Aluminum Company of America

Aluminum Company of America (AlCOA) was incorporated on October 1, 1899 by Charles Hall Martin, who created a process of producing aluminum, Captain Alfred E Hunt, a foremost metallurgist, George H Clapp, from Clapp and Hunt Materials Testing, Howard Lash of the Carbon Steel Company, Millard Hunsiker, Robert Scott, and W.S Sampler. Each man contributed 5,000 dollars to the project and the business was created under the name of Pittsburgh Reduction Company. The company changed its name to Aluminum Company of America in 1907 because it was constantly being confuse with a garbage disposal company in Pittsburgh.

Once the production process was complete, ALCOA needed to create a demand for aluminum. In the 1900s, aluminum was a relatively new material and had not yet proven to be a substitute for other materials. ALCOA worked to prove that aluminum could be a substitute for wood or steel, but they also worked to make their production process more efficient. With a more efficient production process, Aluminum would be less costly and become a better competitor with other materials.

ALCOA produced aluminum for both World Wars. By 1928 it held half the worlds capacity in primary aluminum. At the end of WWI, ALCOA had a surplus of aluminum and a greatly diminished demand. To address this problem, ALCOA opened a new plant in New Kensington, Pennsylvania including a Research Laboratory to develop new uses for aluminum. In there Research Laboratory Building, the Company showcase its aluminum in the form of doors and handrails.

In 1953, ALCOA built the ALCOA building in downtown Pittsburgh with an aluminum clad curtain wall so show off the uses of aluminum. By the 1950s, aluminum as a standard building material. Today the company is known as ALCOA. It changed its name in 1999. The company is still active and is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum.