¾ inch thick (roughly 20, 10, and 2 cm, respectively). He said he made a bar 26 feet long (about 8 m), weighing nearly half a ton, and claimed he could roll “iron almost any dimensions which may be required, and such bars, from the breadth of the flanges, have never before been attempted in the three kingdoms [11]”. The following year, Gladstone exhibited “patent double T wrought-iron for beams and joists of fire-proof warehouses, & c., instead of cast-iron” at the Irish Industrial Exhibition. But the beams did not find customers. The Belfast Iron Works ceased making them around the time of the Exhibition. Because of financial difficulties, Pace and Gladstone withdrew from the factory, and the new lessee apparently did not make I-beams – at least not for buildings. So, while Gladstone succeeded technically in rolling I-beams, they did not become commercial products.

Also in the early 1850s, the builder James Barrett began to use rolled-iron beams rather than cast-iron ones to construct his patented fireproof floors. Known as Fox & Barrett floors, the system involved relatively closely-spaced iron joists filled between with concrete. It differed from the usual French fireproof floors in that the concrete formed a bearing slab, not merely a ceiling/barrier. Barrett used cast-iron joists in his floors, but around 1850 or 1851, “from prejudice against cast iron joists,” he turned his attention to wrought iron [12]. A likely proximate cause of this prejudice in London was the deadly collapse in May 1851 of a very large building under construction in Gracechurch Street. The building was fireproof, with floors reportedly made of 12 inches (30.5 cm) of “cement” between (cast-) iron joists, which sounds similar to the Fox & Barrett system [13]. While the cause of the collapse was not pinpointed, suspicion fell on the cast iron.

Barrett reported that he had rolls made for 4- to 8-inch-deep I-sections, and he said beams were tested, so they must have existed; but does not state exactly when this was. Certainly, he was using rolled iron joists in 1853, which is the year Butterley Iron Works Company in Derbyshire began supplying wrought-iron beams for


96

Barrett’s floors. Comparing the strength and cost of his floor with a French floor, Barrett described the French beams as being 12 cm (about 4 ¾ inches) deep and 15 kg/m (about 10 pounds per foot) and those he used, made in Britain, as being 7 inches deep and 16 pounds per foot [14]. But whether these were solid rolled beams is a question. Faced with high demand for beams for Fox & Barrett floors and limited capacity, Butterley introduced beams made of two rolled, equally-sized T-irons welded together in the middle [15].

In the 1860s and after, the availability of I-beams imported from Belgium, at competitive prices and in large sizes, retarded the manufacture of wrought-iron beams in Britain [16].

Introduction of rolled I-beam in the United States: Trenton and Phoenixville

Americans were interested in building fireproof buildings too, and many architects and textile mill owners knew the British fireproof system of cast-iron beams and arched brick floors pioneered in textile factories. But because of the high cost, iron was used very rarely for large structural elements in U.S. before the late 1840s. The 1840s was a time of increased domestic iron production as well as pig iron imports. It was also a time of technological development at ironworks, when the first T-rails were rolled. A growing, although still miniscule, number of fireproof buildings with iron structural elements went up, in which cast- as well as wrought-iron beams were used. The wrought-iron beams were ‘I’ shaped but fabricated from plates, channels, and other rolled pieces. Two examples of buildings with structural wrought-iron from this time are the Bowen & McNamee store, New York City (ca 1848-50) and the Savannah Custom House, Savannah, Georgia (1847-52). The New York ironworks J. B. & W. W. Cornell manufactured the iron for the Savannah Custom House, which included cast-iron beams as well as a wrought-iron roof (framework and cover) and wrought-iron girders [17].

Around 1851-52, two American ironworks – Trenton Iron Works and Phoenix Iron Works – began to experiment with rolling solid I-beams. They were among the fifteen or so mills that began rolling rails in the late 1840s and were devastated by competition after 1848, when Great Britain dumped its rails on the U.S. market following a downturn in British railroad construction, forcing most U.S. mills to close [18]. Beams, in contrast, faced no foreign competition at the time.

Trenton Iron Company

Trenton Iron Works, owned by Cooper & Hewitt (later styled Trenton Iron Co. and in 1857, Cooper, Hewitt & Co.), was established in 1845-46 in Trenton, New Jersey, and began to roll rails in 1846. With its general offices in rapidly-growing New York City, with many banks, insurance offices, and institutional buildings under construction – the types of buildings most likely to be fireproof – Cooper & Hewitt undoubtedly anticipated a large demand for beams.

The firm began to try to roll solid beams around 1852, but as of the end of 1853, it had not succeeded [19]. Nevertheless, it shopped around the idea of rolled beams to potential customers, including the U.S. government and Harper & Brothers, a publishing and printing company in New York City that lost its plant in a December 1853 fire. Another customer at this time was Peter Cooper, the main investor in Trenton Iron Works, who wanted beams for the Institute building he was planning. What Cooper & Hewitt could offer customers instead was an I-shaped beam made of two channels rivetted together in the middle, which it called a ‘compound beam.’ (Fig. 2)

Sara E. Wermiel

97

Fig. 2. Trenton Iron Works compound beam, drawn in 1854 (Curator Office, Architect of the Capitol)

These were adopted by the U.S. government for the Assay Office building in New York City, which was under construction in the fall of 1853. The original design for this tall, narrow building called for floors made of brick arches between deep, cast-iron beams that spanned 35 feet (10.7 m) transversely from wall to wall. The beams Cooper & Hewitt proposed cost about half as much as the cast-iron ones (although they were half as long, so required the support of a cast-iron column midway); and they took up less space in the structure. The superintending engineer had one of the compound beams tested for strength and found it sufficient [20]. Sources differ on the size of these beams. An 1854 drawing of a compound beam made by Cooper & Hewitt, which they wrote was “adopted … for the U.S. Assay Office,” described it as 6 ½ inches deep (16.5 cm), weighing 30 pounds per foot [21]. But an 1873 report on the condition of the building described the girders as “7” and 8” channel iron bolted together [22]”. In any event, the first beams for the Assay Office were shipped in November 1853. (Fig. 3) Construction also started on the Cooper Institute and Harper & Brothers buildings, and these projects also received compound beams.

Fig. 3. U.S. Assay Office, New York City, barely visible behind a building on Wall St., photo 1900 (U.S. National Archives)


98

By March of 1854, Cooper & Hewitt succeeded in rolling solid beams, but in a rail shape, with a round head on one end of the web and a flange at the other [23]. While this section later was known as a deck beam, Trenton’s beam was the pattern of a special rail it had made for the Camden & Amboy Railroad in 1849 with great difficulty [24]. According to Cooper & Hewitt, the rail-beams were 7 inches deep with flanges 4 ¾ inches wide, weighing 28 to 30 pounds per foot. Production ramped up through the spring, and in the summer of 1854, the company claimed it could make them “22 ft. long, and at the rate of fifty (50) tons per day [25]”. These new beams henceforth were supplied to projects under construction. In February 1854, an additional floor was ordered for the Assay Office, and Cooper & Hewitt offered the new solid beams for this addition [26] (Fig. 4). The sections were also sold in 1854 to the Camden & Amboy Railroad as rails [27].

Fig. 4. Trenton’s 9-inch I-beam and 7-inch rail-beam, and section through a typical fireproof floor composed of I-beams filled between with brick arches and concrete (Trenton Iron Co., “On the Application of Wrought Iron Beams …”, 1857)

But an ‘I’ shape was the goal. Already in 1854, Trenton was making rolls for an I-shaped beam 8 inches deep [28]. In October 1855, the company announced it had begun rolling 8-inch beams; but exactly what these were like is uncertain. Several months later, in March 1856, it had rolls for a 9-inch rail-beam and had not yet begun to make 9-inch I- beams; rather, it was making ‘T’ beams. If it could roll 8-inch I-beams by that time, why would it roll 9-inch beams in a rail shape? At that point, the company predicted the 9-inch I-beams would be ready in May. Finally, in June 1856, Cooper, Hewitt & Co. started the rolls for I-section beams, 9 inches deep [29] (Fig. 4).

The solid beams, whether in a rail or ‘I’ shape, were quickly adopted by owners seeking to erect fireproof buildings. The largest customer for iron beams in the 1850s was the U.S. Treasury Department, which in that decade erected dozens of government buildings in the nation’s growing cities, e.g., post offices, courthouses, custom houses and hospitals. All but the most remote of these buildings were to be fireproof: in late 1853, the Secretary of the Treasury decided that future buildings should have “Brick walls, Rolled Iron Beams, Iron Roof & c. [30]” Government patronage no doubt helped boost the development of the structural iron industry and certainly the fortunes of Trenton Iron Co. The Treasury Department itself ordered the beams for each project and

Sara E. Wermiel

99

always from Trenton. Trenton received orders from many private customers too, for example, Cornelius & Baker, a manufacturer of lamps, chandeliers and gas fixtures. Trenton made beams for this company in 1855, beginning in April, which were used to build its enormous new factory in Philadelphia [31] (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. Cornelius & Baker factory, 821 Cherry St., Philadelphia, courtyard view, printed 1859 (Library Company of Philadelphia)

Phoenix Iron Company

Several secondary sources state that Phoenix Iron Co. began rolling beams in 1855, making it “the first mill in America to roll beams and shapes, the largest size at first being a nine-inch beam [32]”. The earliest claim found for the 1855 date is in the Phoenix Bridge Co.’s Album of Designs from 1888: “In 1855 … the manufacture of beams, channels, tees, and a variety of shapes of iron was begun” at Phoenixville [33]. An 1873 version of the Album does not include this claim, but it reprints an article from Lippincott’s Magazine in which it is stated that under the mill’s superintendent, John Griffen, “the first rolled iron beams over nine inches deep that were ever made were produced at these works [34]”. So here are two claims: first, that 9-inch beams were rolled in 1855, and second, that Phoenix was the first to roll beams deeper than 9 inches.

If the date 1855 could be confirmed (before the month of October), then indeed, Phoenix would have predated Trenton in producing I-section beams. Regrettably, few business records survive from the early days of the company. Little contemporary evidence, e.g., in newspapers or magazines, has turned up. The earliest relevant information is in an 1857 magazine article that described 9-inch-deep beams, 44 feet long, rolled at Phoenix Iron Co. in July 1857; it said the mill “has been rolling iron beams but two or three months [35]”. But other contemporary evidence suggests that Phoenix was rolling beams at least by 1856.

That Phoenix Iron Co. could have rolled beams in 1855 is supported by the fact that the company underwent a major expansion in the late 1840s, when it entered the rail market. Phoenix Iron Works, as the company was then styled, added a new, large rail mill, puddling and reheating mill, and other facilities to its plant in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, which was connected to the large Philadelphia market via the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad as


100

well as by boat via the Schuylkill River. Also in this year, an associated company, Reeves, Abbott & Co., built a rail-rolling plant at Safe Harbor, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River. While one writer states that beams were rolled at Safe Harbor, he gives no source to support this, and no evidence for it has materialized [36]. Phoenix Iron Works rolled its first rails in 1846, and the following year, when construction on the Pennsylvania Railroad began, contracted to supply 15,000 tons of rails to that railroad [37]. By 1851, Phoenix Iron Works was casting its own rolls, meaning it could make rolls for rails as well as for beams. The shops and foundry at Phoenixville were expanded, and a new, large machine shop was built [38]. Another point supporting the 1855 date: this reportedly was the year that Phoenix Iron Co., the style it took in that year, began taking contracts to fabricate and erect iron bridges and buildings [39]. The company used its own iron in this work.

The earliest contemporary evidence of beams being available from Phoenix comes from correspondence in 1857 between Cooper, Hewitt & Co. and Phoenix regarding bids on contracts for beams. In a letter dated February 16, 1857, Cooper, Hewitt & Co. discussed the “arrangement” they sought to make with Phoenix to avoid direct competition. Both companies bid to supply beams for two new buildings: Pennsylvania Bank and Pennsylvania Railroad Co.’s headquarters building, both in Philadelphia. Cooper, Hewitt & Co. complained that Phoenix underbid them for the beam contracts, arguing “the business [of structural iron] is as yet too inconsiderable for active competition” and both firms would benefit by fixing prices and dividing up projects between them. At any rate, Trenton got the contract for the bank, while Phoenix got the contract for the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. building, on which construction began in 1856. This was a four-story, fireproof building, housing the general offices of the railroad [40] (Fig. 6). Both companies made proposals for 7-inch and 9-inch beams for this building [41]. Since the proposals were made before the date of the letter, it is safe to say that Phoenix was rolling beams in both sizes in 1856, and even perhaps in 1855.

Fig. 6. Early fireproof building with brick floors carried on Phoenix Iron Co.’s rolled I-beams; Pennsylvania Railroad offices, 226-228 S. Third St., Philadelphia; photo ca 1899 (Athenaeum of Philadelphia)

Sara E. Wermiel

101

Phoenix Iron Works went on to outpace Trenton in rolling technology, and indeed, was the first company to roll I-beams deeper than 9 inches. A production technique that helped make this possible was introduced by Phoenix’s then general superintendent, John Griffen, which involved pre-rolling bars roughly in the shape of flanges. These were placed on either end of a pile of rolled bars that formed a web; the assemblage was heated and rolled into beams. This technique overcame both the quantity limits of iron made by puddling and the strain put on the iron when reducing a more rectangular pile of bars to an I-section [42]. Thus, as noted above, by 1857 Phoenix could roll 9-inch beams 44 feet (13.4 m) long. In 1861, the mill rolled 15-inch deep beams, “the first wrought iron beams of this size made in this country [U.S.A.].” The company also rolled a special heavy, wide-flanged beam, 9 inches deep with flanges 5 ¾ inches wide, 50 pound per foot, called the ‘Government beam,’ which was used in federal forts to support cannons and mortars [43]. In 1862, the company’s vice president, Samuel J. Reeves, patented a wrought-iron column, the first commercially available wrought-iron column in the U.S. (Figs. 7 – 8) Phoenix Iron Co., and the later bridge and structural iron contracting companies associated with the firm, used Phoenix iron exclusively in its construction projects. The Phoenix column, with the company’s beams and girders, were widely used in building frames as well as in bridge building.

Fig. 7. Phoenix Iron Co.’s wrought iron beams, from an 1874 catalog (Hagley Museum and Library)


102

Fig. 8. A Phoenix Iron Co. advertisement, ca 1871, showing a range of products, including wrought-iron I- and deck-beams, eye-bar and columns (Manual of the Railroads of the United States, for 1871-72)

Conclusion

To which company goes the credit for rolling the first true I-beams in the U.S. – Phoenix or Trenton? To recapitulate: Trenton rolled 8-inch beams around October 1855, but whether these were rail or ‘I’ sections is uncertain. More certain is that in the summer of 1856, it achieved the goal of rolling 9-inch I-beams. Meanwhile, Phoenix may have begun rolling I-beams in 1855, but no contemporary confirmation has materialized. Rather, evidence is available for 1856. In this year, both companies were rolling 7-inch and 9-inch I-beams. It seems to be a draw. As one writer quipped regarding the question of precedence, Trenton “claimed to anticipate Phoenix by a few hours [44]”.

No other U.S. companies are known to have rolled beams in mid-1850s, and an economic depression that began 1857 stalled development of this business. No sooner had the economy recovered than the Civil War began (1861-65), when iron production was directed at military projects. But by the end of 1860s, at least one more mill was rolling beams: Buffalo Union Iron Co. of Buffalo, New York, set up by Phoenix’s former mill superintendent. Phoenix, Trenton and Buffalo offered beams in a range of sizes and weights; in 1868, all three rolled heavy, 15-inch-deep beams (38 cm). In the early 1870s, several more firms entered the business, including Carnegie Brothers & Co.’s Union Iron Mills and Passaic Rolling-Mill. Thus, American mills produced wrought-iron beams in a range of sizes – heavy, deep sections, with relatively wide flanges, as well as small sizes – on a commercial basis from an early date.

The range of sections produced on a regular basis in wrought iron opened up structural design possibilities for American architects and engineers. This availability had a transformative effect on American building design, leading to large and structurally novel buildings that advanced technologically towards the skeleton frame.

Sara E. Wermiel

103

Acknowledgements

Thanks to archivists and librarians at Hagley Library, Wilmington, DE; Historical Society of the Phoenixville Area, Phoenixville, PA; Curator Office, Architect of the Capitol, Washington, D.C.

References [1] Esmond Shaw, Peter Cooper and the Wrought Iron Beam, New York: Cooper Union, 1960; Robert Jewett,

‘Solving the Puzzle of the First American Structural Rail-Beam’, Technology and Culture, vol. 10, July 1969, pp. 371-391; Charles E. Peterson, ‘Inventing the I-Beam: Richard Turner, Cooper & Hewitt and Others’, APT Bulletin, vol. 12, 1980, pp. 3-28; Charles E. Peterson, ‘Inventing the I-Beam, Part II: William Borrow at Trenton and John Griffen of Phoenixville’, APT Bulletin, vol. 25, 1993, pp. 17-25..; Sara E. Wermiel, The Fireproof Building: Technology and Public Safety in the Nineteenth-Century American City, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, chapter 2.

[2] George Ripley and Charles Dana, eds., The New American Cyclopaedia vol. 3, New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1859, p. 6.

[3] Shaw, Cooper; Jewett, Solving; and Peterson, Cooper, (Note 1). [4] Robert Jewett, ‘Structural Antecedents of the I-Beam, 1800-1850’, Technology and Culture, vol. 8, July 1967,

pp. 357-59. [5] Dennis De Witt, ‘Savannah’s Custom House …’ in Patrick Haughey, ed., A History of Architecture and

Trade, New York: Routledge, 2018. [6] ‘Forges et Laminoirs Lagoutte, à Paris’, Le propagateur des travaux en fer, vol. 1, 1867, p. 79; J. Foy,

‘Construction; Étude Comparative’, Annales Industrielles, vol. 1, 15 Sept. 1869, col. 551; Frances Steiner, French Iron Architecture, Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1978/1984, pp. 72, 82-3.

[7] Foy, (Note 6) col. 551. [8] H. Sirodot, ‘Industries du Batiment (suite de l’exposition de 1849)’, Revue de l’architecture et des travaux

publics, vol. 9, 1851, col. 72. [9] Steiner, (Note 6), p. 72. [10] H. H. Burnell, ‘Description of the French Method of Constructing Iron Floors’, Papers Read at the Royal

Institute of British Architects, Session 1853-54, 1854, p. 36. [11] T. Murray Gladstone, ‘Malleable Iron Girders’, Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, vol. 15, 1852, p.

330. [12] James Barrett, discussion, ‘On the French Method of Constructing Iron Floors’, Papers Read at the Royal

Institute of British Architects, Session 1853-54, 1854, p. 45. [13] Jonathan Clarke, Early Structural Steel in London Buildings, Swindon: English Heritage, 2014, p. 8; ‘Fatal

Catastrophe – Fall of a Building’, Illustrated London News, vol. 18, 24 May 1851, pp. 449-50. [14] Barrett, (Note 12), pp. 39, 45-7; Obituary, Sir John Gay Newton Alleyne, Journal of the Iron and Steel

Institute, vol. 85, 1912, p. 406. [15] Obituary, (Note 14), p. 406-7. [16] Clarke, (Note 13), pp. 36-7. [17] De Witt, (Note 5), pp. 181-2, 184-6. [18] Jewett, (Note 1), p. 383; Joseph Davis and Douglas Irwin, ‘The Antebellum U.S. Iron Industry: Domestic

Production and Foreign Competition’, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 13452, Sept. 2007.


104

[19] Architect of the Capitol, Curator Office, Capitol Extension - Iron Beams-Girders, 1855-71, box 9, letter from

Cooper & Hewitt to M. C. Meigs, 12 Aug. 1854. [20] U.S. National Archives, RG 121, New York Assay Office, box 285, Letters Received, letter from Alexander

Bowman to James Guthrie, 7 Oct. 1853. [21] Architect of the Capitol, (Note 19). [22] U.S. National Archives, RG 121, New York Assay Office, box 286, Letters Received, letter from W. G.

Steinmetz to A. B. Mullett, 5 Aug. 1873. [23] Jewett, (Note 1), p. 387. [24] Ibid., p. 376-7. [25] Architect of the Capitol, (Note 19). [26] U.S. National Archives, RG 121, New York Assay Office, box.285, Letters Received, letter from Alexander

Bowman to James Guthrie, 4 Feb. 1854. [27] Library of Congress, Cooper, Hewitt & Co. records, New York Office, Day Book 9/1854-7/1855. [28] Shaw, (Note 1) pp. 20-1; Jewett, (Note 1) pp. 388-9. [29] Architect of the Capitol, Curator Office, Capitol Extension - Iron Beams-Girders, 1855-71, box 9, letters

from Cooper & Hewitt to M. C. Meigs, 29 Oct. 1855, 3 March 1856, and 24 June 1856. [30] U.S. National Archives, RG 121, Letters Sent – Chiefly by the Supervising Architect, entry 6, letter from

Ammi Young to Alexander Bowman, 9 Oct. 1853. [31] Library of Congress, (Note 27). [32] Chester M. Spare, ‘History of the Phoenix Iron Works’, in Historical Souvenir Book of the Home-Coming

Celebration, Phoenixville, PA, 1910, p. 76. [33] Phoenix Bridge Co., Album of Designs of the Phoenix Bridge Company, Philadelphia, 1888, p. 21. [34] Phoenixville Bridge-Works, Album of Designs of the Phoenixville Bridge-Works, Philadelphia, 1873, p. 12. [35] ‘Great Feat in Iron Rolling’, American Engineer, vol. 4, 8 Aug. 1857, p. 36. [36] Paul Paskoff, ed., Iron and Steel in the Nineteenth Century, New York: Facts on File, 1989, p. 290. [37] Hagley Library, accession 1807, Pennsylvania Railroad Corp., Corporate Records, Secretary’s Office, Series

VI. Board of Managers’ Minute Books, vol. 1. [38] Spare, (Note 32), pp. 75-6. [39] E. C. Kreutzberg, ‘Phoenix: One Hundred Years Old, Pioneer in Industry’, Iron Trade Review, vol. 81, 25

Aug. 1927, p. 436. [40] James O’Gorman et al., Drawing Toward Building, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986,

pp. 110-11. [41] Hagley Library, Phoenix Steel Corp. records, ACC 683, folder 2, Correspondence 1846-62, letter from

Cooper, Hewitt & Co. to Samuel J. Reeves, 18 Feb. 1857. [42] John Griffen, ‘Pile for Rolling Beams’, U.S. patent no. 18,738, 1 Dec. 1857. [43] Spare, History, (Note 32), p. 76. [44] Kreutzberg, Phoenix, (Note 39), p. 435.

Documents

Introduction of the Rolled I-beam in the U.S.A. in the