Mackintosh-Hemphill Company

In 1859 James Hemphill, W. S. Mackintosh, and W. N. Hart entered into a partnership to purchase a machine shop at the corner of 12th Street and Pike Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their products included steam engines. They subsequently incorporated as Mackintosh-Hemphill Company, Ltd. In 1878 the company purchased the adjoining Fort Pitt Foundry and refitted it for the manufacture of rolling mills for iron and steel makers, including the Bessemer Works in the Homestead section of Pittsburgh. In 1922 A. Garrison and Company and the Pittsburgh Iron and Steel Foundries were merged into Mackintosh-Hemphill. The E. W. Bliss Company acquired Mackintosh-Hemphill in 1955. In 1968 Mackintosh-Hemphill became a division of Gulf & Western Industries. In 1985 the foundry closed. In 1987 Mackintosh-Hemphill filed for bankruptcy and terminated its pension plan. The manufacturing buildings were demolished, but the surviving foundry buildings were designated historic structures in 1991.

The Mackintosh-Hemphill Company began as the Pittsburgh Foundry in 1803, and produced cast iron cooking utensils, pressing irons, stoves, grates for pioneers and cannons. In 1830, the Pittsburgh Foundry merged with the Jackson Foundry and the Eagle Foundry and became Kingsland, Lightner & Cuddy which was located on Fifth and Smithfield Streets. In 1852 the company moved to Pittsburgh's South Side between Ninth and Tenth Streets. In 1864 the company's name was changed to A. Garrison and Company. The foundry expanded into 12th and Etna Streets along the Allegheny River in what is now Pittsburgh's Strip District. The primary products produced by the foundry were engines, locomotives, boats and shot for rifles. In 1859, James Hemphill, Dr. W. W. Mackintosh and N. F. Hart formed a partnership which later became the Mackintosh-Hemphill Company. In 1922, Mackintosh-Hemphill Company merged with the Pittsburgh Iron and Steel Foundries Company, the A. Garrison Foundry Company, and the Woodward Machine Company of Wooster, Ohio. The company's main products were industrial machinery and steel products for industry. In 1955, the E. W. Bliss Company of Canton, Ohio, purchased Mackintosh-Hemphill and in 1968, the company became part of Gulf and Western Industries.