When I was young in the 1960's and 1970's being born and raised in Weirton, I just assumed the steel mills would always be there - never could have imagined in my wildest dreams back then that the thousands of employees who work there would no longer be working there. How those good paying, secure jobs back then could be gone is beyond belief. During those times, everyone one of our fathers, and our friends and schoolmates fathers worked in the mills, or depended on the mills for employment in one way or another. The Weirton Steel Bulletin magazine that would come out every month and would be free to pick up. The Christmas lights that were put up on Main Street by Weirton Steel. The schools, libraries, and pools who were built and paid for by early founders of Weirton Steel. Never in my wildest dreams would I think those jobs, and the steel mill itself, not be operating. It was just a way of life for all of us being young and growing up with all of it surrounding us. The "acid creek" (Harmon Creek) that ran red, the dumping of slag at night that turned half the sky red. I hope there is something that can replace the steel mill - were many good people who devoted their lives to the mills, and provided steady family life to the rest of us.
Where I’m from, during the early 90s, the lumber and grain industry stopped hiring. A decade later, 75% of the paper and lumber mills were torn down. Most of the grain elevators are dormant. 70% of the population now is over 50. The upper end real estate isn’t selling and property taxes is sky high.
Monica Z, it’s got to be cleaned up first. For a very long time they would dump pollutants there. It’s going to take soil samples to see what’s in the ground before decisions can be made what to put in there next. It will probably be a brownfield site.
Super sad to see such a monument to American and Weirton history simply demolished without a care for the future preservation for generations to come. My Grandfather, Joseph Robert Gazia, graduated Weir High School in 1950; was employed as a pipe fitter at Weirton Steel Corp where he fitted pipes at the mill. In 2010, he passed away from lung cancer even though he was not a smoker, no doubt it was caused by the years of asbestos insulation exposure on pipes. Our family did not care because the Mill took care of him and his family long long after it was closed. Even though the mill killed him prematurely it provided economic success to our family and he would be proud to know that he has 9 grandchildren today.
OMG I remember this. Those homes and everything else close were ravished with smoke and soot. I believe there was a lawsuit against the owners and the demolition contractors.
I miss my hometown. I left because I was laid off from the mill. Our own politicians figured China and Whoever' could make Steel CHEAPER! The Democrats gave away our jobs 'but they could sure talk pretty! My Grandfather worked for Weirton Steel as well my father Luke! Bye the time I got there in August 1978. The shit was already starting to hit the fan! I worked in the Cinder plant , Blast furnace' blooming mill, bop, sheet mill! I really enjoyed working for Weirton Steel! It made Man Out of Me! Forever grateful, and honored to be a former Citizen of Weirton! And a former employee of The Best Little Steel Mill in America!
The jobs were given away by the people that owned the company and the shareholders and the controlling board of directors of it that made a decision NOT to modernize and invest in the mill and bring it back to modern steel making methods and standards. Democrats had nothing to do with it. Its never going to be 1968 again. I also grew up there and made a decision at a young age to get out and go to college and get an engineering degree, anybody else could have done the same. I don't like being the mill gone, but its not ever coming back to the scale it was. Those days are gone and even Trump can't make them come back.
Mark Tomasovich, NAFTA took some away but generated new jobs as well in other sectors. Go to the House website and look up the actual bill, you will see that lots of people voted for it in the house and senate. That list will include plenty of republicans, in fact the GOP controlled the House starting in 1994. Like I said, companies exist to make profits not to keep people employed. If they can cut costs and increase revenue they will. That’s economics. They made a decision the BOP and blast furnaces were too old to update, so they got torn down and the land was sold off. The days of working for an industrial plant for life in the same town you grew up in and getting a pension with health benefits after 35 years of service for life are over as well. Nobody, including Trump, can make that happen again. Our fathers and grandfathers and uncles had a good life in the mill and provided for us even as they worked double shifts in summer heat and lots of times we never saw them growing up. I’m glad they did all that for us, but it’s over.
Same thing happened in lorain Ohio, we've lost all of our manufacturing jobs. Massive plants that employed thousands are gone because of our government signing free trade pacts. Our town went to hell. Our steel mill employed 12,000 at one time and ran for over 100years only to be shut down in 2016 for good.
Don't forget all those domestic EAF "mini-mills" contributed to the demise of not only this integrated steel mill, but plenty of others throughout the "rust belt" in the U.S.
Sad to see another mill gone in our country. When will it stop. We've lost our middle class thruout America because of free trade pacts that take away our manufacturing jobs, leaving behind poverty wage jobs. End free trade before it ends America.
All that dust has to be toxic. Full of PCB, heavy metals and other pollutants. I’m surprised they were not required to mist it with water first. It will be weird to visit again someday and not see it anymore. It was always there when I was growing up.
Steven Westfall, could be but looked pretty ineffective. That’s one nasty and toxic cloud. I remember as a kid they would give the contaminated oil to people and they would spray it on the gravel roads. The high instances of cancer in that region and the toxic junk has to be related. I remember the snow would get a black sheen on it from the pollution and your eyes would get particles in them as well. Car paint would be destroyed too.
@@robertsole9970 Yeah I seen that too when I was growing up. My gravel road would get sprayed with motor oil multiple times a summer to keep the dust down. Road ran right next to a creek too. And as far as the spray goes. When the wind from the demolition spread out it blew the water away like it was nothing. I sure hope they are cleaning those peoples houses.
e greenie don't see how the empty land is being sold by the county commissioners for the Weirton industrial park. The #9 tandem mill is next to be torn down. Face it the steel mill is gone. It has been in a steady nose dive sense 78. Maybe someday the tin mill will be US owned again, maybe. I guess 13 weeks a year paid vacation and everyone milking clocks. Workers filling their garages with stolen tools and inventory did irreversible damage.
@@erichuff6945 Lol! Sorry but I gotta laugh at the end part of your comment. I wont mention any names but I know somebody that worked there and all I can say is Good God, the mill prob shut down just from those 10 sticky fingers. Unbelievable at the thievery in that place! And not just in goods either. All the overtime paid out everyday from people doubling out and goin in and simply sleeping for the entire shift. I always wondered how this person could work 7 doubles a week, come home and work in his garage all day, nap for 2 hrs, go back to work for another dbl and still be sane and repeat the same thing every day....lol. Then one day I found out. He told me how they did it. I'd be lying if I said I never "borrowed" something from the workplace or never slept there but guddam, its fricken crazy what walked out of Weirton Steel! They're ALL to blame, from upper mgt on down! Its prob safe to say even the businesses that "served" that place are just as guilty!
