U.S. corporation incorporated 1904 in Bethlehem, Pa.; railroaders and investors founded its predecessor, Saucona Iron Company, to make wrought-iron rails for railroads 1857; four years later renamed Bethlehem Iron Company; facilities acquired 1899 by Bethlehem Steel Company; major founder of corporation Charles M. Schwab, formerly of U.S. Steel; corporation thrived after merger with manufacturing and shipbuilding companies; grew with expanding orders for military goods before and during World War I; newly incorporated 1919; opened research laboratories 1961; diversified 1970s and began to produce plastics and to mine nonferrous ores.