Pittsburgh’s industrial past is anything but history

There are places in Southwestern Pennsylvania where the past is not something you have to imagine. You can see it in the massive steel structures that still rise above the Monongahela River. You can walk through the buildings where workers once made the iron that became Pittsburgh’s steel. You can stand in front of a machine that has not moved in decades and begin to understand the ingenuity, physical labor and sheer scale of the industries that built this region. In the remnants of the past, you’ll find the spirit of our region. It lives in the people who worked in these places and the communities they built around them. It lives in the families who came here looking for a better life, in the skills passed from one generation to the next, and in the artists, educators, craftspeople, entrepreneurs and neighbors who continue to make their own connections to this history today. That is why Rivers of Steel exists. The organization grew out of a recognition in the late 1980s that Southwestern Pennsylvania was undergoing a profound transformation. Mills were closing, industrial landscapes were disappearing and generations of knowledge and cultural history were at risk of being lost along with them. The people who founded what would become Rivers of Steel understood that preserving a handful of significant places could give future generations a tangible connection to that history. Today, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area encompasses eight southwestern Pennsylvania counties and connects communities through their shared industrial and cultural heritage. It is one of the country’s National Heritage Areas—places where history is not confined to a single museum, but woven into a living landscape. Our work begins with preservation. Rivers of Steel stewards four historic sites, including three National Historic Landmarks: the Carrie Blast Furnaces, the Bost Building in Homestead and the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Ma