Henry Clay Frick was born in December 1849, in West Overton, Pennsylvania to a poor family. One of six children, his parents were John W. Frick, a farmer, and Elizabeth Overholt Frick, the daughter of a whiskey distiller and flour merchant. Frick ended his formal education in his late teens, and began work as a clerk at an uncle's store in Mt. Pleasant, Pa.
Frick began building and operating coke ovens in 1870, and the following year he organized Frick and Company. Taking advantage of the difficult times following the financial panic of 1873, he acquired extensive coal deposits and supplied Pittsburgh with the coke required for its steel and iron industry. In 1871 he also invested in the 10-miles long Mount Pleasant Broadford Railroad (later absorbed into the B&O) which was being built from Broad Ford up the Morgan Valley to Bridgeport at the southeast corner of Mount Pleasant. Coal mines and coke ovens were being erected all along the railroad route including a number in Bridgeport.
In 1881 he decided to undergo a merger with Carnegie. Frick soon lost control of his company’s stock to Carnegie. Friction continued to develop as Carnegie tried to express his pro-labor sentiment in opposition to Frick’s strike suppressing beliefs.
For the remainder of his life, however, Frick continued to be a fixture in industrial and financial circles in America. He served as a director of United States Steel Corporation, and of various railroads, banks, insurance companies, and invested in property in and around Pittsburgh, as well as in Massachusetts, New York, and Indiana. He also served on the boards of cultural, educational, and charitable organizations, including the American Academy in Rome, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Princeton University.
Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919)
