Philadelphia Division: Steelton

View of Pennsylvania Steel Works, Steelton, Pennsylvania circa 1909,Collection of the Library of Congress. Inset image a vintage stock certificate of Pennsylvania Steel Company Circa 1882. Collection of VintageStocksandBonds.blogspot.com

Leaving Harrisburg station and State Interlocking both the mainline and Columbia branch follow the east bank of the Susquehanna River through the industrial town of Steelton. Incorporated in 1880 the town was host to Pennsylvania Steel, originally owned by fierce competitors the Pennsylvania Railroad and Philadelphia & Reading.  Sold to Bethlehem Steel in 1915, the plant included four blast furnaces, billet mills, blooming mills and open-hearth facilities. At one time Steelton produced structural steel, rail, bar, pipe and other specialty products for the railroad industry  which  continues today under successor ArcelorMittal. Though the PRR and Reading served the Pennsylvania Steel facility, the Steelton & Highspire Railroad provided in plant switching through out the various facilties as well as working the interchange points with the parent roads. A majority of this activity ran right along North Front Street in the town's commercial district where at any time one could find multiple crews working.

View looking west down Blackberry Alley, Steelton, Pennsylvania. Note the massive steel facilities that dominate the western view from the hill.

Like many industrial towns through out the east, Steelton and neighboring Highspire are not the job and economic centers they once were, but nonetheless they survive and still depend on the remaining heavy industry and trade jobs associated with steel production. Flanked along the hillside, overlooking the mill, many one time company homes, churches and small businesses make up the culturally diverse neighborhoods of Steelton. The view of the sprawling works will forever remind the residents of how Steelton came to be and its contributions to the growth of America.