‘Done with great dignity and pride’
Those who were there 25 years ago recall with fondness the mill’s final cast at blast furnace
Don Young still vividly recalls the day 25 years ago when he rode the Philadelphia Bethlehem & New England Railroad engine to take molten iron from Bethlehem Steel’s final operating blast furnace to the basic oxygen furnace where it would be refined into steel.
It was Nov. 18, 1995, the last day of steel making, or “last cast” at Bethlehem Steel’s furnaces, which still stand as a now-silent icon, the backdrop for some of the city’s biggest events, from concerts at Musikfest to holiday shopping at Christkindlmarkt.
Young remembers the 2,700degree heat from the furnaces sending a blast of hot air into his face, while chilly air from a November updraft was at his back.
“I’m amazed at the number of people around 25 years later who still remember it,” said Young, now 83 and a Bethlehem Steel historian.
The process involved pouring the steel into molds where it hardened into big blocks called ingots. The ingots were then transported to soaking pits, where water would cool them before they were rolled into steel
beams.
When the South Side plant poured its last cast 25 years ago, the event was part funeral, part retirement party and part media spectacle, with TVcamera crews lined up at the front gates to catch a glimpse of the final scene.
“It was sad. We knew the end was coming,” Young said.
Bethlehem Steel had notified employees that February that a shutdown would be coming in November.
“There was lots of crying, gnashing of teeth and swearing,” Young said. “For the most part, most of the guys took it as, ‘Well, it’s inevitable. We may as well go out with our heads held high.’ “
Former Bethlehem Steel Division President Tim Lewis, 82, remembers a big American flag hanging from a crane outside the plant, and a co-worker whistling a somber tune over the loudspeaker the day Bethlehem Steel Corp. turned off the final operating blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace within which iron ore, limestone and coke became iron and then steel.
A Morning Call story from that day described the scene: As workers opened the side of the blast furnace for the last time and iron began to flow, everything fell silent while steelworker Herman Stengl whistled “Amazing Grace” over a speaker system on the furnace floor.
About 500 people would go on to lose their jobs, according to The Morning Call archives.
“It was a very emotional day for the crew of the blast furnace and all of us who were involved. It was a monumental historic moment for the plant, and the area, really,” Lewis said. “It wasn’t a mean and bitter event. It was proud and sad. ... I thought it was done with great dignity and pride.”
Roger Malitzki Sr., 78, said Bethlehem Steel provided a good living and the ability for him and his wife, Sandra, to raise four sons. But the job was also very dangerous. Malitzki was burned when hot slag dripped out of the furnace and down his back.
Despite the extreme heat, workers had to wear heavy suits and long underwear to keep their own sweat from causing steam burns on their bodies. Sometimes workers died. Malitzski remembers two deaths during his 31 years there.
“I thank Bethlehem Steel for allowing me to make a living,” said Malitzski, a South Side native whose grandfather, father and father-in-law all worked at the plant. “I miss seeing the guys I worked with. It becomes part of your life.”
Despite the grueling nature of the job, some really liked it. Jim Kresley, 74, was an office worker before starting at the ingot mold foundry in 1974, a job he preferred to having bosses on him all the time.
“When I worked at the ingot mold foundry, I’d take the wheelbarrow and fill it with sand,” he said. “I enjoyed doing it. The guys I worked with were really good.”
When Kresley found out the plant was closing, he said, it was like “taking away a piece of me.”
“Can you imagine working at a place, you really enjoy it, and then they say, ‘Hey, don’t come back. We’re closed. There won’t be anymore Bethlehem Steel?’ “Kresley said.
Many former steelworkers are like Kresley, recalling their time at the plant fondly. They speak of lasting friendships forged at a steady job with good benefits.
Every year, former employees hold a reunion, but the meetings have gotten smaller as the years have worn on. They started with about 150 former employees. There were 89 at last year’s reunion, Malitzski said. But they will continue to keep the memories alive.
Some do it informally, shar
ing stories with their grandchildren. Others, such as Young, have made it more of a mission. He continues to speak to local school groups about Bethlehem Steel’s history and is a guide at the National Museum of Industrial History.
Last weekend, the museum hosted Last Cast 25, with exhibits and features that brought the plant’s final days to life. The event was a joint project with the Bethlehem Area Public Library, Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites, Lehigh
Valley Public Media, Steelworkers’ Archives, Wind Creek Resort and ArtsQuest.
The plant operated as Bethlehem Steel from 1904 until 1995, but its roots date to the Bethlehem Iron Co., which opened 60 years earlier. For many years, it competed with U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh as the largest structural steel plants in the United States.
Lewis said it’s a credit to the community that memories of Bethlehem Steel live on, and even more so that the once-scorched
industrial site became a vibrant tourist site with concertgoers and families enjoying many activities.
“The area is thriving. People are moving here because of our jobs and wonderful educational opportunities,” Lewis said. “It’s too bad Bethlehem Steel is no longer part of it, but that’s the way it is.”