Homestead
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Homestead is most famous for being the location of the famous Homestead Steel Strike. The Homestead Steel Works was acquired in 1883 by Andrew Carnegie from a competitor who had built the plant only two years earlier. When the plant was initially built Homestead was only a small town of 600 people. By 1948 Homestead was thriving and the steel works was the largest in the Mononghela valley region. The works ceased operating about 1980 and was subsequently dismantled.
The Homestead Steel Works was extremely large and contained numerous buildings. The primary purpose of the mill was the production of steel used for building ships. The works is actually the term used to refer to the entire plant, a mill was a particular building that was part of the overall works. One such mill was the 48" Universal Plate Mill. This mill contained the actual press, which was a large steam powered machine that was used for rolling out 48" steel sheets. This was the last steam-driven rolling mill to operate in the United States. It was carefully dismantled, the parts cataloged, and documented by the SIHC. The rolling mill is recognized as historically significant by the Smithsonian Institution and is awaiting re-assembly by the Historic American Engineering Record project.