Peek Into The Past

At the time shown in this panorama, the Bethlehem Plant had been operating for 49 years and had already outgrown two generations of shops and furnaces. On the left, the decommissioned 1873 Bessemer Steel Mill had been partly dismantled, while the Iron Foundry and new machine shops rose from the remaining stone walls. In the back center, old Blast Furnace No. 2 had been removed, leaving a gap in the line of smokestacks where Blast Furnace A would soon be built. The building at the center, the Projectile Forge Shop, still stands today as Central Tool Annex. To the right stood the new Drop Forge, machine shops, and an Open Hearth Steelmaking Shop, while in the far distance the mills of the Saucon Plant had recently begun rolling the renowned Bethlehem Beam. Within a few years, World War I would bring new production demands and drive further changes at the Bethlehem Plant.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania · United States