Iron & Steelmaking
2023
Steel Stories: The Worth Brothers - the plants and facilities, strikes,
arsons, and events that helped shape the iron and steel industry.
2022
Join our panel of women, both active and retired, who have worked in the steel
industry. Our panel consists of both office workers and production workers. Hear about
how the industry has changed over the last 50 years. Their best memories, and their
worst.
Steel workers - men and women, retired and active - talk about their experiences
working in a steel mill. You will learn about why they chose to work in the steel
industry, the hard work their jobs entailed, and so much more.
2020
Rich Smith look at the Valley Iron Works, one of eight local rolling mills that
helped to make the Coatesville area a center of boiler plate production in the mid
eighteen hundreds.
2019
Professor Thomas Legg, West Chester University, speaks about the changes in the
1800s maritime world as it transitions from wood to iron ships. The presentation
illustrates both the technological change and its impact on society.
Steel workers - men and women, retired and active, talk about their experiences
working in a steel mill.
2018
Richard Smith, Manager, Process and Product Design — ArcelorMittal Coatesville,
looks at Coatesville's 206" Rolling Mill, which is celebrating 100 years of operations
in 2018. The 206" was once the largest mill in the world and is still making
steel for American ships and submarines.
The Youngstown District had one of the largest influences upon our nation's iron
and steel history. Youngstown, Ohio and the surrounding Mahoning Valley supplied
the iron that helped transform the United States into an industrial powerhouse. The
region rose from a mid-scale iron producer in the 1800s to the "Steel Valley"
in the 1900s. It is a story of innovation, stagnation, and change.
Dan Graham, local iron historian, speaks about the women that had great influence
on our region's early iron industry.
2017
Join us for our Women's History Month program, titled "Coatesville Steel: The
Women's Experience."
Black steelworkers will take a trip down memory lane and share their working experience
at the Coatesville steel site.
2016
Chester County author and storyteller Susannah Brody looks at the long term business
connections between three generations of the Dowlin family and Rebecca Lukens and
her descendants.
ArcelorMittal's Richard Smith explores 300 years of iron and steelmaking in Pennsylvania.
In association with NISHM's "Shipbuilding the Age of Iron & Steel" exhibit
Gene DiOrio, and his ever handy slide projector, tour the Queen Elizabeth II during
her construction from a visit he made to Scotland in 1968. As an added bonus Gene
talked about and showed slides of the SS United States.
Starting a Conversation - African American Before and During the Age of Iron &
Steel.
2014
Eugene
DiOrio takes on a tour of 12 industrial locations looking at buildings, machinery,
gardens and how the locations have influenced modern day society.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the ruling in Goodman vs. Lukens Steel Co. as
well as the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964. Dr. Craig Stutman, Assistant Professor of History and Policy Studies
at Delaware Valley College, will share his noted research on the case and its influence
on American society.
2012
Chester County historian Eugene DiOrio talks on
the connection with Lukens Steel and the creation of the Chester Valley Bank.
2011
A panel of former Lukens employees discuss the reason Lukens was a special place to
work.
In partnership with Hopewell National Historic Site, we present our inaugural Black
History Month lecture, "The African American Experience". This lecture is
presented by Frances Delmar, Chief of Interpretation at Hopewell Furnace National
Historic Site.
2010
Susannah Brody talks about her new book, Remembering Chester County, From Valley Forge
to Coatesville.
Paul Paskoff, Professor of Economics at LSU, lectures on tariffs and the American
Iron & Steel industry at the Graystone Society's Spring Lecture #2.
200 Years of Rolling Along the Brandywine - The Story
of the Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory and the many other
rolling mills of the Brandywine Valley. Presented by Richard Smith at
May 6th for the The Graystone Society's 2010 Lecture Series
2009
See and hear about how iron and steel are made. Iron is the raw material for
many metal products. Steel is iron that has been mixed into an alloy with other materials
and had the carbon content manipulated to create special qualities for the steel.
Lukens steel of Coatesville was one of the most successful steel plate rolling
mills in America. Learn about the process here. How ingots are heated and rolled to
form plate. The mill still exists now owned by ArcelorMittal. Visit this historic
district in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
2008
Ed Frey, General Manager ArcelorMittal Coatesville, talks about the Coatesville
steel mill from the end of Lukens in 1998 to the 2008 ArcelorMittal operations.
1983
Film showcasing the variety of transportation modes and systems available in
the United States and their importance in advancing American society. Highlights the
role that the steel industry has played in the development of new, better transportation
systems that are strong, durable, and resistant to stress.
1981
Film detailing how Lukens Steel Company develops and manufactures steel plates
and plate products, as well as the contributions the company has made to the steel
industry and the industrial advancement of the United States. Produced by Film Makers
of Philadelphia.
1980
Film promoting Lukens Steel Company as the ultimate "specialists" in
the production of quality plate steels and plate steel products. Steel manufactured
by Lukens is used by a variety of industries that keep the United States functioning
and growing, such as the energy, transportation, and construction industries. Narrated
by James P. O'Leary. Cinematography by Edward Hoffman. Produced and directed by J.
Ira Laird, Jr.
1969
1963
Film exploring the five "paths to progress" that benefit the steel
industry and enhance economic growth in the United States: fair taxes, realistic depreciation
allowances, stable costs, fair competition in world trade, and adequate profits.
1961
1960
Film exploring steel's roll in American economic and social development, focusing
on the major industries that rely on steel products to function, such as transportation,
agriculture, military/arms, and food production.
1953
The Benefits of Clad Steel Equipment. "Production efficiency begins with
production equipment." Film highlighting the benefits of clad steel equipment
in industrial settings. Directed by Rober Yarnall Richie.
David J. McDonald, President of the United Steelworkers of America, discusses
the major 1952 steelworkers strike and how labor crises in the steel industry can
be prevented in the future.
1944
"To withstand uniform pressure, the strongest structural shape known to
engineering science is the sphere. Pressure vessels, boilers, and other units necessary
to many industrial processes use strong metal heads that are spherical. American ingenuity
long ago supplied American industry with the methods for spinning and pressing iron
and steel plates into the many types of heads needed for vessels of every description."
Film demonstrating how Lukens Steel Company creates these "heads" for various
industrial needs.
1942
A look inside the Lukens Steel Company steel-works, the world's largest steel
plate mill, located in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The film follows John Miller, a
boss roller for Lukens, as he and his fellow steelworkers goes about their daily tasks
at the mill to produce the plates. Also includes footage of Coatesville and the employee
neighborhoods.
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