The Johnson Company purchased 6 square miles of land, 3,700 acres in Lorain. It took 15.4 million board feet of lumber to build the steel plant. It took only 10 months to build it, which was quite a feat. All the foundations were finished by winter and construction never stopped, all throug the cold and the snow. The rolling mill and other pre-made pieces came from Tom Johnson's other steel plant in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On April 1, 1895, the Lorain mill made its first steel. Two months later, the mill had 20 buildings, including power and a boiler house, a 38-inch blooming bill and a rail mill.