A Brief History of Steel Construction

The story of the industrialized world and contemporary construction is incomplete without the revolutionary impacts of steel. With the influence that spans the construction of railways, mines, factories, power frameworks, etc., a world without it is unimaginable.

Taking a quick trip to about two to three centuries ago,  steel, cast iron, and wrought iron were the primary ferries metals. Wrought iron has been an integralpart of every blacksmith's efforts, gaining its relevance in constructingrailings, gates, and door furniture. Especially in 1837, when it enjoyed thetraction of being the primary structural component. Similarly, cast iron gainedits relevance and eventual prevalence in farming, cooking, and textile machines.

Considering its properties, using it for structural purposes yielded nopositive result. Initially, steel was largely tailored to create premium materials. Its use used to span items such as wrist watches, scythes, and swords. Not to mention the exorbitant cost attributable to it at this point in history.

As we know it, most innovative ideas were birthed by necessity. And of course, this applies to steel construction. With the emergence of rail transport, there is increased demand for a structural material embodying just the right blend of compression and tension. While wrought iron served this purpose for quite some time, the need for a more cost-effective alternative brought steel into the picture.

Sir Henry Bessemer, revered as the father of contemporary shoemaking, created the eponymous Bessemer method in 1855, which served as the genesis of the prevalent use steel emits today. With this, steel production became quite cheaper, boasting reasonable tensile strength and larger quantities. With this method, the price of steel dropped by almost 90%. Not long after, Charles Williams,  the Germany-born British inventor created the Open Hearth Furnace, which supplemented the Bessemer method and upscaled the production. A few years later, in 1879, Sidney Thomas, identified a way to eliminate phosphorus from steel, thus streamlining its quality and further bringing its quality to negligible.

This method became well-received among the European populace in the 1880s, which introduced more consistency to steel quality. The 1871 Great Chicago fire razed quite a number of timber-based constructions.

Consequently, Chicago started embracing non-combustible alternatives, including wrought and cast iron, limestone, etc. However, as the population grew and theneed for a better construction solution arose, it looked to steel as a reasonable alternative.

By 1885, Chicago constructed its first skyscraper with steel. This was 10 stories high and deemed the first building to adopt a steel skeleton framework supported with concrete. Designed by William La Baron, the building boasted superior stability and higher with relatively lesser cost and labor demands. The building serves as the trendsetter for skyscrapers in Chicago and across New York.

The reception of steel as a construction material saw an uptrend till the 1900s, with relatively stronger and cost-effective products. Structural steel is the core construction component, setting a standard for other materials. From the 1870s to the 1920s, just the United States of America saw a geomantic surge in steel production, moving to 60 million tons from just 400, 000 tons annually.

In 1913, the then tallest building in the world, the Woolworth building, was constructed with steel and served as the pioneer for steel frame constructions. 15 years later, the steel-supported Chrysler building took that throne and remains the tallest building in the world with steel and brick at the core of its birth.

Since then, steel construction has grown marginally and has left most construction solutions behind by a mile.

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