Massive artifact to head for new home
A 350-ton piece of Bethlehem Steel history is on the move.
Crews on Friday took hours to free and transfer just a 135-ton segment of the massive hydraulic bending press from its base at Wind Creek Resort, as a complex process is underway to relocate it to the National Museumof Industrial History.
The press will be the centerpiece of the new 17,000-square-foot outdoor park at NMIH— an expansion that will double the footprint of the museum whenit opens to the public later this fall.
The $275,000 project will feature significant artifacts from Bethlehem Steel and the mining industry, telling the story of how raw materials were converted into finished steel products.
The outdoor park will allow much more of the story of Steel to be told, according to Glenn Koehler, director of marketing and public relations for the museum.
Built in 1887, the press is an important artifact and is believed to be the first of its kind put into service in the United States. Used for more than 100 years, the press was responsible for creating massive amounts of military armor during World War I and World War II. It is likely the only one left in the country.
“(The real story of this press is The Steel stopped being about just rails for trains and become a real world superpower”) Koehler said.
The structure was eventually going to have to move anyway to make way for Wind Creek’s $100 million, 270-room hotel expansion. Julia Corwin, Wind Creek spokesperson, said this week that there were no new updates on when the project will begin.
Removing the press from its base on the casino property and moving it a half mile to the museum is no easy task. The
planning alone took months.“(It’s a little crazy”) Koehler stated.
To begin with, when they started excavating for the project, they made a surprising discovery — the original basement of
Bethlehem Steel’s dispensary. There wasn’t much to preserve, Koehler said.“(The little that we did take out and preserve were steel beams which we will likely reuse at some point, possibly to remelt and use to cast commemorative items”) Koehler said.
Then there’s the long, complex process of removing the press from its base. Crews had to spend several days using a diamondtipped wire cutter to cut it free, and into pieces that can be moved.
On Friday, they moved the most significant piece, the top of the press, which was lifted by large gantry crane, onto a hydraulic platform trailer.
Artifact rigging crews will spend the next few days disassembling and relocating the press in several pieces, and it’s expected to be settled into its new home within two weeks.
Koehler said the outdoor park should be open by mid-October. It’s already the new home for the Steelworkers Veterans Memorial, which was relocated from Third and Polk streets earlier this month. The memorial, which was originally dedicated in May 1989, serves as a testament to the workers and veterans of the nation’s steel mills.
While many museums are struggling with the loss of revenue from having their doors closed for so long during the pandemic, the National Industrial History Museum is still able to do the expansion because the funding was already in place.
The museum, which opened in 2016 and is a Smithsonian Institution affiliate, was built out of Bethlehem Steel’s 1913 Electric Repair Shop and tells the story of the Industrial Revolution in America.“(We’re definitely pleased that we’re able to still do this”) Koehler said.
Info: www.nmih.org.