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Some people have negative views of the Industrial Heartland (though not necessarily the author). For intance Chris Van Wagenen, a reporter from Lubbock, TX, published this on September 23, 2007 and titled it
"My not so casual drive through the rust/rubber belt":
"...
So there I was in Akron, Ohio, with my girlfriend, Kathleen, as we rummaged around rubber country.
No, we weren't up there on a Goodyear buying spree. Heck, I can do that in downtown Lubbock at McWhorter's.
This was Akron - once the mighty headquarters for tire giants Goodyear, Firestone, and B.F. Goodrich - now just Goodyear...
Kathleen and I drove literally hundreds of miles from Pittsburgh through Youngstown and Cleveland before landing in Akron (all family business) in awe of how run-down some of these areas are.
I still like visiting Pittsburgh - especially the Sunday I showed up at my brother Greg's house in time to watch the Steelers put a pasting on those Browns up the turnpike in Cleveland.
That said, the one thought that kept crossing my mind during this weeklong Odyssey through the Rust Belt, where fortunes of this vast industrial triangle evaporated long ago, was my appreciation for Lubbock.
Kathleen and I visited where we grew up and came to the same conclusion - there just isn't much there anymore.
Her late father was an engineer for Firestone in Akron during its heyday.
My father was a steel executive for Sharon Steel Corp., at the time the fifth largest producer in the world - now a shell of itself.
Different times for me. Different for Kathleen.
Lubbock doesn't need to repeat those mistakes.
Lubbock doesn't need to look backward and remember what was - this IS a great city.
I knew it when I got off the plane Saturday.
Tech won, the weather was great and I-27 was free and clear of any major traffic.
I slipped down to United Supermarkets and bought some groceries.
My neighbor had grabbed my mail and mowed my lawn while I was gone
I slept with my bedroom window wide open.
And then I thought of something Kathleen said during our trip.
'Life is hard up here.'
Now that's worth thinking about."
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Forming steel coils into "strut" at the Flex Strut factory in Warren, OH
This machine punches holes into "strut" at the Flex Strut plant.
G.E.'s Ohio Lamp Plant, in Warren, OH, where all of that company's incandescent light bulbs are manufactured. The factory was
actually constructed in the 1890s for the assembly of the first Packard automobiles. Despite the factory's age light bulbs are assembled inside with modern, computerized
robotics and skilled workers. In the background are some of Delphi's automotive parts plants.
Mittal coke works in Warren, OH. Left to right: A portion of the WCI Steel Co. blast furnace next door, the large coal stockpile,
the coal processing plant, the coke works, and the coke quencher is on the right.
The flare at the coke works next to WCI Steel in Warren
The gate to the "hot end" of WCI Steel, the last integrated steel mill in the Youngstown-Warren-Sharon region. It was originally Trumbull
Steel Co., and later Republic Steel.
Pump house for WCI Steel, along the Mahoning River. Steel mills are always located alongside a river because of
the large volume of water that they use.
In 1917-18 U.S. Steel built the steel mill and company town in the Youngstown suburb of McDonald, OH, named for superintendent Thomas McDonald. U.S. Steel
operated the mill until 1980. After sitting idle for about a year and a half, the mill was started up again as McDonald Steel Corporation. They are still successfully running
the mill, pictured here.
This sloped-hearth furnace at McDonald Steel was originally constructed by U.S. Steel in the 1920s. It is still being used in 2006
to heat steel billets purchased by the company from other mini-mills. Soon McDonald Steel will have a new reheat furnace, and will probably retire this one.
A red-hot billet races by two steel mill workers through the 14" mill at McDonald Steel. In the background are sets of rollers for various
shapes manufactured by the company.
A glowing steel shape zips through the "cross country" rolling mill at McDonald Steel.
Precision machining of rollers on lathes at McDonald Steel.
The Italian-American War Veterans Club is the epicenter of Youngstown's Brier Hill, once one of the largest Little Italy's in America. Though the neighborhood is just
a shell of itself, and no longer really an Italian neighborhood, a "Brier Hill Italian Fest" is still held there once a year.
This is where I ate a "Brier Hill pizza": a sweet red sauce with slices of bell peppers and romano or parmasean cheese.
This is actually a portion of the pulpit (control room) of a blooming mill from the Republic Steel mill in Youngstown. It is part of the permanent exhibition
at The Youngstown Historical Center of Industry & Labor. This is a very classy and informative museum in downtown Youngstown, and I don't understand
why I was the only person visiting it on this day. The lady hosting the museum that day was very courteous and helpful (she called the Avalon Gardens and MVR Restaurant for me to see which one was open so
I could score a Brier Hill pizza), and the exhibits were very well exectued. I learned a lot in this museum, and I would like to see more people come out and patronize it. It is a must see for all scholars
of the Rust Belt.
I think these structures must be from U.S. Steel's Ohio Works, as in "My daddy come on the Ohio Works when he come home from World War II..." (Bruce Springsteen, 1995)
Detail of the remains of U.S. Steel's Ohio Works, which closed in 1980. Maybe these mills would have survived if the Mahoning or Shenango River had been navigable, and thus "taconite, coke, and limestone" would
have been cheaper to transport (on barges) than on the railroad. (I believe this is what happened to Johnstown, PA, as well.)
Republic Steel's abandoned rolling mill in Youngstown as it looked in 1986 after it had been abandoned. (Public domain photo by Louise Taft Cawood, Historical American Engineering Record).
Cresote ties from a long ago removed railroad, grassy plains where furnaces and mills used to reside, and part of the Republic Steel mill in the background of this photo.
Rusting tanks behind one of the old steel mills in Struthers, OH, just south of Youngstown. The Struthers cop that was hanging around there said it was a "Sheet and Tube" building, but I think it might have
been part of Republic's operations.
Remains of defunct Youngstown Sheet and Tube (Photo by Stuart Spivack)
A remnant of Youngstown Sheet and Tube's Campbell Works (I think the locals pronounce it like "Camel"). Cambell is a small town that is part of the Youngstown metro area.
When the steel mills in Younstown closed in the late 1970s and early '80s the workers and the population of the area didn't take it lying down. The fought it, the strugged with it, and they instituted the CASTLO Industrial Park from the
remains of YST's Campbell Works. Even today several tenants are using these former Campbell Works buildings for various businesses. CASTLO is a combination of Campbell, Struthers, and Lowellville
Ellwood Engineered Castings is a foundry in Hubbard, OH, between Youngstown, Ohio and Sharon, Pennsylvania.
Inside the Ellwood Engineered Castings foundry
Ingot molds at the Ellwood foundry in Hubbard. These are the "finished products" of the foundry.
While sections of the Ellwood foundry are close to 75 years old (according to employees), the melt shop, pictured here, was constructed in 1982.
Another view of Ellwood Engineered Castings foundry in Hubbard, OH gives a glimpse into the historical nature of the plant.
This huge crankshaft is from a steam powered steel mill drive from a defunct Youngstown Sheet and Tube mill. This engine, called a Tod engine, is being restored and put on public display by the Tod Engine Foundation. The organization is
raising money to complete the restoration and display of the engine by selling a CD-ROM described as "a compilation of historical information regarding the William Tod Company and photos and information about the preservation of the Tod 34" x 68" x 60" cross compound stationary steam engine."
Idled Jeep factory in Toldeo. This factory was demolished in 2007, but allegedly one smokestack was left for posterity. At least there is a newer Jeep factory across town, so here is one
Rust Belt story with decent ending. (Photo courtesy of Ron Donald)
Another shot of the old Jeep factory in Toledo featuring snowy weather typical of the Industrial Midwest. (Photo courtesy of Ron Donald)