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History of the former USX Homestead Works
Sunday, March 12, 2000
A timeline
1983 The Carrie Furnaces, blast furnaces located in Swissvale and Rankin, closed. The furnaces produced pig iron that was carried across a hot metal bridge to the steel-making furnaces of Homestead.
1986 The USX Homestead Works, which once was one of the largest steel-producing companies in the world, closed. When the mill was built in 1879 as the Bessemer Steel plant, Homestead was a town of only about 600 people. Steel magnet Andrew Carnegie acquired the mill in 1883. The Homestead strike of 1892 had a national impact, focusing the nation's attention on industrial problems that cried out for solutions.
1988 The Park Corp. of Cleveland, Ohio, bought 550 acres of brownfields on both sides of the Monongahela River for redevelopment. The Steel Industry Task Force was established to study the possibility of preserving the history of steel-making in the region.
1990 The Steel Industry Task Force became the Steel Industry Heritage Corp., a nonprofit corporation to promote tourism and economic development in river communities that were spawned by the industrial revolution. The Steel Industry Heritage Corp. negotiated a deal to buy the Bost Building, a badly deteriorated building in Homestead that was strike headquarters in 1892 for steel workers who waged a battle against 300 Pinkerton Guards hired by Carnegie Chairman Henry Clay Frick. The building cost $2,000, plus $40,000 in back taxes.
1992 Three independent studies commissioned to determine whether the Steel Valley had tourism potential found that historic sites in the Steel Valley could draw 373,000 visitors a year and generate more than $25 million for the local economy. The Park Corp. agreed to sell 77 acres, 12 in Munhall and 65 acres in Swissvale, for development of a historic museum or park. The asking price was $1.5 million. The Howard Heinz Endowment, through a grant to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, agreed to finance the purchase, but only if Steel Industry Heritage could get a commitment for long-term financing. The deal fell through because of complications in negotiations with the Park Corp.
1994 In a move that was criticized by historic preservationists, The Park Corp. demolished the "Big Shop," a brick and steel building in Munhall that once was the machine repair shop for all of US. Steel's Mon Valley mills. The Steel Industry Heritage Corp. had planned to use the former machine shop to house the mill's 48-inch mill, the last steam-driven mill in the United States, which was disassembled and remains stored in Trafford. By the end of 1994, about 90 percent of the Homestead Works mill site had been cleared for development.
1996 In a major step toward historic preservation in the region, the U.S. Congress and Pennsylvania officials designated a seven-county trail of tourism, called Rivers of Steel, as a National Heritage Area. The district consists of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. The designation makes the area eligible for more than $1 million a year in federal and state grants to be funneled into river communities that played a role in the steel industry. The Steel Industry Heritage Corp. is the conduit through which the money flows.
1997 The Park Corp. and Continental Real Estate announced plans to transform the old mill site into The Waterfront, a $300 million, mixed-use complex spanning the communities of Homestead, Munhall and West Homestead.
1998 In July, Allegheny County Commissioners approved $21 million in tax increment financing for The Waterfront, money that will be used for roads, sewers and utilities. In September, the Park Corp. sold the 270-acre tract to Continental Real Estate, which took on a new partner, Nationwide Insurance.
1999 The Bost Building on Eighth Avenue in Homestead was designated as a National Historic Landmark by U.S. Interior Department Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The U.S. Congress, through the initiative of U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Swissvale, directed the National Park Service to conduct a "Special Resource Study for the Battle of Homestead and Carrie Furnace sites in Pennsylvania." In May, the Steel Industry Heritage Corp. started offering tours of the historic sites, called the Big Steel Journey and a new series of signs with the Rivers of Steel Heritage area logo were officially unveiled. In December, McDonalds became the first business to open in The Waterfront.
2000 In February, Carlino announced that a $3 million makeover of the Bost Building will begin later this year and take 18 to 24 months to complete. The building will hold historic archives, serve as offices for the Steel Industry Heritage Corp., and could serve as visitors center for a new national historic site. In the spring, the National Park Service will send consultants to the Steel Valley to make recommendations about the feasibility of establishing a national park or historic site there.
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