Charles enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in 1836 and graduated in 1840. He, too, attended Jefferson Medical College and received his degree in 1842. After graduation, he traveled to Europe for a year and a half. Upon his return, while in Philadelphia he met Isabella Lukens, daughter of Rebecca Lukens. Dr. Robert Huston opposed the marriage of Isabella Pennock Lukens and Dr. Huston in 1847 and would be disappointed when, against his wishes, Charles left medicine and became an ironmaster. In 1848 he left Philadelphia for Coatesville, where he designed their new home in the latest styles he had seen from his travels in Europe.
Charles became a partner with his brother-in-law in A. Gibbons and Company. Prices of fuel and raw material were primary concerns. Quality control, maintenance repairs and relations with the workers also dominated his time. By 1855, Abraham Gibbons, his brother-in-law, retired from steel rolling to found The Bank of Chester Valley. At that time, Isabella became senior partner of the firm through her mother's estate, as well as the purchase of her sister's, Martha Lukens Gibbons, share. Since Rebecca had passed away the year before, in 1854, Dr. Charles and Isabella renamed the firm Lukens Rolling Mill in her honor. The next thing they did was to renovate and update the old mill. They accomplished this by installing a rolling mill 60 inches wide, and two heating furnaces. This increased their capacity to 1,000 tons annually of plate iron.
However, just as oil seemed to be gaining momentum, the financial panic of 1857 created trouble for the entire nation's economy. They ran the firm at a loss to preserve market share.
In 1859, as the economy was picking up steam, Dr. Charles took his cousin Charles Penrose as junior partner. It should be noted again that Dr. and Isabella Huston, following her mother's Quaker tradition, continued her mother's legacy of not supplying manufacturers with plate for military products. However, this changed drastically as Quaker supported the effort to end slavery. It was good timing, for as the Civil War broke out demands on production rose dramatically. For instance, in 1860 the Lukens Rolling Mill was turning out 1,000 tons of plate annually, and by 1863 the mill was turning out 1,700 tons of plate and production was achieved not by physical plant expansion, but rather by additions to the labor force.
After the Civil War expansion was necessary and it was decided to add a new factory. There were other rolling mills in Coatesville: Pennock and Company (Isabella's cousin, Charles Pennock), and Steel and Worth were strong competitors. By 1870, the new mill was operating with steel rolls 84 inches wide. The other mills had larger labor forces and more production. However, Lukens survived by watching costs, identifying a niche market, and quality control. It is quality control where Dr. Charles Huston blended the science of medicine with the art of steel. He recognized early the need to identify variables that needed to be controlled in order to produce a superior product. He purchased a tensile-strength testing machine in 1872 and not only tested Lukens plate but also the product of his competitors. These investigations led to a series of essays related to the effects of heat and stress on iron and steel, published in the Journal of the Franklin Institute in 1878 and 1879.
This not only led Dr. Charles Huston into national prominence but was the birth of the metallurgical sciences in 1877. The government requested a committee to establish standards for boiler plate, and Dr. Charles Huston led the way. One of his basic requests was that manufacturers should not be allowed to test and oppose their own plate.
Isabella and Charles had six children, of which there were two boys: Abram Francis (born 1852) and Charles Lukens (born 1856). After graduating Haverford College in 1876 and 1879, respectively, A.F. and C.L. would join their father at the Lukens Rolling Mill. In 1881 Charles Penrose died, and Dr. Huston's health declined. He began to move away from the daily management to pursue other pleasures. He traveled with his family except A.F. and C.L. to Europe, as well as visiting sales representatives in Lukens' markets across the United States.
