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The history research was done by Margaret Sherrill Cox, wife of Kevin W. Cox, an employee of the steel plant. The research was done for the celebration of their centennial on September 8 and 9, 1989.

It all started in 1885 when a man named W. A. McCool operated a small machine shop at Perrysville, Pennsylvania and was constantly looking for new products that would make a profit for him and became interested in road signs. Mr. McCool heard of stamped letters being made at New Brighton, Pennsylvania and went there and found them to be just what he wanted and took some back to Perrysville with him. He found it necessary to construct a frame to hold the letters. He saw that it had to be a U-shaped frame which the letters -could slip into. After making frames various ways, he made a die that would make a flat Piece of steel into the U-shape. The road signs became a success and Mr. McCool saw the need to manufacture this U-shape and took his idea to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania to Hartman Steel located on the Marginal Railroad which was built connecting factories along Walnut Bottom Run with Pennsylvania lines. Mr. Hartman liked what he saw so he furnished a small brick building at the south end of the boiler house of the Hartman Steel Company for Mr. McCool's experiments. Despite many troubles and problems the little shop was turning out very satisfactory cold drawn bars. The perfection of this frame was the birth of the drawing of cold steel bars.

Drawing of softer metals through dies was done as early as 1000 A.D. But with cold drawing of steel bars there were big problems. Mr. McCool thought that in drawing large bars as they came from the mills, having short kinks on them would draw off the high spot, leaving a hollow on the opposite side and that it would be necessary to straighten the bars before drawing them. A way to straighten and to draw these bars had to be designed. These machines were built by the Wm. Todd Engineering Co. of Youngstown, Ohio.

The original drawing machine had no punch head on it. First the bar was heat rolled. This left a scale on the bars because of the hot rolling process. The scale on the bars had to be removed by acid. This was known as Pickling.

Pickling tubs and tanks had to be built in a way so it would hold hot acid, and be big enough to put the bars into to remove the scale. The Pickling room was located at the north end of the shop in a lean-to building. The first tub was just a built-up tub of very fight materials and was not a success. The next tub was made from a solid oak log dug out. The acid and hot water split it all to pieces. Next a large stone was made into a tub and lined with wood. This did not work.

After trying various ways they decided the first way was best. Another tub was made much heavier than the first one and lined with two-inch planks. This worked. Mr. Leopold K. Hodel pickled the first steel that went through the plant. He became foreman in that department. To all his friends he was known as Charlie.

The first bars rolled for cold drawing were rolled by Mr. Dan Hanrahan and were hand rounds. When the bar reached the finishing set it had to be turned over-fill up and down and passed through the rolls. On the up side of the mill it passed through a box filled with scale., A laborer stood there and shoveled the scale on top-of the bar. The scale was kept wet at all times. The catcher on the up side of the mill put the end of the bar over the top. Thefinisher caught the bar with his tongs, turned the over-fill top and bottom, ran backwards as fast as he could the length of the bar, holding the bar in this position until it had passed through the rolls again. This had to be done several times to eliminate the over-fill and give it the right size. The bar, while still hot, was run to the flat- straightener, which Mr. McCool had designed.

To use the flat straightener about five or six feet of the end was stuck in the machine, the top slab was lowered onto it and moved back and forth across the bottom slab, rotating the bar. Pressure on the top slab was relieved and the bar shoved through another five or six feet and the same operation took place. The bar came out of the machine straight. Next they were pointed on an old pipe-threading machine by Snooty McFall, the operator.

The next step was to draw the steel through a die. There were dies to be made. They had to get the right kind of steel to make the drawing dies. They were made from a solid piece of steel. After two days on a die, it would crack in the hardening. After repeated breakings, Steve Moltrup, an employee of the plant came out with a new segment die which worked good. The idea was that the strain of 'pulling a bar through a the with a 32nd or 16th draft would make it perfectly straight. It didn't happen. Mr. McCool came up with another idea. He thought that the cooling of the bars had something to do with the crookedness. He prepared more bars and slipped a dozen or more into a six-inch pipe, to which he attached a tackle, then hoisted it up to the cords of the mill and left them there until they were cool. No difference was. noted after these bars were then drawn.

It took months of heart-breaking work only to find that they had to have straighteners for the finished stock. .

A large punch straightener in the old roiling mill was copied and another machine built. All the power was taken from overhead, It was equipped with brackets and idlers to get the power to the test rolls. This would compare with the linotype machine and did the trick. At the same time a rotary straightener was being developed. All worked well and Cold Drawn Steel was on its way. By 1888 a very satisfactory product was being made. There were 75 men employed and the shops annual capacity was about 240 tons of cold drawn bars.

In 1888 Andrew Carnegie bought the Hartman Steel Company taking over all facilities of the plant except the department set up to make the Cold Drawn Steel in the small brick building. With the sale of the Hartman plant a new location was needed. A meeting was set up for March 30, 1889 with some businessmen from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Beaver Valley with Mr. McCool.

Mr. McCool told them about his means of Cold Drawing which he had developed and wanted them to organize a company to manufacture the finished steel products by means of Cold Drawing. They said they would think about it.

On May 6, 1889 with the capital of $100,000.00 and chartered by the state of Pennsylvania the new company of UNION DRAWN STEEL was organized. On August 15, 1889 the first shipment of the Cold Drawn Steel from UNION DRAWN STEEL COMPANY was made.

This was the beginning of a new era for the steel industry. H. W. Hartman was President, W. H. Anderson was Secretary/Treasurer, and W. A. McCool was General Manager.

Sometime during the year 1890 a proposal moving the plant from Beaver Falls to Ellwood City was made. The proposal created such confusion within the organization, that it resulted in the withdrawal of Mr. Hartman and the sale of his interest to the Economy Society and Mr. Beegle became a stockholder.

Mr. John Duss and Mr. Beegle was placed at the head of the company. Under Mr. Beegle's able management of the business end, the out-put increased. During the next two years the company business grew with an increase in the capital stock to $200,000.00.

In 1892 the Economy Society lost interest in the plant and their holdings in Union Drawn Steel Company was purchased by the Estate of Daniel R. Davidson of Beaver, Pennsylvania. Mr. James J. Davidson was made Vice President. Mr. W. A. McCool succeeded Mr. Duss as President and Mr. F. N. Beegle was made Secretary and Treasurer. In 1895 the Davidson interests acquired the holdings of Mr. W. A. McCool thus giving the Davidson family controlling interest in the Union Drawn Steel Company. Mr. Charles Davidson was elected Vice President and his brother James was made President.

Do to increased business there was an immediate need for another location. A site was selected at Third Street and Seventh Avenue, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in the vicinity of the Blackhorse Inn, The Sterling House Hotel and the Beaver Falls Cutlery Works. The location selected was an ideal one. Facing the Beaver River which furnished adequate power and served by both the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroads. A mill was erected, fully equipped and in production by August 1899 and is still the site of the plant today. Part of the plant's machinery was a 750-horsepower McIntosh and Hemphill engine designed with Mr. McCool's ideas. This engine ran a wormdriven drawing machine. It's been said that the McIntosh and Hemphill engine, an old steamer, had no exhaust head on it and could be heard as far as two and a half miles away. There was also a 12 inch combination mill and a nine-inch mill, and later changed to 10 inch and an old Garrett Rod Mill. One of the four inch drawing machines required five men to operate it. The vibration affected everything within twenty to thirty feet of the machine and the men had to refrain from chewing tobacco and also remove their false teeth.

The hourly rate of pay was a lot in those days. The operator got 17 1/2c, the helpers got 12 1/2C and the greaser got 10c a day. The workday was 10 hours and 6 days a week.

The Cold Drawn Steel was referred to as a Great Need in a New Age.

In 1902 the Union Drawn Steel Company purchased the Old Nail Mill property in the vicinity of Seventh Avenue and Third Street. With this purchase the Finished Specialty and Machine Company was organized and it employed about fifty men.

In 1903 James Davidson retired and Mr. F. N. Beegle was chosen to the Presidency.

In 1909 the mill was getting more business creating the need to erect a second unit on the same location. Making two separate units on this location. In April 1910 fire destroyed the old mill but not the new part. Later a new modern unit replaced the one destroyed by the fire.

The Albert M. Allen Construction Company Engineers of Cleveland, Ohio, was in charge of all the work. They had the Misler & Muller Company of Cleveland, Ohio, rebuild the foundation and the Berger Company of Akron, Ohio, built the structural iron works. The new building was built larger than the old structure and built entirely of steel and cement.

The new structure was built next to the part that had been built in 1909. The old office building was torn down, and the new factory was extended over the site and on a line with Seventh Avenue. The Knott Harker & Company produced casting for the new draw benches of the cold drawn machines after the fire.

In 1912 the company obtained another mill located at Fifteenth Street and Tenth Avenue, Beaver Falls, and was called the #2 plant.

In July 1916 Mr. F. Beegle purchased the Knott Harker & Company and the name was changed to Ideal Foundry. It was located on 10th Avenue North of Eighth Street. It was the foundry which produced the castings for the draw benches at the time of the fire. It also produced mantels, grates and all types of fireplace equipment.

In 1917 a mill was erected in Gary, Indiana to serve the Mid-West territory.

On March 8, 1918, President Taft visited the city of Beaver Falls and while there he toured the Union Drawn Steel Plant and attended a dinner at the home of Mr. Fred N. Beegle of Patterson Heights, the president of Union Drawn Steel Company.

By 1924 more than 1,910,000 tons of finished steel had been produced by the Union Drawn Steel Company during the first thirty- five years. Since the first shipment of Cold Drawn Steel, there has been an increasing growth in the company's business and it was known as the leading producer in the Cold Drawn Steel Industry. The company had warehouses at New York, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Cincinnati where ' stocks of finished material were kept to better serve the customers in these districts. Sales offices were also located at Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, San Francisco and London, England.

From the original $100,000.00 capital investment it has grown by virtue of the quality of its products to $6,000,000.00 capitalization in 1924 and employed about 750 men. The products of the Union Drawn Steel Company was marketed the world over.

In the first part of 1925 the Union Drawn Steel Company bought and merged with the Fasses Steel Works plant at Hartford, Conn.

On March 19,1925 the Union Drawn Steel Company mergers with the Peerless Drawn Steel of Massillon, Ohio, and also with the Standard Gauge Steel Company in Beaver Falk, Pennsylvania, giving the organization complete control of the plants. The standard Gauge Steel Plant was called the #3 plant.

The Standard Gauge Steel Company was the result of the merging of the Standard Gauge, (plant located South of the Beaver Falls end of the 10th Street Bridge, later occupied by the Planing Mill and the Casket Works) with the. Standard Connecting Rod Company. (plant located at First Avenue just west of the I I th Street Station of the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, later was the warehouse for Gross Furniture)

Mr. E. S. Hoopers was the principal stockholder and a director and succeeded Mr. F.* N. Beegle as president. Mr. L. R. Davidson was Chairman of the Board.

Sometime in 1929 or 1930 the Union Drawn Steel Company became a subsidiary of the Republic Iron and Steel Company. At that time the Union Drawn Steel Company was the largest producer of the cold finished bars in the United States. When the Republic Iron and Steel acquired Union Drawn Steel it also acquired the Trumbull Steel Company and the Trumbull Cliffs Furnace Company of Warren, Ohio, and the Steel and Tubs in Cleveland, Ohio. Following this merger the organization of the Republic Steel Company was established with the headquarters at the Union Drawn Steel in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. The company's steel capacity was 4,900,000 tons a year.

Somewhere around 1931 the Union Drawn Steel Company occupied a splendid office building at Seventh Avenue and Fourth Street, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. (The First National Bank, The Ohnezeits Moving and Storage and now the Hamilton Tools.) The executive offices of the company were there. This was the most splendidly equipped office building in the Beaver Valley.

The Union Drawn Steel Company was called one of the greatest steel companies in the world. The UDS had become a symbol in the steel trade for a high-quality, accurate and dependable product.

In 1933 with the beginning of the Unions in the Steel Plants the Union Drawn Steel Company, in order to keep the unions out, formed an Employee Representation Plan. There. was three or four men chosen from each plant to represent 411 the men from their plant. John Gumpf was Chairman. Robert Carver, Vice Chairman. Joseph G. Dougherty, Secretary and Elmer. Knoss, Management Representative. These men were to help solve any problems between the plant and the men that may occur, about safety, working conditions, pay or just about anything at all. This worked to keep the Union out for awhile but in 1944 the Union came into the Union Drawn Steel Company.

In 1935 Carrigan-McKinney Steel Company of Cleveland, Ohio was acquired.

In 1937 the Gulf States Steel Company in Gadsden, Ala. was. acquired and the Union Drawn Steel Company was made a division of the Republic Steel Corporation. By January, 1938 Republic Steel Company's capacity was 7,280,000 tons.

In 1941 with World War II the capacity continued to go up. Both men and women worked there. In 1947 a major expansion just prior to and during the Korean War brought the company's annual steel capacity to 10,262,000 tons.

In 1945 the Union Drawn Republic Steel of Beaver Falls stopped producing its own Electricity from the Beaver River and started getting it from Duquesne Power Company. They still made a small amount of their own electrical power until about 1970.

In 1980 there were 239 employees and they produced 80,000 tons of steel in the Beaver Falls plant alone.

In 1982 the Republic Steel was ranked fourth largest steel producer in the nation.

In 1984 with the merging of Republic and J & L Steel, the LTV Steel

Company was formed. This was the birth of the nation's, second largest steel maker.

In September 1985 when the economy worsened, the Beaver Falls LTV Plant shut down. This was the first time in the plant's history that it had shut down completely. There was always a few men that kept working, even during the depression.

January 1986 the plant began operating again and is still going strong. There is now 140 employees working 5 and 6 days a week, producing about 42,000 tons of steel annually.

In 1988 the LTV Steel Company put the Beaver, Falls Plant up for sale.

The plant produces unique shapes. Rounds, Hexagons, Squares and Flats used all over the world, in everything from tools, kitchen appliances, to heavy equipment. It was the first in the nation to shape products and many of them are not duplicated anywhere else.

Just about everyone employed in the plant says its a family tradition that their father and grandfather or some relative worked there years ago. Some of the machinery is still the original equipment they had used.

Since the first successful Cold Drawing of Carbon Steel many changes have taken place. The use of high speed automatic machinery and mass production and the product has branched out into many fields. One thing has not changed is the WORKING MEN. Its the WORKING MEN of the one hundred years that has made the plant what it is today.

Cold rolling was known as early as 1747. John Westwood of England took out a patent for cold rolling iron in 1783.

Cold rolling as an industry originated in Germany in 1830.

Cold Drawing in Beaver Falls started in 1885 by W. A. McCool.

1885 W. A. McCool
Hegry W. Hartman
Leopold K. Hodel
Steve Moltrup
W. H. Anderton
John Duss
Frederick N. Beegle

1889 President, Henry W. Hartman
SecgOtsky and Treasurer, W. H.~ Anderton
Ge~eial Manager, W. A. McCool
Superintendent, Frank B. Maloney
Mechanical Engineer, William G. Algeo

1893 Daniel Davidson estate of Beaver, PA
James J. Davidson
Charles Davidson

1894 President and Manager, W. A. McCool
Vice President, T. J. Davidson
Secretary and Treasurer, F. N. Beegle
Manufacturers Cold Die, Rolled Sheet, Iron Shafting.
Office and works 300-302 Seventh Ave.

1898 President, Chas. Davidson
Vice President, Frederick Davidson
Secretary and Treasurer, F. N. Beegle
Manufacturers Rounds, flats, squares, hexagons, sheets,
shapes. Office and works 300-400 Seventh Ave.

1902 President, F. N. Beegle
Secretary and Treasurer, Frederick Davidson
Manufacturers Cold Die, rolled steel, iron shafting,
piston rods, pump rods, slides and shapes.
Office and works 3004M Seventh Ave.
Telephone Works 74 Office 106

1912 President, F. N. Beegle
Secretary and, Treasurer, Frederick Davidson
Office 401 7th Ave.
Plant # I 3004W 7th Ave.
Plant # 2 Corner 10th Ave. and 15th St.

1915 President, F. N. Beegle
Secretary, E. C. Rebeske
Treasurer, P. J. Davidson
Office 401 7th Ave.
Plant # 1 300-400 7th Ave.
Plant # 2 Comer 10th Ave. and 15th St.

1922 President, F. N. Beegle
Vice President, W. B. Tood
Secretary and Treasurer, E. C. Rebeske
Manufacturers Cold Die rolled steel, iron shafting,
piston rods, pump rods, slides and shapes.
Office 401 7th Ave.
Plant # 1 300400 7th Ave.
Plant # 2 Corner 10th Ave. and 15th St.
Western Plant Gary, Ind.

1924 President Louis R. Davidson
Vice President and General, Manager, E. S. Hoops
Second Vice President, Cliff H. Beegle
Secretary and Treasurer, Edward C. Rebeske
General Superintendent, John Shillito
Foreman of Pickle Room, Leopold K. Hodel
Selling Agent, Mr. Talbott

1925 President, Louis R. Davidson
Vice President and General Manager, E. S. Hoops
Secretary and Treasurer, E. C. Rebeske
General Superintendent, Cliff H. Beegle and John Shillito
Manufacturers of cold drawn and turned polished steel,
shafting, free cutting screw steel, rounds, squares, flats,
hexagons and special shapes. Bessemer, Open Hearth,
Ally and Electric steels.

1925 Office 401 7th Ave.
Plant # I 6th Ave. and 3rd St.
Plant # 2 10th Ave. and 15th St.
Plant # 3 1 Ith St. and I st Ave.
Western Plant Gary, Ind.

1927 President and General Manager, E. S. Hoopes
Vice President and Asst. Secretary, C. H. Beegle
Chairman of the Board, L. R. Davidson
Vice President in charge of Operations, L. E. Creighton,

Vice President in charge of Sales, G. B. Mitchell
Secretary and Treasurer, E. C. Rebeske Asst.
Treasurer, H. A. May
Manufacturers cold drawn and turned polished steel shafting,
free cutting screw steel, rounds, squares, flats,
hexagons and special shapes, Bessemer, open hearth,
ally and electric steel, crank shafts, elevator guides.
Phone # 2300 to 2308
Office 401 7th Ave. Works Plant # 1 6th Ave. and 3rd St.
#3 IlthSt. and IstAve.
Plant Gary, Ind., Massillon Ohio, Hartford, Conn.

1931 President, B. F. Fairless
Vice President and General Manager, L. E. Cheightor
Secretary and Treasurer, J. P. Moseley
Asst. Secretary, E. M. Griffith
Asst. Treasurer, G. W. Werty
Office 401 7th Ave.
Plant # I 6th Ave. and 3rd St.
Plant # 3 11 th St. and I st Ave.
Phone #2300

1939 Superintendent A. C. Belles
Office and plant 6th Ave. and Comer 4th St.
Phone # Beaver Falls 2300

1947 Manager A. C. Belles
Office 220 7th Ave.
Phone # 23W 320 6th Ave.
Power Plant 601-11 4th

I wish to thank everyone who helped me put this little bit of
history together. Without you it would not have been possible.
I talked to and met a lot of nice people. I especially want to thank
Mr. John Gumpf of Beaver Falls, PA.

At the time I started this history, I met Mr. Gumpf, a retiree from
the Union Drawn Republic Steel. Mr. Gumpf was the oldest living
retiree from the plant. He started to work there in 1911 at the age of
14, worked for a number of years, then left and came back in 1920,
and worked there until his retirement, in 1962. He was able to tell me
things about the mill from an inside view. From the way he told it, I
was right there with him inside the mill helping him relive his life working there, his good times and his bad times. (He had lost some fingers from one
hand while working there.) He provided me with a lot of history as well
as with some pictures. Thanks to Mr.Gumpf and all the rest, the history of the Beaver Falls First Cold Drawn Steel Plant will be preserved for years to come.

Mr. John Gumpf passed away an July 1, 1989. He way over 9l years of age. He had spent 45 years with the Union Drawn Republic Steel Plant.

--Margaret Cox

Research Center for Beaver County
Newspapers
Book of Biographies leading citizens of Beaver County, PA
1985 Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
Thomas Register Catalog file,75th edition
Company profile n, to z # 13
Union Drawn souvenir books from open house.
Magazines
Phone books
Carnegie Library, Beaver Falls and Perrysville
Old Economy
Beaver Falls area Centennial 1868-1968 book
Classified Business Directory
Beaver Falls Directory County Survey
Appendix # VIII Vol. #2
Union Drawn record books
Employees of Union Drawn Steel, Republic Steel and, LTV Steel Company.
People from the Beaver Falls Area