science · 13 October 1853 · 171 years ago
In 1853, the Pennsylvania and LeHigh Zinc Company Mill was erected in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This mill produced the first commercial zinc in the U.S., which was obtained from calamine ores. Four acres of land was bought by Samuel Wetherill, of Philadelphia. The initial production was of zinc oxide for white zinc paint. The company established a paint-mill on the same premises as their own barrel-works for packaging the zinc oxide. The refining of metallic zinc was started later. The company, was incorporated 2 May 1855. It also owned zinc mines on 160 acres of land near the village of Friedensville, four miles south of Bethlehem. The zinc ore deposit was originally discovered by T. H. Roepper, of Bethlehem, about 1845. The company was eventually acquired by the New Jersey Zinc Company.
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