Armco Inc.

▪ American company

formerly (1948–78)  Armco Steel Corporation , or (1899–1948)  American Rolling Mill Company 

      American corporation first incorporated, as the American Rolling Mill Company, on Dec. 2, 1899. It was newly incorporated on June 29, 1917, and was subsequently renamed (using an acronym of the original) in 1948 and 1978 to reflect its diversified interests. Headquarters are in Middletown, Ohio.

      Originally a manufacturer of sheet iron and steel, the company diversified, and its activities now include the manufacture of steel mill products, including such support activities as the mining of iron and coal and the extraction of gas, oil, and other fuels; the fabrication of metal products; and the production of metal and plastic industrial equipment and materials, with related engineering and construction services and sales. Although most of the company's products and services originate in the United States, the sale of products by foreign subsidiaries has been substantial.

      The company was founded by a group of investors led by George Matthew Verity (1865–1942), the company's president until 1930 and thereafter chairman of the board. The company's first steel mill, at Middletown, was completed in January 1901, and production started in February. In 1905 the company bought a second plant, in Zanesville, Ohio, and in 1914 began its first foreign plant operation, in Brazil. The company began to diversify in 1969 with the purchase of Hitco, a California-based manufacturer of plastics and other nonmetallic materials.

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