Description: Dated 1937, this photograph shows the research lab American Rolling Mill Company, located at 830 Curtis Street, in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1901 the company moved to Middletown, Ohio, to produce rolled steel sheets. In 1904, the plant's workers established a shop committee, an early predecessor to a trade union. Production increased in 1921 with a technological advance in manufacturing coiling sheet steel. The company became Armco Inc. in 1978 and merged with AK Steel in 1999. A note on the photograph's reverse reads "Porcelain enamel, stainless steel and glass block form the exterior of the new research laboratories of The American Rolling Mill Company, Middletown, Ohio. A total of 8100 feet of porcelain enamel was used for exterior facings. From Columbus Chamber of Commerce." This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B03F12_018_1
Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Rolling-mills; Steel industry and trade--Ohio--Middletown.
Places: Middletown (Ohio); Butler County (Ohio); Warren County (Ohio)