Phoenix Steel Corporation.

The Phoenix Steel Company began in the late 18th century as a manufacturer of cut nails. It later became a major producer of railroad rails and iron and steel structural members. It remained a specialty producer and did not engage in backward or forward integration around the turn of the century like the larger steel companies.

The operation at Phoenixville began in 1790 when Benjamin Longstreth built the first nail factory in the United States at this site. In 1813 he sold it, and Lewis Wernwag (1769-1843), a pioneer bridge builder in the United States, acquired a part interest and named it the Phoenix Iron Works. Wernwag was responsible for the invention and improvement of nailmaking machinery. In 1821 Jonah and George Thompson, Philadelphia merchants, bought the plant. By 1825 it had become the largest nail factory in the United States. In 1827 Benjamin Reeves (1779-1844) and his brother David (1793-1871), nail manufacturers in New Jersey, purchased the plant and formed the partnership of Reeves & Whitaker with Joseph Whitaker (1789-1870), James Whitaker and Francis Leaming. In 1840 the company built its first blast furnace to use anthracite, and in 1846 first produced railroad rails.

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