The Rosenblatt Family and Iron and Steel In Utah

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The Rosenblatt Family

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

(Columbia Steel Corp. opened its pig iron plant at Ironton, Utah, south of Provo, in 1923. The pig iron was shipped to existing steel plants in Pittsburg, California, and Portand, 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)

Utah Junk Company

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, processing smelter fluxing scrap, and navigating high-stakes legal and logistical contracts with regional operators like the Granite-BiMetallic Consolidated Mining Company.

During this timeframe 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.

 

Structural Steel and Foundry (1925-1957)

- In 1942, located at 545 West Seventh South

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)

1925
The site at 545-547 West 700 South was sold by Salt Lake Boiler and Sheet Metal Works, to American Foundry Company, which opened the site as a subsidiary company known as Structural Steel and Forge Company. (Salt Lake Tribune, August 25, 1937)

August 1937
Structural Steel and Forge 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)

As late as April 1937, there were references to Structural Steel and Foundry being at 545 West Seventh South. The property was sold to Wasatch Ball Foundry in August 1940.

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)

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)

American Foundry and Machine company (1913)

(American Foundry and Machine remained as part of the Rosenblatt conglomerate, becoming a division of EIMCO into the 1960s.)

- In 1942, located at 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 Ivan 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.

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 Ivan 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)

Septeber 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 Floation 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 Machinewas 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, propellor "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.

 

Eimco Corporation (1918-1982)

- Eastern Iron and Metal Corporation (1918-1935)

- In 1942, located at 634 South Fourth West.

- EIMCO (1935-1982)

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

The former D&RGW Salt Lake City shops were purchased by Eimco soon after D&RGW stopped running stream locomotives. Eimco used the former railroad shops in the manufacturing of underground mining machinery. The family of Eimco founder Nathan Rosenblatt sold the Eimco company in 1957 to the Ogden Corporation, which in-turn later sold it to Envirotech, which later sold it to the Baker-Hughes Company. 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)

(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 adn 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)

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 Metal and Iron 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)

By 1938, Morris Rosenblatt was general manager of Eimco, and vice president of both American Foundry and Machine company, and Structural Steel and Forge company. Nathan Rosenblatt was president of all three companies. By April 1942, the three companies were advertised as being part of "The Eimco Group." (Deseret News, May 19, 1938; Salt Lake Tribune, May 1, 1941; April 2, 1942)

February 16, 1946
Nathan Rosenblatt passed away at age 79. He was president of the three companies that he had founded: Eimco Corp., American Foundry and Machine, and Structural Steel and Forge. He was born in May 1866 in Russia, and came to the United States [in 1885] at age 19. (Salt Lake Tribune, February 17, 1946)

January 21, 1948
Simon Rosenblatt passed away. In memory, the three companies (Eimco Corp., American Foundry and Machine, and Structural Steel and Forge), were closed all day on January 23rd. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 23, 1948)

May 1, 1951
Eimco took possession of the D&RGW steam locomotive erecting shop in Salt Lake City. The sale was announced on April 20, 1951. The purchase included 200,000 square feet of shop space, along with all equipment, such as lathes, cranes, rolls, shears and derricks. D&RGW announced that after the sale, all steam locomotive repair work would be done in the roundhouse. (Salt Lake Tribune, April 21, 1951)

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

October 1, 1957
Eimco of Utah was sold to 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. Included in the sale were other Rosenblatt interests in Utah: American Foundry and Machine company, and Structural Steel and Forge company. The Rosenblatt family continued to hold a majority interest in the new EIMCO company. (Salt Lake Tribune, October 1, 1957)

At the same time, in 1957, Eimco Corporation was sold to the Ogden Corporation. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 29, 1969)

May 1969
The Ogden Corp. sold Eimco to Envirotech Corporation. (Salt Lake Tribune, May 29, 1969)

During the end of the 1970's, EIMCO shifted towards the Process Equipment Division due to a slow down in mining equipment and tractor orders from its Mining Machinery Division.

In 1982 EIMCO was acquired by Baker International which later merged with Hughes Tools Company in 1987 to become Baker Hughes. Several name changes occurred with EIMCO during this time frame including; EIMCO BSP, EIMCO Process Equipment Company and Baker Process.

More Information

Foundry article at Wikipedia

Machining article at Wikipedia

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