Jacob Leonard Replogle (May 6, 1876 – November 25, 1948), usually known as J. L. Replogle, was a wealthy Americanindustrialist.
Biography
J. Leonard Replogle was born in New 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 the Cambria 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]
He was also head of the Vanadium Corporation of America,[4] with Charles M. Schwab. In August 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established the Manhattan Engineer District (MED), also known as the Manhattan Project, to develop atomic weapons and to procure the raw materials, principally uranium, 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 game bridge, which they called Towie. In 1935, he sought to make Towie a popular game in the United States, with limited success.
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]