Lukens Steel Co. - Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. Lukens Steel Company, situated in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, holds the distinction of being the oldest operational steel mill in the United States. By 1995, it ranked among the top three producers of plate steel and was the leading domestic manufacturer of alloy-plate. The company achieved a notable fourth place among 24 public steel firms in terms of profitability, consistently earning 14.8% equity for five consecutive years. Its product offerings include carbon, alloy, and clad steel plates, as well as stainless steel sheets, strips, plates, hot bands, and slabs.

Isaac Pennock founded The Federal Slitting Mill in 1793 along Buck Run, approximately four miles south of Coatesville. Following a loan in 1810, Pennock partnered with Jesse Kersey to establish Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory. Kersey's father-in-law, Moses Coates, was part of Coatesville's founding family. After seven years of partnership, Pennock acquired Kersey's stake in the business and subsequently leased it to his son-in-law, Dr. Charles Lloyd Lukens. The next year, the mill became the first in the nation to manufacture boilerplates and soon entered the shipbuilding sector.

In 1818, Lukens supplied the iron for the first iron-hulled vessel in the United States. Upon Dr. Charles Lloyd Lukens's death in 1825, his wife Rebecca Lukens inherited the steel mill, making her the first woman in the United States to engage in the iron industry and the first female CEO of an industrial company. She became a significant figure for the steel mill, rescuing it from bankruptcy and transforming it into the nation's leading producer of boilerplates, which were exported to England for use in some of the earliest railway locomotives.