"Allegheny Steel: District's Most Up And Coming Steel Pioneer Elects Second President in 37 Years." From The Bulletin Index, 6 May 1937.

Brackenridge, Pa. (pop: 6,250) is like its neighbors Natrona, Harrison Township and Leechburg, an industrial town of faded, two-story frame houses, churches, restaurants (beer 5c), dingy pool halls, small shops, a drug store or two, surgically clean, cool and dark inside. There are the inevitable 3-story, yellow-brick buildings, one housing the volunteer fire department, others housing the usual local lodges--—Eagles, Elk, Moose. But the mainspring of Brackenridge for all that is Allegheny Steel Corp. Some 22-mi. upstream from Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River, the town straggles for two winding miles along a narrow strip on the river bank between the brown water and the yellow, eroded hills. One-half of that distance is dark mill roofs, blackened stacks and yards of glistening steel scrap—the shining property of shining enterprising Allegheny Steel Corp., No. 1 U. S. producer of stainless and specialty steels, and a tight little independent.

Allegheny Steel was founded at the century's turn by the late revered Harry Sheldon with his own savings as a roller with Kirkpatrick & Co. and capital from his father-in-law Capt. Alfred Hicks, owner of large coal lands, together totaling $300,000. Allegheny turned out as neatly prosperous a company as may be found anywhere in the U.S. It has never missed a quarterly dividend on its preferred, even with its single Depression deficit in 1932, never borrowed a nickel more than could be legitimately handled, is today a model of sound structure and independent financial management. As a specialty steel company it has never cherished gigantic ambitions, expanded only as business demanded, always in the immediate neighborhood of the parent plant. When Harry Sheldon started out, Natrona and Brackenridge boasted five other mills-- Interstate, Reliance, West Penn, Western Tool & Forge. But between 1900 and 1920 Allegheny Steel swallowed them all, developed a single plant capable of turning out 500,000 ingot tons yearly. Last August's acquisition of West Leechburg, strip steel rollers 12-mi. up the river, brought Allegheny's total land holdings to 150 acres, added 1,700 millmen to the 5,500 already employed in its Brackenridge works and upped corporate valuation to $28,000,000.

Soundness with Allegheny Steel has never been synonymous with mossback over-caution, for in its 37 years the company has consistently pioneered untried fields, fostered new uses for its steels in cutlery, desks, automobiles, kitchen sinks and a hundred other unorthodox objects, stepped out with the first radio program to be sponsored by a steel company. Foundation of Allegheny's latter day prosperity was laid in 1923 with the acquisition from the Chemical Foundation, Inc. of patents for stainless steel previously held by German manufacturers and seized by the government as part of its wartime confiscation program. A compound containing 8% nickel, 18% chromium, stainless steel is tougher than ordinary steels, surpasses them in tensile strength and endurance. Marketed as "Allegheny Metal,"* using the slogan "It can't wear off and it won't wear out," the company's brand of stainless steel has snared the lion's share of the U. S. market, currently constitutes the major part of its $45,000,000 average annual sales.

Well aware of Allegheny Steel's importance to their personal fortunes and proud of its record are inhabitants of the four river towns. Last September 37,000 of them signalized their regard for the company and its president by turning out for a celebration unique in the annals of American industry. By proclamation of borough presidents, one day was set aside as Sheldon Day. Shops and schools closed. Five bands, two bugle corps tootled through the main streets of Tarentum in a noontide parade of Allegheny workers, spick & span in white shirts and black ties. At 2 p.m. Radio Commentators Lo w e l l Thomas, Ford Bond and John B. Kennedy spoke from a flag-draped stand in over-flowing Har-Brack Union High School athletic field, read into an NBC microphone telegrams and letters of congratulation from Steelmen Ernest Tener Weir, Charles Michael Schwab, et al. Founder Sheldon, stooped under the weight of his 75 years and within him the germs of the illness which three months later were to cause his death, replied to well-wishers in a short speech.

Stagemaster of Sheldon Day and longtime friend, righthand of Harry Sheldon and in later years active head of the company was a hard-working, high-strung, greying man of 56 named William Frank Detwiler, whose title was executive vice president & general manager. When President Sheldon passed on, Allegheny Steel had a yawning vacancy to fill. The likeliest candidate was William Frank Detwiler, who in 28 years with the company knew the production of stainless steel back .........................
general manager. A plugging worker and resident of Tarentum for 20 years, today Steelman Detwiler is still a hard worker, lives in Pittsburgh, never takes a vacation but weekends at his 190-acre farm near Butler, Pa. He rides sometimes with his two daughters, golfs at Oakmont with associates or his two sons, both Cornell graduates, one a chemical engineer, the other an amateur musician.

Last week final step upon the ladder of a success story that began at the bottom 28 years ago, William Frank Detwiler was elected to the Allegheny Steel presidency, the second man to hold the job in company history.

* So well has Allegheny Steel's advertising, via radio and magazines, established the trade name "Allegheny Metal" that chagrined competitors—U. S. Steel ( "Enduro" ), Republic, Jones & Laughlin, etc.—frequently receive orders for "Allegheny Metal." Return to Text.

Last updated: 4 July 1999.