Wheeling Steel (Wheeling, WV)

Today we're going to talk about Wheeling Steel. It's easy to argue that this company, in some ways, spanned the better part of 160 years, its origins dating back to 1852. This isn't the type of company you can trace back to a larger-than-life founder or a single ‘eureka’ moment. In many ways, it was born out of the Nail City itself, formed through a merger of the three largest independent iron and steel companies in Wheeling in 1920.

It was named Wheeling Steel for a reason. In its first decade, it employed more than 17,000 people. It had operations spanning almost 30 miles up and down the Ohio River. It was the third largest steel manufacturing company in the country.

But as we'll hear today, it didn't just have recognition in the industry. Its name was also known all over the country. In this episode, we're going to zoom in on three stories from different areas of wheeling steel and discuss what they can teach us both about business and about being a business in a small city.

Background (1:30)

Chapter 1: Down to the Last Penny (16:00)

How LaBelle Iron Works set themselves apart from all of their competitors by how they did financial management

Chapter 2: Steely Resolve (52:35)

How two men in particular fought through tough local pressure to innovate new products and processes that kept Wheeling Steel alive

Chapter 3: It’s Wheeling Steel! (01:16:40)

How the musical skills of Wheeling Steel's employees gave it an advantage in the mills

Wrap-Up & Takeaways (01:32:45)

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Resources:

• Wheeling Steel

  • Iron & Steel in Wheeling, WV

  • Principo to Wheeling

  • Wheeling Steel’s Roots Still Run Deep in the Ohio Valley

  • Wheeling Steel Corp. is Major Producer (1956)

  • June 21, 1920: Wheeling Steel Created

  • The Romance of Iron & Steel

  • Wheeling Corrugating: Making Metalware of Merit, 1931

  • 1934 Wheeling Steel: Ductillite Vintage Print Ad

  • 1934 Ad Wheeling Steel Ductillite Tin

  • 1934 Wheeling Steel: Ductillite SS Bremen Vintage Print Ad

  • The manufacturing route for tinplate products

  • History of Iron and Steelmaking in the United States

• La Belle Iron Works

  • La Belle Iron Works / Cut Nails

  • Nailing Down History, La Belle Company Records, 

  • Map location

  • Historic American Engineering Record La Belle Iron Works (La Belle Cut Nail Works) - August 1990

    • Process Drawings

  • From Mine to Market, 1926 - images from book

  • National Register of Historic Places Registration Form - La Belle Iron Works

  • September 30, 2010: Wheeling-La Belle Nail Company Closes

  • Balloon Framing

  • La Belle Nail Making Process

  • Wheeling (-Pittsburgh) Steel

  • How Wire Nails are Made

  • Technology, Cost Accounting, and Management in the Cut Nail Industry of the Upper Ohio Valley, 1865-90 

  • The Cut Nail Industry 1776-1890 Technology, Cost Accounting and the Upper Ohio Valley (Dissertation, 1979)

  • Wheeling Iron Works (Top Mill) Price List 1836

• It’s Wheeling Steel Radio Show

  • “It’s Wheeling Steel” Radio Show–A Popular National Radio Show Broadcast from the Heart of Wheeling

  • The Musical Steelmakers

  • It’s Wheeling Steel Photos

  • Wheeling Steelmakers @ World’s Fair

  • Wheeling Steelmakers in NYTimes

  • Earl Summers Jr. Audio Interview

  • Wheeling Hall of Fame: Earl Summers, Jr.

  • Music Under the Stars: Celebrate 90 Years With Ninth Music Director

  • Transcript of interview with Earl Summers, Jr., March 2, 1992, for the film "West Virginia"

  • Radio: Musical Steelmakers (Time)

  • Wheeling Steel Radio Program Sound Recordings

  • "It's Wheeling Steel" radio program excerpts 

  • On January 2, 1938, "It's Wheeling Steel," a live radio program from the Capitol Theater in Wheeling, premiered coast to coast on the Mutual Network.

  • Recalling It’s Wheeling Steel

  • The Mabel Files: WWVA Jamboree and “It’s Wheeling Steel”

  • Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (pg24)