Pittsburgh steel industry (McKeesport, Aliquippa, Beaver Falls: homes, closing, move)

[neurodistortion]

I've been pondering of this for sometime, but if the steel industry in Pittsburgh didn't collapse like it did in the early 80s, would the city still be a grimy, polluted place today, or would it over time adapt to newer and cleaner standards?

[dugdogmaster]

They would have been forced to clean up their act, like the remaining plants in the area have been. Though most of our Pollution today comes from nearby southeastern Ohio and the northern panhandle and "Chemical Valley" of WV. Heck, Pittsburgh wrote the first environmental piece of legislation, ever. Ever!

[neurodistortion]

Another question, how many plants in all shut down in that time period? I can only think of the big one in Homestead, but I'm sure there were more.

[onwardandupward]

Off the top of my head; US Steel plants in Homestead, Duquesne, McKeesport (National Tube Works), Carrie Furnaces in Rankin, Jones & Laughlin (J & L) mills in (I think) Hazelwood, South Side and Aliquippa, Wheeling-Pittsburgh mill in Monessen. There may be others I've missed...

Remember too, that there was a huge ripple effect (such as is happening in Detroit now), as there were lots of industries that served the steel industry, while not making steel per se. Most of these supportive industries went down the tubes as well.

[Katarina Witt]

I believe Babcock and Wilcox in Beaver Falls (several mills) stayed open for a while after the collapse, but shut down a short time afterward. Moltrup Steel in Beaver Falls is gone. Armstrong Cork is gone (2 factories); not the steel industry but part of the factory scene of the post WW II years. US Steel in Elwood City shut down.

[Geeo]

The steel industry was already upgrading their anti-pollution equipment by the 70s and the air was cleaner. The changeover from coal to gas after WWII was a big factor in initially cleaning up the skies.

The poster above mentioned the major mills that closed in the 80s. A good book to read about everything that happened back then is "And the Wolf Finally Came" by John Hoerr. Available at the Carnegie Library. It contains a map of the region with the location of each steel mill and the date of its demise.

[Hopes]

Plant closings aren't the factor. Remaining plants aren't operating at the same capacity as the 70s.

Pittsburgh was already into beautification prior to the collapse---there was a lot of redevelopment going on and plantings of flowers and trees.

It was much earlier in the century when the steel mills had been removed from Downtown to make Point Park.

As for pollution, that was already being improved for decades prior to the collapse. I hadn't gotten dark by noon since the 50s.

Pittsburgh would not still be a gritty polluted city if the steel industry hadn't collapsed.

[Honest Bob]

Don't forget Armco and American Bridge and all the other places along RT 65 from Baden to Sewickley.

The truth of the matter is, by the 70's the plants had already cleaned up their act to a certain degree. The places that made the coke polluted more then the steel mills because electricity was cheap and they could make all the steel you wanted.

The problem was that the unions got too big and every year the workers wanted more and more and they had their 13 weeks of vacation and sub pay and all the benefits - without doing a days work.

What happened to the auto industry now, is what happened to the Steel industry back then.

The auto industry - just like the steel industry polluted for years. It was cheaper for them to close down here and move somewhere else then it was to clean up their own mess.

Rich people are just like little kids, they play and they make a mess and then they don't want to spend their own money to clean up their mess or clean it up themselves.

I can remember a new Chevrolet truck being $2500 and a new Chevrolet car being $3500 Gasoline $.32 a gallon. A quart of oil being $.25

Car tires being $15 or $20 each

Earl Scheib painting a whole car for $99.99 with $50 of free bodywork!

Hamburgers costing $.25

And I am only 45 years old!

[Jimbo713]

Cigarettes: $.25/pack

[BrianTH]

The actual causes of the local steel bust were technological advances in the industry and the early-1980s recessions. There were no concessions the unions could have made that would have saved those jobs.