Castle Metals history

By 1920, when W.B. Simpson was its president and the founder's descendant A.C. Castle a vice-president, the company was reporting assets of $2.6 million.

The company had a record net profit of $1 million on net sales of $12.8 million in 1941.

By 1950 the company had added steel warehouses in Berkeley, California, and North Kansas City, Missouri, as well as in Milwaukee, to its roster.

In 1967 A.M. Castle had some 20,000 sizes, shapes, and grades of metals stockpiled, mainly in steel but also in aluminum, copper, brass, bronze, and many specialized alloys and exotic metals.

By the end of 1970 its roster included service centers in Phoenix, Sacramento, and Fresno, California.

Hy-Alloy Steels Co. was acquired in 1973 for $3.45 million and made a subsidiary.

In 1983 A.M. Castle acquired George F. Blake Inc. of Worcester, Massachusetts, a major New England steel and aluminum service center.

A resurgence of business brought net income to $13.7 million in 1988 on net sales of $499.3 million.

In 1990 the company purchased Norton Steel Co., Ltd. of Canada for $9.3 million, thereby adding four distribution centers in Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba.

The outlook became even worse as the national economy fell into recession, and in 1991 Castle earned only $200,000 on revenues of $436 million.

The Hy-Alloy Steels division had its facility in Bedford Park, Illinois, and the H-A Industries bar-processing center, opened in 1993, was in Hammond, Indiana.