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The Education of a 19th-Century Factory Owner’s Daughter

This story is the second in a series of articles about Carrie Clark Arkell, the woman who was the namesake of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. In this piece, Dr. Kirsten Paine examines the education of the young Miss Clark and gives context to what may have been expected from her, both from her family and from society.

By Dr. Kirsten L. Paine

Expanding the World of Carrie Clark

In my previous article that reintroduced Carrie Clark—the namesake of the Carrie Furnaces—to Pittsburgh, I compiled newly discovered information about a young woman’s life. Most of this information comes from newspaper articles and census reports, but the tidbits were enough to write a story about a woman born in the middle of the Civil War, who moved with her family to Pittsburgh at the beginning of the big steel boom, received an expensive education at an elite college, aided her father in expanding the family business, married a dashing state senator’s son, had a child, and died unexpectedly at twenty-five. This is a lot of life packed into two and a half decades.

Understandably, people had questions about Carrie Clark. What do we know about her family life? Why did her parents send her away to school? Was her marriage socially advantageous? Do we know what role she played in Pittsburgh’s industrial ownership circles? Why did she die so young? I want to try to answer some of these questions by putting some context around Carrie Clark’s life, even as we are still researching important details in her biography.

The latter half of the nineteenth century was a time of drastic social, cultural, and political changes. The Civil War (1861–1865) redefined every single aspect of American life. The transcontinental railroad (1869) connected east and west coasts, streamlining transportation and communication. The National Parks project (1872) began to set aside pieces of the American landscape to be held in public ownership. The women’s suffrage movement picked up steam even as it sought to expand beyond the issue of suffrage itself. The United States’ wealthy industrialists and venture capitalists of the Gilded Age curated Americans’ tastes in music, theater, and art.

In short, Carrie Clark’s life is both singular in the enduring legacy of her name—Carrie Furnaces—and typically representative of the kind of life led by a woman in a white, upwardly mobile middle class family of the time.

Cover Image from Godey’s Lady’s Book Volume 100 January To June 1880

Ladies’ Reading Material

On June 23, 1877, The Pittsburgh Daily Post printed a small article announcing the sale and rebranding of the most popular American magazine in circulation, Godey’s Lady’s Book. It reads, “The oldest American Monthly, ‘Godey’s Lady’s Book,’ will be transferred to new publishers in August. Mr. Godey has originated and conducted it for over half a century.” Other newspapers noted the new publishers would update the paper and ink, thereby providing a better quality reading experience to a national subscription base of over one hundred thousand households. This small announcement seems unremarkable, but the Philadelphia-based magazine was a household staple for women for over fifty years. The magazine’s editor from 1837 until 1877, Sarah Hale, was an extremely influential figure in the publishing world, especially when it came to shaping the interests and tastes of white, middle-class women all over the United States.

When Sarah Hale retired from her position as editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1877, she was almost ninety years old, and she had wielded the power of the press to shape ideas and expectations of American womanhood. During the course of her lifetime, Hale championed many causes on behalf of women’s advancement in the public sphere— particularly when it came to education. In fact, her advocacy on behalf of establishing institutions of higher education for women contributed to the foundation of Vassar College in 1865. She sat on the original board of trustees and frequently corresponded with the founder, Matthew Vassar. In one of her letters to Vassar from 1860, Hale writes: “I am much interested in what I have learned respecting your plans for a new Institution, on a very liberal scale, for the Young Ladies of America […] I feel solicitous to know more of the plan, in order to make it known to the readers of the ‘Lady’s Book.’” Throughout her tenure as editor of the most widely read women’s magazine in the United States, Sarah Hale would continue to advocate for women’s education as central to their intellectual, social, spiritual, and moral development.

Imagine Godey’s Lady’s Book in a sitting room or bedroom in a house in Youngstown, Ohio. Then imagine another volume in a sitting room in a house in Lawrenceville. And then, imagine still yet another volume in a ladies’ parlor in a house in the fashionable East End—perhaps in Jane Clark’s parlor, or maybe tucked in Carrie Clark’s bedroom.

From the Library of Congress, “Vassar female college, egidius,” Ferd, Mayor & Co. lithograph.

An Education

William Clark, owner of Solar Iron Works at the corner of 35th and Railroad Streets in Lawrenceville, was in business with his son, Edward, and his brother-in-law, Charles Fownes. Founded in 1869, the Solar Iron Works manufactured iron hoops, bands, and scrolls and could employ up to two hundred men when operating at full capacity. The company developed a good reputation for producing quality iron products, and their client base stretched as far as New England. The company flourished under Clark’s leadership, and by the late 1870s, he moved his family away from the smoke, grit, and thrashing metal of dingy Lawrenceville into an extremely fashionable East End neighborhood, at the time known as Shady Land.

With all of this success, however, came new responsibilities and expectations for the family. The Clarks were, by all accounts, upwardly mobile middle-class people who aspired to prestige and influence throughout Pittsburgh. Edward Clark, the oldest son, worked with his father and was expected to assume further ownership of the factory. There were two more sons before Carrie, Frank and William, and they, too, would go on to careers at Solar Iron Works. As the oldest daughter, Carrie bore the weight of familial expectation based in advantageous marriage, involvement in appropriate charitable organizations, and maintaining a public image of domestic respectability and upstanding moral character: a guide, a beacon worthy of women’s emulation.

However, William and Jane Clark sought an atypical path for success on behalf of their daughter. In 1877, the Clarks enrolled Carrie at Vassar Preparatory School. Located in Poughkeepsie, New York, and attached to Vassar College, Vassar Preparatory enrolled girls who needed pre-collegiate training, mostly to make up for a deficit in available primary and secondary educational opportunities for women. When a course of study at Vassar Preparatory was completed, a girl could then apply and matriculate to Vassar College. According to extant records of Carrie Clark’s formal education, she completed three years of preparatory school (1877–1879) and an entire year of college (1880) before returning to Pittsburgh.

Nineteenth-century women had two routes to higher education: enroll at either coed institutions (ex. Oberlin) or women’s colleges (ex. Bryn Mawr). Women’s colleges like Vassar modeled campuses not on academic villages with separate dormitories and classrooms, but on seminaries, which were characterized by multipurpose buildings in which students could live and study under one roof. Functionally, a college like Vassar existed to not only educate the middle class’s daughters, but to facilitate their destinies as the mothers and wives who shaped the intellectual, moral, and spiritual character of great American men.

This new system of providing women with higher education equal to that of their male counterparts garnered as much acclaim as it did skepticism and derision. By 1880, 46 percent of colleges and universities in the United States admitted women, and while this statistical percentage grew and more women’s colleges opened, Vassar College in particular gained something of a radical reputation.

On June 1, 1873, the New York Times printed a scathing piece on the dangerous educational environment at Vassar: “One can fancy what sort of young ladies would come forth from a four years’ university course, when they had struggled with, day by day, and often surpassed the best minds among the young men of the country. They certainly would not be the ideals which the world had formed till now, of the most refined womanhood.” In summation, women who took courses equal in rigor to the men’s classes (often taught by the same professors as Vassar’s counterpart, Yale), would grow to be too smart, too ambitious, too worldly, and directly pose a threat to the established social order. Vassar women might do the unthinkable: reject marriage and children entirely in favor of pursuing professions.

By 1893, five years after Carrie Clark’s death, anxieties about just what kind of women went to Vassar reached new heights. The Los Angeles Times published a piece called “College Girls and Marriage: Something Wrong with Higher Education, as Half Become Old Maids,” specifically about the dangers of families sending their daughters to Vassar.

But this rigorous course of study included several semesters of Latin, Greek, German, and French, and two semesters each of mathematics (including algebra), geography, history, and rhetoric. Students could then expand their course of study to cover subjects like chemistry and biology, religious studies, and literature.

Despite the potential for resistance or pushback from others in their social circle who might question the Clarks’ decision for their daughter to receive an education, they still chose to enroll Carrie for several years. Though she did not complete her degree—at the end of the nineteenth century many women who started college never finished—Carrie returned to Pittsburgh armed with a world’s worth of ideas, inevitably and invariably shaped by the books she read, the languages she learned, the professors who taught her, and the people she met.

What was she supposed to do with this education, then? Theoretically, her education would have equipped Carrie Clark to manage a household budget, participate in important dinner conversations, cultivate a stimulating and beautiful home life full of art, music, and literature, and educate the next generation of upstanding citizens.

One very interesting detail to note here is that it does not appear that any of the other Clark children went away to school. At this time, it appears as though William and Jane Clark singled out their eldest daughter, and we do not yet know why. One tantalizing possibility lays in the now-famous Pittsburgh Daily Post article from February 29, 1884: “the new furnace at Rankin Station on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, about [ten] miles from the city was yesterday morning christened the ‘Carrie Furnace’ in honor of Miss Carrie Clark who lit the fires and performed other baptismal services.” Out of all the possible women in the Clark and Fownes families who could assume such a publicly visible role, it was Carrie. There is an as-yet undiscovered relationship between the smart, amiable, and polished young woman equipped with a progressive, modern education and the position she took at her father’s side on the day she changed Pittsburgh’s history.

Next Time on Who Was Carrie Clark?

In the next installment of our investigation into Carrie Clark’s world, I am going to give us a closer look at her marriage to Bartlett Arkell, the birth of their son, William, and her untimely death.

Dr. Kirsten L. Paine is an educator and researcher with more than a decade of experience working in higher education. She started working for Rivers of Steel in 2017 as a tour guide at the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark and was inspired by the mission to preserve such a national treasure held in public trust. Kirsten is committed to the work of public humanities education in her role as Site Management Coordinator and Interpretive Specialist. By creating and facilitating public programs that make the National Heritage Area’s history come alive for the community, she believes in archival study and teaching from primary sources as vital community resources.

Enjoy Dr. Kirsten L. Paine’s article? Read her description about the discovery of Carrie Clark.

An early image of the Carrie Furnaces #1 and #2. Collection of the Rivers of Steel Archives. The Carrie Furnaces were named in honor of Carrie Clark.

She Who Lit the First Flame

After years of research, we finally know who is the namesake of the Carrie Blast Furnaces.

By Dr. Kirsten L. Paine

Who is Carrie?

“Who is Carrie?” Any tour guide at the Carrie Blast Furnaces will say that this is their most frequently asked question.

Legend had it that Carrie was Carrie Fownes, the daughter, sister, mother, or aunt of one of the Fownes brothers, who were two of the founding owners of the Rankin mill. The problem, however, is that there were very few substantive references to a Carrie—or the more formal Caroline—Fownes linking her to the mill itself. Family histories did not show a woman with that specific name.

A standard answer from tour guides alluded to the speculative Fownes family connection before providing the context behind the historical practice of naming blast furnaces after the wives, daughters, and sisters of the mill owners. Among nineteenth-century blast furnaces like Carrie, there were Dorothy, Eliza, Jane, Isabella, and Bernice, among others.

Furnaces bore women’s names as a means of acknowledging a female member of a prominent family. Simply put, nineteenth-century women were unlikely business owners. They rarely owned property, controlled bank accounts, or held positions of power and influence in public commercial circles. Women in wealthy families, like the Fownes family in Pittsburgh, exerted sociopolitical influence in domestic and home-adjacent spaces. Naming a furnace after a woman gave her both a presence and a stake in the family enterprise. It also created monuments to women’s memory by an industry not remembered for welcoming women’s presence, participation, or investment.

“Who is Carrie?” This is a tantalizing question for any historian. Ron Baraff, director of historic resources and facilities at Rivers of Steel, says, “I have been looking for ‘Carrie, the Person,’ since 1998. While there were many reference clues, they were always incomplete, a historical afterthought.”

Witnessing the magnitude of the two preserved furnaces on the Monongahela mill site makes it hard to think about Carrie as a “historical afterthought.” There she rests in her anthropomorphized glory—tended, cared for, visited, celebrated, and as full of life as she ever was. Her name runs to the heart of Pittsburgh’s living memory for those who worked at the mill when it was operational, lived in the neighboring communities of Swissvale and Rankin, and saw the glow, fire, and soot and heard the metallic rumble and roar. Baraff says, “I feel like I have been looking for Carrie my entire life!”

The Carrie Furnaces in the Carnegie Steel era, a rapid expansion from the first furnace fifteen years before. Collection of the Rivers of Steel Archives.

Carrie Is Revealed

The Carrie Furnace Company began in 1884. Brothers H. C. and W. C. Fownes were founding partners and hands-on managers of the company, which had other investors and interested parties. William Clark, the Fownes brothers’ maternal uncle, was a prominent figure in the Pittsburgh iron industry and known primarily for Solar Iron Works. He became the president and manager of his nephews’ new venture.

When Furnace No. 1 smelted its first tons of iron on February 28, 1884, the whole Monongahela River valley knew about it. All of Pittsburgh knew about it. In the latter decades of the nineteenth century, any time a new mill opened in the Monongahela River valley, area newspaper reporters converged on the site to write stories about opening ceremonies. These ceremonies were not unlike christening new ocean liners. The social, political, and economic elite congregated to celebrate the new venture, which contributed to expanding the global prominence of Pittsburgh’s industrial might.

The Pittsburgh Daily Post covered the excitement. On page four of the February 29, 1884, edition, the staff reporter filed an article called, “The New Rankin Station Furnace.” It reads, “the new furnace at Rankin Station on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, about [ten] miles from the city was yesterday morning christened the ‘Carrie Furnace.’”

Ron Baraff found this article while scouring Pittsburgh newspapers for information on the early days of the Carrie Furnace Company. He continued reading the article and noticed the furnace was named “in honor of Miss Carrie Clarke [sic] who lit the fires and performed other baptismal services.” William Clark’s daughter (and the Fownes’ brothers’ first cousin) had been tucked away in a few lines of local journalism!

Those lines, however, provided “the proof that eluded us for so long,” said Baraff. Those lines “give us not just a name to affix to the narrative, but they opened the door to a life and time in our region’s rich industrial history.”

Ron’s discovery kicked open a door for the rest of Rivers of Steel’s Museum and Archives department, who quickly set to finding as much information as possible about Carrie Clark. They “went on a quest to find out more about our Carrie,” Baraff says. Over the next few days, emails zipped back and forth as Ron, Ryan Henderson, Barney Terrell, and I followed her across the historical record and recovered the identity, life, and legacy of the woman whose name echoes throughout the Monongahela River Valley.

Ron remarked the “longtime assumptions were close to being accurate,” but because of the focus on the Fownes family, the Clark family and their connections to each other went unexplored. Finally, being able to reclaim a person’s entire life story with the simplest premise: “Who was Carrie Clark and what happened to her,” well, “it is a researcher’s dream.”

Ron, Ryan, Barney, and I found census records, marriage license notices, academic files, obituaries, and cemetery records. Her present biography remains short, and at first glance, it may appear sparse. However, remember this biography represents a major breakthrough in a twenty-five-year-long quest.

Carrie Clarke is mentioned as “she who lit the fires” in a notice about the christening of the new “Carrie Furnace” in 1884, and then news of her death is shared in 1888.

Carrie Clark, a Life

Caroline “Carrie” Bell Clark was born on March 19, 1863, in Youngstown, Ohio. Her family moved to Pittsburgh before 1869, when her father, William Clark, started the Solar Iron Works, located in Lawrenceville. In 1877, Mr. and Mrs. Clark sent Carrie away to Vassar Preparatory School in Poughkeepsie, New York. While there, she completed courses in Latin, German, French, Greek, mathematics, rhetoric, geography, and history. In 1880, Carrie Clark began studying at Vassar College, an institution that endeavored to provide wealthy young women educations equal to what their brothers received at other elite universities. Clark left Vassar and returned to Pittsburgh in 1881.

She assumed an extraordinarily public role in February of 1884 when she assisted her father by lighting that first fire in the brand-new mill bearing her name. A flurry of activity befitting a wealthy young woman in the late-nineteenth-century United States ensued. William Clark died in August 1884, a mere six months after the mill’s opening. Less than two years later, Carrie Clark married Bartlett Arkell, the rather dashing son of a New York State senator, in Pittsburgh, likely close to the Clark family home in Point Breeze on the corner of Penn and Dallas Avenues, on November 30, 1886. Clark and her new husband relocated to his hometown of Canajoharie, New York, shortly thereafter. Their son, William Clark Arkell, was born on September 28, 1887.

Carrie Clark died on November 17, 1888. She was twenty-five years old. Her obituary describes her as “charming” and “always amiable and loving” toward her friends. Her body was brought back to Pittsburgh. She rests in the Clark family mausoleum in Homewood Cemetery, Section 14, Lot 111.

Carrie Clark Arkell’s is included in this 1888 Death Index. She is entombed in the Clark family mausoleum in Homewood Cemetery.

Carrie for the Ages

Restoring Carrie Clark’s identity to the record of Carrie Furnace reinforces the fact that the history of industry in Pittsburgh includes, and sometimes even centers, women. Women’s lives and contributions to the mills, regardless of whether or not their sacrifices lay at the base of a blast furnace, open hearth, rolling mill, or in a rail yard or a coal mine, matter.

Clark is a piece of Pittsburgh’s industrial story. When asked if he thought Clark’s identity would change the way people look at the furnaces and what he hopes the public will take away from knowing her name and at least a little bit about her life, Ron Baraff expounded, “We can provide a more complete narrative of the early days of the company and its founding families and of the industry and region.

“Carrie Clark is an important player in the life of the site—her name and her legacy (and that of her family) echoes from the nineteenth century into the twenty-first,” Ron continued. “No longer is she just a name. Now she is a person, a life, a connection to our collective past. History is at its best when it is viewed humanistically and with dimension, taken off the pages of books and brought to life. It becomes relatable and real. It is our job as historians and interpreters to serve as guides for others to understand the past and make it come alive again.”

This is a turning point for Rivers of Steel’s story as well. Not only does the organization steward the National Landmark bearing her name, but Rivers of Steel now stewards the memory of Carrie Clark, the young woman who lit the first flame.

Dr. Kirsten L. Paine is an educator and researcher with more than a decade of experience working in higher education. She started working for Rivers of Steel in 2017 as a tour guide at the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark and was inspired by the mission to preserve such a national treasure held in public trust. Kirsten is committed to the work of public humanities education in her role as Site Management Coordinator and Interpretive Specialist. By creating and facilitating public programs that make the National Heritage Area’s history come alive for the community, she believes in archival study and teaching from primary sources as vital community resources.

Enjoy Dr. Kirsten L. Paine’s article? Read part two in the series about Carrie Clark.

A CSX train approaches Station Square, August 2020.

Top Five Industrial Transportation Stories

Created over eons, as water carved away layers of the Allegheny Plateau, southwestern Pennsylvania’s hilly topography set the stage for entrepreneurs. Over time, this land and the local economy continued to transform. Agriculture gave way to boatbuilding and river trade. Business shifted from commerce to industry, making use of the region’s natural resources for glassmaking, coal mining, and small scale iron production, which laid the groundwork for the “Big Steel” era of the 20th century. Industries waxed and waned—each innovating and building upon the one that preceded it. Through it all, industrial transporation has been key to our region’s development.

Here are five of the most popular stories we’ve written on the topic:

1. Pittsburgh’s Time as a Steamboat City
2. Mill Marks: A Legacy Stamped in Steel
3. Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Iconic Barges
4. Pittsburgh and the Automobile Industry of the Early 20th Century
5. Exploring the Heritage Area—Trains and Tracks

And a bonus story: The Steamboat Race of the Century, complete with links to the radio broadcast from the time!

Interested in reading more? Check out our transportation-themed driving itineraries.

The Pusher Engine, a highlight on the Industrial Tour of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. Photo by Kevin Scanlon.

Restoring the Pusher Engine—A Volunteer Story

In our recent story on The Historic Preservation of the Carrie Blast Furnaces, we mentioned that much of the early cleanup onsite was done with the help of volunteers. Keith Clouse and Kevin Scanlon are two individuals who have donated their time and expertise with us in many ways, including acting as tour guides, since that time. In recent years, they have led the efforts at Carrie to restore the Pusher Engine, a General Electric 80-ton locomotive . . .

A Familiar Feature, the Pusher Engine

Over the last decade, several hundred thousand people have taken an Industrial Tour of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The tour follows the iron-making process, sharing behind-the-scenes knowledge of the operations along with stories about the workers and their culture. The #101 Pusher Engine, also known as a switcher engine, is just one of the many assets found within the site that had been left behind at the mill’s closure, an important part of the tour that helps to show how raw materials become iron.

“A vital cog in the movement of raw materials within the Blast Furnace site, the engine served as an intramodal form of transportation,” said Ron Baraff, Rivers of Steel’s director of historic resources and facilities. “It was used to move hopper cars full of iron ore into and out of the stationary car dumper so that they could be unloaded and the ore distributed to the ore yards and blast furnaces.”

Yet for much of that decade of tours, the #101 Pusher Engine sat in disrepair, damaged by the effects of nature and defaced with graffiti—until 2019.

The Pusher Engine as it appeared in the late summer of 2018.

Removing Layers of the Past

Keith Clouse and Kevin Scanlon began volunteering for Rivers of Steel in 2010, but their friendship goes back decades before then. They had bonded over their passion for railroads and the industrial history that goes with them, so volunteering at Carrie was a good fit—and restoring the #101 was the perfect project for them.

“Kevin and I were among the volunteers working to undo almost 30 years of neglect to open the site for visitors,” said Keith Clouse. “Early on, we worked around the car dumper, cutting away the thick foliage, uncovering the 101. Although the idea of restoring her was something we considered, it would have to wait until more pressing work was completed.”

“In the fall of 2019, Ron Baraff and Ryan Henderson [an interpretive specialist for Rivers of Steel] convinced us it was time to move ahead to begin the restoration of #101,” Keith continued. “First, we needed a thorough cleaning of the accumulated debris and leaves; taconite pellets were everywhere inside. Next the big job—remove the rust. The first attempt at sand blasting didn’t work out well. It was going to take more time, but using grinders with abrasive disks proved to be a better choice.”

Kevin Scanlon added: “The restoration stretched over the summers of 2020 and 2021. We stripped it down to bare metal with hand grinders, then had to patch some pretty large rust holes in the corners of the car body. There are reservoirs in each corner that hold moisture and ended up eating away the metal. We also had to contend with a yellowjackets’ nest inside one end. They did not like us fussing around their home and let us know about it.”

Keith Clouse and Kevin Scanlon pose with #101 when it was in red primer.

With the patch welding completed, a layer of primer was applied, stabilizing the engine body. By the fall of 2020, additional repairs were made to the floorboards inside the cab, and the windows were repaired, securing the interior before winter’s arrival.

Keith Clouse painting the base layers of color over the primer. Photo by Kevin Scanlon.

Painting the Pusher Engine

While removing the layers of old paint, the crew uncovered several paint schemes from over the years. However, with input from Ron Baraff and Ryan Henderson, the decision was made to use an orange and black design from the 1960s.

While Kevin Scanlon and Keith Clouse led the project (and did much of the hands-on work), they were not alone in their efforts. Rivers of Steel’s volunteer crew assisted with applying the final coats of paint in 2021. The team included volunteers Tommy Britt, Mike Dietrich, Alex Hiniker, Grant Kenny, Mike Lickert, Laura Lovett, and Shelley Parkerson.

Just a few details remain to complete the project. A sign with the U.S.S. Steel Homestead Works logo will be added to the sides of the cab, along with signage that reads “REMOTE CONTROL,” which is to be hung on both ends of the engine.

“Recognizing that it was an important asset to the story of iron production at the Carrie Blast Furnaces and being great lovers of railroad transportation, Keith, Kevin, and the entire volunteer crew embraced the challenge of restoring and preserving this important piece of history,” said Ron Baraff.

The volunteer crew helping to complete the paintwork in November of 2021. Photo by Kevin Scanlon.

The Impact of Volunteers

The efforts of the volunteers who participated in this project have allowed Rivers of Steel to use the engine as an educational tool and attraction at the site. This and other labors of love by our volunteers allow us to continue to enlarge our narrative, engage the public, and enhance our interpretation of our region’s industrial legacy.

“Without their dedication and enthusiasm, we would not be where we are as an organization, nor would the site be the attraction that it has become,” said Ron Baraff. “From landscape management to historic preservation projects, the Carrie crew has made an immeasurable impact on the National Historic Landmark site.”

“Their efforts have greatly aided our work and made our jobs more enjoyable,” Ron continued. “While every volunteer comes into the organization with different skill sets and perspectives, they all bring a great love of history and a dedicated commitment to excellence with them. They are our friends, our supporters, and among our greatest assets. Their work is historic preservation at its grassroots, hands-on finest!”

The Pusher Engine with the car dumper and ore bridge in the immediate background.
Photo by Adam Piscitelli / Primetime Shots.

Interested in reading more? Check out our recent story on The Historic Preservation of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. 

The Carrie Blast Furnaces in 2006.

The Historic Preservation of the Carrie Blast Furnaces

This past fall, when the tour season ended at Carrie, construction season began. Working along with Century Steel Erectors, Rivers of Steel has initiated the first of several significant projects that will facilitate the stabilization of the Carrie Blast Furnaces and allow for expanded access to previously restricted parts of the site for visitors.

These latest projects are part of the historic preservation work on this National Historic Landmark that began when Rivers of Steel first started to manage the site in 2010. In these first dozen years, the reach and impact of Rivers of Steel’s work at the site has been exponential. Tens of thousands of visitors experience the Carrie Blast Furnaces each year. Now, as the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC)-led development of the adjacent Carrie Furnace site has begun, including the building of two tech-flex structures, we anticipate this trajectory to continue. With more exposure and visitation projected, the historic preservation and stabilization of the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark is crucial now more than ever. 

A view of the Ore Yard in 2011; one year after Rivers of Steel began its stewardship of the site, a path has been cleared for tour groups.

Dispelling the Myths

Beyond being an industrial and cultural icon in our own region, the Carrie Blast Furnaces are a standout in international industrial heritage preservation. Following benchmarking trips as part of a comprehensive master planning project Rivers of Steel undertook over the last year, we discovered that the Carrie Furnaces have one of the best-preserved cast houses in the world. Additionally, Rivers of Steel’s arts programs—including metal arts and graffiti arts—are lauded by our global counterparts as an innovative way to introduce audiences to our site and the importance of industrial heritage preservation. Most people who stumble on Carrie—through channels outside of our word-of-mouth or marketing presences—are introduced to it as an “abandoned” place; it became internet famous (with the help of cable television shows) for its rust and overgrowth, as well as for the Carrie Deer guerilla art sculpture.

To be fair, the site sat empty and unsupervised for quite some time. Furnaces #6 and #7 (which remain today) went offline in 1978. The rest of the plant closed in 1984. It sat, as is, until 1988, when the Park Corporation took ownership and focused on scrapping most of the buildings—including two of the remaining four furnaces—while Rivers of Steel fought to save what it could from demolition. Then, the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County took over ownership in 2005. The following year, Rivers of Steel secured National Historic Landmark status for the Carrie Blast Furnaces #6 and #7 and became stewards of the site in 2010. Thus, there were over twenty-five years when Carrie was not in daily use. However, locals know that it was never truly “abandoned.” It was frequented by artists, graffiti-writers, and everyday folks—people who were looking to connect with part of our region’s heritage by entering a place that was off limits to the public during its heyday.

From the last years of the plant’s operation until Rivers of Steel took stewardship of the historic site in 2010, the structures of the National Historic Landmark did not undergo any care or maintenance. This essentially means that Rivers of Steel has been playing historic preservation and stabilization “catch-up” for those decades of neglect.

A view of the Central Courtyard as it appeared in 2006. Image by Randy Harris.

What It Means To Be a National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmarks represent an outstanding aspect of American history and culture; they are places that illustrate the nationally significant history of the United States.

The Carrie Blast Furnaces contribute to the understanding of how the Pittsburgh region was responsible for creating the steel that transformed the world’s infrastructure during the 20th century, a time when it also earned the title of “arsenal of democracy” for its military supply contributions for our national defense. On a more human scale, this vestige of the past helps Rivers of Steel to share the stories of our region’s workers and their families, their accomplishments and sacrifices—actions that help define the character of our communities even today. Yet when you consider Carrie’s landmark status from a maintenance point of view, it represents both challenges and opportunities that are as unique as the stories it represents.

Sun streams through the roof of the AC Power House in 2008, reflecting the state of neglect prior to Rivers of Steel’s stewardship. Photo by Ron Baraff.

Historic Preservation Work on an Industrial Scale

Upon being granted stewardship of the Carrie Furnaces, Rivers of Steel immediately began addressing the preservation of the site, guided by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Rivers of Steel’s staff and a handful of volunteers worked tirelessly to pull back overgrowth, especially from the structures where it could continue to degrade the architectural integrity. In 2011, staff raised the funds for the first major stabilization project, installing a new roof on the AC Power House, along with other smaller initiatives. This triage work, occurring roughly from 2010 to 2015, helped to slow the rate of degradation and open up spaces to make them safe for visitors . . . but there was more work to be done.

“2010 marked the beginning of our hands-on work at the site to reclaim it as a historic landmark,” said Ron Baraff, Rivers of Steel’s director of historic resources and facilities. “Not only did we have to learn how to creatively manage the landscape and formulate best practices in preservation on the fly, but we also had to change the culture of the site that had developed over the previous twenty-plus years. No longer was it an “abandoned” or dormant site, it was a National Historic Landmark that needed to be protected and nurtured.”

“While we fully understood the attraction that the site had become,” Baraff continued, “it was incumbent upon us to ensure its long-term safety. To do so, we had to tackle not just the encroachment by nature, but also by scrappers, urban explorers, and the curious. To this end, we worked diligently to secure the site and initiate stabilization efforts.”

Safety has always been the first priority. Rivers of Steel performs regular structural surveys to determine a priority listing of issues to be addressed. In 2017, on the second major stabilization project, with funding from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) Keystone Preservation grant fund, Rivers of Steel worked with Songer Services to remove 75 feet of distressed steel and brick from the Hot Stove’s Draft Stack and place a cap on it. This project ensured that Rivers of Steel could continue to safely bring visitors onsite.

Over the last five years, much needed work has been done by a few full-time staff members of Rivers of Steel. Life safety, security, electricity, and lighting systems were installed, including in the AC Power House, where most events and programs take place.

The Glory Daze motorcycle show is just one of the events that was hosted in the AC Power House last year. Photo by Adam Piscitelli / Primetime Shots, Inc.

Big Challenges and Big Money

The historic preservation efforts at Carrie exist beyond the scope of many historical landmarks. Most of the time, professionals that are versed in historic restorations specialize in more traditional types of structures, like historic homes or brick or stone buildings. Preservation and restoration experience on industrial structures is quite limited, especially within the United States. Last year, Rivers of Steel’s efforts to determine the best path forward led to researching work that’s been done in Europe, particularly in Germany’s Ruhr and Emscher Valleys, the Saarland, and in parts of Belgium and Luxembourg. Rivers of Steel also joined TICCIH, the International Congress on the Conservation of Industrial Heritage, to connect with colleagues globally to discuss the unique challenges we face.

Over the past two years, with the support of Senator Jay Costa and other state and federal elected officials, Rivers of Steel has raised significant funding for continued preservation and stabilization, including funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program; the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grants program; the National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant; and the PHMC’s Keystone Historic Preservation grant program, along with support from local foundations and corporations.

This site maps shows the areas of work for the project currently underway in the offseason at the Carrie Blast Furnaces.

Our current project—the first major undertaking since the stack stabilization—includes stabilizing the #6 Cast House, rebuilding the sluiceway behind the Cast House, opening up the sluiceway alley to visitors for the first time, and additional stabilization work that will continue to allow visitors on the Stove Deck. Funded by the Save America’s Treasures and Keystone Historic Preservation grants mentioned above, this work is crucial to Rivers of Steel’s interpretation of the site, which features industrial tours that follow the iron-making process.

Additional projects are also pending. With the support of U.S. Senator Bob Casey in 2021, Rivers of Steel received a Save America’s Treasures grant for stabilization work on the shell of the AC Power House, including concrete and masonry repair, along with the paving of the internal ramp. Beyond structural integrity, this will improve the usability of this historic building.

Recently Senator Bob Casey and former Congressman Mike Doyle both announced separate federal grants for stabilization work on the Blowing Engine House. These funds will support the work necessary to preserve and stabilize the building following historic guidelines, and lay the groundwork for securing occupancy of the building. This is the first very important step toward the Blowing Engine House becoming the Visitors’ Center for not only the Carrie Blast Furnaces site, but for the entirety of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.

Augie Carlino, president and chief executive officer of Rivers of Steel, lauded the support from the elected officials and said, “Senator Casey, Congressman Doyle, and State Senator Jay Costa are strong advocates for Rivers of Steel and our work at Carrie and throughout the National Heritage Area. In addition, Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald is delivering on his promise to work with Rivers of Steel, RIDC, and the communities surrounding Carrie to make the site’s development a priority for Allegheny County, positioning the development for 21st-century jobs.”

How the Furnaces looked during the Festival of Combustion in 2022. Photo by Ron Baraff.

A Vision for the Future

As mentioned briefly above, Rivers of Steel has completed a comprehensive master plan for the Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark site. Approved just this past December by the Board of Directors, the master plan not only recommends steps to stabilize and preserve the historic structures, but also includes plans to renovate and reuse existing interior spaces—and build new structures—for interpretation, exhibition, education, recreation, and special events. The Carrie Blast Furnaces are the centerpiece of Rivers of Steel’s operations—the hub reaching out to the spokes of our other historic and touristic sites as well as our many heritage partner sites throughout our eight-county National Heritage Area.

The implementation of this master plan is on the horizon. Rivers of Steel’s vision dovetails with what has been planned by RIDC and the Pittsburgh Film Office for the adjacent commercial development, as well as with what Allegheny County plans for the Rankin Hot Metal Bridge, also a National Historic Landmark.

Each step of the way, we have been working with our community partners in Rankin, Swissvale, Braddock, and North Braddock, along with the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, and now, RIDC, on the preservation and redevelopment of the entire development site.

As Rivers of Steel has done with other redevelopment projects in Duquesne and McKeesport, we are working to ensure that former industrial sites are interpreted for the public and their stories are told. Unlike those other redevelopments, including the much-lauded Hazelwood Green, the Carrie Furnaces development is a National Historic Landmark. While this adds more stringent guidelines for redevelopment, the result will be an internationally known destination—an asset for our immediate neighbors in the Monongahela River Valley and to the many visitors the site will draw to the region.

It has been a long time coming for Carrie, for the team here at Rivers of Steel, for our partners, and for the residents of the region who have been working to build its future. We are on the precipice of a new era and we are grateful to be the stewards of this landmark—a space that reflects the resilience of our region’s people, both historically and today.

Interested in reading more about the work of Rivers of Steel? Read our story. 

By Carly V. McCoy, Director of Communications | Image: The National Heritage Area Act of 2022

A Christmas Miracle inside the Beltway

During the final days of the 117th Congress, the National Heritage Area Act of 2022 was passed by both the House and Senate. It awaits a final signature by President Biden. While any legislation is a triumph in a sometimes politically contentious era, this particular story is nothing shy of a Christmas miracle.

For more than two decades, Rivers of Steel, along with other National Heritage Areas, has been working to secure a National Heritage Areas program bill in an effort to ensure stability, not just for our organization but also for National Heritage Areas (NHAs) across the United States. Finally, decades of work came to fruition in a matter of hours . . . but it very nearly did not happen.

Darkness Descends on the Winter Solstice

The situation was bleak. It was the morning of Wednesday, December 21, and coincidentally the darkest day of the year. There were three days left in the 117th Congress, and the National Heritage Area Act appeared to be dead on arrival. The usual channels for passage of any Heritage Area act—as part of a public lands bill or an omnibus spending package—had failed in the days prior.

In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to think that the future of National Heritage Areas was on the line. Forty-five of the fifty-five National Heritage Areas, including the Rivers of Steel NHA, were on course to lose their Congressional authorization in the coming months. And without legislative authorization, a National Heritage Area cannot receive federal funding. For Rivers of Steel, this equals a substantial portion of our annual operating budget as a nonprofit.

Many of the National Heritage Areas had spent the past ten years attempting to receive reauthorization—only to find themselves receiving temporary, short-term extensions. For Rivers of Steel, this drama played out in 2012, 2015, 2020, and again in 2021. Without action from Congress, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area would sunset on September 30—just nine months from now.

Despite the odds, all was not lost . . .

The Carrie Blast Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark with the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.

Rivers of Steel’s Role as a National Heritage Area

Before we go further, it is important to share what it means to be a National Heritage Area.

National Heritage Areas are designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally significant landscape. Through their resources, Heritage Areas tell nationally important stories that celebrate our nation’s diverse heritage. For Rivers of Steel, Congress recognized southwestern Pennsylvania’s industrial and cultural heritage as being nationally significant to the story of America.

Through a public-private partnership with the National Park Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Rivers of Steel supports heritage conservation, heritage tourism, and outdoor recreation as a means to foster economic redevelopment and enhance cultural engagement.

What this work looks like in practice can vary from year to year, but it serves as a guiding principle for our work. Heritage tourism, be it at the Carrie Blast Furnaces, on the Explorer riverboat, or through the eight counties that compose the Rivers of Steel NHA, is among our most visible practices to the public. However, programs like our Mini-Grant Funding, made possible through our role as a National Heritage Area, strengthen the network within the region by aiding other organizations working to achieve goals like ours. Through creative placemaking programs, we collaborate with communities to raise the standard of living through the arts. Even outdoor recreation becomes part of our scope of work!

Now with that understanding, we can continue our story . . .

Designations without an Overarching Federal Program

The first National Heritage Area was designated in 1984. After that, Rivers of Steel was among a handful to be created in a small wave of authorizations in 1996. Subsequent additions occurred in 2000, 2006, 2009, and more recently in 2019, which brought the total to fifty-five National Heritage Areas in thirty-four states.

Despite the proliferation of NHAs, Congress has designated each one with its own individual legislation to work in partnership with National Park Service (NPS). However, unlike the NPS system of national parks, seashores, and battlefields, among others—where there is a congressionally designated program that governs how those units are defined and how NPS and the unit work together—there has never been a comprehensive program established for NHAs.

The lack of a national program for NHAs has proved problematic at many levels. Examples of challenges include:

What planning is necessary to petition to become an NHA? In what ways should the National Park Service work with NHAs? What rules must an NHA follow for their spending of appropriations? Finally and most importantly (and what has contributed to the current disordered state of National Heritage Areas), how should National Heritage Areas be funded?  

A National Heritage Area legislation would create a program within the Department of the Interior and could secure a stable foundation for federal funding. In the process, it would streamline the regulatory bureaucracy for NHAs while creating a sound foundation for each National Heritage Area to plan for the future, focus on their missions, and be less distracted by the constant need for reauthorization.

L to R: Tim Fenchel, Deputy Director, Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area; Augie Carlino, President and CEO, Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation; Joseph J. Corcoran, Executive Director, Lackawanna Heritage Valley National Heritage Area; U.S Senator Bob Casey; Elissa M. Garofalo, former Executive Director, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor; Elaine Paul Schaefer, Executive Director, Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area.

Attempts at a Program Bill

Since 2001, there have been attempts to pass a program bill to house National Heritage Areas. Funnily enough, the first of these was drafted by opponents of NHAs and intentionally designed to kill off each NHA. When Rivers of Steel’s President and CEO Augie Carlino chaired the Alliance of National Heritage Areas in the late 1990s through the mid-2000s, he and the coalitions of NHAs worked Capitol Hill to defeat those early bills.

After that, he and the Alliance worked with supporting members of the House and Senate to write a program bill that created a partnership with the National Park Service—one that fostered a sensible process for the designation of new NHAs and a policy that governed existing NHAs.

With every Congress since 2002, the Alliance of National Heritage Areas has advocated for this program bill’s passage. Unfortunately, those efforts failed in every congressional session since 2002.

Bipartisan Efforts and the 117th Congress

With that short history lesson covered, that brings us to the current Congress—the 117th. Here’s where our story gets a bit wonky for a minute, but it also sets the stage for this miraculous saga:

The National Heritage Area Program Bill was reintroduced, along with several other bills, for every NHA needing to be reauthorized. Senator Bob Casey and Congressman Mike Doyle took the lead on the reauthorization of Rivers of Steel.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate held hearings and mark-ups (votes to approve the legislation) on the program bill, with the individual reauthorization bills now added as one legislative package. Also included in that bill was legislation designating six new NHAs and authorizing the study of several others for possible future designation.

Despite the vigorous efforts that played out over the two-year cycle of the 117th Congress (2021 and 2022), an attempt to include the NHA package into a much larger public lands bill was attempted, but Congress could not reach an agreement.

After the bill failed to reach a compromise, the only remaining legislative vehicle was the end-of-year omnibus appropriations bill, which Congress needed to pass in order to continue federal government funding and operations. The NHA coalition tried to get the NHA program bill package attached. For a short time, things looked promising, but that also failed on Thursday, December 15, when the effort to get congressional leadership approval was unsuccessful.

Congressional staffers declared the whole NHA package dead, and it looked like everything would need to start over again with the new Congress when it convened in January 2023.

Sara Capen, Executive Director of the Niagara Falls National Heritage area and Chair of the Alliance of National Heritage areas, testifing before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies.

Sara Capen’s Long Shot

Despite the gloom, there was still one (complicated) path forward. With Congress still in session working on the federal government funding package, there was possibly time to resurrect the NHA legislation.

First, the House and Senate leadership and committee leaders would need to agree to advance the package. Next, objections by senators, if any, were required to be cleared. And after that, another House committee—the Rules Committee—would need to meet to establish the guidelines of debate and voting procedure on the House floor before the bill could be considered.

Under any other situation, that process would typically take weeks or even months. The NHAs had a few legislative days remaining. Even if the bill had the votes, it was unlikely to move through this procedural hurdle in time. But a Christmas miracle did occur.

Enter Sara Capen, the executive director of Niagara Falls NHA and chair of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas. She and a small group of NHA executives began strategizing on possibly saving the NHA legislation and advancing it for a vote.

They worked with Senate leadership to resolve and remove outstanding objections to the legislation, allowing the Senate to consider the legislation. The bill passed on Tuesday evening, December 20.

Next, the legislation was sent to the House of Representatives. But President Zelensky of Ukraine arrived in Washington, DC, and Congress paused for an entire day on Wednesday for his speech, consuming another precious legislative day. With that unplanned event taking a day off of the legislative calendar, many said “good try” to the NHAs as only two days remained for Congress (Thursday and Friday)—and those were already reserved for the other bills.

A Window in Time Opens the Door for a Christmas Miracle

As stunning as it was to get the bill as far as it had, what ensued in the next 24 hours was truly remarkable. Because the Senate still had to vote on the omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government, there was a window of time for the House to consider the NHA package.

In the House, rarely (if ever) do non-critical bills get through in one half day. That only happens with nationally important bills like economic relief packages, end-of-year government funding, or other nationally significant legislation. However, with determination by Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY), the leading sponsor of the bill, and an onslaught of bipartisan House members, the NHA legislation was debated on the House floor.

The NHA bill passed the House on Thursday afternoon (December 22) by a vote of 326-95, with all Democrats (217) and 109 Republicans voting in favor. A true, bipartisan victory!

The National Heritage Area Act (H.R. 1316/S. 1942) provides our nation’s fifty-five National Heritage Areas with certainty and predictability by extending their authorization for fifteen years, establishes a streamlined process for the foundation, designation, and management of new National Heritage Areas, designates six new Heritage Areas, and authorizes several more National Heritage Area studies.

What once was an experiment in a new way for the federal government to work with communities to conserve the nation’s nationally significant history and culture was now a permanent program fortified by the thirty-year track record of successful NHAs across the United States.

As part of what was passed, Rivers of Steel received a fifteen-year extension of its authorization and is eligible for additional federal funding.

The bill has been sent to the White House and is awaiting a signature from President Biden to be signed into law.

Strong Support from the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation

Rivers of Steel is overjoyed, and we thank our representatives in Congress for their support! All of the House members representing our area—Congressman Mike Doyle, Congressman Mike Kelly, Congressman Conor Lamb, and Congressman Guy Reschenthaler—voted in favor of the NHA package, as did our two senators, Bob Casey and Pat Toomey.

“I’m pleased to have supported the reauthorization of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area,” said Congressman Mike Doyle. “This legislation is a strong endorsement by the United States Congress of the organization, and it guarantees Rivers of Steel’s continued work in southwestern Pennsylvania for the next 15 years, preserving the industrial legacy of our region while our communities transform into a new economy.”

And Rivers of Steel would be greatly remiss if we did not extend our thanks and appreciation to Sara Capen and the Alliance of National Heritage Areas. Augie Carlino, Rivers of Steel’s president and CEO, said, “Without Sara’s determination and steadfast leadership, along with other Alliance of National Heritage Area board members and executives, the events of recent days would not have been possible. Thank you!”

Beyond that, Rivers of Steel extends our thanks to all of our partners throughout southwestern Pennsylvania and our friends and visitors who participated in our offerings throughout the year. The effort to get a bill through Congress to benefit our region is only an example of a behind-the-scenes saga of some of the work we do. You are the reason we are here and why we will never give up—applying our region’s legendary work ethic to whatever challenge arises. Each day, we work together to commemorate our industrial culture and history, making our communities stronger and building opportunities for future success.

Support the work of Rivers of Steel with an end-of-year donation today!

A Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop

As we reflect back on the accomplishments of 2022, one of this year’s highlights was a collaboration with the Archives & Special Collections Department at the University of Pittsburgh Library System to present a Landmarks of American History and Culture workshop, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Workshop participants traveled upriver, following the route taken by the Pinkerton force in 1892.

Entitled The Homestead Steel Strike and the Growth of America as an Industrial Power, the program hosted sixty-seven teachers from across the United States for a weeklong immersive experience.

Divided into two cohorts over two weeks in July, the educators explored the circumstances that led to the 1892 Battle of Homestead and its lasting impact on the United States.

Les Standiford addresses the group at the Pump House.

Their first visit? The Pump House, once part of the former Homestead Steel Works and the site of the actual Battle of 1892. During an evening reception, the group had an opportunity to meet with one another and greet many of the speakers who would be giving sessions later in the week.

Even for this first meeting, the participants were prepared to surpass small talk. They were tasked with reading in advance three books that would provide context for the week: Paul Krause’s The Battle for Homestead, Thomas Bell’s novel Out of This Furnace, and Les Standiford’s Meet You in Hell.

Each day, teachers attended a morning lecture series that featured local and national industrial history, immigration, and labor experts, including: author and professor Dr. Charles McCollester, filmmaker and labor educator Steffi Domike, author and historian Edward (Ted) K. Muller, historian Tammy Hepps, interdisciplinary educator Joel Woller, author and steelworker Ken Kobus, author and professor Quentin Skrabec, author and historian Paul Kahan, and author Les Standiford. You can check out their bios here.

The group at the Carrie Blast Furnaces.

Afternoons were spent visiting various attractions in southwestern Pennsylvania that relate to labor history, immigration, and steelmaking. Field trips included a tour of Clayton at The Frick Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh home of Henry Clay Frick; a tour of the Bost Building, a site that received National Historic Landmark status for its role as the strikers’ headquarters during the Battle of Homestead; a narrated river tour of the former industrial sites on the Monongahela River on the Explorer riverboat; a stop at the Carnegie Library of Homestead; an Industrial Tour of the Carrie Blast Furnaces; and a visit to the Born of Fire exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, which was interpreted by the museum’s former curator, Barbara Jones.

Interpretive specialist Ryan Henderson shows part of the group items from Rivers of Steel’s archives during the visit to the Bost Building.

Beyond lectures and site visits, the educators also had the opportunity to view and photograph primary source materials related to the strike in the University of Pittsburgh and Rivers of Steel archives. Highlights from the Archives & Special Collections Department at the University of Pittsburgh Library System included the Allegheny County Coroner’s inquest reports on the fatalities at the Battle of Homestead and the papers of William Martin, who served as Carnegie Steel’s Chief of the Bureau of Labor during the period of the strike. Rivers of Steel displayed the Daily Record of Allegheny County Prison featuring Alexander Berkman’s name in the arrest records and letters from a Pinkerton guardsman.

A 1892 letter to the coroner detailing the events around the death of one of the laborers.

While the workshop focused on America’s well-known industrialists, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, teachers also delved into information on the immigrant experience and additional content on iron- and steelmaking to set the context for the events of 1892.

The end result of this unique experience? Participating teachers developed lesson plans based on themes from the workshop, most of which can be found here: The Homestead Steel Strike and the Growth of America as an Industrial Power (pitt.edu)

Initially, this workshop was to be offered in 2020, but it was postponed twice due to the pandemic. It was worth the wait. Given the response by participants and collaborators, Rivers of Steel and our partners at the Archives & Special Collections Department at the University of Pittsburgh Library System plan to apply for another NEH grant to offer this workshop again in the near future.

To view and search the resources on the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike in the University of Pittsburgh Digital Collection, click here: https://pitt.libguides.com/homestead.

To view and search the Rivers of Steel Archival Collection, click here: https://riversofsteel.pastperfectonline.com/.

Interested in reading about other Rivers of Steel education programs? Check out this story featuring Community Collaborations in 2022.