These photos bring back some vivid memories for me. When I was attending Pitt from 1965 through 1969, I worked in steel mills every summer. Usually I worked at the Jones and Laughlin steel mill that was located on 2nd Avenue. It was called the Hazelwood Works. Looking back on it, it’s astonishing to me that those huge steel mills that I worked in in the late 1960s were all closed and demolished less than 20 years later. When I worked there, they employed thousands of workers, and the mills were several miles long on both sides of the Monongahela River. Here’s an interesting article about the J&L mills: https://riverlifepgh.org/pittsburghs-south-shore-riverfront-park-has-steel-history-in-its-dna/#:~:text=J%26L's%20closure%20in%201984%20was,steel%20brownfield%20sites%20sat%20empty.
Wow Ken…I did the same and was there when you were there. I worked in the Cold Strip on Second Avenue and near the furnaces on the Southside. I was raised on the Southside so it was a natural progression to work in the Mill at some point. You were in a different world once you punched in. I have always appreciated my life experience there. I will not reiterate my story because it will be similar to yours. Small world my friend. Read Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell.
It stands as a monument to a great era!
These look like sculptures.
These photos bring back some vivid memories for me. When I was attending Pitt from 1965 through 1969, I worked in steel mills every summer. Usually I worked at the Jones and Laughlin steel mill that was located on 2nd Avenue. It was called the Hazelwood Works. Looking back on it, it’s astonishing to me that those huge steel mills that I worked in in the late 1960s were all closed and demolished less than 20 years later. When I worked there, they employed thousands of workers, and the mills were several miles long on both sides of the Monongahela River. Here’s an interesting article about the J&L mills:
https://riverlifepgh.org/pittsburghs-south-shore-riverfront-park-has-steel-history-in-its-dna/#:~:text=J%26L's%20closure%20in%201984%20was,steel%20brownfield%20sites%20sat%20empty.
Thank you so much Ken for sharing and for the Steel History link.
Wow Ken…I did the same and was there when you were there. I worked in the Cold Strip on Second Avenue and near the furnaces on the Southside. I was raised on the Southside so it was a natural progression to work in the Mill at some point. You were in a different world once you punched in. I have always appreciated my life experience there. I will not reiterate my story because it will be similar to yours. Small world my friend. Read Out of This Furnace by Thomas Bell.