Sound Bite
In 1900, Pittsburgh's East End neighborhood was the world's richest. It represented the opulence, power, and greed of 19th-century capitalism. And for many it was statement of hope and motivation. In a short walk, one might run into Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, George Westinghouse, H. J. Heinz, a member of the Mellon family or of the United States Congress. This book traces the lives of this influential coterie and their impact on American industry, culture and history.
About the Author
Working from a home base in the industrial heartland of northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, for twenty years Quentin R. Skrabec Jr. has been researching the history of America’s industrialization and the key figures who moved the process forward, resulting in a series of biographies of American industrialists published by Algora. He has published over fifty articles on history, industrial history and business, and five books on the late 1800s and American business.
Prof. Skrabec has been an Associate Professor of Business at the University of Findlay, OH, since 1998. He has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Toledo, the University of Akron, University of Pittsburgh, and Robert Morris University.
A Pittsburgher himself, from this section of the city, Quentin Skrabec grew up in its rich heritage. Having written biographies of some of its most successful residents -- Heinz, Westinghouse, McGuffey, Carnegie, and Frick, in this book Prof. Skrabec develops many stories of the famous capitalists who lived in Pittsburgh's East End.
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About the Book
The residents of Pittsburgh's East End controlled as much a 40% of America's assets at the turn of the last century. Mail was delivered seven times a day to keep America's greatest capitalists in touch with their factories, banks, and markets. The...
The residents of Pittsburgh's East End controlled as much a 40% of America's assets at the turn of the last century. Mail was delivered seven times a day to keep America's greatest capitalists in touch with their factories, banks, and markets. The neighborhood had its own private station of the Pennsylvania Railroad with a daily non-stop express to New York's financial district. Many of the world's most powerful men - princes, artists, politicians, scientists, and American Presidents such as William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover, came to visit the hard-working and high-flying captains of industry. Two major corporations, Standard Oil and ALCOA Aluminum were formed in East End homes. It was the first neighborhood to adopt the telephone with direct lines from the homes to the biggest banks in Pittsburgh, which at the time was America's fifth largest city.The story of this neighborhood is a story of America at its greatest point of wealth and includes rags-to-riches stories, political corruption, scandals, and greed. The history of this unique piece of American geography makes for enjoyable reading that will satisfy a large cross section of readers.
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More . . .
The story of Pittsburgh s East End is the story of America s industrial heritage, the Gilded Age, and Victorian living. It is local, regional, national, and international history all in one. It is a history of American industrialization. It contrasts the best and the worst of Victorian capitalism. It was at the center of major historical events such as the Johnstown Flood, the Homestead Strike, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the use of AC electric current for home lighting, and the...
The story of Pittsburgh s East End is the story of America s industrial heritage, the Gilded Age, and Victorian living. It is local, regional, national, and international history all in one. It is a history of American industrialization. It contrasts the best and the worst of Victorian capitalism. It was at the center of major historical events such as the Johnstown Flood, the Homestead Strike, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the use of AC electric current for home lighting, and the formation of America s first billion-dollar corporation. The neighborhood played a major role in America s political systems and in the careers of many of America s presidents such as Lincoln, McKinley, Taft, Harding, and Roosevelt. It is a truly cross-section of our nation s history.
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By JAMES T. AREDDY for The Wall Street Journal | More »
By JAMES T. AREDDY for The Wall Street Journal
The Toledo Museum of Art's $30 million Glass Pavilion is a symbol of America's "Glass City," and reflects the legacy of its local glassmakers. A smudge on the image: The pavilion glass was imported from China, the new global powerhouse of the glass industry. No one in the U.S. had the capability to satisfy cutting-edge architectural specifications for the curving pavilion, even though the 2006 job involved techniques advanced decades ago by Toledo inventors: bending and laminating glass. Northwest Ohio was aggressive about luring the glass industry in its early days.... In the late 1880s, the area convinced East Coast glassmakers like Edward Drummond Libbey to relocate with cheap natural gas, cheap land and cheap labor—including workers as young as eight years old. Washington blocked European glass with tariffs. By 1900, the Toledo area had around 100 glassmakers. Mr. Libbey, who died in 1925, endowed the Toledo Museum of Art. "China is the America of the 1880s, 1890s," says Quentin R. Skrabec Jr., an industrial historian at Ohio's University of Findlay. "Pittsburgh was the steel; Akron was the rubber; Toledo was the glass city." ...Toledo glass fabricators, machinists, artisans and retailers understand that China is reordering the glass industry.
Shenzhen, China-based Avic Sanxin Co. got the Toledo Glass Pavilion job because of its willingness to invest in technology necessary for complex glass, says deputy general manager Bruce Tsin...
Carol Bintz, an officer of the Toledo Museum of Art who led the project [says], "We couldn't find anyone in the United States that could do both the size and make the curvature."
Hi Velocity: Ohio glass industry looks to regain form through innovation, diversification | More »
Hi Velocity: Ohio glass industry looks to regain form through innovation, diversification
Through much of the 20th Century, Ohio built a reputation as the world's glassmaker. Offering cheap resources and nearly free natural gas energy, it once lured east coast glassmakers to the state in droves and became a dominant world player by riding the demand of the nearby auto industry…. While cracks may be evident, Ohio's glass reputation hasn't shattered. And many are looking for better times ahead by diversifying into new areas and making innovation a key focus. "The glass industry has weathered globalization better than steel and other industries," says University of Findlay Professor Quentin R. Skrabec. "Where those industries are largely gone, innovation has kept the glass industry's head above water." (Click for rest of article.)Thursday, October 07, 2010
Reference and Research Book News | More »
Reference and Research Book News
Those who lived in Pittsburgh's East End in 1900 controlled as much as 40 percent of the country's assets, and the neighborhood represented as much hope and motivation for America's less fortunate as it did the extravagance, greed, and power of the hard-charging capitalists of the time. Skrabec (business, U. of Findlay) is uniquely qualified to tell the story of the one-time wealth and power of the neighborhood as he has already written biographies of such residents as Heinz, Westinghouse, Frick, and Carnegie. His book tells the story not only of people and place, but also sheds light on the industrialization of America and how it came to pass.
February 2011
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Pages 300
Year: 2010
BISAC: HIS036000 HISTORY / United States / General
BISAC: HIS036010 HISTORY / United States / State & Local
Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-0-87586-795-3
Price: USD 23.95
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-0-87586-796-0
Price: USD 33.95
eBook
ISBN: 978-0-87586-797-7
Price: USD 23.95
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