Lawrence Shot and Lead Company
Dublin Core
Title
Lawrence Shot and Lead Company
Subject
Omaha Industrial Lead
Description
This colorless artifact image, of the Lawrence Shot and Lead Company's lead shot tower facility, was taken in the 1950s. This facility was built in 1897, in what was then “South Omaha”, still a separate city in Douglas County. The factory, originally called the Omaha Shot and Lead Works, produced lead shot for bullets and ammunition. In the factory, melted lead was poured into a sieve at the top of the tower, and the droplets of lead were cooled by wind and trickled down (Sasse, 2016). This was then used as shot for ammunitions. The tower shown in the image regularly released Lead particles into the air through its industrial processes.
In the first decade of the 20th century, lead based industries were common across the country. According to Werner Troesken, from "The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster", by 1900 40 out of America’s 50 largest cities had mostly lead pipes. (Troesken, 2006). But to take it even further, Troesken pointed out, that some of the largest cities such as Chicago even mandated the installation of lead piping through the city code. In fact, by 1900, over 70% of cities with populations greater than 30,000 people used lead water piping (Troesken, 2006). Lead was very much weaved into the fabric of much of the occurrent industrial production and thus into everyday life. Lead's versatility and affordability only worked to contribute more towards its expansion of use, and made lead an increasingly important commodity in the country's economy. Lead or lead containing metal alloys were now found in an array of products including bullets, batteries, cosmetics, paints, medicines, piping, canning, printing, and a range of other goods.
The harmful effects of lead and lead poisoning slowly grew more apparent after the turn of the century. (Markowitz & Rosner, 2000). But despite this growing awareness, manufacturers and companies continued to aggressively market lead-based products well into the 1950s (Markowitz & Rosner, 2000). One of the most blatantly egregious examples of this is the Dutch Boy Painter advertisements, which printed in many magazines through its campaign and reached at least 67 million people (Markowitz & Rosner, 2013). Governments also around this time did not do much to intervene, as they also were aware of its economic benefits and thus did not put much interest into caution. Increased use of lead now also began to affect exponentially more industrial workers than ever before. Lead smoke, dust, paint, drops, and piping were common workplace exposure sources that companies ignored.
One of the main examples of industrial Lead based products exposing/affecting people was in the paint industry. Leaded paint was used to paint houses, toys, kitchen supplies, cars, and almost everything. Another example of how exposure increased substantially is in canning. Lead used to be used both as alloy in canning and in the smoldering of the cans. In this way, it could have been exposed to many people through food. Another example of how common exposure became is through piping. It was around this time, that much of the piping being installed was material containing some form of lead alloy. Thus industrial creation of lead piping now made it possible for anyone using leaded pipes to be exposed.
CITATIONS-
Adam F. Sasse. (2016, April 18). A History of Lead Poisoning in North Omaha. Retrieved from https://northomahahistory.com/2016/04/18/a-history-of-lead-poisoning-in-north-omaha/.
Markowitz, G., & Rosner, D. (2000). "Cater to the children": the role of the lead industry in a public health tragedy, 1900-1955. American Journal of Public Health, 90(1), 36–46. doi: 10.2105/ajph.90.1.36
Troesken W. The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2006.
Markowitz, G. E., & Rosner, D. (2013). Deceit and denial: the deadly politics of industrial pollution. Berkeley: University of California Press.
In the first decade of the 20th century, lead based industries were common across the country. According to Werner Troesken, from "The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster", by 1900 40 out of America’s 50 largest cities had mostly lead pipes. (Troesken, 2006). But to take it even further, Troesken pointed out, that some of the largest cities such as Chicago even mandated the installation of lead piping through the city code. In fact, by 1900, over 70% of cities with populations greater than 30,000 people used lead water piping (Troesken, 2006). Lead was very much weaved into the fabric of much of the occurrent industrial production and thus into everyday life. Lead's versatility and affordability only worked to contribute more towards its expansion of use, and made lead an increasingly important commodity in the country's economy. Lead or lead containing metal alloys were now found in an array of products including bullets, batteries, cosmetics, paints, medicines, piping, canning, printing, and a range of other goods.
The harmful effects of lead and lead poisoning slowly grew more apparent after the turn of the century. (Markowitz & Rosner, 2000). But despite this growing awareness, manufacturers and companies continued to aggressively market lead-based products well into the 1950s (Markowitz & Rosner, 2000). One of the most blatantly egregious examples of this is the Dutch Boy Painter advertisements, which printed in many magazines through its campaign and reached at least 67 million people (Markowitz & Rosner, 2013). Governments also around this time did not do much to intervene, as they also were aware of its economic benefits and thus did not put much interest into caution. Increased use of lead now also began to affect exponentially more industrial workers than ever before. Lead smoke, dust, paint, drops, and piping were common workplace exposure sources that companies ignored.
One of the main examples of industrial Lead based products exposing/affecting people was in the paint industry. Leaded paint was used to paint houses, toys, kitchen supplies, cars, and almost everything. Another example of how exposure increased substantially is in canning. Lead used to be used both as alloy in canning and in the smoldering of the cans. In this way, it could have been exposed to many people through food. Another example of how common exposure became is through piping. It was around this time, that much of the piping being installed was material containing some form of lead alloy. Thus industrial creation of lead piping now made it possible for anyone using leaded pipes to be exposed.
CITATIONS-
Adam F. Sasse. (2016, April 18). A History of Lead Poisoning in North Omaha. Retrieved from https://northomahahistory.com/2016/04/18/a-history-of-lead-poisoning-in-north-omaha/.
Markowitz, G., & Rosner, D. (2000). "Cater to the children": the role of the lead industry in a public health tragedy, 1900-1955. American Journal of Public Health, 90(1), 36–46. doi: 10.2105/ajph.90.1.36
Troesken W. The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2006.
Markowitz, G. E., & Rosner, D. (2013). Deceit and denial: the deadly politics of industrial pollution. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Creator
Rohit Akella,
Betty Straub
Betty Straub
Source
https://northomahahistory.com/2016/04/18/a-history-of-lead-poisoning-in-north-omaha/
Publisher
NorthOmahaHistory.com
Date
1950s
Contributor
Adam Fletcher Sasse
Format
https://northomahahistory.com/2016/04/18/a-history-of-lead-poisoning-in-north-omaha/
Language
English
Collection
Citation
Rohit Akella,
Betty Straub, “Lawrence Shot and Lead Company,” History of Environmental Inequalities, accessed May 2, 2024, https://steppingintothemap.com/inequalities/items/show/34.
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