Erskine Ramsay: Difference between revisions
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'''Erskine Ramsay''' was an Alabama industrialist born September 24, 1864 |
'''Erskine Ramsay''' was an Alabama industrialist born September 24, 1864 |
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in Allegheny |
in [[Allegheny County]], Pennsylvania. His family came from [[Dumferline]], [[Fife]], [[Scotland]] the same town as [[Andrew Carnegie]]. Erskine Ramsay's father, a mining engineer, followed Carnegie to Pittsburgh hearing of his success there. The younger Ramsay started working in cooperative store at the mines as a teenager. In 1882, he attended [[St. Vincent's College]], [[Latrobe, Pennsylvania]], at the Senior level, graduating at the head of his class, with little previous formal education. He switched to the mining operations side and was quickly advanced being focused on productivity. He was hired away from Pennsylvania in his twenties to fill a managerial post at [[Tennessee Coal & Iron]]. He came to Birmingham in 1887 to run the Pratt Mines, where he invented the rotary coal dump, swivel coupling, and many other innovations, eventually holding over 40 patents, according to industry journal Coal Age. |
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From there Ramsay advanced to increasingly senior positions within the company. With a group of investors he took over and managed Pratt Consolidated Coal. |
From there Ramsay advanced to increasingly senior positions within the company. With a group of investors he took over and managed Pratt Consolidated Coal. |
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Revision as of 23:59, 12 March 2012
Erskine Ramsay | |
|---|---|
| File:Erskine Ramsay.jpg | |
| Born | September 24, 1864 |
| Died | August 15, 1953 (aged 89) |
| Occupation(s) | Mining Engineer, Industrialist |
Erskine Ramsay was an Alabama industrialist born September 24, 1864 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. His family came from Dumferline, Fife, Scotland the same town as Andrew Carnegie. Erskine Ramsay's father, a mining engineer, followed Carnegie to Pittsburgh hearing of his success there. The younger Ramsay started working in cooperative store at the mines as a teenager. In 1882, he attended St. Vincent's College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, at the Senior level, graduating at the head of his class, with little previous formal education. He switched to the mining operations side and was quickly advanced being focused on productivity. He was hired away from Pennsylvania in his twenties to fill a managerial post at Tennessee Coal & Iron. He came to Birmingham in 1887 to run the Pratt Mines, where he invented the rotary coal dump, swivel coupling, and many other innovations, eventually holding over 40 patents, according to industry journal Coal Age.
From there Ramsay advanced to increasingly senior positions within the company. With a group of investors he took over and managed Pratt Consolidated Coal.
A key figure in the development of Birmingham AL, he also donated $100,000 to Auburn University, the largest single contribution at that time (ca 1925), and the Erskine Ramsay Engineering Hall (1925) was one of the results. It has recently been scheduled for demolition.
Awarded the William Lawrence Saunders Medal (1937) by the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers for improving the making of coke. He began opening bank accounts for males named for him, and did this for Erskine Hawkins. Hawkins became a trumpeter and bandleader and helped create the hit song "Tuxedo Junction." Hawkins is buried in the same cemetery as Ramsay.
Erskine Ramsay died August 15, 1953, in Birmingham.
One son was Andrew Carnegie Ramsay, 1881 - 1937. Father and son are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham AL, on Block 16.
References
Alabama Hall of Fame: Erskine Ramsay
External links
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