Inside Bethlehem Steel

Photographs of the operations at Bethlehem Steel and its clients' projects across America from 1977 through 2000, when the mills were in full operation.

Bethlehem Steel presents an original and compelling history of a leading American company, examining the numerous factors contributing to the growth of this titan and those that eventually felled it—along with many of its competitors in the U.S. steel industry.

Also included is a brief history by Lance Metz, the historian of the National Canal Museum and the foremost authority on the history of the plant."--BOOK JACKET.

Aware of the decline and imminent demise of many integrated steel mills in the United States and fascinated by their monumental architecture, machinery, and the culture of work and community that was inextricably connected to them, Joseph Elliott photographed the mills in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from 1989 until final shutdown in 1997. This book appeals to the growing fascination with industrial archaeology and will be an inspiration for the preservation and re-use of these relic structures.

As the American economy seeks to restructure itself, Roots of Steel is a powerful, candid, and eye-opening reminder of the people who have been left behind. When Deborah Rudacille was a child in the working-class town of Dundalk, Maryland, a worker at the local Sparrows Point steel mill made more than enough to comfortably support a family. But the decline of American manufacturing in the decades since has put tens of thousands out of work and left the people of Dundalk pondering the broken promise of the American dream. In Roots of Steel, Rudacille combines personal narrative, interviews with workers, and extensive research to capture the character and history of this once-prosperous community.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad established the Bethlehem Iron Company in 1860 along the Lehigh River in South Bethlehem. The Bethlehem Iron Company manufactured the largest steel axle to date to support the first Ferris wheel at the 1893 World's Fair. Bethlehem Iron Company became Bethlehem Steel in 1899. In 1904, Charles Schwab incorporated the company, and ultimately, it became the second-largest steelmaker in the United States. Bethlehem Steel built battleships, such as the USS Massachusetts and USS Missouri, and bridges, such as the Golden Gate and George Washington, and provided steel for iconic structures, such as the US Supreme Court Building and Madison Square Garden.

Originally intended as an examination of the rise and fall of the state hospital system, Matthew Christopher's Abandoned America rapidly grew to encompass derelict factories and industrial sites, schools, churches, power plants, hospitals, prisons, military installations, hotels, resorts, homes, and more.