I
grew up a mile away from the Bethlehem Steel. Like many things in life,
I took it for granted. Personally, I had no ambition to work there but
I knew plenty of people who did. The Steel didn't seem at all special
to me. It was just "there". And other than getting held up in traffic
once in a while when they changed shifts, I never really paid much attention
to it.
In 1995, The Bethlehem Steel made their last cast. The furnaces were
shut down, the noise stopped, and the giant went to sleep. That's when
I paid attention. That's when I missed the sound... the loud hisses
and clangs that gently echoed throughout the city. I missed the 3 o:clock
shift change when hordes of workers would fill the streets as they left
work, with their lunch pails, hard hats, and tired faces. And most of
all, I missed the bright red glow that would light up the night sky
over South Bethlehem.
Fortunately, our city survived the demise of The Bethlehem Steel. Sure,
alot of people were out of work, but that meant that they were down
but not out. There were plenty of other opportunities and people eventually
got back on their feet. (Billy Joel's song, Allentown, was way over-embelished
and most of us here didn't appreciate his assumption.)
The one thing that didn't die along with The Bethlehem Steel was the
legacy that remains. The steelworkers of the past were responsible for
building most of this place. They built the houses and formed the communities,
they built churches and businesses... they even built their own bank.
As cliche as all that sounds, there is still a very strong feeling here
for the Steel and what it did for this city. And even if you've never
been here before, you would feel this, too, when you stand at the base
of the towering blast furnaces.
The future of this historical landmark is uncertain and currently lies
in the hands of political officials and corporate businessmen. It would
be nice to see some of the original structures saved for prosperity,
but there's no guarantee. So, I thought I'd do my small part to help
preserve it's history by doing this series.
These drawings of the Steel are not meant to "visit the past" as much
as they are to capture the current history. I want to show the world
what the Steel looks like now... with overgrown weeds, broken windows,
and the inevitable essence of "a time gone by".
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