Max Rose
| Max Rose | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 15, 1894 Pinsk (then Poland, now Belarus) |
| 💀Died | April 14, 1968 (aged 73) PhiladelphiaApril 14, 1968 (aged 73) |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 👶 Children | Three |
Max Rose (July 15, 1894 – April 14, 1968) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He was the founder of Northern Metal Company (est. 1930–1970), where he also served as Chairman of the Board. Located on the Delaware River at Tacony in Philadelphia, the Northern Metal Company was the only civilian-owned and operated terminal in the world to be used by the US military.[1] At the time of its sale in the 1970s, the Northern Metal Company comprised a 162-acre deep-water marine facility uniquely able to provide integrated stevedoring and terminal operation. The Northern Metal Company was among the finest marine terminals in the Eastern Seaboard.[2]
Early life and career
Rose grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he developed a fierce determination to better his position in the world. His impressive career began as a boy laboring 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. At the time of his 1965 interview for the Ports of Philadelphia, he boasted that at age 72 he still worked 12-hour days, 7 days a week.[2]
As Ed Walsh put it, "Max Rose [could] speak for the Northern Metal Company because he [was] The Northern Metal Company."[2]
Rose first arrived on the Philadelphia waterfront around World War I, working as a rigger at Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. and the old Cramp shipyard. By then, he had improved his income significantly and was able to invest his money into shipbuilding. Working out of rented quarters at Pier 64 South, he built barges for the Reading Company and for P.F. Martín, and he also began buying lakers and converted them into freighters.[1]
In 1929, Rose expressed interest in government shipbuilding contracts, but the Maritime Commission convinced him he could make as much money scrapping ships. At the end of World War I, Rose opened a ship junkyard at Delaware Avenue and Tasker Street where he was able to scrap old vessels in a fraction of the time it took to build them; by 1965 he had scrapped 1,654 ships.[1]
Northern Metal Company
In 1933 Rose opened his company on a 31-acre riverfront field. He purchased a dry dock from Bethlehem Steel, had it hauled by tug from New York, and sank it in 25 feet of water at the edge of his property. It was his first pier. What followed was a masterclass in business growth and development. The Northern Metal Company became the prime contractor to the military transport service in the ports of Philadelphia. Rose was known for his systematic efficiency, which was an integral part of his business success.[1]
"Give me a ship with a cargo to unload, and I'll tell you when my men will be off that ship within a half hour." – Max Rose, 1965[2]
Plant operations during the world Wars
In 1937, as Germany began reoccupying the Rhineland region, the price of scrap metal soared steadily as nations rearmed. Keeping up with expected market trends, Rose bought the Girard Smelting and Refining Company plant at Milnor and Bleigh Streets, which would be the final site of Northern Metal Company until its sale in 1970.[1]
It took 1000 men and three months to build the freighters and troop carriers in the wartime yards at Bristol, Hog Island and Chester, Pa. – At the Northern Metal Company, 70 individuals operating with electric torches and giant clipper shears wrecked them in three or four weeks.[1]
In addition to 30 general cargo ships, Rose scrapped the 28,000-ton US battleship Florida and 11 Navy destroyers totaling 200,000 tons, a good-size fleet; but they weighed only about half of that after they were compressed into scrap.[1]
A visitor to Northern Metal on an average working day might possibly see automobiles being processed and moved to ship-side for loading, gantry cranes hoisting 16-ton coils of wire from US steel to be used in the construction of a bridge in Portugal, a Reading Railroad barge hauling a load of rail cars for discharge on the terminal's then unique role-on/roll-off float bridge or Pennsylvania Railroad sending a string of freight cars from its mainline outside the terminal gate.[1]
References
External links
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