South Side before Jones & Laughlin Expansion

1949/1955

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South Side before Jones & Laughlin Expansion
  • Title
  • South Side before Jones & Laughlin Expansion
  • Creator
  • unknown
  • Identifier
  • MSP285.B013.F29.I01
  • Description
  • The Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation’s (J&L) iron furnace and mill were located on the South Side of the Monongahela River, in the East Birmingham neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The South Side Works was located at 2709 East Carson Street in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood. By the start of World War II, J&L was the fourth largest steel producer in the world, producing over 4.8 million tons of steel a year and employing 45,000 workers. Following the war Admiral Ben Moreell served as president (1947-1952), and then chief executive officer (1952-1958), overseeing a post war modernization program to rehabilitate J&L plants and equipment after wartime overuse. In his “Plant Improvement Program,” which he introduced in December of 1950, Moreell established a plan to create new power sources, improve upon raw material handling, and increase speed of production. The depressed steel market of the 1970s led to a rapid decline in steel production in the Pittsburgh area. The corporation soon began demolishing older factories with no intention of rebuilding. By 1989 most of the South Side Works and the Eliza Furnaces across the Monongahela River were leveled. In the 1990s the few remaining buildings serve as a distant memory of the thriving community these factories surrounded.
  • Subject
  • South Side (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    Commercial buildings--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
  • Contributor
  • Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center
  • Collection
  • Allegheny Conference on Community Development Photographs
  • Rights Information
  • The copyright and related rights status of this Item has been reviewed by the organization that has made the Item available, but the organization was unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the Item. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.
    http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/