Lawmakers renew call for Pittsburgh steel historic park
PITTSBURGH -- Local preservationists and lawmakers have worked for more than a dozen years to get an area of the city known for its steel history designated a national historic site. Many believe this could be the year it finally happens.
U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., have introduced legislation in the Senate and Rep. Mike Doyle has introduced a companion bill in the House that would designate the Steel Heritage National Historic Site in Pittsburgh. The area would include an old blast furnace, the site of a former steel mill and historic worker uprising, and a bridge over the Monongahela River that connects the two...
Smoke-spewing mills lined the city's three rivers for generations, producing steel used in the Empire State Building and other iconic structures ...The city's economy revolved around steel until a collapse of the industry in the 1980s. Most of the mills are gone, replaced by office buildings, shopping malls and even a training center for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Efforts have been under way since the 1980s to preserve some of the city's steel past. In 1996, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area was created by Congress to help preserve places related to the history of steel...Last year, two blast furnaces at the 122-year-old Carrie Furnace in Homestead were designated historic landmarks.
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U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Bob Casey, D-Pa., have introduced legislation in the Senate and Rep. Mike Doyle has introduced a companion bill in the House that would designate the Steel Heritage National Historic Site in Pittsburgh. The area would include an old blast furnace, the site of a former steel mill and historic worker uprising, and a bridge over the Monongahela River that connects the two...
Smoke-spewing mills lined the city's three rivers for generations, producing steel used in the Empire State Building and other iconic structures ...The city's economy revolved around steel until a collapse of the industry in the 1980s. Most of the mills are gone, replaced by office buildings, shopping malls and even a training center for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Efforts have been under way since the 1980s to preserve some of the city's steel past. In 1996, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area was created by Congress to help preserve places related to the history of steel...Last year, two blast furnaces at the 122-year-old Carrie Furnace in Homestead were designated historic landmarks.