In 1865, a corporate ancestor of this company installed the second Bessemer (Kelly) converter in America. [HAER-data] (The first was in the Detroit area in 1864.)
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13. Blast furnace plant embraces the east bank of the Cuyahoga River. Plant was established in 1881 by the Cleveland Rolling Mill Co. It was absorbed by the American Steel and Wire Co. in 1899 and, two years later, by the U.S. Steel Corp., which closed it in 1978. View looking north. - Central Furnaces, 2650 Broadway, east bank of Cuyahoga River, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH [Per David Sharp's comment below, the Strauss bridge was the Erie Railroad Bridge.] Marine Historical Society of Detroit posted An unidentified tug (correction: The bunkering tanker Cemico) and a Coast Guard patrol boat look on as Great Lakes Towing's Oklahoma assists the J.H. Sheadle (2) through the Erie Railroad draw span in the Cuyahoga River. American Steel and Wire's Central Furnace looms large in the background. Date not noted, but circa 1955. Captain William Taylor collection/MHSD. |
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| HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,32-, cropped 14. Blast furnaces D (at left) and A, looking west. - Central Furnaces, 2650 Broadway, east bank of Cuyahoga River, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH |
The history of Central Furnaces—in continuous operation for almost one hundred years—illustrates Cleveland's role as one of the Nation's leading iron and steel centers. The plant was established in 1881 by the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company to supply pig iron to its steel works at Newburgh. In 1899, this company was acquired by the American Steel & Wire Company of New Jersey, which in turn was absorbed by the United States Steel Corporation just two years later. After 1933, when the Newburgh steel works closed. Central Furnaces continued to produce merchant pig iron for a variety of foundry customers. Furnace D (1911), still extant [written in 1979], represents one of the early experiments in thin-lined furnace construction. An ore-unloading dock, installed in 1908, features two 10-ton-capacity Hulett unloaded built by the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company of Cleveland. [HAER-data]
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| Steve Vanden Bosch posted Onoko from Detroit Publishing Collection from the Library of Congress Dale Pohto: Looks to be the Central Furnace plant on the Cuyahoga. Brigham Cowan: still amazed at the resolution of these old photos. If someone was in that pilothouse holding up a newspaper.. we could read the headline |
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| Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted The bulk freighter Byron Whitaker at the American Steel and Wire Co. dock in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1901 (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection). The name of the photographer is not included in the notes for the image. [The description continues with a history of the freighter.] |
This is the kind of unloaders that were used before Huletts were developed.
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| Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted The freighter R.E. Schuck of the Gilchrist Transportation Co. being unloaded by Hoover & Mason Hoists at Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1910-1913 (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection). The ship was identified for the collection by C. Seavey in 2019. [The description continues with a history of the freighter.] Fred Bultman: The dock is the Central Furnace of the American Steel & Wire Division of United States Steel. |
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| Fred Builtman posted, cropped A tag end shot of Central Furnace (American Steel & Wire) from the north. Cleveland, about 1960. |
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| Fred Bultman posted A panoramic view of Central Furnace from the west bank, looking north. Cleveland, about 1958. Fred Bultman shared |
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| Comments on Fred's share |
Steve Vanden Bosch posted three photos with the comment:
Here is a photo from the Library of Congress of the R E SCHUCK which became the HYDRUS which foundered in the great Storm of November 1913. She was built by American Shipbuilding in Lorain Ohio in 1903 for Gilchrist Transportation.And thanks to Fred Bultman who pointed out this photo was at Central Furnace Cleveland which was the same location as our previous cover photo of the Onoko[The comments continue with details about the ship.]
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| 1 Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted An image from a dry plate negative of what is identified as “American Steel & Wire Co. dock” in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1910-1913. Hoover & Mason Hoists are unloading iron ore from the freighter R.E. Schuck (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection). American Steel & Wire Co. was founded around 1899 by Elbert Henry Gary, who purchased several competing barbed wire companies. In 1901, American Steel and Wire became a subsidiary of the U.S. Steel Corp. Their main Cleveland facilities were American Works, Central Furnaces and Dock, and Newburgh Works. Information Source: https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll34/id/7902/ [I skipped the description of the history of the freighter.] Additional Historical Information – Hoover & Mason Hoist The Hoover & Mason Hoist was designed and manufactured by the partnership of Frank Hoover and Arthur J. Mason. Hoover was a farm equipment wholesaler working in Kansas City, Mo. when he met Arthur J. Mason, a railroad engineer originally from Australia. In 1894, the two formed the firm of Hoover & Mason. During the early 1900s, the company was awarded numerous patents for excavating and material handling equipment for conveying and handling iron ore. In 1902, the partnership relocated to Chicago, Ill. The move allowed Hoover & Mason to be closer to their customers in the Great Lakes region. In time, the business grew to include specialized material handling and conveying equipment for the entire steel making process. One of their more famous projects was the Hoover-Mason Trestle, the internal railway system for the massive Bethlehem Steel Works in Bethlehem, Pa. Information Sources: |
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I wonder where this photo was taken because it has lots of Hulett Unloaders and some ore bridges.
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| Paul Erspamer commented on Steve's post HYDRUS unloading, Jared Daniel photo. |
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| Association for Great Lakes Maritime History posted An image from a dry plate negative of what is captioned as the "American Steel & Wire Co. dock" in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1910-1920. Hulett Ship Unloaders are unloading iron ore from an unidentified freighter (Image Source: Library of Congress – Detroit Publishing Co. Collection). A study of other images in the collection indicates the freighter is the Denmark. American Steel & Wire Co. was founded around 1899 by Elbert Henry Gary, who purchased several competing barbed wire companies. In 1901, American Steel and Wire became a subsidiary of the U.S. Steel Corp. Their main Cleveland facilities were American Works, Central Furnaces and Dock, and Newburgh Works. Information Source: https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll34/id/7902/ |
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| HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,32- 5. Copy of a c. 1880 Photograph showing the Newburgh Blast Furnaces of the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. [These furnaces evidently did 60 tons/day.] |
In addition to quite a few Huletts near Lake Erie (Whiskey Island and Erie RR), there were at least a couple up the river as well.
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| Bill Kloss posted Homer D. Williams at Central Furnace in Cleveland. Even the Huletts got the red, white and blue! Melanie Shubitowski: I remember after the Cuyahoga River caught fire, they used to lift porta potties on deck at Central Furnace and you weren't allowed to use the regular bathrooms while in port, although I don't see them on the deck here in 76. I wonder when they lifted that restriction. The rule was pretty stupid, since boats treat their waste, unlike the factories along the river that caused the incident. James Torgeson shared The vessels of US Steel's Great Lakes Fleet were decorated for the Bicentennial, but so were the two 10-ton Hulett unloaders at the USS Central Furnace plant in Cleveland. The 600' Homer D. Williams was built in 1917 and scrapped in 1984. Central Furnace closed in 1978. |
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| Fred Bultman posted Another still life, Norman W Foy being towed past the Central Furnace ore bridge on her way to Republic Steel. Everyone looks blaise. James Torgeson shared A nice shot of an ore bridge at the USS Central Furnace in Cleveland. |
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| Comments on James' share |
Newburgh expanded by establishing the Central Furnace site in 1880.
- 1883, Furnace B: 75' high by 20' in diameter, 275 tons/day
- 1887, Furnace C: 80' x 20', 275 tons/day, the Newburgh furnaces were dismantled in 1884
- 1901, Furnace A: 100' x 21'
- 1904, Furnaces B and C were rebuilt
- 1911, Furnace D: 93' x 22', 500 tons/day. It was the fourth experimental "thin-lined" furnace to be built in the US. (It used a steel jacket that was water cooled.)
- During the depression, the Newburgh site was closed so Furnaces A and C were removed in 1935.
- 1954, a new Furnace A was built to supply pig iron to the Ford Motor Company's Cleveland Engine Plant. Diameter was 26' [steel-photo.org] (I remember that my first car, a 1971 Ford Torino, had a "Cleveland big block" engine.)
- By 1962, Furnace B had been removed.
- 1978, US Steel shut down the two remaining furnaces: D and new A.
[HAER-data]
You say that you can't identify the bridge over the river, based on my maps, that is where
ReplyDeletethe Erie crossed the Cuyahoga in a northwest direction to get to the river's west bank to access the ore docks on Lake Erie. The picture was taken where the B&O and the Newburgh and South Shore crossed to get to the east bank. Tracks would then service 2650 Broadway.
Thanks. I have updated my notes.
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