Urbanization In America's Steel Industry

The emergence of the steel industry occurred in the late 19th Century when the cities of the United States were growing at a dramatic rate. This time period was devoted to the expansion of many industries, including the steel industry. Numerous immigrants were also arriving in America from all over the world at this time. The new industrial expansion and its accompanying population growth thoroughly changed America as it contributed to its urbanization. The beginning of America’s steel industry commenced when Andrew Carnegie was given the seemingly impossible task of constructing a bridge to cross the Mississippi River. The steel industry, even though having many flaws, was the most prominent in America’s development and significantly contributed to it’s urbanization. The steel industry greatly advanced America’s urbanization through its expansion of railroads which led to a wider exportation of goods and impacted vertical integration, other industries,

Iron was easily replaced because it was a weak and brittle element, and steel was a new durable alloy. Steel also opened the doors to the ability to create many new industrial projects for a significantly cheaper price. Two inventions, the Bessemer process and the Siemens-Martin open-hearth method, significantly reduced the cost of the production of steel. The Bessemer converter was the first inexpensive industrial process that converted steel from molten pig iron and the Siemens-Martin open-hearth method was the first open-hearth furnace. Both of these processes kickstarted the steel production in the United States. These inventions significantly dropped the prices of steel and by 1873 the United States was producing nearly 115,000 tons of steel rail, approximately one-eighth of all U.S. steel production. The creation of these new processes ultimately ended the iron age and turned America’s new focus to the steel