Carrie Blast Furnace Number 6 and 7 | |
![]() Carrie Furnace | |
Location | Northern side of the Monongahela River 0.5 miles west of the Rankin Bridge in Munhall, Rankin, and Swissvale |
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Coordinates | 40°24′47.09″N79°53′24.28″W / 40.4130806°N 79.8900778°W Coordinates: 40°24′47.09″N79°53′24.28″W / 40.4130806°N 79.8900778°W |
Area | 168 acres (68 ha) |
Built | 1884 |
NRHP reference No. | 06001070 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 20, 2006 |
Designated NHLD | September 20, 2006 |
Designated PHLF | 1989 [2] |
Carrie Furnace is a former blast furnace located along the Monongahela River in the Pittsburgh area industrial town of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, and it had formed a part of the Homestead Steel Works. The Carrie Furnaces were built in 1884 and they operated until 1982. During its peak, the site produced 1,000 to 1,250 tons of iron per day. [3] All that is left of the site are furnaces #6 and #7, which operated from 1907 to 1978, [4] and its hot metal bridge (not to be confused with the Hot Metal Bridge farther downstream). The furnaces, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, are among the only pre-World War II 20th century blast furnaces to survive. [5]
The site is currently managed by the nonprofit Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation, which conducts tours and other programs from May through October.
Location: | Size: | Features: | Owner: | Current Use | Past Use: | Contaminants: | Total Actual Cost |
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Allegheny County, PA | 168 Acres | Large Parcel, Flat Land, and Riverfront Location | Allegheny County | Vacant Land | Blast furnace | PCBs, Sulfates | $70–$100 million to convert Carrie Furnace #6 & #7 into a Steel Heritage Museum and Allegheny County has projected that the environmental clean-up would cost between $3–$5 million |
The timeline below portrays the history of Carrie Furnace. Carrie Furnace is located along the Monongahela River, with 135 acres located on the north bank of the river and 33 acres on the south bank. The site, however, is not readily accessible as it is enclosed by railroad tracks. The surrounding areas include Braddock, Rankin, Swissvale, Whitaker, and Munhall. After the Park Corporation purchased the site from U.S. Steel in 1988, both parties agreed to address the environmental concerns. In 2005, Allegheny County purchased the land from Park Corps. for $5.75 million. [3] Underground fuel storage tanks were removed in 1994 along with two above ground fuel storage units. In addition, asbestos from the buildings was removed. The soil was contaminated with PCBs and sulfates. Environmental assessment of the site has been conducted in two phases. The first phase was completed in 2007 and the second is currently underway.
Partners in the redevelopment of Carrie Furnace include Allegheny County, several nearby municipalities, and the Steel Industry Heritage Corporation. These organizations seek to preserve the remaining industrial structures while utilizing the site for economic development. The redevelopment plan is mixed-use as it contains plans for commercial and residential development, as well as light industrial manufacturing. [6] Housing, office buildings, a hotel, a conference center, transportation center, and a museum are included in the plan. For example, the hot metal rail bridge that connected Carrie Furnace to Homestead Works is to be converted into an automobile bridge, which will allow access to the site. The bridge also connects the site to The Waterfront – a retail development across the Monongahela River. [3] Additionally, the Rivers of Steel Heritage Corp. is working with Allegheny County on establishing a museum about the history of steel centered on the two blast furnaces still standing on the site. [7]
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the Monongahela River valley 7 miles (11 km) southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United States. The population of Homestead was 3,165 at the 2010 census.
Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River. The "triangle" is bounded by the two rivers. The area features offices for major corporations such as PNC Bank, U.S. Steel, PPG, Bank of New York Mellon, Heinz, Federated Investors and Alcoa. It is where the fortunes of such industrial barons as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Henry J. Heinz, Andrew Mellon and George Westinghouse were made. It contains the site where the French fort, Fort Duquesne, once stood.
The Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) is a rail trail system in Maryland and Pennsylvania—the central trail of a network of long-distance hiker-biker trails throughout the Allegheny region of the Appalachian Mountains, connecting Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It consists of several smaller trails including the Allegheny Highlands Trail of Maryland, the Allegheny Highlands Trail of Pennsylvania and the Youghiogheny River Trail.
Swisshelm Park is a neighborhood located in the southeast corner of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is represented on Pittsburgh City Council by Corey O'Connor. Swisshelm Park houses PBF 19 Engine, and is covered by PBP Zone 4 and the Bureau of EMS Medic 7.
Carnegie Steel Company was a steel-producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was formed in 1892 and was subsequently sold in 1901 in one of the largest business transactions of the early 20th century, to become the major component of the United States Steel Corporation. The subsequent sale made Carnegie one of the richest men in history.
The Jones and Laughlin Steel Company began as the American Iron Company, founded in 1852 by Bernard Lauth and B. F. Jones, a few miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Lauth's interest was bought in 1854 by James Laughlin. The first firm to bear the name of Jones and Laughlin was organized in 1861 and headquartered at Third & Ross in downtown Pittsburgh.
The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
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The Homestead Grays Bridge, also known as the (Homestead) High Level Bridge, was built in 1936 and spans the Monongahela River between Homestead Borough and the southernmost tip of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. It is notable as the first bridge to incorporate the Wichert Truss, which uses a quadrilateral shape over each support, into its design. This made the truss statically determinate, so that forces in the structural members could be calculated.
The Hot Metal Bridge is a truss bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that crosses the Monongahela River. The bridge consists of two parallel spans on a single set of piers: the former Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge, built in 1887, on the upstream side and the former Hot Metal Bridge, built in 1900, on the downstream side. The Monongahela Connecting Railroad Bridge carried conventional railroad traffic, while the Hot Metal Bridge connected parts of the J&L Steel mill, carrying crucibles of molten iron from the blast furnaces in ladle transfer cars to the open hearth furnaces on the opposite bank to be converted to steel. During World War II 15% of America's steel making capacity crossed over the Hot Metal Bridge, up to 180 tons per hour. The upstream span was converted to road use after a $14.6 million restoration, and opened by Mayor Tom Murphy with a ceremony honoring former steel workers on June 23, 2000. The bridge connects 2nd Avenue at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland with Hot Metal Street in the South Side. The downstream span reopened for pedestrian and bicycle use in late 2007 after two years of work. The Great Allegheny Passage hiker/biker trail passes over this bridge as it approaches Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle area.
The Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge is a railroad truss bridge across the Monongahela River between Whitaker, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania. The bridge is out of service and it hasn't seen a train in almost 40 years.
George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, carries U.S. Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, over the Turtle Creek Valley near to where it joins the Monongahela River Valley east of Pittsburgh. The reinforced concrete open-spandrel deck arch bridge has a total length of 1,598 feet (487 m) comprising five spans. The longest, central span is 460 feet (140 m), with the deck height 240 feet (73 m) above the valley floor, for a time the world's longest concrete arch span structure. It cost $1.75 million. The design engineers were Vernon R. Covell and George S. Richardson, with architectural design by Stanley Roush. The pylons at the ends of the bridges feature Art Deco reliefs by Frank Vittor.
The Union Railroad is a Class III switching railroad located in Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania. The company is owned by Transtar, Inc., which is itself a subsidiary of Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors, after being purchased from United States Steel in 2021. The railroad's primary customers are the three plants of the USS Mon Valley Works, the USS Edgar Thomson Steel Works, the USS Irvin Works and the USS Clairton Works.
The Edgar Thomson Steel Works is a steel mill in the Pittsburgh area communities of Braddock and North Braddock, Pennsylvania, United States. It has been active since 1872. It is currently owned by U.S. Steel and is known as Mon Valley Works – Edgar Thomson Plant on its official website.
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The Three Rivers Heritage Trail is an urban rail trail paralleling the riverbanks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Allegheny County for about 33 miles (53 km), often on both sides of the rivers, and offering views of the city. The trail is promoted and maintained in part by the 'Friends of the Riverfront'. Their stated mission is to increase awareness and engagement with the region's rivers and riverfronts through activities and stewardship, and to extend the water and land trails on the major rivers within Allegheny County.
Bellefield Boiler Plant, also known as "The Cloud Factory" from its nickname's use in Michael Chabon's 1988 debut novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, is a boiler plant located in Junction Hollow between the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University in the Oakland district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area in southwestern Pennsylvania, centered on Pittsburgh and oriented around the interpretation and promotion of the region's steel-making heritage. The area roughly covers the valleys of the Ohio, Monongahela and lower Allegheny rivers. Major interpretive locations include the Carrie Furnace, Pinkerton's Landing Bridge and other features of the Homestead Steel Works.
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