Museum honors triumphs of one of nation’s most influential women
By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times
Susannah Brody depicts Rebecca Lukens, an important figure in the history of Coatesville and American industrialism.
COATESVILLE – The National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum celebrated Rebecca Lukens’s 220th birthday on Thursday night at the Graystone Mansion.
Storyteller Susannah Brody played the role of Lukens, dressing up and telling the life story of the nation’s first woman industrialist.
Brody said that she used Lukens’s autobiography and diary entries to research and get into character.
Lukens, who ran the steel mill from 1825-1847 after inheriting control from her husband Charles, was responsible for many of the repairs and renovations that have allowed it to become the nation’s longest continuously-running steel mill.
But her story was not, by any means, an easy one.
Though her father, founder of the Federal Slitting Mill, took her on business trips when she was a child, her mother discouraged her from the working world. But after marrying Charles Lukens, the two leased the mill from Rebecca’s father.
After Charles’s death—which occurred the same year that their son died—a dispute rose over the interpretation of his will, with Rebecca eventually taking over the mill against her mother’s wishes.
“I had made a promise to my husband, and where else were we supposed to go?” Brody said, acting out the part of Lukens.
When she took over, much of the mill was in disrepair. Lukens made renovations, repaired the Brandywine mansion, and built homes for her workers. These renovations allowed the production of plates for locomotive boilers.
“By the 1830’s the old mill had just about fallen down. Repairs were continuously needed and were ruinously expensive. Solomon [her brother-in-law, who helped run the mill] and I decided that there was nothing to do but build a new mill,” said Lukens.
However, the Panic of 1837, a recession caused by the importation of cheap iron, forced the mill to stop production. During that time, Lukens’s compassion for her workers meant that she did not lay them off like other mills. Instead, she kept them on the payroll to maintain equipment and work on her farm.
Eventually, with the nation’s increased reliance on railroads, the mill would go on to prosper until Lukens’s death in 1854. It was because of Lukens that the mill became a major source of industry for the city and still operates today.
Brody said that while Rebecca would not have considered her important place in history, she believes that Lukens can be a role model, a business leader that girls can look up to even now.
