ive never taken the tour. but im pretty much obsessed with the steel. im in it all the time actually. always trying to find new things, and places i havent been. its so big and like a maze. quite scary at night also, especially when you dont have flash lights and all you have is the flash on your camera to navigate.
US Steel's equivalent of the Bethlehem Plant, the Homestead Works near Pittsburg, closed in 1986 and have been razed. Bethlehem's even larger plant at Sparrows Point Maryland has also been mostly razed.
Yeah i live right over the bridge. I like what they have done with the space, with the Arts Quest building and what not. But i miss the good old days where i could walk right in pretty easy. Its a hot box now :/
Thanks for the great photos - is the old foundry open to those who explore? I imagine it's a fairly dangerous place to wander about. Yet it's so sad, so sad to see this industry die here like Beth steel did. Do we feel any better knowing our steel comes from a foundry like this in China?
Loved the slide show, its very dissapointing that that area is going to become a casino ive lived in Bethlehem my whole life and the whole idea of a Casino seems like an awful idea, the Steel means a lot to me my father worked there my grandfathers worked there my uncles worked there, and I would be working there if it was still running.
1967, last addition to this plant (BOF). 1994, last steel poured. 1998, last shop closed. 2001, BS files for bankruptcy. 2003, firm liquidated and the end. Most of what you see in this video was built before WWI and so was hopelessly obsolete.
Hey cool.I have a large steel I-beam that I bought out an old eatons store that was being torn down.I use it to lift stuff around my garage .I noticed that it has stamped into it BETHLEHEM .I would like to know just how old it would be .Thanks for sharing your photos.
When I was a boy, BS paid its white collar types very very well, even though the cost of living in Bethlehem PA was not high. The executive dining room was one of the poshest in the USA. The white collar types were milking the company blind. In 1982, BS lost a billion$ and went into a death spiral. I think that the only way they could have survived is to compete head on with Nucor.
From my research 3 factors contributed to the demise of Bethlehem Steel 1= Mismanagement. The Company built at least two super deluxe pro golf courses. 2= except for their "flagship" mill at Burns Harbor Ind(Now Arceler Mittel), they refused to modernize even to the extent of building new & more efficient blast furnaces. 3= Unfair trade agreements & the US Gov, reluctance to do something 4= I am union, but some contractual problems were involved. You cannot compete with gov subsidized factories
As a professional, can't you tell how terribly out of date this American machinery was? I worked there in the 1970s. Most comparable German machinery was destroyed by Allied bombing.
BS ran 24/7 during the world wars. They made a lot of the steel for New York skyscrapers, 1910-60, & for the Golden Gate bridge & the like. For the interstate system. These sources of demand all dried up. Imported steel improved. Recycled scrap became a big & cheaper source of steel. BS could no longer afford the wages & pensions they paid. This plant became badly obsolete; only the BOF was built post 1945. Your last shot reminds us that out of the ashes of the past, something new always grows.
are you from or still in the bethlehem area??? i am currently trying to publish a book on the steel. i have a collection of images that i need told what it was and once used for. would you be interested in reviewing my photos for me?
ive never taken the tour. but im pretty much obsessed with the steel. im in it all the time actually. always trying to find new things, and places i havent been. its so big and like a maze. quite scary at night also, especially when you dont have flash lights and all you have is the flash on your camera to navigate.
US Steel's equivalent of the Bethlehem Plant, the Homestead Works near Pittsburg, closed in 1986 and have been razed. Bethlehem's even larger plant at Sparrows Point Maryland has also been mostly razed.
its ashame to see history like bethlehem steel going down the tubes fascinating stuff
You should see it now they really fixed the place up
thank you very much!
Yeah i live right over the bridge. I like what they have done with the space, with the Arts Quest building and what not. But i miss the good old days where i could walk right in pretty easy. Its a hot box now :/
wow, the pic at 1:28 is mindblowing...nice job!
thanks man. means alot
see the wikipedia entry titled "List of preserved historic blast furnaces". There's quite a few of them around the world.
thank you
no there is still a decent amount intact.
Thanks for the great photos - is the old foundry open to those who explore? I imagine it's a fairly dangerous place to wander about.
Yet it's so sad, so sad to see this industry die here like Beth steel did. Do we feel any better knowing our steel comes from a foundry like this in China?
very well done.
Loved the slide show, its very dissapointing that that area is going to become a casino ive lived in Bethlehem my whole life and the whole idea of a Casino seems like an awful idea, the Steel means a lot to me my father worked there my grandfathers worked there my uncles worked there, and I would be working there if it was still running.
1967, last addition to this plant (BOF). 1994, last steel poured. 1998, last shop closed. 2001, BS files for bankruptcy. 2003, firm liquidated and the end. Most of what you see in this video was built before WWI and so was hopelessly obsolete.
There are a number of BS Bethlehem plant elegy videos on YT. This one is my favourite, esp. your choice of soundtrack.
Hey cool.I have a large steel I-beam that I bought out an old eatons store that was being torn down.I use it to lift stuff around my garage .I noticed that it has stamped into it BETHLEHEM .I would like to know just how old it would be .Thanks for sharing your photos.
When I was a boy, BS paid its white collar types very very well, even though the cost of living in Bethlehem PA was not high. The executive dining room was one of the poshest in the USA. The white collar types were milking the company blind. In 1982, BS lost a billion$ and went into a death spiral. I think that the only way they could have survived is to compete head on with Nucor.
From my research 3 factors contributed to the demise of Bethlehem Steel
1= Mismanagement. The Company built at least two super deluxe pro golf courses.
2= except for their "flagship" mill at Burns Harbor Ind(Now Arceler Mittel), they refused to modernize even to the extent of building new & more efficient blast furnaces.
3= Unfair trade agreements & the US Gov, reluctance to do something
4= I am union, but some contractual problems were involved.
You cannot compete with gov subsidized factories
I don't know where you got the word "flagship" when referring to burns harbor.
i agree... why would bethlehem need a casino anyway. the crime rate is going to go up like crazy on southside....
As a professional, can't you tell how terribly out of date this American machinery was? I worked there in the 1970s. Most comparable German machinery was destroyed by Allied bombing.
BS ran 24/7 during the world wars. They made a lot of the steel for New York skyscrapers, 1910-60, & for the Golden Gate bridge & the like. For the interstate system. These sources of demand all dried up. Imported steel improved. Recycled scrap became a big & cheaper source of steel. BS could no longer afford the wages & pensions they paid. This plant became badly obsolete; only the BOF was built post 1945. Your last shot reminds us that out of the ashes of the past, something new always grows.
are you from or still in the bethlehem area??? i am currently trying to publish a book on the steel. i have a collection of images that i need told what it was and once used for. would you be interested in reviewing my photos for me?