J. Leonard Replogle | |
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| Born | Jacob Leonard Replogle (1876-05-06)May 6, 1876 New Enterprise, Pennsylvania |
| Died | November 25, 1948(1948-11-25) (aged 72) New York, New York |
| Resting place | Grandview Cemetery, Johnstown |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Political party | Republican |
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Jacob Leonard Replogle (May 6, 1876 – November 25, 1948), usually known asJ. L. Replogle, was a wealthyAmericanindustrialist.
J. Leonard Replogle was born inNew Enterprise, Pennsylvania on May 6, 1876, one of twelve children of Rinehart Zook and Mary Ann (née Furry) Replogle.[1] Rinehart was a Brethren minister, and moved his family away from New Enterprise to live in Johnstown. It was in Johnstown that Jacob grew up and went to school. Jacob quit his schooling when he was 13 years old, shortly after the Johnstown Flood, and went to work as a $5-per-week office boy in the general offices of theCambria Steel Company.[2]
He went on to become a general supervisor at Cambria, rising through the ranks to finally become the head of Replogle Steel Co. In 1918,Forbes magazine named him one of the wealthiest persons in the United States.
He married Blanche Kenley McMillen on January 10, 1905.[1]
DuringWorld War I, he directed the steel supply for theWar Industries Board,[3] organizing the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Chester withWilliam Sproul,Samuel Vauclain of the Baldwin Locomotive Works,T. Coleman du Pont, andEdward V. Babcock of Pittsburgh. After the war, he was awarded theDistinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army). He did similar work for theWar Production Board inWorld War II.
He was also head of theVanadium Corporation of America,[4] withCharles M. Schwab. In August 1942, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers established the Manhattan Engineer District (MED), also known as theManhattan Project, to develop atomic weapons and to procure the raw materials, principallyuranium, necessary for their production. The MED contracted the Vanadium Corporation of America and the United States Vanadium Corporation (owned by Union Carbide) to procure and process uranium bearing ore.
While in Paris in 1931 he and a friend, Paulding Fosdick, invented a form of the gamebridge, which they calledTowie. In 1935, he sought to make Towie a popular game in the United States, with limited success.
The J. Leonard Replogle Elementary School inLoysburg, Pennsylvania is named after him.[5]
In his later years he entered into Republican politics. He was Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania, 1920; a delegate to Republican National Convention from Florida, 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944; and a member of Republican National Committee from Florida, 1940.[dubious –discuss]
J. Leonard Replogle died at theSavoy-Plaza Hotel in New York on November 25, 1948.[6] He was buried inGrandview Cemetery, Johnstown.[2]
The Replogle Steel Company of Wharton, New Jersey.
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