| Otis Steel was one of the first major industrial firms in Cleveland, and one of the pioneering steel mills in America. The company was founded by Charles A. Otis, who made his start in the iron industry in 1852, when he formed an iron forging company. After the Civil War, Mr. Otis ended his association with the iron forging company, and traveled to Europe to view the latest steelmaking technology. Returning to America, he set up the Otis Steel Company in 1873, armed with a license for the new open-hearth furnace technology from Europe. Otis soon became the first company to produce steel from the basic open-hearth process in America, and his first steel plant on the bluffs of Lake Erie was considered the most advanced in the country. In 1889, the company was sold to a British investment firm, though control remained in American hands. In 1912, the company looked to expand, and unable to convince the city fathers to landfill in the lakefront for a giant new steel mill, found property on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River. By 1914, the new Riverside plant was in operation. The company continued to expand and add mills and production facilities until 1942, when it was bought by Jones and Laughlin Steel, of Pittsburgh. J&L modernized the facilities and increased production through the 1950s and 1960s. The parent corporation began suffering losses in the late 1960s, and in 1968 the company was taken over by the LTV Corporation of Dallas. Much like other steel companies, J&L had to weather the problems in the industry during the 1970s, and was badly affected by the recession of the early 1980s. In 1984, Jones and Laughlin merged with Republic Steel to form LTV Steel, and the two mills on the Cuyahoga River became one giant steel mill. |
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