Republic Steel

Infobox Defunct company
company_name = Republic Iron and Steel Company
company_
company_type = Public
foundation = Youngstown, Ohio, 1899 by Cyrus Eaton
location = Youngstown, Ohio
defunct = 1984
fate = Assets merged with LTV, subsequently acquired by International Steel Group (ISG), acquired again by Mittal Steel, now part of Arcelor Mittal
industry = Steel
products = Steel

Republic Steel was once the third largest steel producer in the United States.

The Republic Iron and Steel Company was founded in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1899.

In 1927 Cyrus S. Eaton acquired and combined Republic with several other small steel companies, with the goal of becoming large enough to rival the United States Steel Corporation. The Great Depression made things difficult, but eventually the newly named Republic Steel Corporation became America's third largest steel company, trailing only U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, it acquired Bourne-Fuller Steel in the 1930s. [http://jcgi.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,929175,00.html]

Although relations improved after World War II, Republic Steel was known for its labor problems during the Depression. On Memorial Day, May 26, 1937, a strike escalated into a massacre [ [http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/memorial.htm Memorial Day Massacre of 1937] at the [http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/ Illinois Labor History Society] ] , documented by the 1937 film "Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage".

Republic Steel was one of the last major steel firms to use low-phosphorus Adirondack magnetites, operating the Chateaugay Ore & Iron Company in Lyon Mountain, New York from 1939-1967. The Chateaugay mine was one of the deepest commercial iron ore mines in the United States, with stopes as much as 3,500 feet (1,050 m) below the surface.

Republic Steel remained prosperous until the 1970s, when rising foreign imports, labor costs, and other issues caused severe stress at Republic and throughout the American steel industry.

In 1984, Republic merged into the Jones and Laughlin Steel subsidiary of the LTV Corporation, with the new entity being known as LTV Steel.

In December 2001 LTV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and a few months later International Steel Group purchased LTV.

Trivia

*Republic Steel suggested to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1962 that the team use the steelmark logo as a helmet decal. (Republic co-owned the rights to the logo at the time.) The logo quickly became popular with Steeler fans, and due largely in part to that team's dominance in the 1970s, is now one of the most familiar logos in all of sports. Ironically, Republic Steel was still based in Cleveland during this time, which is the home to the Steelers arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns.

External references

* [http://www.wrhs.org/crawford/template.asp?id=411 Western Reserve Historical Society history]

References