Hewitt, Abram S

Hewitt, Abram S(tevens)

(born July 31, 1822, Haverstraw, N.Y., U.S.—died Jan. 18, 1903, Ringwood, N.J.) U.S. industrialist and politician. A graduate of Columbia College (now part of Columbia University) in 1842, he formed an iron-making business with Edward and Peter Cooper in New York City in 1845; he later helped establish the Cooper Union school (1859). During the American Civil War, he produced gun-barrel iron for the government without taking a profit. In 1870 he produced the first commercial-grade steel in the U.S. In 1871 he helped Samuel Tilden oust the “Tweed ring” (see William Magear Tweed) from control of the Tammany Hall Democratic organization and the municipal government of New York City. He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1875–79, 1881–86). As mayor of New York (1887–88), he initiated major reforms that broke Tammany Hall's influence.