Today, the combined talents of Bethlehem Lukens Plate make us the premier plate producer. This unique position has grown out of the storied past of two great companies.
Talented people always bring out the full value of any product. That's been the Bethlehem Steel heritage since the 1857 beginnings of our earliest predecessor company. Bethlehem entered the 21st-century with the talents of Eugene G. Grace, Charles M. Schwab, and other giants who devised the products that built the machinery and tools that built industry and that won peace in two world wars. The spirit of enterprise continued with Homer Research Laboratories opening in 1959 to introduce new quenched and tempered plate, with the 1962 construction of the Burns Harbor integrated steel plant, and with the successful modernization and restructuring of the last decade.
Founded in 1810, Lukens prospered under the hands of Rebecca Lukens, who took over the company in 1825 after the untimely death of her husband, Charles.
The devout Quaker mother of four children served as the young nation's first woman CEO, successfully positioning the company for the modern era. Lukens installed the world's largest rolling mill in 1919 and installed electric arc furnace technology in 1955. More recently, Lukens completed a $350-million capital program in 1996 that created a flexible, fully integrated production capability.
