America Transformed: By the second half of the 19th century, anthracite and bituminous coal fueled the iron industry. As a result, iron furnaces and steel mills were larger complexes located near midwestern coalfields, with iron ore transported more cheaply from the upper Great Lakes region. The Edgar Thomson Steel Works, near Pittsburgh, exemplifies this trend. Constructed by Andrew Carnegie in the 1870s and today owned by U.S. Steel, it is one of the few steel manufacturers still in operation in the United States. This site plan identifies individual buildings while the photograph shows smoke billowing from the chimney, then a symbol of a growing economy.
In "The Edgar Thomson Steel Works and Blast Furnaces" / Carnegie Brothers & Co., [1890].
Includes references to facilities, with dimensions.
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "America Transformed. Part 2: Homesteads to Modern Cities," organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library, 2019-2020.
IIIF Manifest