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- Benjamin Franklin Jones, Sr. (August 8, 1824 - May 19, 1903) was a pioneer of the iron and steel industry in Pittsburgh.[1] Originally involved in the river barge industry, he purchased a share in American Iron Works in 1851, along with Bernard Lauth.[2] He later joined with James H. Laughlin to form Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, a steel mill heavily dependent on river transportation. The B.F. Jones Memorial Library in Aliquippa Pennsylvania, the site of J&J Steel's Aliquippa Works, was built in his honor with funds donated by his daughter.
The earliest foundations of Jones and Laughlin Steel Company were the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and B. F. Jones a few miles (c 4 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River.[1] Lauth's interest was bought in 1854 by James H. Laughlin.[2] The first firm to bear the name of Jones and Laughlin was organized in 1861 and headquartered at Third & Ross in downtown Pittsburgh.[3][4]
Originally producing only iron, the enterprise began the production of steel in 1886. Over the ensuing 60 years, the company expanded its facilities and its operations along both sides of the Monongahela River and along the Ohio River. The Hot Metal Bridge across the Monongahela River was built to connect the blast furnaces on one side of the river with the rolling mills on the other side of the river. In 1905, a new plant was begun at Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. The company also owned coal mines in western Pennsylvania in its early days, including some reached by an incline in Pittsburgh's South Side which connected to the railroad over the bridge adjacent to the Hot Metal Bridge. Other mines were along the nearby Becks Run, also directly connected by railroad. The incline and mines were gone before 1900, but mining continued in Pennsylvania towns such as Vestaburg and elsewhere. The former Otis Steel company along the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland was purchased in 1942, and then in the mid-1960s a finishing plant was constructed in Hennepin, Illinois.[5]
J & L Steel (known to its employees as simply "J & L", sometimes pronounced "jane ell") provided the most able competition to the Carnegie Steel Company in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc. of Texas offered to purchase 63 percent of J & L Steel on May 14, 1968, completing its purchase of 63% by June 1968 for approximately $428.5 million ($2.83 billion today).[6] It took full control of the company in 1974.
In 1978, J & L Steel acquired Youngstown Sheet and Tube. In 1981, J & L Steel bought a stainless steel mill from McLouth Steel Products in Detroit, MI, which was probably an attempt to try to get closer to the auto market. It merged with Republic Steel in 1984 to form LTV Steel.
Dismantling of the buildings which housed J & L Steel produced an upsurge of building on the tracts of land where the buildings had stood. By September 2005, numerous new structures had been erected on both sides of the Monongahela River. The Pittsburgh Technology Center now stands on the north side of the Monongahela River where the blast furnaces once stood and the South Side Works, a commercial and residential development, stands on the south side where milling operations occurred.
He was born on August 8, 1824 in Claysville, Pennsylvania. He married Mary McMasters and had a son, Benjamin Franklin Jones, Jr. From 1884 to 1888 he was chairman of the Republican National Committee. He died on May 19, 1903 in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.
He was executor of Laughlin's estate
As chairman of the Republican National Committee 1884 to 1888, he was responsible for the James G. Blaine presidential campaign
The Benjamin Franklin Jones Cottage (also known as Braemar Cottage) is a cottage on the National Register of Historic Places in Cresson Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States.[1][3][4]
In 1990, the mansion was purchased by a group that desired to restore it. In November 2009, a county judge declared the declining property a nuisance and ordered that it be demolished. When the historical group appealed to the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, the town supervisors agreed to postpone the demolition until May 2010. A request for a $150,000 grant that the group hoped could fund renovations was rejected.[5][6]
The structure was saved from demolition in 2011 when it was purchased by a Cresson, Pennsylvania couple who intended to restore it
Benjamin Franklin Jones, Sr.
Benjamin Franklin Jones
Born
(1824-08-08)August 8, 1824
Claysville, Pennsylvania
Died
May 19, 1903(1903-05-19) (aged 78)
Allegheny City, Pennsylvania
Residence
Sewickley Heights
Education
New Brighton Academy
Known for
J&L Steel
Home town
Pittsburgh
Title
Chairman, Republican National Committee
Term
1884-1888
Predecessor
Dwight M. Sabin
Successor
Matthew Quay
Political party
Republican
Spouse(s)
Mary McMasters
Children
Benjamin Franklin Jones, Jr.
Parents
Jacob Aik Jones, Elizabeth Geshorn
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Bassett Family Association Database
1824 - 1903 (79 years)