Sharon Steel Corporation - World War II and Expansion

World War II and Expansion

With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry into World War II of the United States, the Sharon Steel Corporation, already actively engaged in the production of high carbon steel, various alloy steels, stainless steel, a variety of coated products, and other elements important to the war effort, became one of the leading producers of helmet steel, flak curtain and aircraft armor steels, bullet core steel, and other steel products used in almost every branch of the service. The organization established an enviable record for performance and service to the government in time of war. In this time of stress, new production records were established, and the company went through the entire period of the war without a slowdown, sitdown, shutdown, or strike.

Immediately after the war, the Sharon Steel Corporation resumed its long-range program of development and expansion. On April 1, 1945, Mr. Henry Roemer arranged to purchase the Detroit Seamless Steel Tubes Company, a seamless tube producer of Detroit.

On November 9, 1945, Mr. Roemer concluded his negotiations with the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company for the purchase of their Farrell Works, a steel producing property located immediately adjacent to the finishing mills of the company at Sharon. This new property included two 900-ton blast furnaces with ore handling equipment, sintering plants, and other facilities necessary to the production of approximately 560,000 tons of ingots, a 36” blooming mill, 24” and 18” bar mills, together with excellent shop facilities for maintenance; a complete railroad system with all equipment, and the very large plant known as the Farrell Ordnance Works, all of which have added greatly to the capacity and ability of Sharon Steel to produce steel at lower costs.

Early in 1946 the Sharon Steel Corporation expanded further by concluding a lease with the United States government for a byproduct coke plant located at Fairmont, West Virginia, and in October of the same year by the purchase of the Bopp Steel Corporation and its subsidiary Steel Trucking, Inc., located at Dearburn, Michigan. In December, 1946, the company acquired the Brainard Steel Corporation of Warren, Ohio, an important producer of cold roll steel, electro-galvanizing products, welded steel tubing, and the famous Brainard steel strapping. This plant has an annual capacity of 85,000 tons of specialty steel products.

In January, 1947, Sharonsteel Products Company of Michigan had established a steel warehouse in Detroit. This action was followed in August, 1947, with the organization of a similar warehouse in Farrell, Pennsylvania, known as the Sharonsteel Products Company.