Duluth Works - The Minnesota Steel Company

The Minnesota Steel Company

In 1907, U.S. Steel agreed to build an integrated steel plant in the vicinity of Duluth, Minnesota, which was 70 miles (110 km) from the largest iron ore source in the United States, the Iron Range. U.S. Steel theorized that by using the Great Lakes it could haul limestone and coal to Duluth from the lower lakes, and return with a load of iron ore from Minnesota, which they previously only hauled from Minnesota, returning empty. It was thought that by using this process, Duluth would become a great center of manufacturing in the United States.

In June 1907, U.S. Steel incorporated the Minnesota Steel Company, a wholly owned subsidiary, to manage and care for all plans of the future developments of the steel plant. This included homes for its new employees, to be built adjacent to its new plant in Duluth, which eventually became known as Morgan Park, named for J.P. Morgan, chairman of the board for U.S. Steel. This innovative planned company town was only open to employees of the Minnesota Steel Company and later, the companies that followed.

Although a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, which at the time was headquartered in New York City, the Minnesota Steel Company's general offices were located in Morgan Park, in a building adjacent to the gate of the plant. The officers of the Minnesota Steel Company all held positions within the U.S. Steel Corporation, much as did Minnesota Steel's sister companies of Carnegie-Illinois Steel and the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company.