Wharton understood that to fix the problems with American international industry he had to better educate the students of commerce and finance. Photo Credit: " Joseph Wharton. Licensed under Public Domain. Source: Wikimedia. Skip to main content. You are here Home.
Primary Vocation: Business. Industrialist Joseph Wharton founded Swarthmore College. Abstract: Born in , Joseph Wharton was a prominent Pennsylvanian who presided over some of the most astute educational, industrial, and economic institutions the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has ever seen.
Philadelphia: Braid, Philadelphia: Lippincott, Sources: Garn, Andrew. Bethlehem Steel. Princeton: Princeton UP, Sass, Steven A. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, Yates, W. Wharton History. The Power of Wharton. Incubating ideas to transform business ». We spark great ideas and nurture their growth into remarkable new ventures.
He was accomplished in sports such as horseback riding, swimming, and rowing on the Schuylkill River. Wharton and his brothers in their early years identified with inventors and builders such as Cyrus McCormick and Samuel F. When he was 19, Wharton apprenticed with an accountant for two years and became proficient in business methods and bookkeeping. At 21, he partnered with his older brother Rodman to start a business manufacturing white lead.
In Wharton started a business manufacturing bricks using a patented machine which pressed dry clay into forms. There was substantial competition in the brick business, which was affected by cyclical business swings , and after several trips to sell bricks and the brick-making machines, Wharton found the prospects for making good profits were dim.
However, from the endeavor he gained valuable experience. In , Wharton joined the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania , first managing the mining operation and later the zinc oxide works. Wharton proved himself by negotiating a new charter for the works, and in the difficult financial environment of — he took over control of the zinc works, managing it carefully so that it turned a profit.
In Wharton, after some challenging negotiations with the directors of the company, developed for Lehigh Zinc the first plant to manufacture metallic zinc in America. Looking into the next business cycle, he leased the plant for four years and eventually made a robust profit from the sale of metallic zinc, used in making brass , which picked up in the Civil War years.
She preferred a life of comfort but evidently did not wish to stifle his ambition. During this time Wharton lived a spartan life, boarding at a hotel and managing the zinc works in Bethlehem, and Anna cared for their first child Joanna at their home in Philadelphia.
Although Joseph returned as often as possible and they communicated often by letter, they felt much stress during this period and their marriage suffered. Later, when Joseph was more secure in his job manufacturing zinc, Anna and Joanna came to live with him in Bethlehem, where they lived a happier life for two years, partaking in social events and exploring the local rivers and countryside.
After Wharton sold his interest in zinc, they returned to Philadelphia, and although he often traveled to oversee his properties or develop business connections, he never again lived apart from the family.
Wharton often studied at night or played history games with the children. Hoping to profit from the use of nickel in coins, Wharton in sold his interest in zinc and started the manufacture of nickel at Camden , New Jersey , taking over a nickel mine and refining works at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The Camden plant was located on the east side of 10th Street, adjacent to Cooper Creek , and had several large brick buildings and smokestacks.
Wharton renamed the Camden plant the American Nickel Works, and his office there became his center of operations. However, the use of nickel in coinage was temporarily halted, and soon the Camden plant burned. Wharton rebuilt it in and made excellent profits from producing nickel because it became favored for coinage. Wharton won wide acclaim for his malleable nickel, the first in the world, and also for nickel magnets , and received the Gold Medal at the Paris Exposition of His factory produced the only nickel in the US and a significant fraction of the world supply.
Eventually the surface deposits at the Gap mine were depleted and Wharton was obliged to purchase nickel ore from a mine in Sudbury , Ontario , Canada. This experience was a challenge to Wharton, who learned about market economics and protection when foreign nickel manufacturers opposed his nickel purchasing and manufacture efforts. Wharton by then had learned the value of meeting personally with his managers and regularly inspecting the mines and manufacturing plants with them.
He was successful because he worked hard to increase efficiency and profitability of the businesses he acquired, and energetically pursued markets for his products. Dietrich Hall, c. Get more image details. Return to top.
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