Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy: The "Tales of a Former Student" Story

It was an ordinary day. Scrolling through a Facebook page that features photographs of historical places in Lancaster County, PA. All photos are submitted by members of the page and are usually from scrapbooks or photo albums of the members. Some are Polaroids, some are early black and whites that have become sepia colored over the years, some are photo postcards and some are acutally Daguerrotypes from the mid-1800s. Most are places or locations that I remember from my lifetime.

The first location of High Welding on West Lemon St.

As I continue to scroll the photos I came across an old photo that was taken on Lemon Street in downtown Lancaster. Photo was of High Welding Company. Back in the late 1990's I had a student by the name of Greg High in my Industrial Arts classes at Manheim Township High School. Great kid whom I could tell was going to be successful at whatever he did in life.

Second location of the business on West James Street.

More I got to know him, I found out he was part of the family that started High Welding. The photo of that place on Lemon Street got me thinking so I did some research and sure enough, Greg High is now one of the reasons that High Steel Structures, as the company is now called, is one of the best steel fabricating companies in the United States.

The company's third location on Old Philadelphia Pike.

The company began in 1931 when Sanford and Benjamin High purchased King Welding which was located at the Lemon Street address and changed the name of the business to High Welding Company. Two years later High Welding did it's first bridge welding project for a bridge in York County, PA. In 1940 Sanford began to promote the welding of steel bridges instead of riveting them. The following year High Welding moved to another location on West James Street in Lancaster and then in 1955 moved to a new facility on Old Philadelphia Pike.

A High Steel Structures truck sit on the Route US30
bridge connecting Lancaster and York counties.

In 1970 High Welding received a contract for the mile-long bridge over the Susque- hanna River that connects Lancaster Co. to York Co. and the following year changes it's name to High Steel Structures LLC to reflect the fact that they had become a leader in structural steel engineering, fabrication and erection. In 1991 Greg joined the company and in 2001 the High family re-purchased the property on Lemon Street, which housed the original High Welding, so they could preserve a part of their heritage. I took a trip around Lancaster and took photos of some of the locations where High began and built their business into one of the best structural steel fabricating companies in the country. I'm so glad that Greg has become a part of the company business and will continue to keep the company at the forefront of the steel fabrication industry. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

About a year ago High Steel Structures moved several steel beams from their location on Old Philadelphia Pike to the construction site of the new Thadeus Stevens bridge on RT501 in Lancaster. They supplied the steel beams for the construction of the bridge. The move took place at night because of traffic issues on RT30. Photo from LPN.