Pittsburgh, PA: 1889-1979 Midvale/Hepenstall Steel

(Satellite, the land has been repurposed by National Robotics Engineering Center)

Lawrenceville Historical Society posted
For years, the Heppenstall company sign was a dominant feature of Lawrenceville. The company specialized in making industrial knives for cutting steel slabs and other specialty items, including dies and razor blades. The company folded in 1979, but the site remained vacant until RIDC prepared the site for Carnegie Robotics to move into the main building in 2014. This photo was probably taken by Bill Levendusky on July 8, 1969.

Erik Williams: In 2000 Tippins steel owed the property I refitted that building with a 2000a 480 volt service and 50 1000 watt MH highbay lights for them. The company that leased the building built the prototype presses for Fords hydroformed truck frames.

Lawrenceville Historical Society: Erik Williams Tippins bought the property in 2000 from the Allegheny County Industrial Authority for $1. Tippins sells it to RIDC in 2002 for $1,230,000.

Reshard Boyér: This is a rather unique photo, because Penn Central was created April 1st 1969, previous to this date this (NYC) locomotive would not have been allowed on these rails.

Nick Markowitz Jr. shared via Dennis DeBruler
Hepenstall.steel in background

“Examine the axle on your locomotive, the shafts that drive the propeller of your ship, and the propellers of your airplane,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette trumpeted in 1936, “and you will find that they are either manufactured by the Heppenstall Company or from its dies.” Even for those who didn’t own their own ships or lacked the will and SCUBA gear to examine their propellers life in the 1930s would apparently have been meaningless without Heppenstall. “Your food is delivered in cans sheared by [Heppenstall] knives and coated by Heppenstall tinning rolls,” the P-G continued. “Your frying pans, bath fixtures and even the steel sash in your windows are formed in [Heppenstall] dies.”

Founded in 1889 as Samuel Treathway and Co., the firm started out serving the steel industry by making steel rolls (to flatten out ingots into slabs) and shear knives, to cut the slabs to the desired size. But under the guidance of the Heppenstall family, the company diversified most notably into razors. According to a 1932 account, a vice president decided that Heppenstall should get into the business “after scraping his face with a dull safety razor blade.” This was a public service indeed: Previously, 80 percent of razor blades had come from Sweden, making us vulnerable to the wily Swedes and their unpredictable demands.

[pghcitypaper]

These old photos are a small sampling of what is available on hagley.

They used to have two blast furnaces. I wonder when they had them.

General view of works. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_001. Box 1, Folder 1, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_001.

9,000 ton hydraulic forging press. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_003. Box 1, Folder 1, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_003.

Group of steam hammers. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_012. Box 1, Folder 1, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_012.

Gun tempering plant No.3. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_022. Box 1, Folder 2, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_022.

Steel rifles on naval mounts. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_064. Box 1, Folder 4, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_064.

Power-house. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_025. Box 1, Folder 2, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_025.

This looks much more modern than the above equipment.

Power-house. Midvale Steel Company plant album (Accession 1974.362). 1905 (year approximate). AVD_1974362_024. Box 1, Folder 2, Audiovisual Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807. Accessed 2025-11-18; https://digital.hagley.org/AVD_1974362_024.

The buildings now house the National Robotics Engineering Center.

Photo, Feb 2025