Michael Matland posted five images with the comment: "Midvale Steel, Nicetown, PA (just northwest of downtown Philadelphia) As the story goes, they were not a tonnage plant, but one that specialized in metallurgy and hardened steels for military applications. Closed down in 1976. (Bonus, the Budd Stainless steel "shotweld plant is next door, built all 642 Amtrak Amfleet cars, and Tasty cake is two blocks south.) Midvale #3, Budd #2, Tasty Cake #1 on topo. (credit for photos in yellow."
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The north/south tracks under #2 were Pennsy and the rest of the tracks were Reading.
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| 5 Dennis DeBruler: 1952 Germantown Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
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| explorepahistory, Courtesy of Hagley Museum and Library "Since founding his own firm in 1847, Sellers had pioneered a number of innovations -including a standard thread for machine screws and bolts. By the 1870s he was possibly the country's leading figure in machine tools, the heavy-duty lathes, planers, boring machines, and other metal-cutting machines that constituted the guts of modern industry." The company pioneered the use of African-American workers in a steel mill. |
Frederick Taylor developed his pioneering labor efficiency ideas (time and motion studies) in this plant. And Henry Gantt developed the Gantt Chart for project planning. [ajourneyintothepast] (I can remember doing Gantt Charts at work, but I can't remember what they looked like.)
These two men, along with others, developed "scientific management." [jstor]
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| SteelMuseum, 1927, Hagley Museum and Library Frederick Taylor also invented high-speed tool steel. |
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| “Aerial view of the Midvale Steel Works in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia,” Goin' North, accessed January 17, 2024, https://goinnorth.org/items/show/570. c. 1928 |
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| Kheel Center Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Title: Midvale Steel Company machine shop designed by Frederick W. Taylor in 1883, completed in 1884 seen looking North towards Wayne junction of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, ca. 1884 Date: 1884 Estimated |
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| jstor |
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Unknown. (ca. 1887). A 12 inch double end boring lathe in the new Midvale Steel Company machine shop, ca. 1887. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University. https://jstor.org/stable/community.502720 1 of 264 photos |
They prospered during the wars and fell on hard times after the wars.
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Unknown. (ca. 1889). Eight inch navy tube forged to octagon on Midvale Steel Company steam hammer #10, ca. 1889. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University. https://jstor.org/stable/community.502714 |
They had an electric furnace as early as 1946.
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Mudd, John (Midvale Company Photographer). (ca. 1946). Midvale Company electric furnace, 1946. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University. https://jstor.org/stable/community.504250 |
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| 7:52 video @ 5:31 |
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