After nearly fifty years as a center of coal mining, beehive coking, and iron manufacturing, residents of the village of Leetonia were “jubilant” following the announcement that the state of Ohio formally incorporated the $2,000,000 charter application of the Leetonia Steel Company in March 1913. The McKeefrey family of Leetonia in partnership with Pittsburgh industrialists provided the impetus and initial financial backing for the proposed single-process sheet steel mill. Located in eastern Ohio, Leetonia’s once vibrant coal, coke, and iron industries were struggling to remain viable during the second decade of the twentieth century. In response to diminishing demands for specialized iron products due to the pervasive reach of the steel industry, the McKeefrey family and their Pittsburgh supporters forged ahead with the construction of two 70-ton open-hearth steel furnaces and accompanying billet, bar, and sheet mills.
Investigating the motivations behind the McKeefrey family’s decision to construct a steel mill after manufacturing iron at Leetonia for more than twenty-five years creates an opportunity for historians to more accurately understand the heterogeneous characteristics of late nineteenth century American iron manufacturing. This study re-conceptualizes the field of iron and steel manufacturing by documenting the successes and failures of nearly a dozen iron manufacturers in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania – the geographic center of Gilded Age industrialization. This dissertation contends that the widespread adoption of Bessemer process steel manufacturing did not immediately displace iron manufacturers during the 1870s and 1880s. Moreover, continued access to high-grade raw materials, which allowed for the manufacturing of specialized iron products in the wake of Bessemer process steel, created profitable niche markets for independent iron manufacturers who chose not to transition to steel production during the late nineteenth century. Detailing the heretofore under-examined topic of independent iron manufacturers presents new perspectives into American Business history and offers an opportunity to redirect historians’ understanding of the iron and steel industry in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania during the “Age of Steel.”