Pittsburgh’s rich history of ironwork began in the 1870’s, thanks in large part to Andrew Carnegie, a former railroad businessman. Carnegie helped shaped the future of steel and build his own wealth by controlling the most extensive integrated iron and steel operations ever owned by an individual in the United States. This was in part due to one of his best, and most well known inventions: a process to mass produce steel cheaper and more efficiently through a process called Bessemer process. This process allowed for “pig iron” to be burnt off much faster and in more controlled way, which led to a drop in steel prices.  With the drop in cost for steel, it was quickly adopted and used for building railroads. Much more of Carnegie’s history, and involvement with the iron industry can be found online.

The steel industry flourished in the Pittsburgh region. Through the 1950’s, Pittsburgh was the the 8th largest city in the United States, and was responsible for almost half of the country’s steel output. However, that would eventually come to an end, and the 70’s and 80’s saw a dramatic decline in the steel industry. Some suggest the beginning of the end started with a major workforce strike in the late 50’s. Over the next forty years after that strike almost 30 different companies in the steel industry would go bankrupt. By the late 1980’s, it’s estimated that about 75% of the city’s steel making business was closed, or non operational.  The major, massive sites such as the Carrie Blast Furnaces along the Monongahela and Ohio rivers were closed down, and the impact was felt across the region. While the footprint of the steel industry is still visible across the region today, including the makeup of its local communities and neighborhoods, it now mostly lies within the museums and history books.