Phoenix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb

of Germany, steel manufacturer

The Phoenix Company of Laar

1852 The company was founded by Anton Wilhelm Hüffer and Télémaque Fortuné Michiels, as well as a French investor, with its headquarters in Eschweiler-Aue. From the outset, the goal was to cover all stages of the iron trade from ore and coal mining to the smelting and production of pig iron to the further processing of the metals.

1853 Took over Michiels & Cie., with puddling and rolling mills in Eschweiler-Aue and an annual output of around 20,000 tonnes of hardware at the time, one of the most important facilities in the Rhine region.

Between 1854 and 1856, Phoenix built ironworks in Laar and Kupferdreh. By 1856, four blast furnaces, 52 puddling furnaces and rolling mills were operating in Laar.

1855 Acquired the French company Société des Mines et Fonderies du Rhin Ch. Détillieux & Co., which had built a steel mill in Bergeborbeck near Essen four years earlier. The company's headquarters were moved from Eschweiler to Cologne. As a result Phoenix owned numerous ore mines and leased several coal mines.

1858 Restucturing of the company by David Hansemann. The plant in Laar in particular benefited from its favourable location on the Rhine and was able to increase its production to around 35,000 tonnes per year. Four blast furnaces were in operation; in 1873 the Bessemer and Siemens-Martin process were introduced. Rail tracks were a particular product.

1873 Railway construction came to a standstill nationally so the entire steel industry experienced a long-lasting recession until c.1879. After that, Phoenix's situation improved again.

1881 the Phoenix – like many other ironworks – bought the Thomas process.

c.1884 Phoenix's patented carbonisation process was needed to improve the hardness of the steel.

1894 At Antwerp, the firm exhibited steel tram rails of every section, as well as many sections of rolled steel. They also had bottles for containing liquid carbonic acid, and other liquefied gases, in all stages of manufacture. Also exhibited wheels, steel shells, and some hardened steel balls for mills.^[1]

Further acquisitions followed, including the Meidericher Steinkohlebergs-AG (1896), the Westfälische Union (1898) and the Nordstern coal mine (1907).

1906 Phoenix merged with Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein

1908 the company's headquarters was moved to Hörde.

1910 Düsseldorfer Röhren-und Eisenwalzwerke AG, a company of the Poensgen family, became part of the Phoenix.

1921/1922 the company moved its headquarters to Düsseldorf.

1923 the Bergeborbeck steelworks was closed as part of the crisis around the Ruhr occupation.

1926 Phoenix participated in the founding of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, which used the Phoenix House as its headquarters, and then moved to the Neue Stahlhof in 1928/1929.

1933 Phoenix remained a pure shell company until it was completely merged with other companies into Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG.

Hermannshütte

c.1840 Hermann Dietrich Piepenstock (1782-1843), one of the main iron manufacturers in the west of the Kingdom of Prussia at Iserlohn, moved to Dortmund-Hörde to create his own factory (Hermannshütte), assisted by Samuel Dobbs.

1843 Production began using pig iron imported from Belgium

Soon Hermannshütte became known for its high-quality steel products.

1852 A blast furnace was built.

1852 The Hörder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein was founded, which from the start included the Hermannshütte.

1864 The sixth blast furnace went into operation.