Republic Steel began as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown in 1899. In 1927, legendary Cleveland financier Cyrus Eaton began purchasing up Republic stock, as well as those in other companies, so that he could put together a new steel corporation that would rival US Steel, the largest steel corporation in America. Under Eaton, Republic added plants in Canton, Warren and Massilon, as well as smaller facilities in Cleveland, Elyria, and other cities. The Great Depression ended Eaton's dream, as well as erasing much of his wealth, but the new Republic Steel Corporation survived under the firm leadership of Tom Girdler, a former manager with Jones and Laughlin. The new company continued to acquire other companies, and in 1935, acquired the Corrigan McKinney steelworks on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, which were built in the early 1910s. In 1936, the company's headquarters relocated to Cleveland, and the company entrenched itself as the nation's Number Three steelmaker, behind US Steel and Bethlehem Steel. The company suffered a great deal of labor struggles through the 1930s, and though it resisted all attempts to unionize, the outbreak of World War Two and the promise of massive government contracts caused the company to rethink its antiunion stance. Prosperous through the 1950s and 60s, the company began to suffer as other companies did in the 1970s, as rising foreign steel imports, labor costs, inflation, and environmental issues reduced profits. In the early 1980s, profits plummeted due to economic recession. In 1984, Jones and Laughlin, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the LTV Corporation, merged with Republic Steel, and the new company became known as LTV Steel, headquartered in Cleveland.