This story begins and ends with bicycles, yet it’s really about aviation and Shelby’s steel mill, so, how does that work?

Quite simply, the whole reason there is a steel tube plant in Shelby is because in 1890 people were crazy about bicycles.

After decades of watching cyclists spinning around the streets balanced way up on high wheel bikes, there was suddenly a new “safety bicycle” with two balanced wheels.   These new bikes were simple enough that kids could master them, so everybody wanted one and the bicycle industry exploded.

To truly appreciate this story there is one other critical factor that must be understood: when 1890 was experiencing the incredible boom in bicycles, there was nowhere in America that made seamless steel tubing. 

Each of those “safety bicycles” required nearly 20 feet of steel tube to construct its frame.  There were dozens of steel mills around the nation, but not a single one of them had the machinery or technical know-how to make steel tube in one continuous piece. 

That started in Shelby.

READ MORE

Author: Timothy Brian Mckee