RUST BELT IN OHIO
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Actually, it was Severstal who idled the remaining operations of this mill, with most of the rest of their Ohio Valley steel mills, in early 2009. Regarding this unfortunate development, Pittsburgh investor Jeff Mindlin told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
"Those plants just aren't going to be coming back."
The number of USW members in the Ohio Valley has dwindled to the point that the International USW has taken over Local 1190. About this 1190 president Ernie Gambellin said,
"Three years ago, there were 1,500 people. Today as I stand there are 200 people, and the 200 people are without a contract.
So we're anxious to get a contract, anxious and still hopeful for Mingo. But the reality is we have 200 employees.
What we once had will probably never be again, so that's where we stand." Later the Local 1190 actually did close down. Finally, even their physical union wall was lost.
Colin Higgins of Mingo Junction quotes his father as saying,
"It's not like we worked in some canning factory in some huge city. No. We built this entire community on the steel mills and because of that it wasn't just a job. We invested our lives in those mills! We built those mills, we ran those mills, we sweated our asses off and went without to strike for those mills! Don't tell me that there's something else those men can do! Go to school? These men are in their fifties with mortgages. When the well dries up, there's no big city for us to head to, no job we can get like the craftsmen. If you don't have that paper, you don't have nothing. And it never mattered anyway, when I think about how we used to give shit to anyone who drove a Jap car, because GM bought American steel, so we drove American cars. But once the gettin' was good and the price went up, they bought that Jap steel quicker than shit like we were nothing. And we marched on D.C. and asked for a tariff, something to give us a little room to squeeze in there, and there's some dick in a suit telling me that free trade is better in the long-run, and you just know that guys never seen the inside of a factory, or been to Mingo Junction where our little boys go to school and ask their daddies why they have to give up and shut up, why he's selling his things, why his mommy and daddy fight over the kitchen table every night with bills spread out! We had it all when we were organized, when it meant something to love what you do and protect what you love, but now we've got nothing. That's what we got when we signed that paper they pushed in front of us saying that we could end the strike today if we carved up the plan and a lot of good it did, goddamnit, can't you tell? So don't tell me it's stubborness, because these are the same men who had to swallow every inkling of pride that once streamed through their veins like his own blood and put his head down when he picks up that check at the unemployment line. Don't tell me it's laziness because we would've done anything to stay competitive. And don't dare to say that we're living in the past, because we were born steel men and its kinda hard to work at Wal-Mart after that."
By the time this photo was taken, many parts of the Mingo Junction steel mill had been demolished. It had not been fully active in 15 years. The old blast
furnace, ore bridge, and associated buildings had been removed. But this part of the mill remained, although it seemed quiet and inactive on this day.
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Author Joel Garreau called the Rust Belt "The Foundry." He wrote, "'The Work ethic,' Daniel T. Rodgers, a University of Wisconsin professor, has written, 'has
always been a phenomenon in American life.
'The idea that hard, self-denying labor is the summum bonum of life never cut deeply in the South. It was violated in scores of 19th-century frontier settlements
and rich men's ballrooms...'
But it's tough to maintain that posistion in the Foundry. No one, for example, ever lived in Buffalo for the climate. Or in Gary for the scenic vistas. Or in
Camden for the recreational opportunities. Or in Wheeling for the beach. Blue-collar workers may drink to oblivion, or load up their Winnebagos for a weekend in
northern Michigan, but they do so in response to their work. Welfare is an emotional issue in these highly taxed Foundry cities because its recipients don't work."
Feb. 2007 image by author
Shown is the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Company's North Plant in Steubenville, Ohio, located in
the old Cleveland-Pittsburgh steel belt. It was later
owned by Esmark, Severstal, RG Steel, and finally River Rail Development LLC - who will probably cannibalize the plant for scrap. This caused Ernie Gambolin, president of United Steelworkers Local 1190, to lament that the plant was "another casualty caused by our trade laws
and corporate greed that our union ... fights every day." But some of this plant had already been demolished when Mr. Gambolin made that statement.
Mar. 2006 image by author
The No. 1 blast furnace at W-P's North Plant had already gone cold when I took this photo in March 2006. When the blast furnaces were silenced in 2005, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. CEO James G. Bradley beamed,
"With the charging of hot metal into our Consteel EAF [electric arc furnace] and the shutdown of our No. 1 Blast Furnace, Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel has crossed another important threshold toward its transformation into a modern 21st Century steelmaker. We are just beginning to see the benefits of our long-term strategy of combining integrated and EAF technology." Yet, three
years later the company was history.
Mar. 2006 image by author
Closer view of the No. 1 Blast Furnace in Steubenville, which produced iron from 1899 (when it was constructed by the Labelle Iron Works) until
2005. When it was idled it was one of the oldest blast furnaces in the United States.
Mar. 2006 image by author
The Market Street bridge over
the Ohio River with Steubenville in the background, which is also remembered as Dean Martin's hometown. It was also a branch office of the mafia.
Mar. 2006 image by author
St. Peter's Catholic Church in Steubenville.
Nov. 2009 image by author
This blast furnace at Steubenville was built in the first years of the 20th Century and torn down in 2013.
Mar. 2006 image by author
A little down the river from Steubenville is the town of Mingo Junction, Ohio.
Mar. 2006 image by author
Former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Company's main hot metal steel mill in Mingo Junction, Ohio, also later owned by Esmark, Severstal North America, Inc., RG Steel, and finally by Frontier Industrial Corp., who purchased the idled mill in 2012 when RG Steel went bankrupt.
Unfortunately, Frontier has scrapped a lot of the site. In 2013 a former employee said to the media, "They just don't seem like they want to have the steelworkers around here. They're phasing us out. And
we don't know what we're supposed to do."
Mar. 2006 image by author
The blast furnace at Mingo Junction - I wonder what its name was? Blast furnaces always have a name, like Eliza or Jenny or Amanda. There was also a more
modern electric arc furnace to supplement (or replace) this operation.
Mar. 2006 image by author
Steps going up the hill in the middle of Mingo-Junction, OH.
Nov. 2009 image by author
In 2009 the steel mill and furnaces at Mingo Junction were idled by the owners - Severstal. This 2009 photo shows the dying downtown next to the mill.
Nov. 2009 image by author
When I visited Mingo Junction, Ohio in March 2006, the main street next to the mill was alive car and foot traffic coming in and out of
bars and pool halls and stores. When I went back in November 2009, the downtown was ghost town-quiet. Here is a closed pool hall and grill "for sale" I saw on that day.
Sep. 2023 image by author
Sep. 2023 image by author
Another view of Mingo Junction, Ohio along the Ohio River.
Nov. 2009 image by author
These people living in the shadow of the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh steel mill at Yorkville, OH had a reason to be glad when this 2009 photo was taken: The mill's owner, Severstal Wheeling, had announced that it would reopen the cold rolling mill, which had been idled for most of the year. In 2012 the mill looked like it might go down the drain with its bankrupt owner, RG Steel, but Esmark Steel Group
saved the day by purchasing the plant and giving it a new lease on life. However, the plant closed a few years later. It has since been torn down.
Image courtesy of RG Steel
Inside the Yorkville mill. Originally a plate plant of Wheeling Steel, it was later
a cold rolling mill. When the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel empire fell apart at RG Steel's bankruptcy, Esmark purchased this mill (again) and announced
that they would reopen it as Ohio Cold Rolling Co. But the plant did not reopen, and the gas was turned off in March, 2013.
Image courtesy of RG Steel
Shown here is the former Wheeling-Pitt mill at Martins Ferry, OH. At one time products manufactured here included "SofTite" galvanized sheets, galvanized roofing, corrugated culverts, hand-dipped ware,
Nov. 2009 image by author
Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. and National Steel/Weirton Steel weren't the only steel companies to operate in the Wheeling-Steubenville part of
the Ohio Valley. Some of these buildings were probably once part of Carnegie Steel Company's Bellaire Works.
Nov. 2009 image by author
Steel wire stockpiled in Bellaire, OH.
Nov. 2009 image by author
Playground next to the old Belmont Lead Coated Steel Casket Company factory in Shadyside, OH.
1942 image courtesy Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection
In this vintage picture from Chase Brass & Copper Co. in Euclid, OH molten metal is being poured into a mold to form a billet.
Feb. 2008 image by author
Freighter vessels hibernating in front of aggregate and limestone processing plants in Fairport Harbor, OH.
Feb. 2008 image by author
Fairport Harbor is frozen over in Winter. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, Fairport Harbor is ranked 27th among all of the the Great Lakes Ports.
Nov. 2010 image by author
Industrial scene on the Scioto-Lawrence County line in the Ohio River valley.
Jul. 2006 image by author
Ruins of the Detroit Steel Co. coke works between Portsmouth and New Boston, Ohio. The steel mill itself closed in 1980 and was demolished in 1989.
Jul. 2006 image by author
After the steel mill closed the coke works continued to be operated under the name New Boston Coke. This operation closed in 2002 but here are the remaining coke ovens and coal processing building that remained in 2006. The metal doors on the ovens have been removed, leaving the refractory
brick lining of the ovens naked.
Jul. 2006 image by author
Closer view of the coal processing building at the former Detroit Steel Co. coke works on the edge of Portsmouth. From what I have heard all of these industrial remains have been removed now, and replaced by a Wal-Mart, which typifies
America's transition from relatively high paying industrial jobs to lower service sector wage jobs. But that is not news.
Nov. 2010 image by author
Mitchell shoelace factory in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Jul. 2006 image by author
People living next to smokestacks - Chillicothe, Ohio.
May 2008 image by author
Columbus Steel Castings, in south Columbus, Ohio, was formerly known as Buckeye Steel Castings. This steel foundry, which manufactured parts for trains, filed for
bankruptcy in 2002, was turned around for around a decade after that, and closed in 2016. All of these buildings are gone now.
May 2008 image by author
Inside the abandoned Chase Foundry in south Columbus. It was scheduled for demolition when this photo was taken. That's a shame, because this building was built to last. Too bad someone
couldn't come up with another use for it. So much energy and resources went into this building, just to have it leveled.
May 2008 image by author
The crucible furnace of the foundry.
May 2008 image by author
Detail from inside the Chase Foundry showing sand hoppers. A pair of ironworkers tongs are hanging on the column.
May 2008 image by author
The employees' washroom at the Chase Foundry.
May 2008 image by author
This old industrial facility in Marion, OH must have been Marion Power Shovel, which manufactured some of the largest earth moving equipment (shovels and draglines) of all time. Evidently,
the company was eventually abosorbed into Bucyrus International. For a while, Marion was still a division of Bucyrus, but since they have been acquired by Caterpillar it seems the Marion brand has been retired.
May 2008 image by author
Nucor Steel, also in Marion, OH. Signs and banners exhorting work safety are common at industrial facilities.
May 2008 image by author
The back side of Nucor's "mini mill" in Marion, OH.
May 2008 image by author
Detail of Nucor's Marion steel mill, showing the slabs that are melted down in the furnace. There are also stockpiles of scrap at this mill, which are probably blended in with the molten steel from the slabs for
their various products, such as sign posts and rebar.
May 2008 image by author
Scrap pile to be melted down in Nucor's furnaces, Marion, Ohio.
May 2008 image by author
Whirlpool dryer factory in Marion, Ohio has been operating there since 1955.
Feb. 2009 image by author
The port of Huron, Erie County, Ohio, on Lake Erie. At one time there were Hulett unloaders here.
Feb. 2009 image by author
The Huron Lime Company plant is visible between piles of taconite at the Huron Ore Dock.
Feb. 2009 image by author
Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway has been connecting the Huron docks with industrial towns like
Steubenville and Massillon since the late 19th Century. Their tracks are shown here, along with the lime plant and the now-demolished Con-Agra grain elevators.
Feb. 2008 image by author
A small portion of the town named Massillon, Stark County, Ohio. Massillon's Rust Belt economy is such
that it made the national news in 2009 when an open position for school janitor attracted 700 applicants.
Feb. 2008 image by author
An industrial plant that has seen better days in Massillon. Note the wooden tank.
Feb. 2008 image by author
Republic Engineered Products steel plant in Massillon.
Feb. 2008 image by author
Kirk Key Interlock Company, which manufactures several styles of key interlocks, operated out of this historic facility in Massillon.