The Lukens Mill - Late 1800s - Coatesville, PA - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

This is a very small, esoteric historic district which would normally be only fully understood and appreciated by a very specific cross-section of people. The Walking Tour Project / interpretive program located here successfully incorporates technical information and jargon into an accessible history lesson for Lukens' visitors. The interpretives are very organized and planted right in front of the contributing structure to which they refer. This interpretive focuses on a very specific point of time in which the Lukens Mill was modernizing, becoming technically savvy and embracing the industrial revolution with the addition of new machines designed to increase production, cut labor and ultimately produce a much better product.

The markers are the standard interpretives, held horizontally, thick black, frame, tilted for good viewing and maybe 3 or 4 feet off the ground. The Lukens 112/120 Mill Complex referenced in the interpretive is 350 feet from South 1st Street. The interpretive is 250 feet from South 1st Street and exactly 75 feet from this facilities building/plant (82 feet from the front right corner of the building) to the immediate left of the executive offices. The mill plant is rather long, about 424 feet long. The marker faces the mill building. This interpretive reads as follows:

A new rolling mill was constructed in 1870 powered by a steam boiler to drive the larger rolls, which were 25" in diameter and 84" in length. The old mill was then converted to Pudding Mill to prepare stick for the new mill.

In 1890, the firm added another mill, this one with three rolls 34" in diameter and 120" in length between mill stands. The 3-high configuration permitted the passing of material in both directions through the mill. This is believed to have been the largest mill in the United States at that time. Driven by a large Corliss steam engine, the mill was equipped with cooling tables, hydraulic lifting equipment, and transfer apparatus to move the plates easily to shearing areas. When operated as a finishing mill, it facilitated the rolling of steel, which Lukens had begun to roll about 1881, and which was rapidly supplanting iron for the most industrial purposes.

A technological development that was to become a company speciality was the manufacture of heads, or bowllike shapes, by hot spinning. As a leading supplier of boiler plate, Lukens saw new market potential in being able to supply the builders of steam boilers, tanks, and pressure vessels with formed heads for end closures as well. Prior to the invention of spinning machines, heads were formed by hammering, or "bumping" hot plates with heavy mauls, done either over a stationary form, or using a forming pit dug into the ground. It was a long and laborious prices, often requiring several reheatings of the plate to complete the job. During a visit to St. Louis in 1883, Dr. Huston and his son saw an early spinning machine in operation and were sufficiently impressed to order one for Lukens. The company's first spinning machine was put into operation in 1885. The first machine was belt driven and could produce heads up to 7' outside diameter and up to 1" thick.

The top left of the marker features a color photo of Dr. Charles Hudson and next to that is a simple map of the mill site circa 1870. Beneath this is a landscaped picture of the milling area called Valley Panorama from circa 870. Finally, at the bottom left of the marker is an even longer landscaped shot of the 84" Rolling Mill. I guess the picture had to be that long to accommodate such an expansive machine. The opposite corner is a picture of an end product discussed in the interpretive. The black and white photo is called Spun Heads.

There are two sites which are dedicated to the interpretive program found here at the Lukens Historic District. Those sites are HERE and HERE