Lived in Bethlehem, tended bar there with steel workers nightly. Many talked about finding ways to not do much, especially the night shifts. The company leadership couldn't figure how to increase worker productivity. Bad combo , it wasn't money, it was culture. Same at Sparrows Point, where family members worked.
@@travelawaitsyou If that was the case then the managers were partly to blame. They either did not have enough on duty at night or shared the same feelings. However long term it cost them their high paying jobs.
I grew up in this area. I graduated high school in 1972 and college in 1977. And tried to stay working in the area as the economy tanked. Many of the companies that I worked for closed. Made a living of sorts in fields that did not pay well. Eventally had to move. Sad fact is that after some 50 years of working, most of my official working history no longer exists. No one to call.
Thanks for the video on the Pennsylvania steel mills. I worked for the state of Pennsylvania and visited the towns where many of these steel mills operated. It was at a time as many of t.hem were closing. Those towns really suffered from the loss of those jobs since many of the residents of those towns worked in the steel works. As time went on Pittsburg city has evolved and grew new jobs in other fields. However many of.those steel towns have lost population especially as the children of those areas could not find work there. I used to take the train from Philadelphia to Chicago and remember seeing on my first trips how big and busy those old steel mills were. At night you would always see the hot steel in some areas and the orange glow of the hot steel going through the plants. Today there are a few steel plants still in operation but they are much smaller. The Bethlehem steel plant as well as being a museum of steel and entertainment also was redeveloped into one of our larger casino resorts and does provide many jobs for the local population but is not as high paying as the old steel jobs.
Just want to say, good job! I worked at The National Tube works and it was nice to see her remembered. An FYI for you: The Homestead Works, Duquesne Works, and National Tube works were all located along The Monongahela River , sometimes referred to locally as the Mon.
The common thread here is "cheaper FOREIGN competition". Every country in the world except the United States protects its domestic industries with tariffs. It's too late for steel, but perhaps industries can return in the coming years. People complain about tariffs raising prices. What have the costs of devastated cities and towns and entire regions been?
I'm originally from Johnstown Pennsylvania. I worked at the Lower Cambria works of the former Bethlehem Steel railroad axle plant. The Blacksmith shop which is in this video is dated from 1854 I believe. I had been in it a few times before 1992 when Bethlehem Steel started closing down their operations in Johnstown. I was working in the axle plant for Trinity Industries when demolition crews where tearing down coke ovens and buildings on location. It was eye opening and sobering to watch the last embers of the fires of the Industrial Revolution pass into History.
All of these steel mills were great companies.😂😊.They helped us win both WW1 and WW2.These mills are a symbols of how hard the workers worked to help build this great country😂😊.
I moved to King of Prussia in 1980 and met a young lady who's father just lost his job at Allenwood . I got him a job where I worked and were great friends till he passed
I left Fairless National Tube in the mid 70's, as a young man in his mid 20's......the writing was on the wall, with many layoffs. We were compensated for the idle time, but anyone with a brain could see that the company could not make money that way.
I used to deliver high temperature bonding morter to Bethlehem steel in Bethlehem Pennsylvania years ago from shipper martin Marietta company out of Woodville Ohio I used to drive for G&J cartage company out of Taylor Michigan.
Bravo !! - this video can't even pronounce rivers and towns right - but they want people to support their out of town bullshit development and tourism marketing. Steel still lives in PA - don't buy the bullshit !!
2:07 As a child at the time I remember family driving by this exact spot thousands of times between the early 1970s where I was born till these buildings were torn down. Those buildings were enormous and went on for many blocks.
Wife’s Great Uncle Cecil , gave me a Post Card from 1913 , it was a picture of Pennsylvania Steel district , it was Huge Smoke Stacks as far as you could see , 100’s if not 1000’s of them . Steel rules the World
The United Steelworkers pretty much signed their own death warrant when they went on a 116 day nationwide strike in 1959. The companies were forced to import steel and they discovered it was cheaper for them to import steel than to produce it domestically.
um dont blame the owrkers only ..the epa govt japan was dumping steel here selling it cheaper than it took to prduce the japanese govt subsidized them and it was the companies fault as well for never upgrading the millss using 1930 tech. till the end..SO BACK OFF BLAMING THIS TOTALLY ON THE UNIONS BUBBA
Nobody wants to put money into it. You have more or less built completely new integrated steel mills, you can’t keep on patching on a 100 year old mill Nucor with its mini mills in the US produces 70% of the “normal” steel in the US much cheaper
Carrie Furnace was a blast furnace facility, not a true steel mill. They provided molten iron, commonly called "hot metal", to Homestead Works and sometimes to Duquesne and Edgar Thompson.
well you forgot one more mill and the reason it shut down. Superior Steel in carnegie. opened i believe around 1903 and did well up until around 1958. then things went bad to worse, when they started doing goverment nuclear work without propper permits. the state shut them down. my dad lost his job, my parents divorced, i had it bad for a kid growing up in the 60s. find the google map of the mill and you will notice one building that is old and has not been touched since around 1962. that building is contaminated. true story that not many people know today.
youghiogheny river - pronounced yock- a genny after WW2 the world was destroyed and USA was intact and they made stuff like crazy to rebuild the world - workers were given big pay and benefits to keep the mills running..and the mills were not updated while the world built new mills...so they could make steel faster/cheaper, lower labor costs...US made steel was doomed. If I recall correctly, PA had 250 blast furnaces at it's peak...today there are 5 or 6 still standing.
My grandfather worked at the steel mills in Johnstown, Pa., but I distinctly remember that he worked for Bethlehem Steel in the 40's through the 60's. Any ideas why the name is Bethlehem Steel In Johnstown?
Great question! The steel mills in Johnstown were originally called Cambria Iron Works but were purchased by Bethlehem Steel in 1923. After that, the facility operated under the Bethlehem Steel name, which is likely why your grandfather worked for Bethlehem Steel there during the 1940s-60s.
Because there is zero substance in this video It was probably paid for with a DCED grand for development by company that isn't even in PA. They can't even pronounce a river
You forgot Fairless works and you are not telling the whole truth about what shut down the mills .the Government and the EPA was a big part of there closing and politics within the corporate headquarters and you did not mention that the steel corporations owned big parts of the foreign steel mills .And there were a lot of bad contracts made with electric companies in the fifties .By the way I worked in Fairless Works
And let’s don’t forget The cold miners from Pennsylvania West Virginia eastern Kentucky southwest Virginia I supply the cold the feedmills they also suffered I used to go to Johnstown in the 70s and I remember Johnstown is a booming town if you go there now it’s turned into a real shit dump
The coal mine Homer Hickam's father worked at provided metallurgical coal for the steel making industries. Met coal is added into the ladle to increase the carbon percentage of the steel.
I use to hual that steel out of yhose places. When yhey shut down i shut down. So got a job driving triaxle hualing coal. Then the coal mines shut down i lost that job ended up move out of state ended up in ok at a glass factory for a few years. Then it laid me off dur to cost cuts. now here i am. Liveing the life of a low income nobody. At 60. They say im to old to hire now. This nation is one big nothing now. Thanks to politicians and greedy rich. I see no hope in sight ever now.
number 4, your "voice" cant pronounce the "Yough" river lol. cambria steel mill still stands and is mostly used by a modern steel company, goutier (gawt-tier). Bethlehem Steel or pronounced 'beth'lm by Johnstown natives, not a native but i say it that way. but Beth'lm steel was a big issue in johnstowns decline. they ran that city. they owned the water authority and diff things in jtown. as for the steel mill in beth'lm i am impressed what they did with the old mill. but im sure it wont last long with the elements.
Jones and 'laff-lynn" steel? The "you-gee-awe-gan-ee" river? The narrator clearly never set foot in Allegheny County. It's "lock-lynn" and "yawk-a-gain-ee"
Okay he’s not from Allegheny County. He made a marvelous production covering J&L steel. Doesn’t make him a bad person. Why don’t you go up to Massachusetts and try to pronounce WORCESTER.
@@mikediodati1149 I never said he was bad, just it was clear he never visited Allegheny County. He could have looked up how to pronounce the more difficult words instead of guessing. I like the video very much and think the author is swell. Funny aside: I was taking someone to their hometown in Mass that she called "Wister". She got angry at me when we were passing the exit to Wister. I said I didn't see Wister on the sign, she yelled at me and said "right there". I said all I saw was "Wor-chest-er". That said, "That's it. That's Wister!". We almost crashed trying to make the exit at the last minute. Well, not quite.
The coal miners in Pennsylvania West Virginia southwestern Virginia eastern Kentucky Johnstown at one time it was a thriving town in the 70s and now it’s turned into a shit dump
@@johnfrank3642 Yes, unfortunately coal was closely connected with the steel industry. Much of it was turned into Coke for the blast furnaces. When steel died so did the coal mining industry unless they mined coal for electric generating plants and today even that market is going away.
@@Steve-q6l4v I understand it man I lived it Reagan did it to get rid of the unions what's hard to understand is how much suffering and hard times he caused and now it's going to be hard times for everyone
Weak video history. The collapse of the US steel industry was bought on by lack of innovation and overcapacity also greed. The US steel industry refused to downsize and invest in the future till it was too late.
Our Most Watched Playlist on PA: ua-cam.com/play/PLPBmKns7iRlXYiov2TjakxVefT-C5ScjU.html&si=3p-ojgzWFF04s5Yl
Billy Joel’s famous song Allentown was about the Bethlehem steel industry
I grew up near Pittsburgh and it is sad to see this all gone.
The air is cleaner - I say good riddance.
Lived in Bethlehem, tended bar there with steel workers nightly. Many talked about finding ways to not do much, especially the night shifts. The company leadership couldn't figure how to increase worker productivity. Bad combo , it wasn't money, it was culture. Same at Sparrows Point, where family members worked.
Good point! The culture was a major factor.
@@travelawaitsyou If that was the case then the managers were partly to blame. They either did not have enough on duty at night or shared the same feelings. However long term it cost them their high paying jobs.
And steal everything that wasn't nailed down, I have no sympathy for mill hunkeys
I grew up in this area. I graduated high school in 1972 and college in 1977. And tried to stay working in the area as the economy tanked. Many of the companies that I worked for closed. Made a living of sorts in fields that did not pay well. Eventally had to move. Sad fact is that after some 50 years of working, most of my official working history no longer exists. No one to call.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for the video on the Pennsylvania steel mills. I worked for the state of Pennsylvania and visited the towns where many of these steel mills operated. It was at a time as many of t.hem were closing. Those towns really suffered from the loss of those jobs since many of the residents of those towns worked in the steel works. As time went on Pittsburg city has evolved and grew new jobs in other fields. However many of.those steel towns have lost population especially as the children of those areas could not find work there. I used to take the train from Philadelphia to Chicago and remember seeing on my first trips how big and busy those old steel mills were. At night you would always see the hot steel in some areas and the orange glow of the hot steel going through the plants. Today there are a few steel plants still in operation but they are much smaller. The Bethlehem steel plant as well as being a museum of steel and entertainment also was redeveloped into one of our larger casino resorts and does provide many jobs for the local population but is not as high paying as the old steel jobs.
you're welcome:)
I salute you sir I work at a plant people look over our jobs but they don't realize AI can't take our jobs away stay strong sir.
Your paragraph sound like it was written by AI.
@@paul-gs4be No I am a real person who was lucky enough to see some of the old steel industry.
Just want to say, good job! I worked at The National Tube works and it was nice to see her remembered. An FYI for you: The Homestead Works, Duquesne Works, and National Tube works were all located along The Monongahela River , sometimes referred to locally as the Mon.
Glad you liked it
The common thread here is "cheaper FOREIGN competition". Every country in the world except the United States protects its domestic industries with tariffs. It's too late for steel, but perhaps industries can return in the coming years.
People complain about tariffs raising prices. What have the costs of devastated cities and towns and entire regions been?
That's because we have the best politicians money can buy
@tomboone201 True, but somewhere along the way the American motto changed from "United We Stand" into "Good Stuff Cheap".
@spaceflight1019 that and instant gratification .. ever wonder how AOC is already rich?
@tomboone201 You couldn't be talking about the insider stock trading that the rest of us would be in jail for, would you?
Protectionism doesn't work, either. What you do to them, they'll jolly well do to you.
My grandfather worked at Bethlehem Steel in Pottstown Pa.
great
I'm originally from Johnstown Pennsylvania. I worked at the Lower Cambria works of the former Bethlehem Steel railroad axle plant. The Blacksmith shop which is in this video is dated from 1854 I believe. I had been in it a few times before 1992 when Bethlehem Steel started closing down their operations in Johnstown. I was working in the axle plant for Trinity Industries when demolition crews where tearing down coke ovens and buildings on location. It was eye opening and sobering to watch the last embers of the fires of the Industrial Revolution pass into History.
Thanks for sharing
I worked at Homestead...My Dad, Uncle, Father-In-Law, Brother-In-Law, many Friends worked at Duquesne, Uncle was General Foreman at National Tube...
Thanks for sharing
All of these steel mills were great companies.😂😊.They helped us win both WW1 and WW2.These mills are a symbols of how hard the workers worked to help build this great country😂😊.
Yesss
What about Allenwood steel in Conshohocken?
I moved to King of Prussia in 1980 and met a young lady who's father just lost his job at Allenwood . I got him a job where I worked and were great friends till he passed
I have definitely delivered to many of these steel mills.
I left Fairless National Tube in the mid 70's, as a young man in his mid 20's......the writing was on the wall, with many layoffs.
We were compensated for the idle time, but anyone with a brain could see that the company could not make money that way.
I used to deliver high temperature bonding morter to Bethlehem steel in Bethlehem Pennsylvania years ago from shipper martin Marietta company out of Woodville Ohio I used to drive for G&J cartage company out of Taylor Michigan.
Steelton PA They were making rails for trains still ! It's on route 230 outside of Harrisburg PA
@@kevinholgate-z8d yes this is one of Pennsylvania’s surviving steel mills. Most likely because it produces such a speciality type of steel.
Bravo !! - this video can't even pronounce rivers and towns right - but they want people to support their out of town bullshit development and tourism marketing.
Steel still lives in PA - don't buy the bullshit !!
2:07 As a child at the time I remember family driving by this exact spot thousands of times between the early 1970s where I was born till these buildings were torn down. Those buildings were enormous and went on for many blocks.
glad you were there
Wife’s Great Uncle Cecil , gave me a Post Card from 1913 , it was a picture of Pennsylvania Steel district , it was Huge Smoke Stacks as far as you could see , 100’s if not 1000’s of them . Steel rules the World
What about Phoenixville steel
will look into it
DONORA, PA and MONESSEN, PA ON SOUTHSIDE OF PITTSBURGH,PA
1967 RIP STEEL MILLS
If this video gets 50k+ views - we'll make part 2 of this
The United Steelworkers pretty much signed their own death warrant when they went on a 116 day nationwide strike in 1959. The companies were forced to import steel and they discovered it was cheaper for them to import steel than to produce it domestically.
um dont blame the owrkers only ..the epa govt japan was dumping steel here selling it cheaper than it took to prduce the japanese govt subsidized them and it was the companies fault as well for never upgrading the millss using 1930 tech. till the end..SO BACK OFF BLAMING THIS TOTALLY ON THE UNIONS BUBBA
Is it weird that I am watching this well sitting in a steel mill thanks for the vid
lol
Same issue devestated familys and the economy in the southeast section of Chicago.
US Steel selling to Nippon. Why doesn't USS overhaul their plant on their own dime and REMAIN an American company. Insane..
Nobody wants to put money into it. You have more or less built completely new integrated steel mills, you can’t keep on patching on a 100 year old mill
Nucor with its mini mills in the US produces 70% of the “normal” steel in the US much cheaper
@@12345anton6789 So sell it to Japan? WTF
I was grew up on that farm starky farm.
No mention of Carrie Furnaces?
Already covered in previous videos
Carrie Furnace was a blast furnace facility, not a true steel mill. They provided molten iron, commonly called "hot metal", to Homestead Works and sometimes to Duquesne and Edgar Thompson.
I am surprised you didn't have steeling plant !
can you explain?
Do you mean Wheeling Steel which became Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel?
Thanks alot Reagan and the EPA
The Dems talk about labor - while the EPA kills manufacturing .....
but ya - Reagan
well you forgot one more mill and the reason it shut down. Superior Steel in carnegie. opened i believe around 1903 and did well up until around 1958. then things went bad to worse, when they started doing goverment nuclear work without propper permits. the state shut them down. my dad lost his job, my parents divorced, i had it bad for a kid growing up in the 60s. find the google map of the mill and you will notice one building that is old and has not been touched since around 1962. that building is contaminated. true story that not many people know today.
Thanks
You're welcome
youghiogheny river - pronounced yock- a genny
after WW2 the world was destroyed and USA was intact and they made stuff like crazy to rebuild the world - workers were given big pay and benefits to keep the mills running..and the mills were not updated while the world built new mills...so they could make steel faster/cheaper, lower labor costs...US made steel was doomed.
If I recall correctly, PA had 250 blast furnaces at it's peak...today there are 5 or 6 still standing.
thanks for correction
My grandfather worked at the steel mills in Johnstown, Pa., but I distinctly remember that he worked for Bethlehem Steel in the 40's through the 60's. Any ideas why the name is Bethlehem Steel In Johnstown?
Great question! The steel mills in Johnstown were originally called Cambria Iron Works but were purchased by Bethlehem Steel in 1923. After that, the facility operated under the Bethlehem Steel name, which is likely why your grandfather worked for Bethlehem Steel there during the 1940s-60s.
You missed a forgotten iron mill in Robesonia, PA
its about steel mills ig
Because there is zero substance in this video
It was probably paid for with a DCED grand for development by company that isn't even in PA.
They can't even pronounce a river
You forgot Fairless works and you are not telling the whole truth about what shut down the mills .the Government and the EPA was a big part of there closing and politics within the corporate headquarters and you did not mention that the steel corporations owned big parts of the foreign steel mills .And there were a lot of bad contracts made with electric companies in the fifties .By the way I worked in Fairless Works
Environmental rules killed more US manufacturing in every town and every time in history.
thanks for suggestion
It's Jones and "locklan" not Jones and "lafflan".. and its the "yock a ganey" river. You missed Carrie Furnace...
That is because it is a shit bag group that produced this video.
Obviously not from PA.
carrie furnace was covered in this video: ua-cam.com/video/3s0DO1mUHVY/v-deo.htmlsi=Plj1OoHmLE160gco
How about us steel in Bristol pa ,
will look into it
Cool video
Thank you
I retired from Weirton Steel 2001 with 35 years. The company went bankrupt in 2003 and closed.
Thanks for your comment
And let’s don’t forget The cold miners from Pennsylvania West Virginia eastern Kentucky southwest Virginia I supply the cold the feedmills they also suffered I used to go to Johnstown in the 70s and I remember Johnstown is a booming town if you go there now it’s turned into a real shit dump
The coal mine Homer Hickam's father worked at provided metallurgical coal for the steel making industries. Met coal is added into the ladle to increase the carbon percentage of the steel.
Transformers was filmed at Bethlehem
Steel
Wasn't there a superman episode in Allentown?
Haul steel out of J&L pittsburgh & midland in the 1970s
Pretty sure my grandfather worked for Jones and Laughlin
:)
Update those old steel mills put Americans back to work
Lol
@@travelawaitsyou Interesting reply
I use to hual that steel out of yhose places. When yhey shut down i shut down. So got a job driving triaxle hualing coal. Then the coal mines shut down i lost that job ended up move out of state ended up in ok at a glass factory for a few years. Then it laid me off dur to cost cuts. now here i am. Liveing the life of a low income nobody. At 60. They say im to old to hire now. This nation is one big nothing now. Thanks to politicians and greedy rich. I see no hope in sight ever now.
Great video but you really need to work on your pronunciation of the names of rivers.
We're trying our best
number 4, your "voice" cant pronounce the "Yough" river lol.
cambria steel mill still stands and is mostly used by a modern steel company, goutier (gawt-tier). Bethlehem Steel or pronounced 'beth'lm by Johnstown natives, not a native but i say it that way. but Beth'lm steel was a big issue in johnstowns decline. they ran that city. they owned the water authority and diff things in jtown.
as for the steel mill in beth'lm i am impressed what they did with the old mill. but im sure it wont last long with the elements.
we're are working on the pronunciation
Not very accurate on your historical Stell Industrial facts!
But But - everything was bad - and the 80s made no one like American steel
The internet says so - so it must be true
You need to do a little bit more homework and skip the computer generated voice. So much wrong it's laughable.
Sure
The mispronunciations kept me laughing. Whoever did this clearly never set foot into western Pa
The narrator needs to learn the actual pronunciation of many of the rivers and town in the video.
We're trying our best
Jones and 'laff-lynn" steel? The "you-gee-awe-gan-ee" river? The narrator clearly never set foot in Allegheny County. It's "lock-lynn" and "yawk-a-gain-ee"
We are non-native Americans thats why we are facing some issues with pronunciation. We are trying our best. Thanks for your patience and understanding
Okay he’s not from Allegheny County. He made a marvelous production covering J&L steel. Doesn’t make him a bad person. Why don’t you go up to Massachusetts and try to pronounce WORCESTER.
@@mikediodati1149 I never said he was bad, just it was clear he never visited Allegheny County. He could have looked up how to pronounce the more difficult words instead of guessing. I like the video very much and think the author is swell. Funny aside: I was taking someone to their hometown in Mass that she called "Wister". She got angry at me when we were passing the exit to Wister. I said I didn't see Wister on the sign, she yelled at me and said "right there". I said all I saw was "Wor-chest-er". That said, "That's it. That's Wister!". We almost crashed trying to make the exit at the last minute. Well, not quite.
The coal miners in Pennsylvania West Virginia southwestern Virginia eastern Kentucky Johnstown at one time it was a thriving town in the 70s and now it’s turned into a shit dump
@@johnfrank3642 Yes, unfortunately coal was closely connected with the steel industry. Much of it was turned into Coke for the blast furnaces. When steel died so did the coal mining industry unless they mined coal for electric generating plants and today even that market is going away.
Reagan did this and a lot more
The EPA and the Dems did way more
It's more complicated than you two would understand.
It was another US company that killed them, Nucor with its new technology
@@Steve-q6l4v I understand it man I lived it Reagan did it to get rid of the unions what's hard to understand is how much suffering and hard times he caused and now it's going to be hard times for everyone
Weak video history. The collapse of the US steel industry was bought on by lack of innovation and overcapacity also greed. The US steel industry refused to downsize and invest in the future till it was too late.
thanks for your comment
Ai generated rewriting our history. How lazy must we become?