page_title: John C. Osgood
section_title: Colorado
hierarchical_section_title: John C. Osgood / Biography / Colorado
caption_attribution_description: The Main Office building of the CF&amp;I Steel Mill in Pueblo, Colorado. Built in 1901 by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, this building served as the office complex for the CF&amp;I Steel mill operations until the mid 1990s. The building was purchased by the Bessemer Historical Society in 2002 and will be renovated and used as the second phase of the Steelworks Museum of Industry and Culture. The building behind this one, the CF&amp;I Annex Building, currently houses the CF&amp;I Archive collection. Photo was taken 4/17/06 at 6:10PM.
context_page_description: John Cleveland Osgood was a self-made man who founded the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company and Victor-American Fuel Company but has been referred to as a robber baron. He also created Redstone, Colorado.
context_section_description: In the winter of 1882, Osgood was sent to Colorado to research that state's coal resources for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. He visited every mine in the state and absorbed every detail. Colorado had been a state for fewer than six years, and few people besides John Osgood had the vision to see the possibilities of coal. He began to obtain huge tracts of coal land, and formed the Colorado Fuel Company in 1887. The business grew quickly, and five years later, they merged with the Colorado Coal and Iron Company to form the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I), the largest in the state. 
  The Bessemer iron works at Pueblo, Colorado became the headquarters of the new company.
  Miner strikes in 1894 and 1901 were costly to CF&I, and they were mining three quarters of the state's coal in 1892. Osgood testified at a committee hearing of the Colorado General Assembly following the 1901 strike. He insisted that management knew what was best for the miners and labor unions were a threat to the United States.
  Osgood decided to try welfare capitalism, which was becoming a popular program to eliminate the need for unions and improve the company image. In theory, contented workers are more productive and don't strike.
  The system provided for and controlled all the workers' needs. To address healthcare needs, CF&I built a modern hospital in Pueblo for use by their employees throughout the state.
caption: Colorado Fuel and Iron Company hospital
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