Bethlehem Steel began in the 1840s, when the Lehigh Canal and the coal it carried helped trigger the American Industrial Revolution in the Lehigh Valley. In the 1850s, newly constructed railroad lines such as the Lehigh Valley Railroad needed durable iron rails. Robert Sayre, chief engineer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, formed the Bethlehem Iron Company in 1860 and hired the self-taught engineer John Fritz to build innovative rolling mills for stronger rails. Facing competition from steel producers in England and later from local producers, Fritz and Sayre began making steel rails in the 1870s, then expanded in the 1880s into forging armor plate and guns for the U.S. Navy. In 1901, shareholders Joseph Wharton and Charles Schwab took control and restructured the company to develop it into a world-class steel producer. In 1904, the company was renamed the Bethlehem Steel Company. Built in 1863, the stock house in front served as storage space for raw materials used to make iron and witnessed more than 130 years of iron and steel manufacturing.
