The Silver Brothers Iron Works was founded by William John Silver (1832-1918) in 1862 or 1863. Silver was born in London, England, and immigrated to Utah in 1859 with his wife, Mary Askie Silver, and their four young children. Silver founded one of the earliest foundries and machine shops in Utah. His company, named Silver Iron Works, was located in Salt Lake City. Silver Iron Works was involved in the manufacture of several Salt Lake City landmarks, including the cast oxen for the Salt Lake City temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the iron fence surrounding the Brigham Young cemetery.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, William J. Silver married five additional women between 1862 and 1880. He later moved to Colorado. After William Silver moved, three of his sons with his first wife took over the company. John, Hyrum, and Joseph Askie Silver (1857-1930), took over the company around 1897, renaming it the Silver Brothers Iron Works. Under the brothers, the company manufactured industrial machinery, such as steam engines, boilers, and equipment for mining and smelting. About ten years after taking over the company, circa 1910, John Silver also moved and left the company to his brothers and to Joseph’s son, James Watson Silver (1881-1965). Around this time, the company began to manufacture machinery for Utah's sugar beet industry. In 1912, Joseph Silver also learned the Bessemer process to make steel, making their company the first in Utah to make steel castings.
Around the beginning of World War I, the bank foreclosed on the Silver Brothers Iron Works due to debt and other losses. In November 1915, the company was reorganized and renamed the Salt Lake Iron and Steel Company. James Watson Silver remained as general manager of the company for about a year before moving to Ogden. There, he founded the Ogden Iron Works, which manufactured machinery for the sugar beet and mining industries. This company went out of business around 1991. (Source, Don Strack, “Iron and Steel Foundry and Machine Companies, 1850-1950,” UtahRails.net)
The Silver Brothers Iron Works photograph collection consists of 124 black-and-white photographs, negatives, and cabinet cards documenting the Silver Brothers Iron Works, later the Ogden Iron Works. The collection includes both family and business related images. The material dates from approximately 1900 to 1990.
Arranged by subject
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Silver Brothers Iron Works photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator.
Purchased from Ken Sanders Rare Books in 2007.
Processed by Special Collections staff.
See also the Silver Brothers Iron Works records (ACCN 2357) and the William John Silver papers (ACCN 2870) in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.