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Historical Overview
For over 130 years, the Eichleay companies have evolved to accommodate changing times and pursue promising opportunities. From a structural mover to a general contractor to a full-service engineering firm, the one constant has always been our passion for applying innovative engineering techniques to meet modern needs. Now in our 5th generation of active family ownership and involvement, we remain proud of our past, focused on the present, and optimistic about the future.
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Project Highlights
1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 | 1980 | TODAY
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The Early Years:
A Moving Company On The Move
 Many of the moving projects completed by the John Eichleay Jr. Company were unique in conception, design, and accomplishment. Such was the case with the Brown Mansion, which stood in the way of what were to be oncoming B&O Railroad tracks. In 1903, Captain S. S. Brown's residence was raised 160 feet up a sheer cliff and then 500 feet back from the cliff's edge. An unprecedented accomplishment, Eichleay moved the house intact, preserving irreplaceable murals on the interior walls. A few years later in 1908, this spectacular feat was depicted in a parade float commemorating Pittsburgh's sesqui-centennial (150 year) birthday celebration.
Eichleay was called upon to adapt its house moving skills to rescue the steamship Virginia which had run aground in a cornfield along the Ohio River during a flood. In the spring of 1910, the 235 foot long boat had to be transported 750 feet to river's edge and then re-deposited in the water near Willow Grove, West Virginia. Eichleay quickly completed the move, placing the Virginia on the riverbank. Before the lowering process began, rains swelled the river once again and the boat floated to safety.
In 1915, what would have otherwise been a routine house move became a more challenging prospect when Charles M.
Schwab, then President of Bethlehem Steel, declared that his Loretta, PA summer home was to be moved without damage to the fruit tree orchard surrounding it. Eichleay responded by jacking-up the structure 27 feet over the treetops, and then successfully moving it 1,500 feet to its final destination.
Expansion of the George Eastman home (of the Eastman Kodak fame) in Rochester, NY quite literally involved splitting it in two. In 1918, Eichleay pulled the ends apart, placed a huge pipe organ into the music room, and then neatly rebuilt the expansion gap as if the mansion had originally been built that way. The cost of this renovation project was purportedly more than that to construct the original house.
In order to accommodate the widening of Second Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, PA, the entire 8 story Joseph Woodwell Building was moved, sidewalk and all, in 1-1/2 days to another site 40 feet back. Inside the hardware department of the Joseph Woodwell Company, work continued with less commotion than there was on the street outside.
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1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 | 1980 | TODAY
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Unique and Unprecedented Challenges
 In 1921, to make room for the new State Capital in Charleston, WV, 12 homes were moved 500 feet down the street and then loaded two at a time onto a double river barge to cross the Kanawha River.
Pedestrian traffic was maintained at all times during the modernization of Jack's Run Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA. To make room for the construction of a wider replacement bridge, 100 men used hand and steam operated jacks to raise the old 750 foot long by 150 foot high wooden bridge onto iron pipes in 1922. The entire structure was then translated horizontally 175 feet.
 As the Eichleay reputation expanded, so too did the size of the structures moved. Perhaps Eichleay's most memorable moving feat took place in 1930 when the Indiana Bell Telephone Building was moved 52 feet, pivoted 90 degrees to face the perpendicular street, and then rolled another 100 feet to its new location. By using a system of cribbing, rollers, and screw jacks, the 12,000-ton building was moved in just eight days, with no disturbance
to the 600 employees at work inside. Electrical service (including telephone connections) water, gas and sanitary facilities were all maintained and functioning during the move!
Other notable but slightly later moving projects included:
- The transport of a retired 225 ton railroad locomotive down a street in Philadelphia, PA at the rate of 4 feet per minute until it reached its final resting place as a historical exhibit in the Benjamin Franklin Memorial Museum in 1933.
- The relocation of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company's (PPG) 40 ton, 50,000 gallon water tower in Mt Vernon, PA in 1935.
- The re-launch of two coal barges from their involuntary dry dock atop the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company tracks below the Point Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA after the river flooded in 1936.
- The repositioning of a 175 ton statue of Civil War hero Major General George H. Thomas to facilitate the construction of the Thomas Circle Underpass in Washington, DC in 1939.
Changing Directions and Redefining Equipment Installation Specialist
Modern building methods that allowed for the erection of structures in a more economical and timely fashion caused the house moving business to fade out of existence. Eichleay did not. Instead, jacks, rollers and precision engineering techniques were adapted to serve different needs starting in the 1930's.
The first foray into machinery moving was a long and important project for the Colorado Bureau of Reclamation in 1933. Hoover Dam has been called one of the seven wonders of modern civil engineering, and it was Eichleay who engineered and installed 44,500 tons of giant penstock pipes at the dam site. At 186 tons each, maneuvering the 30 foot diameter by 22 foot long sections constructed of nearly 3 inch thick plate was not an easy task. Nonetheless, Eichleay attacked the project with vigor, finishing in just under 3 years.
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1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 | 1980 | TODAY
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Innovative, Unusual, and Complex Capabilities
During World War II the iron and steel industries were in need of companies with unusual and complex capabilities. Eichleay Corporation, already qualified by a long history of innovative success, responded by introducing new blast furnace construction and installation methods. Eichleay's experience with jacks and rollers made the new blast furnace methods simple. The furnace stack and top structures were assembled off-site while the existing furnace operated as usual. The new furnace was then rolled into position and installed in one day, saving weeks of construction time and thousands of tons of iron production.
As the race to develop the atomic bomb progressed at a breakneck pace towards the end of the war, Eichleay was called upon to assist The Manhattan Project. In March 1945, Eichleay was awarded a contract to transport a massive steel vessel from an abandoned railroad siding near Pope, NM across 30 miles of roadless desert to the Trinity Site. This was accomplished using a specially designed 64 wheel carriage pulled by 4 Caterpillar D8 tractors. Nicknamed "Jumbo," this 214 ton object had walls as thick as 16 inches and measured 28 feet long by 12 feet 8 inches in diameter. Although the original intent was to detonate the first prototype bomb inside of it, after arriving in the desert the physicists decided that they did not want to use it as a containment device. Their thinking was that, if the bomb were successful, the vaporized metal would greatly enhance radiation problems. In order to obtain some value from this very expensive object, the Eichleay contract was extended to erect a tower a few hundred yards away from ground zero and suspend Jumbo from it to see how it would withstand the blast. Due to the ultra secretive nature of this work, none of the workers involved were aware of the purpose of the project.
Post War and Industrial Expansion
Specialty contractors were needed for industrial projects of all kinds during the postwar industrial expansion. In 1947, under a contract from the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), Eichleay handled the complete installation of machinery for a new rolling mill in Davenport, Iowa. Over 35,000 tons of rolling mill equipment and accessories were installed, including a 100-inch continuous hot mill and a 44 inch slabbing mill.
In 1953, Eichleay was awarded one of its most unique projects by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to construct a wind tunnel at Moffett Field able to test planes with wing spans of up to 100 feet. Now a part of the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA, it is still the largest wind tunnel in the world. Air is forced through 2 different test sections by a total of 6 fans. Each of the 15 bladed fans has the diameter of a 4-story building, and is powered by a 22,500 horsepower motor.
 As the applications for nuclear technology evolved, Eichleay continued to be involved. Recognizing the potential to virtually eliminate the need for refueling and vastly decrease the sound signatures of its submarines, the United States Navy aggressively sought to replace its then diesel powered fleet with a nuclear one. At the Groton, CT shipyard of The Electric Boat Company in 1953, Eichleay set the reactor for The Nautilus, the 1st nuclear submarine ever built. In the years following its launch on January 21, 1954, The Nautilus went on to shatter all submerged speed and distance records. The success of this classified prototype had profound implications upon the future of naval warfare.
Eichleay also played an important role in the early development of the commercial nuclear business. In the mid 1950's, Eichleay installed all of the major mechanical equipment for the Shippingsport Atomic Power Station. Located on the Ohio River just northwest of Pittsburgh, PA, this was the 1st commercial nuclear power plant ever built in the United States.
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1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 | 1980 | TODAY
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A General Contractor Emerges
 As Eichleay was awarded a greater number of contracts for mechanical installations, more comprehensive jobs began to present themselves. In the 1950's and early 1960's, Eichleay was awarded general contract work, as well as specialty moving projects.
 In 1960, Great Lakes Steel Corporation awarded Eichleay a contract to build a new 80 inch hot strip mill facility. Over 170,000 cubic yards of concrete were poured into the foundations of the Ecorse, MI mill.
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1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 | 1980 | TODAY
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An Engineering Company Emerges
 By the early 1980s, Eichleay began to offer design/construct services. The MacSteel mini-mill in Fort Smith, AR, was Eichleay's first contract providing design, engineering, procurement, and construction services.
Over the next several years a full-service multi-discipline engineering organization was serving a wide range of clients in a variety of industries.
 In the early 1990's, Eichleay participated in a joint venture to design and build a new coke battery for National Steel Corporation near Detroit, MI. The 85 compound ovens that comprise this facility, each made of specially cut brick, were designed to produce 850,000 tons of coke per year. A significant highlight of this project involved the unloading of pusher equipment from a freighter that had arrived from Germany. This was accomplished using a custom built Lampson crawler crane.
One of the most significant projects ever undertaken by Eichleay involved the multi-year effort to design and manage the construction of the AK Steel Rockport Works in Rockport, IN. This huge greenfield carbon and stainless steel finishing facility was constructed in the late 1990's utilizing the latest manufacturing technologies available. Among others, state-of-the-art aspects of this 1,750,000 sf complex include the use of automated cranes and AGV's (automated guidance vehicles) to transport coils between the various processing lines.
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1900 | 1920 | 1940 | 1960 | 1980 | TODAY
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Move with Eichleay into the Future
 Over the past century Eichleay became a powerful force in the engineering and construction world. From one man
with a vision, to a nationally recognized professional services firm, the Eichleay name has always been
synonymous with innovation, dedication and commitment to continuous improvement.
Our history has proven that Eichleay evolves with the times. The fast pace of technology, together with a
constantly changing business environment, creates ever increasing challenges for capital project delivery.
Eichleay works with our clients as a partner to provide optimum solutions in a very dynamic environment. We don't succeed unless our clients are successful... and we have been successful for a very long time.
Please reference the Markets section of this website for profiles of recently completed projects.
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In 1875, an innovative building inspector named John Eichleay, Jr. founded a structural moving business that would soon become renowned for completing projects believed by many to be impossible. The advent of the industrial age brought with it profound changes in urban landscapes of America. This transformation was perhaps no more evident than in John's hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. As the preeminent center of industry and technology at the time, small houses and buildings were being torn down to make room for larger ones, industrial plants were pushing residential neighborhoods outward from the rivers and railroads, and street railways permitted people to live further from their places of work. Believing that structures could be moved for only a fraction of the cost of demolishing and rebuilding them, John felt that all of these factors made for a lucrative business. They did! Although the projects undertaken during the early years were quite modest, they became increasingly bold and impressive as techniques were perfected and the reputation of the company grew. 
The company soared to new heights during the 1920's under the management John's four sons, John P., Walter, Harry, and Roy. This was largely fueled by the unprecedented strength of the U.S. economy and the introduction of affordable automobiles. Because much of the existing infrastructure in major metropolitan areas was inadequate to deal with increased vehicle sizes and traffic volume, many streets required widening. This yielded an abundance of moving projects for Eichleay, both in Pittsburgh and on a national level. During its heyday in the early part of the 20th century, the John Eichleay Jr. Company moved over 10,000 structures and was acknowledged as the undisputed leader in the business.
By the late 1920's economic changes and technological advances made the relocation of large structures increasingly impractical. As a result, moving techniques were adapted to include the installation of heavy industrial machinery. It was around this time that John W. Eichleay entered the business. To capitalize off of the enormous industrial expansion being experienced throughout the nation after The Great Depression, John W. led the transformation of the company into a formidable general contractor. The Eichleay Engineering Company that he established in 1932, whose name would be changed to Eichleay Corporation a year later, quickly built a reputation for being able to execute large public works and heavy industrial projects nationwide. Given its Pittsburgh roots, it is not surprising that this company developed a niche in the construction and retrofitting of steel mills, coke ovens, and blast furnaces.
In the early 1970's, George F. Eichleay (Geof) took over from his father and leveraged Eichleay Corporation's reputation and existing client base to enter the engineering business. The rapid growth of his venture, called Eichleay Engineers, marked a paradigm shift away from construction to emphasize more specialized engineering and management services. A primary motivation behind this effort was to enable far greater participation in front-end project development and an increased ability to influence the efficiency of the capital spending process for clients. Geof's commitment to these endeavors is perhaps best exemplified by his active involvement in the Construction Industry Institute (CII), a prominent consortium of leading owners, engineers, and contractors committed to improving facility lifecycle costs. He served as Chairman of this organization in 1998. Relationships developed through CII and other professional affiliations had the added benefit of increasing exposure to business opportunities in an array of different areas. As the U.S. steel industry dramatically contracted throughout the 1990's and early 2000's, an initiative begun in the late 1980's to develop additional core competencies in markets beyond those traditionally served proved advantageous.