You may have noticed the sign outside of Andrew Carnegie’s office during episode 2 of The Men Who Built America. It read “Keystone Bridge Company”, but it was not mentioned by name during the episode. Was it real?
Yes. It was founded by Carnegie in 1865 after he retired from the railroad industry with an $80,000 loan from Tom Scott. Carnegie envisioned building bridges with iron, rather than wood, to make the bridges more durable.
In episode 2, it is made to look like Carnegie’s company built Eads’ Bridge, but they were actually the subcontractors. The bridge was built by Illinois and St. Louis Bridge Company. Keystone was responsible for acquiring the materials; which often put Carnegie and Eads at ends with one another. Eads rejected much of Carnegie’s selections of Iron and Steel as too inferior for the bridge; Carnegie would complain to the directors, but it was to no avail. Only the finest materials were chosen and the bridge still stands today as a result.
Keystone Bridge Company was consolidated into the American Bridge Company in 1900 and sold to J.P. Morgan in 1901.
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