The History of Steel Buildings
Steel first gained popularity in the eighteenth century. At the time, there were three types of ferrous metals available. First was wrought iron, which was the most popular, widely used for gates, railings and doors due to its mostly to its low price and wide availability. Then there was cast iron, which failed as a structural material but found use in machinery and cooking materials. Finally, there was steel, which was recognized as a premium material, and as such was most expensive and reserved for items like watches and swords. But that changed in the early 1800’s, when the invention of the railway revolutionized trade and industry. This revolution necessitated a similar revolution in building materials. Rails required a metal that was both strong in tension and compression, and steel fit the bill perfectly. However, the cost to produce steel had to be lowered to justify its use. Advancements made by Henry Bessemer, who introduced the Bessemer process, Charles William Siemens, who introduced the open-hearth furnace, and later, Andrew Carnegie, who built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company and introduced rolled steel sections called “Carnegie Beams”, provided the means to cheapen the mass production of steel, allowing it to replace wrought iron as the most widely used material.
Later in the nineteenth century, prefabricated structures became popular among gold rush pioneers, who used prefabricated iron buildings called “portable iron houses”. These served as a precursor to the prefabricated steel buildings we use today. These structures were ordered by catalog, and ranged in size from small living spaces to sprawling theaters and churches with a 700-person capacity. These buildings offered easy-to-assemble upgrades to the tent settlements that common to settlers at the time.
Steel started to make its way into permanent structures toward the end of the nineteenth century. While the British were attempting to settle on a fireproof material to better protect structures in the farming and textile industries, the Great Chicago fire of 1871 set the stage in the US, as flames had easily ripped through the wooden structures leaving Chicago devastated. When the city was rebuilt, it was done with much stricter standards requiring non-combustible materials like wrought iron and steel. As the city grew, space became limited. The only way to grow was up, and so the first skyscrapers were built. Steel framing was lighter and more stable, so possible building height was far superior to wood. Soon, steel frame buildings became the standard in Chicago, New York, and then the entire US.
Leading up to WWII, prefabricated arched steel buildings were commonly used for oil industry storage. In 1941, after the start of the war, similar steel structures found use as mobile housings for soldiers. These buildings, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, worked perfectly because they could be shipped absolutely anywhere and could easily be assembled by just about anyone. These structures were called “Quonset Huts”, which was a reference to the Rhode Island town where they were manufactured. Of course, these were based on an earlier design of prefabricated metal structures called “Nissen Huts”, which were corrugated steel buildings used by the British for use in WWI.
It took a long time and a lot of innovation, but the world recognized steel for the strong, cost-effective, flexible building option it is. Now its time to find out how steel can work for you. Call 1-877-363-5726 and talk to an expert today.
