In 1913 five men joined to form a new company dedicated to applying relatively new scientific principles to improve the physical properties of metals. Because improved steel was its main product, the company was called The Steel Improvement Company.
Just three years later, this small company merged with its neighbor, The Forest City Electric Company, a manufacturer of pole line hardware for power transmission lines. Since the major manufacturing process for this product was forging, the merger added forging capability to the heat treating company which was then renamed The Steel Improvement & Forge Company.
Throughout World War I, the company produced a wide variety of the forgings required for trucks, guns and other ordnance to support the war effort. As the war drew to a close in 1918, this activity halted abruptly, causing severe economic problems for the fledgling company.
| Original Site at 5003 Windsor Avenue (now Chester Avenue) | |
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