en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Mellon#Old_Overholt_whiskey
2 corrections found
and in 1907 it was renamed Alcoa.
The company was not renamed "Alcoa" in 1907. In 1907 it became the Aluminum Company of America; "Alcoa" became the official company name much later.
Full reasoning
Alcoa’s own corporate history says the company was "known officially since 1907 as The Aluminum Company of America" and that it "officially becomes 'Alcoa'" in 1998. So 1907 marks the change from Pittsburgh Reduction Company to The Aluminum Company of America, not a rename to Alcoa.
This matters because "Alcoa" was a later short-form name that only became the official corporate name decades afterward.
1 source
- Alcoa -- Our History
"Known officially since 1907 as The Aluminum Company of America, the company decides it's time for a name that reflects its status as a global company... 1998 Alcoa Officially Becomes 'Alcoa'."
In 1887, Frick, Andrew, and Richard Mellon jointly purchased Old Overholt, a whiskey distillery located in West Overton, Pennsylvania.
This misidentifies Old Overholt's partners. Brand histories identify Henry Clay Frick's partners as Andrew Mellon and Charles W. Mauck/Mauk, not Richard Mellon.
Full reasoning
Multiple histories of Old Overholt contradict this sentence.
Beam Suntory’s brand history says that in 1881 Henry Clay Frick acquired A. Overholt & Co., "bringing in Mellon and Mauck as partners". The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails likewise says that in 1881 Frick bought the Overholt company and sold one-third shares to Andrew W. Mellon and Charles W. Mauk.
So the article’s statement is incorrect in its identification of the partners: the documented third partner was Charles W. Mauck/Mauk, not Richard Mellon. These sources also place Frick’s acquisition in 1881, not as a joint 1887 purchase by Frick and the Mellon brothers.
2 sources
- Old Overholt (Beam Suntory brand history)
"1881 Henry Clay Frick, Abraham's grandson, acquires A. Overholt & Co. bringing in Mellon and Mauck as partners."
- Old Overholt | The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails
"In 1881, when Frick was already a rich man, he bought the Overholt company, selling a third of it to his banker, Andrew W. Mellon ... and a third to Charles W. Mauk ..."