Skip to main content

Blast furnace photograph interior photograph

View
@ Ohio History Connection

Ohio Federal Writers' Project

Description

Dated ca. 1930-1943, this photograph shows a blast furnace delivering molten metal to the open hearth furnace in an unidentified Ohio factory. This could be one of any number of steel mills in Ohio. A note on the photograph's reverse reads "Hot metal direct from the blast furnace materially reduces the time required to make a heat in the open hearth furnace. Quite a saving in fuel over the old methods of charging cold pig iron." In the early nineteenth century, there were a number of furnaces in Ohio that processed iron. These small industries were made possible by local iron ore deposits in southern and eastern Ohio. In addition, some parts of Ohio also had coal deposits that could be used to fuel furnaces. Because of their proximity to the state's iron manufacturing, by the second half of the nineteenth century communities such as Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Youngstown had begun to emerge as major industrial cities. Railroads also encouraged the growth of the iron industry. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), iron manufacturers in Ohio began to introduce new processes to refine iron ore. The resulting product was steel, which was much stronger and more versatile than iron; Ohio companies were quick to adopt new technology and as a result, Ohio became the second largest producer of steel in the nation by the 1890's. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the rapid growth of some steel companies led to a wave of mergers that created big...
Type:
Image
Format:
Picture
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

Ohio History Connection

Record Harvested From

Ohio Digital Network