Published: Saturday, September 30, 2006
Group tours old industrial sites in the area
The visitors learned about businesses operating in old industrial sites.
By DON SHILLING
McDONALD — This isn't your normal bus tour.
Instead of watching stage shows or Amish craftsmen, a group visiting the Mahoning Valley is finding out how steel bars are made, how foundries cast metal objects and, most importantly, how manufacturers are surviving here after the fall of the steel industry.
"What brought us here is the Mahoning Valley's great history of steel and iron making," said Richard Greenwood of Barrington, R.I.
The historical preservationist and visiting professor at Brown University is among the 100 members of the Society of Industrial Archeology who are touring local manufacturing plants this week.
Some of the society members are industrial archeologists, meaning they are paid to determine if sites have historical significance, but others are professors, museum officials or people who are interested in industry.
"I just like seeing how things are made," said Dr. Douglas Angerman, a physician from Conneaut. "It's an innate curiosity."
Others had more of an interest in how modern technology is blended into old steel mills.
"We are interested in the ability to go back and use an old facility and make a business out of it," said the president of the society, Bob Stewart of West Suffield, Conn.
The society visits an industrial section of the country each fall. The visit to this area was organized by the history department at Youngstown State University and included stops at Coronado Steel, Flex-Strut and General Electric.
Impressed
Stewart was impressed by what he saw at McDonald Steel, a steel processor which employs 110 in part of an old U.S. Steel mill. These companies don't employ thousands like huge steel mills used to, but they do show that the industrial areas of the country don't have to be written off.
"To me, it's encouraging to see what's going on," he said.
Arnie Panitich, a retired social work professor from Portland, Ore., had a different reaction as he stood on the bridge that leads over the Mahoning River to the former steel mill site.
"This is industrial ruins. It's quintessential," he said.
He said the country's leaders have sat back and watched as tens of thousands of steelworking jobs were eliminated from the area. A lack of political leadership has "bankrupted our economy."
Others weren't as interested in political questions.
Patrick Harshbarger of Wilmington, Del., said these tours provide him with more information about the workings of industrial plants than books can.
"I'm fascinated by industrial heritage," said Harshbarger, a historian for Lichtenstein Consulting Engineers who helps organizations deal with federal and state regulations.
Greenwood said another aspect of the tour is examining how the local community has dealt with the collapse of the steel industry. Rhode Island went through a similar experience with the loss of the textile industry, he said.
"Communities can lose their sense of identity," he said. "It's important that that doesn't happen."
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