The Rosenblatt Family and Iron and Steel In Utah

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The Rosenblatt Family

The Rosenblatt family (Nathan and his three sons, Simon, Morris and Joseph) were pioneers in the early iron and steel manufacturing industry in Utah, having organized the Utah Junk in 1899, Utah Steel in 1915, American Foundry and Machine in 1913. In 1918 the family organized the Eastern Iron and Metal company, which became EIMCO in 1935. Rosenblatt came to Utah in 1885 at age 19 and worked for the Utah Junk House company in 1892, using a hand cart to gather scrap metal and rags. He bought out the partners in 1897, and incorporated the Utah Junk company in 1899. His sons joined the successful business as it grew, and after World War I he saw a need to process scrap iron and steel into marketable products and subsidiary companies to further develop the iron and steel business in Utah.

In the period of the 1890s until 1957, when the Rosenblatt family sold its control and majority interest in EIMCO, the Rosenblatts controlled and operated several iron and steel enterprises in Utah, starting with the Utah Junk company.

(For reference, in 1923 Columbia Steel Corp. opened its pig iron plant at Ironton, Utah, south of Provo. The pig iron was shipped to the company's existing steel plants in Pittsburg, California, and Portland, Oregon.)

Nathan Rosenblatt came to the United States from Russia at age 14, first going to Denver and then to Salt Lake City, where Fred Auerbach gave him a pushcart to sell items. Nathan would go to various mining towns like Alta and Park City. Not wanting to come back with an empty cart, he started collecting scrap metal.

Together with his sons Simon, Morris, and Joseph, the family business grew as it continued to buy unused mining machinery, then opened an iron foundry and machinery business.

Nathan Rosenblatt formed the American Foundry and Machine company in 1913. In 1918 the company was renamed as the Eastern Iron and Metal Corporation. In the 1930s they shortened the name and called the company EIMCO. The first reference to Eastern Iron and Metal in online newspapers was on December 30, 1918.

By 1920, he was the proprietor of a steel mill and Simon was the manager of the iron foundry. Simon later ran American Foundry and Machine. Morris headed the Structural Steel and Forge Company and Joseph presided over the Eastern Iron and Metal Company, changing its name to EIMCO in the 1930s.

The reported dates of Nathan Rosenblatt's immigration vary from 1880 to 1889, but 1885 appears to be the most accurate date, when he would have been 19 years old. The 1900 U. S. census reports that he immigrated in 1885, having been in the U.S. for 15 years. His eldest son Simon was born in Colorado in 1889, and his second son Morris was born in Utah in 1891. Rosenblatt is shown in both the 1900 and 1910 census as a Junk Dealer. By the time of the 1910 U. S. census, Simon was in the junk business with his father.

A later biography reported that Nathan Rosenblatt's parents had sent him to America to save him from being conscripted into the Russian Czar's army, which was mandatory. Protecting their sons from mandatory military service in the Russian army was a common reason that many families emigrated from Russia during the 1870s and 1880s.

"Nathan Rosenblatt, Joseph's father, emigrated from Russia in 1880 and eventually made Salt Lake City his family's home where he founded Utah's first steel mill and created the American Foundry and Machine Company. After graduating from the U of U, Joseph commenced working with his father and two brothers and in 1946 became president of Eimco, one of the many Rosenblatt family concerns. Under Joseph's leadership, Eimco emerged as a major international producer of underground machinery for the extraction of coal and minerals as well as for the building of highway and railroad tunnels. By the time of Rosenblatt's retirement in 1964, company divisions had been established in France, Great Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Australia making Eimco a multi-million dollar industry." (Finding aid for the Joseph Rosenblatt papers at University of Utah)

By 1954 the Rosenblatt family's interests were focused on their three corporate enterprises: Eimco Corp., American Foundry and Machine, and Structural Steel and Forge. (Desert News, May 20, 1954)

Utah Junk Company (1899-1919)

The Utah Junk Company, originally founded by the patriarch Nathan Rosenblatt in the early 1890s behind the family home on State Street, was the corporate bedrock for all their later operations. It was the scrap and salvage engine that generated the raw material and capital for their entry into heavy manufacturing.

During the industrial boom of First World War, the Utah Junk Company was heavily engaged in aggressive scrap metal collection, and processing scrap iron used as smelter flux.

During this time-frame in late 1918, the family was actively leveraging the Utah Junk Company's momentum to expand their industrial footprint, building additions to their plant on West Seventh South to handle government boilerplate contracts. This immediate trajectory led directly to the formalized maturation of the Utah Steel Corporation in Midvale and the subsequent rise of EIMCO.

In the tightly managed, family-run structure of Utah Junk Co. during the war years, Morris Samuel played a critical executive role alongside his father Nathan and brother Simon, anchoring the family's transition from local scrap merchants to regional iron and steel powerhouses.

April 22, 1890
The first advertisement for the Utah Junk House, with Blumenthal and Washer as proprietors, located at 144 West Second South in Salt Lake City. (Deseret News, April 22, 1890)

(No advertisements in 1891, 1892 and 1893.)

April 11, 1894
Utah Junk House advertisement shows address as 63-65 East Eighth South. They bought Bones, Scrap Iron, Bottles. Metals and Rubbers. "Special prices for car lots of bones from the country. No heads, hoofs or horns." (Deseret News, April 11, 1894; daily through April)

(More daily advertisements appear December 1894 through December 1895. The only advertisements in 1896 were in March through June 1896, and the advertisements only mention buying scrap iron. This may have been when Nathan Rosenblatt became involved.)

(No advertisements during 1897)

August 17, 1897
"The co-partnership heretofore existing between N. Rosenblatt and Joe Shapiro, under the name of the 'Utah Junk House,' at Salt Lake City, Utah, has on the 9th day of August, 1897, been dissolved, Joe Shapiro having sold out all his interest to N. Rosenblatt, and said N. Rosenblatt will continue the business under the same name of 'Utah Junk House,' at the old stand, 63 and 65 East Eighth South street, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Signed) N. Rosenblatt, Joe Shapiro." (Salt Lake Herald, August 17, 1897)

June 10, 1898
"The Utah Junk & Hide House, Rosenblatt & Zeeve. Highest cash price paid for rags, scrap iron, bottles, hides, pelts, beeswax, metals of all kinds and rubber. Carload lots a specialty. 61-65 East 8th South Street; Between Main and State, Salt Lake City, Utah." (Deseret News, June 10, 1898)

(Identical daily advertisements June 1898 through March 21, 1899.)

March 23, 1899
"The Utah Junk company, having for its object the buying and selling of iron and various kinds of second-hand goods, filed its articles of incorporation with the county clerk today. The capital stock is $5,000, with shares at $1 each. The incorporators are; Isaac Cline, Joshua W. Zeeve, Rozalia Zeeve, who is also named as president, Nathan Rosenblatt, vice president; Joshua W. Zeeve, secretary and treasurer, and Tela Rosenblatt. All the parties are residents of this city where the general place of business is, to be also maintained." (Deseret News, March 23, 1899)

(Rosenblatt and Zeeve names dropped from advertisements after March 1899.)

October 3, 1903
"N. Rosenblatt is the proprietor of Utah Junk company at 62-65 East Eighth South." "Mr. Rosenblatt has been established in the business here for the past 12 years [1891]." (Deseret News, October 3, 1903)

May 26, 1906
"The Utah Junk Company is the oldest and most successful house in its line in Utah. The business was founded about fifteen years ago and today extends over a wide territory, having branches in Ogden and Logan, Utah, Kemmerer, Wyoming, and Boise, Idaho. Mr. N. Rosenblatt, the manager of the company, is one of Salt Lake City’s most progressive and public spirited business men, believes faithfully in the future possibilities of our city. The company deals in hides, pelts, beeswax, rubber goods, bottles, metals of all kinds and scrap iron. The yards are situated at 63-65 East Eighth South Street, but in the near future the company will move into new quarters, which will cover five acres of ground. They supply the American Smelting & Refining company with scrap iron for fluxing and expect to install shortly a large cutting shears which will be run by electricity. The business of the company last year exceeded half a million dollars and from the outlook this year they anticipate a large increase." (Truth magazine, May 26, 1906)

(Based on the address given in the regular advertisements, Utah Junk moved from 63-65 East Eighth South, to 840 to 900 South Fourth West at some time between May 9 and May 19, 1908.)

January 1, 1911
"The [Utah Junk] plant comprises office and yards at 840 to 900 South Fourth West, and a railroad switch from the Oregon Short Line and the Denver & Rio Grande railroad traverses the yards. They are dealers in scrap iron, rags, metal and rubber, beeswax, hides and pelts, and make a specialty of carload lots. They operate two iron shears, run by a 25 horsepower engine, and also cut iron by compressed air and furnish a large amount of scrap iron to the American Smelting and Refining company and to the United States Smelting and Refining company for fluxing. The officers of the company are N. Rosenblatt, president and general manager, and his son, S. Rosenblatt, secretary and treasurer." (Salt Lake Herald, January 1, 1911)

November 26, 1911
"The Utah Junk company, Inc., is a large enterprise, and it is conducted on thoroughly modern business principles that have made it a success. N. Rosenblatt is the president and general manager of the company, and by his up-to-date methods he has made it the success it is today. S. Rosenblatt is secretary and treasurer of the company. The firm was established in 1888 and incorporated in 1899. Since that time its growth has been rapid. The firm deals in rags, scrap iron, bottles, metals and rubbers, beeswax, hides and pelts, etc., handling nearly all the intermountain district. The markets for various materials gathered are locally and in the east. To the latter place junk is shipped in carload lots to be converted into useful materials for the community in many ways." (Salt Lake Herald, November 26, 1911)

March 9, 1913
Bingham Consolidated smelter site purchased. From the Salt Lake Tribune, March 9, 1913.

What may be considered the last gasp of the old Bingham Consolidated smelting plant at Midvale was the action of General Manager Imer Pett of the Bingham Mines company in negotiating the sale of the entire holdings of the company at Midvale on Saturday. The purchaser was the Utah Junk company, but the actual work of dismantling and disposition of the smelting plant will be conducted by N. Rosenblatt & Sons company.

It will be recalled that this was one of the smelters in the Salt Lake valley attacked and closed as a result of the anti-smoke crusade conducted by the ranchers several years ago, and the last moment of operation at this particular plant was at 6 o'clock in the evening of December 26, 1907, which served as a sort of back-handed Christmas present to the state through rather cruelly disposed fate. The smelter was constructed in 1901 at a cost of $1,000,000, and it had been remodeled and added to from time to time since initial operations began.

There is practically anything and everything at this old plant one might need for an entirely new enterprise. There are 1600 tons of structural steel in the buildings, a complete and modern sampling mill is included, there are two large electric traveling cranes, a complete blowing plant, boilers, stacks, electric locomotives, transformers and motors, roasters, ore bins, 1,500,000 feet of lumber, 1,000,000 brick of all descriptions and a thousand and one odds and ends universally found in a modern smelting plant.

(The former Bingham Consolidated smelter site was used from 1915 to 1922 as the site of the Utah Steel company.)

December 29, 1929
Utah Junk Company was shown as being a division of the Utah Steel Corporation, with yards in Midvale and Salt Lake City. Utah Junk company was shown as being the largest dealers in scrap iron in the Rocky Mountain region. (Salt Lake Telegram, December 29, 1929)

(This is unusual since both Utah Steel Corporation and Utah Junk had been in receivership since 1922, and were essentially defunct companies.)

American Foundry and Machine company (1913-1957)

(American Foundry and Machine remained as part of the Rosenblatt enterprises, becoming a division of Eimco, Corp.)

(This was the the original Utah Junk location, 1899-1919, then Utah Steel, 1919-1922, then American Foundry & Machine, 1922-1957)

(south half of the entire block bounded by 4th (500) West and 5th (600) West, and 8th South and 9th South)

(Office address was 870 South Fourth West)

January 7, 1913
American Foundry and Machine company incorporated. "American Foundry and Machine company. Principal place of business, Salt Lake City. Capital stock, $10,000 shares $1 each. Francis Melior, president; Robert Stoker, vice president; Frank A. Robinson, secretary; Joseph R. Ribble, treasurer." (Deseret News, January 7, 1913; articles of incorporation filed "today")

(In the Salt Lake Herald of March 25, 1914, the American Foundry and Machine company was shown among thousands of Utah corporations delinquent in paying their state corporation license fee for 1913. Notice published daily until April 3, 1914.)

January 15, 1915
American Foundry and Machine company was located at 633-635 South Fourth West in Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 15, 1915, advertisement)

Utah Junk company was located at 840-876 South Fourth West in Salt Lake City. (Salt Lake Mining Review, January 15, 1915, advertisement)

January 18, 1916
The Merchants Bank of Utah filed a lawsuit against Frank Robinson and others, and the American Foundry and Machine company, to recover a promissory note of $717.60. (Salt Lake Herald, January 18, 1916)

December 5, 1916
"The American Foundry & Machine company, on south Fifth West street, is installing an electrical furnace for manufacturing steel, and expects to have it ready for operation by Friday. The furnace will require a current of 650 horse power, with a capacity of three tons output every six hours, at a temperature about 3,000 degrees Centigrade. This style of furnace is claimed to be superior to the ordinary open hearth, in that the product is sure to be of even texture, no air bubbles, or flaws liable in ordinary processes; operated at a lower temperature, and doing the work in a shorter time. It is said there are only 100 of these furnaces in the United States at the present." (Deseret News, December 5, 1916)

March 10, 1917
From the Deseret News, March 10, 1917.

Local electrical and mechanical engineers are much interested in the recent installation at the plant of the American Foundry and Machine company in this city, of a newly devised electrical furnace for producing steel castings, the invention of Ivar Rennerfelt, a Swedish engineer. Its success was first established in Europe, and a number have been installed or ordered in eastern manufacturing centers. But the furnace now in operation in Salt Lake is claimed to be the first set up west of the Mississippi river, and the fifth in the United States.

The local furnace is 7 x 9 feet by 9 feet high, and weighs 23,000 pounds. It is heated and operated entirely by electricity, the temperature running up to 6,000 degrees F., and the capacity being three tons per charge every four hours, making 18 tons for the 24 hours.

The American Foundry & Machine company has in a year increased its west side property to cover a space 63 by 216 feet, and is planning to extend the space to cover half a block, the contemplated improvements being valued at $80,000. The company reports receiving contracts for Janney flotation machines for recovery of copper for delivery in this country, Canada, Mexico and South America, the number of machines now being made amounting to 1,000 annually. Orders for distant countries for mill liners are also being received. Steel castings are being furnished all of the railroads in this intermountain country, that until lately were made in the east.

(Read more about the Rennerfelt electric arc furnace)

March 15, 1917
From the Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1917.

The American Foundry & Machine Company, located at 851 to 879 South 5th West street, Salt Lake City, has recently installed and is now operating a three-ton Rennerfelt electric furnace for producing steel castings. This furnace is the invention of Ivar Rennerfelt, a Swedish engineer, and the first installation was made at Hallstahammar. The trial was so successful that in less than one year a large plant was in operation containing four Rennerfelt furnaces. A year later fifteen furnaces had been built and installed; and at this time no less than 285 of these furnaces are in operation in the European countries and in the neighborhood of forty-five have been installed or are on order in the United States. The installation at the American foundry was the first to be made west of the Mississippi river and the fifth in the United States.

The American Foundry & Machine Company is also operating a large grey iron foundry, brass foundry, machine shop and pattern shop in connection with its steel foundry, and at the present time is building a sixty-four foot addition to its already large plant. It is furnishing steel castings to all of the railroads entering this territory, as well as to the large mining companies located in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington. The company numbers among its stockholders some of the most influential men in this state. It has a manufacturing contract with the Stimpson Equipment Company of this city, the exclusive manufacturing and selling agent of the Janney flotation machine, for the manufacture of all its machines for the United States, Canada, and South America. During the month of February alone the Stimpson company shipped seven carloads of Janney flotation machines to points in Idaho, Colorado and Utah, and since starting operations has made shipments to South America and Alaska.

The American Foundry & Machine Company is also manufacturing the Marcy mill, which is owned and controlled by the Mine & Smelter Supply Company of this city, and has contracts with other well known companies for their special castings. All in all, this company bids fair to become one of the largest manufacturing concerns in the west.

June 15, 1917
American Foundry & Machine locations. Offices: 840 to 876 South 4th West; Works: 841 to 879 South 5th West. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 15, 1917, advertisement)

September 15, 1917
Simon Rosenblatt was shown as general manager of the American Foundry & Machine company. (Salt Lake Mining Review, September 15, 1917, on the occasion of the signing of an wage agreement with machinists)

August 2, 1918
"The American Foundry & Machine company is now working on orders for steel boat castings for the Emergency Fleet corporation, and also announces a serious shortage of scrap iron. This company is working on knee castings, with which merchant ships ram submarines." (Salt Lake Herald, August 2, 1918)

August 6, 1918
Nathan Rosenblatt was shown as being the manager of the American Foundry and Machine company. (Deseret News, August 6, 1918, on news of a contract with the U. S. Navy for 22 "submarine rammers.")

August 15, 1918
The facilities of the American Foundry and Machine company, if not full control of the company itself, was handed over to the Stimpson Equipment company of Salt Lake City. The Stimpson company held exclusive manufacturing rights for the Janney Flotation Machine, used by mills in the reduction of metallic ore. The Janney Flotation Machine was the invention of T. A. Janney, superintendent of the Utah Copper's Arthur mill. There was a "Standard" Janney machine, designed for large mills, and the "Little" Janney meant for smaller, independent mills. Manufacture of the Janney Flotation Machine was being done at the American Foundry and Machine company's facility at 840-876 South Fourth West in Salt Lake City, and the entire facility was taken over by this manufacturing activity. (Salt Lake Mining Review, August 15, 1918)

November 15, 1918
"War orders aggregating $200,000, understood to have been obtained through the effort of Manager Simon Rosenblatt of the American Foundry & Machine Company, were placed with Utah firms late in October. The work involves the making of ship deck windlasses, cargo hoists, propeller "struts" or bearings, and steel plate water and oil tanks. The orders for windlasses and cargo hoists were placed independently with the above company on a guarantee of early delivery and the contracts for tanks and bearings went to the Utah Metals Industries Company for distribution among the Galigher Machinery Company, the Salt Lake Iron & Steel Company and the Provo Foundry & Machine Company. The orders were all subject to early completion and some of the shipments will have been made before we go to press. The propeller bearings, numbering about a dozen, weigh 11,000 pounds each, while the water tanks, which are designed to contain ship supplies of culinary water sufficient for voyages of considerable length, have a capacity of from 12,000 to 20,000 gallons each. The oil tanks have a capacity of from 25,000 to 30,000 gallons. All tanks are made of heavy plate steel. The Utah Metal Industries Company is composed of the American Foundry & Machine Company; the Salt Lake Iron & Steel Company, Galigher Machinery Company, all of Salt Lake, and the Provo Foundry & Machine Company of Provo. Most of these concerns individually have received former government contracts, all of which have been placed by the emergency fleet corporation." (Salt Lake Mining Review, November 15, 1918)

October 15, 1920
From the Salt Lake Mining Review, October 15, 1920.

The largest single order of machinery ever manufactured in Utah has recently been completed by the American Foundry & Machine Company of Salt Lake City, P. A. Mattingly, manager, and shipped to the Kansas City Bolt & Nut Company of Kansas City, Missouri, for their new steel plant now nearing completion.

The shipment required eight railroad cars and weighed in all over one half million pounds. The order was secured from the Kansas City company in competition with several of the larger eastern manufacturing companies, and was awarded to the American Foundry & Machine Company by reason of the fact that they were able to make earlier delivery.

The shipment comprised a complete twenty-two-inch rolling mill of four stands, three rolls high, two thirty-foot power tilting tables, two thirty-six-foot power tilting tables and one huge billet shear for cutting off eight-inch square steal billets or bars.

This shipment of a Utah product to a point as far east as Kansas City, Missouri, for the rolling of steel rails, bars, and other steel shapes, marks a new era in manufacture in Utah.

In 1954, the Rosenblatts operated the largest electric steel casting plant between Chicago and the West Coast. Their steel plants included American Foundry company, and Structural Steel and Forge company, and Eimco. (Deseret News, May 12, 1954)

October 1, 1957
American Foundry and Machine company was included with Structural Steel and Forge company and Eimco when Eimco was reorganized as a new company, Eimco of Delaware, which was a merger of Eimco of Utah, and the Ogden Corporation, a diversified holding company, along with a major investment interest of Allen & Company, an investment bank in New York City. The Rosenblatt family continued to hold a majority interest in the new EIMCO company. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 1, 1957)

November 1957
Structural Steel and Forge Company was reorganized as the Structural Steel and Forge Division of Eimco Corporation. Members of the Rosenblatt family controlled both companies, and the change was to consolidate their interests. (Salt Lake Tribune, November 30, 1957)

November 30, 1957
"Structural Steel Gets New Name - Withdrawal of the Structural Steel and Forge Co. as a corporate entity has been granted by Third District Court but the same organization will continue under a consolidation by which it becomes the Structural Steel and Forge Division of the Eimco Corp. Joseph Rosenblatt, president of Eimco, explained the withdrawal is merely part of a corporate consolidation and functions of Structural Steel will not be altered." (Salt Lake Tribune, November 30, 1957)

(The American Foundry & Machine story continues as part of Eimco)

Utah Steel Company (1915-1922)

In 1915 the Rosenblatts organized the Utah Iron & Steel Corporation, which opened its furnaces in the former Bingham Consolidated smelter at Midvale.

(Before being used by Utah Steel, the Bingham Consolidated site had been used between 1913 and 1917 as the site to do the rough finishing of granite blocks from the quarries at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, for use in the Utah state capitol, the Park Building at the University of Utah, the LDS administration building in Salt Lake City, and the D&RGW freight house in Ogden.)

In 1919, the Rosenblatts merged their Utah Iron & Steel company, with their Utah Junk company, to form the Utah Steel Corporation.

(Read more about the Utah Steel company)

Structural Steel and Foundry (1925-1957)

(Located at 545-547 West 700 South, on the south side of 7th South; Silver Brothers was across the street on the north side of 7th South.)

(This was the original Salt Lake Boiler & Sheet Metal location, 1911-1925, then Structural Steel & Foundry, 1925-1957, then Eimco after 1957.)

March 28, 1925
The Third District Court, as a result of a lawsuit brought by Utah State National Bank, et al. as plaintiff, ordered that the property, equipment, tools and supplies of the Salt Lake Boiler & Sheet Iron Works at 545 West Seventh South be sold at private sale, by written bids, on or before March 28, 1925. (Deseret News, daily legal notices, March 16 to March 26, 1925)

July 3, 1925
Structural Steel and Foundry company was organized by Utah men, including Thomas F. Pierpont of Provo (president of Provo Foundry and Machine company), to "take over the plant of Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Metal Works at Seventh South and Fifth West streets, and has purchased in addition an adjoining tract of land." (Ogden Standard Examiner, July 3, 1925)

Other officers of the new company were also officers of the American Foundry and Machine company. (Salt Lake Tribune, July 3, 1925; Salt Lake Mining Review, July 15, 1925)

"The officers of the Structural Steel and Foundry company are: Thomas F. Pierpont, president; Simon Rosenblatt, president of the American Foundry and Machine company, vice president; Henry D. Moyle, treasurer; P. A. Mattingly, general manager of the American Foundry and Machine company, secretary; and O. W. Waterman, sales manager. These with Clifford S. Pierpont of Provo form the board of directors." (Provo Daily Herald, July 3, 1925)

(Thomas F. Pierpont had been president of Provo Foundry & Machine since 1902, and remained as its president until 1954.)

August 1937
Structural Steel and Foundry Co. expanded the old steel and iron works, including a new addition to the west, 75 feet wide and 280 feet long, including a 25-ton electric crane running the entire length of the new addition. The addition also included a new brick front along 7th South. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 25, 1937)

August 25, 1937
From the Salt Lake Tribune, August 25, 1937.

New S. L. Steel Plant Boosts Capacity 800 Per Cent - Four hundred tons of steel a month can be fabricated for intermountain building at the still uncompleted plant of the Structural Steel and Forge company, P. A. Mattingly, general manager of the American Foundry company, parent firm of Structural Steel and Forge, estimated Sunday.

Although the new addition to Structural Steel and Forge's plant is still without a west wall, it has been in operation several weeks and has increased the original plant's capacity by 800 per cent.

Adjoins Old Plant - The new building, 280 feet long and 75 feet wide, adjoins the old plant at 547 West Seventh South street. With a brick front wall and corrugated steel sides, the roof is supported by light steel trusses, which bridge the structure without internal supports.

Within the building is room to store 2800 tons of steel beams and reinforcing steel awaiting fabrication into completed building parts. The steel is moved from one part of the building to the other by the 25-ton electric crane, spanning the structure's 75 feet of width and running on tracks along the entire length of the building's sides.

Within the one gigantic room of the building the steel is cut to lengths, pierced with rivet holes, and welded into as large units as are practicable for shipping to construction sites.

Saw Slits Beams - Included in the equipment used to fashion the steel into building lengths is a large rotary friction saw that slides through the steel beams with approximately the speed that a carpenter's rotary saw cuts through timbers.

The original plant of Structural Steel and Forge was purchased by American Foundry in 1925 from the Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Metal works, Mr. Mattingly said.

As late as April 1937, there were references to Structural Steel and Foundry being at 545 West Seventh South.

There were numerous references to Structural Steel and Forge company as early as August 1937, at the same address as the former Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Metal Works; 545-547 West Seventh South.

In 1954, the Rosenblatts operated the largest electric steel casting plant between Chicago and the West Coast. Their steel plants included American Foundry company, and Structural Steel and Forge company, and Eimco. (Deseret News, May 12, 1954)

October 1, 1957
Structural Steel and Forge company was included with American Foundry and Machine company and Eimco when Eimco was reorganized as a new company, Eimco of Delaware, which was a merger of Eimco of Utah, and the Ogden Corporation, a diversified holding company, along with a major investment interest of Allen & Company, an investment bank in New York City. The Rosenblatt family continued to hold a majority interest in the new EIMCO company. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 1, 1957)

The three divisions of Eimco were:

November 1957
Structural Steel and Forge Company was reorganized as the Structural Steel and Forge Division of Eimco Corporation. Members of the Rosenblatt family controlled both companies, and the change was to consolidate their interests. (Salt Lake Tribune, November 30, 1957)

November 30, 1957
"Structural Steel Gets New Name - Withdrawal of the Structural Steel and Forge Co. as a corporate entity has been granted by Third District Court but the same organization will continue under a consolidation by which it becomes the Structural Steel and Forge Division of the Eimco Corp. Joseph Rosenblatt, president of Eimco, explained the withdrawal is merely part of a corporate consolidation and functions of Structural Steel will not be altered." (Salt Lake Tribune, November 30, 1957)

(The Structural Steel & Forge story continues as part of Eimco)

Eimco Corporation (1918-1982)

- Eastern Iron and Metal Corporation (1918-1935)

- EIMCO (1935-1982)

(Site 1 located at 634 South Fourth West)

(Site 2 located at 545 West Seventh South on north side of Seventh South, former Silver Brothers)

(The Eimco name was derived from "Eastern Iron and Metal Company," with Rosenblatt saying when he started his company, nobody would buy from any company with "Western" in its name, so he called his company "Eastern" which sounded more important. - Salt Lake Tribune, March 17, 1991)

In 1919, Eastern Iron and Metal Corp. was located at 345 to 353 West Seventh South.

(The first reference to Eastern Iron and Metal Corp. in online newspapers is in classified ad in December 1918, "Eastern Iron and Metal Co., one of Utah's largest dealers in scrap iron, metals and rubbers. 345 to 353 West Seventh South."

January 9, 1919
"The Eastern Iron & Metal company of Salt Lake is organized, with a capital of $10,000 and David Rogasweky as president, Francis Platt as vice president and Sam Movitz as secretary and treasurer." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 9, 1919)

December 27, 1925
Eastern Iron and Metal Company purchased the buildings and site of the Salt Lake Iron and Steel company. Morris Rosenblatt was a principal employee, along with Nathan Rosenblatt, founder of Utah Junk company and Utah Steel corporation. (Salt Lake Telegram, December 27, 1925)

May 8, 1932
An advertisement for the EIMCO-Finlay mine loader car, shows the EIMCO name in quotes, with Eastern Iron and Metal Co. in sub-lettering. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 8, 1932)

(Eastern Iron & Metal Company formally changed its name to EIMCO in 1935.)

January 26, 1935
"The EIMCO Corporation, formerly Eastern Iron & Metal Co., Manufacturers of Mining and Milling Machinery, 634 South Fourth West." (Salt Lake Tribune, January 26, 1935)

(The newspaper advertisements specifically for Eastern Iron & Metal ended in late December 1935.)

December 21, 1935
"Eastern Iron & Metal Co., New And Used Mining Machinery, Mining Supplies. Eastern Iron & Metal Co., 634 So. 4th West." (Deseret News, December 21, 1935)

(Read more about EIMCO)

More Information

Foundry article at Wikipedia

Machining article at Wikipedia

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