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Diner in Brownsville, PA.
This slag pile near Monessen,
another Monongahela River town, was probably created by Wheeling-Pittsburgh
Steel Company, who was the lifeblood of the town until the 1980s.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh's
integrated steel mill in Monessen has been torn down, except for this coke
works, now operated by Koppers.
Quenching hot coke at
Koppers' coke plant in Monessen, PA.
Wheeling-Pittsburgh
Steel Co. shut down the Monessen works in 1986. This is how the idled blast
furnace and steel mill looked in 1991. Much of this is gone now. (Public domain
photo by Jet Lowe, Historical American Engineering Record).
Monessen's cultural make
up is largely Italian- and African-American, but there are other groups as well.
This was
Wheeling-Pittsburgh's last remaining operation in the Monongahela Valley - the
Allenport mill.
Charleroi, Pennsylvania, showing mill houses with the former Corning Ware factory behind them.
Barges are a fixture
on the Mon River. In the background is an industrial section of Donora, a town
that was famous for it's killer smog. The air seems fine now, though.
Another view of Donora.
Donora, a classic Western
PA town, as viewed from across the river in Webster, PA.
Steel and wire is no
longer made in Donora, but some industry does remain.
The Mon Valley Plant of
Ductmate Industries, Inc.
Somewhere between the Borough of New Eagle and the City of Monongahela.
The historical
infracstructure of the Rust Belt is evident in the Webster bridge.
This old industrial complex
along the Allegheny River is the original location of ALCOA's aluminum
manufacturing plant. In the background is the city of New Kensington, PA.
Here's a closer view of the
old ALCOA complex in New Kensington. ALCOA'S predecessor - the Pittsburgh
Reduction Company - established an aluminum producing plant on this site in
1891, however none of the structures from that plant survive. After 1900 no
aluminum was produced in New Kensington. Instead aluminum PRODUCTS, especially
cooking utensils, were manufactured here. This once successful venture ended
when ALCOA closed the New Kensington works in 1971.
Alley in New Kensington.
Allegheny Ludlum is a
producer of stainless steel that has been a mainstay of Western Pennsylvania
since it was formed in 1938. Here are their facilities containing their furnaces
for melting various types of steels in Natrona, PA. (Photo courtesy of Charles
Rodkey)
Detail of Allegheny
Ludlum's Natrona plant in the setting sun. (Photo courtesy of Charles Rodkey)
A final view of the "hot
end" of Allegheny Ludlum's stainless steel operations in Natrona. (Photo
courtesy of Charles Rodkey)
An old industrail
district in the middle of Derry, Westmoreland County.
Ruins of the old
Westinghouse ceramic insulator plant in Derry. Westinghouse, once one of the
dominant corporations of western Pennsylvania, sold the plant in 1985 to
Industrial Ceramics, Inc. It is unknown when they closed the factory, but it
still sits in the middle of Derry borough in a half-demolished state.
Moss growing inside of the
Derry insulator plant shows how long it has been since the plant was
operational.
Another view inside the
insulator plant at Derry.
One of the remaining kilns
for the manufacture of ceramic insulators at the old Westinghouse plant.
The residents of Derry may
not realize that every area of America does not contain a Ukranian bowling
alley.
Mt. Pleasant in
Westmoreland County is known for its glass manufacturing.
Photo of Mount Pleasant, PA taken
while standing in the middle of Route 31. The large building with the green
roof is Pritt's Feed Mill, typical of small Rust Belt towns.
Friday evening in the Rust
Belt - Everson, PA.
AES Beaver Vally power
plant.
Bethelehm Steel in
Bethlehem, PA. When this photo was taken in 1979 I doubt that anyone would have
believed that this mill would ever close. But close it did in 1995, and
once-mighty Bethlehem Steel Co. doesn't even exist anymore. (Public domain photo
by Jet Lowe, Historical American Engineering Record).
Here's a Whitworth steam bending press somewhere in the dead steel mills in Bethlehem, PA.
This great photo was donated by Nic Pouliot, and you can see more of his work at hackphotography.