Summary
The Mon Valley has faced decades of disinvestment, but Rivers of Steel is helping preserve its industrial heritage and rebuild opportunity through partnerships and hands-on training. At the Carrie Blast Furnaces, programs like Metal Arts and the Workforce Development initiative connect students and staff with rare experts—such as hot-riveting specialist Vernon Messler—to learn traditional metalworking techniques that are disappearing nationwide. As conservators of a National Historic Landmark, Rivers of Steel must maintain facilities to original standards, making these historic skills essential. Launched in 2023, the Workforce Development program provides paid, nine-month training in trades like welding, masonry, and carpentry, combining classroom learning with active preservation projects. Supporters can help sustain this work and keep industrial craft alive by contributing an end-of-year gift.
For decades the Mon Valley has been divested in, trades jobs and facilities abandoned, meanwhile everyday people still need care and support systems for a prosperous life. Your support is an investment in our shared future in the gateway to the Mon Valley.
Through sustained partnerships, programs such as the Metal Arts at Carrie Blast Furnaces have provided countless opportunities to craftspeople of all skill levels – from novice to expert alike. In July, Rivers of Steel Metal Arts, Maintenance, and Archives staff along with the Workforce Development program students had the opportunity to learn traditional Hot Riveting from Vernon Messler at the AC Powerhouse. Messler is one of few experts left in the country and has over forty years experience working as an adjunct welding instructor at Lansing Community College. There he created two welding courses for the two-year welding program and has taught basic and advanced welding, print reading for welders, and creative welding courses for artists. Over the years metal workshops and arts facilities have dwindled. Establishing partnerships like this with Vernon Messler are integral and critical to preserving these skills and spaces.
At the turn of the 20th century hot metal riveting was industry standard and the strongest way to form a bond in structures including buildings and bridges alike. By the 1960s rivets were phased out for mass-produced, high-strength bolts which are still used to this day. Being conservators of Carrie Blast Furnaces, a historic national landmark, means we are held to high standards and expectations of maintaining a magnificent moment in time. While this is an honor that we hold with reverence it comes with a significant cost. Our facilities maintenance and preservation teams are required to build and keep these facilities to the specifications in which they were built over a hundred years ago. For this reason, establishing a workforce development program that honors and maintains these traditions and skills is critical to preserving our past and forging our future.
In 2023 we launched the Workforce Development program and currently host 4 students for a nine-month period in a learn and earn model of teaching. This means students are hosted with Rivers of Steel staff and industry partners for 30 hours a week and are paid $20 an hour. Students are exposed to a variety of industry trades including masonry, carpentry, and welding, with a focus on traditional methods used in the repair and restoration of historic industrial structures and buildings. We incorporate tool safety, construction mathematics, safety training, project management, historic materials science, and preservation tenets, all while allowing students to apply what they learn on active worksites, restoring historic structures in our community.
- Often referred to as PPE, personal protective equipment includes items like gloves, helmets, goggles and more. Having your own PPE is critical and necessary for entering any construction worksite. The average cost of personal protective equipment for one of our students is $575.
- Our workforce development program gives exposure to the various aspects of the trades industry including hands on projects in carpentry, masonry, welding, and most importantly safety essentials. Worksites and projects take critical reasoning, deducting, and planning skills which is why we are going beyond the basics by getting our students OSHA 30 certified and access to Tooling-U SME. OSHA 30 covers advanced topics that are necessary to building and maintaining a culture of safety for teams and work sites across industries. From foundational learning in measurement and math to advanced concepts in technology and design, Tooling U-SME provides results-driven training solutions for in-demand job roles in advanced manufacturing. The average cost of these safety and software certifications is $1,500.
Join us in weaving a tight knit community that keeps craft and industry skills alive for generations to come. Support our Workforce Development Program by donating to Rivers of Steel with an end of year gift.
