Red was still the color of choice in the paver market. The red burning shale in the Waynesburg/Magnolia area had severe limitations. Recalling that during a 1953 visit to Summitville Tile, arranged by Harry Keagler (a large face brick and ladle brick distributor for WG), both Harry and Fred Johnson extolled the virtues of “the …
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1990s Dry Pressed Pavers Spark Comeback
In the 1950s, we paved many plant roadways with extruded and dry pressed off-grade brick. We observed the dry press brick were virtually undamaged by repeated freeze-thaw cycles, whereas the extruded pavers often failed by spalling. In addition to improved freeze-thaw failure, the dry press paver was more dimensionally accurate than extruded brick. In fact, …
WG’s Focus Turns to Dry-Pressed Pavers
Earlier this period, we sold the Magnolia plant property, 400 acres for $400,000. In probably our most successful land sale, we sold 120 acres of strip mine property north of Waynesburg for $400,000. In combination with Earl Merrick and Scott Evans, we formed WMT. WMT designed a landfill, obtained the required permits and then auctioned …
John’s Story Continues: Recession of 1990s
This recession, which I believe, led to the defeat of President Bush in 1992, was extended when the banks pulled $70 billion in loans from corporations. Capital to loans ratios at many banks had dropped to dangerous levels and their management feared takeover by federal regulators and forced sale of the banks. The banks’ recourse …
John’s Story Continues: Midvale Plant Closed
The labor contract at Midvale was to expire in the spring of 1988. In the fall of 1987, we informed the union that the plant would not restart in 1988 unless we had a new contract in effect with enough cost savings to leave room for a profit. The expiration date of the contract was …
Ivan Parker Joins WG
The first years after acquiring Midvale, the earnings from Alliance more than covered the loss at Midvale. However, now the “money machine” at Alliance was broken down. The steel plants had stopped using clay ladle brick, severely decreasing the Alliance production. The Columbia Gas System had gone bankrupt and subsequently greatly increased the charge to …
1980s Midvale Plant Disaster and Death of Clay Ladle Brick
The Midvale plant turnaround soon turned difficult. The plant had never made money through three owners before WG purchased the plant from the First National Bank of Allentown, PA., after the last owner went belly up. The product line consisted of unremarkable face brick produced in tunnel kilns and flue liners produced at a loss …
The End of an Era – 1970s
James Frost had come with WG as head financial officer earlier in the period. Jim come from the Diebold Company and had knowledge and skills we felt were needed, as we were growing rapidly at this time. Jim worked hard and helped me get my personal affairs in better order. Jim retired when we retrenched …
Magnolia Sold, Midvale Purchased as WG Expands in the 1970s
During this period, Mary Lou Murray, a daughter of RE Whitacre, sold her stock to John Jr. and Lynn Morrison. Bette Newcomb, daughter of DD, sold her stock to Lynn Morrison. (I had plenty if it was worth anything.) WG bought the rest of the stock in DD’s estate as treasury stock. WG sold the …
Sercom for The Timken Company
Meanwhile The Timken Company had built a large research facility near the Akron/Canton airport. Timken lab people championed the idea of reducing the iron oxide in the mill scale to metallic iron and by this means, reducing the amount of scrap needed to make the heat of steel. The research folks approached WG to determine …
