Editing Matthias Baldwin (section)

== From Jeweler to Locomotive Builder ==

Matthias William Baldwin was born on December 10, 1795, in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, his early career as a jeweler and silversmith developing the precision manufacturing skills that locomotive building would require. His move to Philadelphia in 1819, and his establishment of various manufacturing ventures, demonstrated entrepreneurial energy that sought the scale his later work would achieve. His construction of a small locomotive for display purposes in 1831, demonstrating the steam technology that would transform transportation, led to the commission that began his locomotive-building career.<ref name="white">{{cite book |last=White |first=John H. Jr. |title=American Locomotives: An Engineering History, 1830-1880 |year=1968 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore}}</ref>

His first commercial locomotive, "Old Ironsides," delivered to the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad in 1832, demonstrated abilities that subsequent orders would develop. The locomotive's initial problems—it was underpowered and required modification—reflected the learning that new technology required. His persistence through early difficulties, improving designs through experience that each locomotive provided, established the engineering culture that his company would maintain.<ref name="brown"/>

His Broad Street location, which he expanded repeatedly as orders grew, created the industrial complex that employed thousands of workers and produced locomotives that shipped worldwide. The integration of processes—foundry, machine shop, erecting floor—under single management established manufacturing practices that other industries adopted. His workforce, which included some of the era's most skilled mechanics, developed the expertise that Baldwin's reputation required.<ref name="white"/>