PA RUST BELT PAGE 1
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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 is Wheeling-Pittsburgh's only remaining operation in the Monongahela Valley - the Allenport mill.
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.
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.
Friday evening in the Rust Belt - Everson, PA.
AES Beaver Vally power plant.
Bringing down Sharon Steel in Farrell, PA. (photo courtesy of Winchester Blasting)
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).