Chatham was founded in 1915 by Samuel Tenenbaum as a scrap iron and metal business. Samuel's three sons came into the business, which expanded in 1937 into plumbing and industrial supplies. In the late '40s the business expanded into steel warehousing, and a second branch was added in Columbia, South Carolina in 1969. Five third-generation family members became active in management during the '60s and '70s, seeing the company through rapid growth in the `80s, when three additional service centers were added in Orlando, Birmingham, and Durham.

In the early '90s Chatham sold its industrial supply and recycling businesses so that the focus of the '90s and the future would be on strengthening our metals distribution position. Chatham has added full machine shop capabilities, including precision laser cutting and forming to enhance customer service by meeting the needs of today's manufacturing environment. On July 1, 1998 Chatham became part of the Reliance Steel & Aluminum family, further enhancing its ability to meet the needs of its customers.

Chatham Steel's management is committed to being flexible enough to respond to the ever changing customer environments of the future, emphasizing training, teamwork and continuous process improvement. We continue to invest in our facilities, new products, state-of-the-art processing equipment and information systems--all to improve our ability to better serve our customers.