The Sharon steel works and furnace, which are now the local works of the Carnegie Steel Company, were founded in 1896, by the Buhl Steel Company, the president of which was F. H. Buhl The plant was erected and the open-hearth department put in operation in May, 1897, and the blooming mill soon afterward. The Buhl Steel Company was absorbed by the National Steel Company in March, 1899, and since that time this has been one of the numerous plants of the steel corporation. Mr. Buhl was also one of the active factors in the founding of the steel plant in South Sharon, which started the town. The history of South Sharon begins practically with the building

Jacob Reese, who died in Philadelphia in 1907, and who for fifty years was a resident of Pittsburg, was identified with the beginning of the iron industry at Sharon. He refers to this in a short autobiography, in which he says: “In 1850 I saw an advertisement offering $1,000 for the best plan of a nail factory. I made the drawings of a works to produce twenty tons per day. My drawings were accepted, and I assisted in building the works at Sharon, Mercer county, Pennsylvania. I there introduced an improvement which made the blue nail. I took out a patent on it which brought me considerable revenue.” He remained at Sharon a year or so, and was later connected with the industry at Pittsburg, his name being permanently associated with the invention and improvement of important processes in the manufacture of steel. 

Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, pages 358–359 

Sharon Steel Works

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North Works, Carnegie Steel Co.

abt 1915

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Carnegie Steel Co.

1911 Postcard 

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North Works Furnace,

 Carnegie Steel Co.

abt 1915

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