STORY CHALLENGE: LETTER G

GRAFFITI

INSIDE

CARRIE FURNACE

When I was growing up, Pittsburgh was a great steel town.  The steel mills could be found all along the Monongahela River from Pittsburgh’s South Side to Homestead, Rankin and Braddock, small steel mill towns outside of the city limits.

Iron and steel were our main industries for nearly a century and a half. The mills along the rivers churned out their products 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It can be said that steel from Pittsburgh mills practically built America. From the Empire State Building to the Golden Gate Bridge, steel from Pittsburgh found its way to all corners of the developing nation.

For just over 100 years, Pennsylvania was truly “the steel capital of the world.” Making steel was a great drama of wealth and poverty, of soaring skyscrapers and gritty mill towns, of the clash between the imperatives of profit and human dignity. Pennsylvania’s steel built the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington Bridge, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State building. 

Now, only one steel mill along the Monongahela is in operation today.  The Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation, Homestead Works and Carrie Furnace are no longer in operation.  

No longer do you see fire and smoke raging from it stacks or iron being poured into cigar-shaped hot metal cars that will carry the liquid iron made from iron ore, coke and limestone across the river to manufacture steel.  No longer do you see men filing out with their lunch pails in hand, covered with smoke and grime after a long days work.  What can be found today is a deserted steel mill that offers tours to people so they may experience life of a bygone era as told through the memories of a former steel worker, history expert and guide.   

What is left?  Rust, decay and Graffiti Art everywhere.  The photos shown above were taken when my photography group was given a private tour of the closed Carrie Furnace, where graffiti artist have left their artistic designs on the walls, blast furnace and equipment.  

The site has received a historical landmark designation and is waiting to be developed into a historic park with Carrie Furnace being one of the attractions.

FrizzText is the sponsor of this challenge and you can join in and find other entries on his Flickr Comments Story Challenge: Letter G site.  I hope you will visit and maybe enter your own interpretation of the challenge.

Related Article:  https://francineinretirement.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/tour-carrie-furnace/

BE ENCOURAGED!  BE BLESSED!