ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | SEPTEMBER 2024 21 coal and coke operation, using beehive ovens to turn coal into coke for use in steel manufacturing, on 125 acres adjacent to the Broadford Distillery, with Frick serving as manager. The company was called H.C. Frick & Company. Thanks to loans from the family of lifelong friend Andrew Mellon, by 1880, Frick bought out the partnership. The company was renamed H.C. Frick Coke Company, employed about 1000 workers, and controlled 80% of the coal output in Pennsylvania. The company owned coal mines in Westmoreland and Fayette counties, where Frick also operated banks of beehive coke ovens. The H.C. Frick Coke Company in Scottdale became one of the largest coke producers in the country. In addition to the replica beehive coke oven on display at the West Overton Village site, still visible scattered throughout both Fayette and Westmoreland Counties, are some of the remaining brick and stone structures that were used to make coke. A PARTNERSHIP MADE OF STEEL In 1881, Frick met Andrew Carnegie in New York City while the Fricks were on their honeymoon. This introduction led to a partnership between H.C. Frick Coke Company and Carnegie Steel Company and, eventually, to the creation of the United States Steel Company. The Frick coke operations of rural Pennsylvania fueled the iron and steel industries of Pittsburgh. In 1882, Henry Clay Frick formalized a partnership with Pittsburgh industrialist Andrew Carnegie, whose steel mills relied on a constant supply of fast-burning coke. Over the next several decades, Frick was entrusted with consolidating several companies into Carnegie Steel, investing in railways, and suppressing organized labor. This business partnership soured after the Homestead Strike of 1892. The last leadership role of Frick’s career was as director of U. S. Steel, which in 1901 consolidated H.C. Frick Coke Company, Carnegie Steel, and several other companies to form the primary steel producer and largest corporation in the world at the time. Frick died of a heart attack on December 2, 1919, just weeks before his 70th birthday. He is buried in Pittsburgh’s Homewood Cemetery. ~AM&P Acknowledgments: The AM&P editors thank Stephen Fyfitch and Andy Pinskey, who provided historical and company information as well as photographs for this piece. Also, special thanks go to the ASM Pittsburgh Chapter for recognizing the significance of the birthplace location and submitting the nomination package for ASM Historical Landmark status. For more information: Stephen Fyfitch, FASM, chair, ASM Pittsburgh Chapter, 412.218.9214; asmpittsburgh@gmail.com. The West Overton Village & Museum, located at 109 W. Overton Rd., Scottdale, PA 15683, is open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., May through October. Guided tours are available on the hour of each open day. Beehive coke oven replica near Henry Clay Frick birthplace. Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919).
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