Johnstown had several steel mills. As I come across details of what was where, I'm writing notes for each mill.
The Cambria Iron Company was founded in Johnstown in 1852. The Gautier Works was constructed in 1878 "to produce manufactured rods, parts for agricultural implements and wire drawing." After the 1889 Johnstown Flood destroyed this facility, the Wire Works was built in 1911. [wikimapia] And this was rebuilt as rolling mills.
Gautier Steel now owns and operates some of the rolling mills. [comment on a photo] The link is to a page of photos and some of the equipment are real antiques like the Allis-Chalmers electric motors.
"Cambra Iron Company was bought by Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1923 and underwent major modernization within next two years." [Gautier Steel] |
| Don Cassata posted An early 60's view of the Gautier Div. Johnstown Plant Bethlehem Steel. [In the background is Bethlehem Franklin Works.] |
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| AltoonaWorks posted 6/2022 - A portion of the former Bethlehem Steel works takes up much of the area near downtown Johnstown still to this day. Gautier Steel operates out of these buildings. The track curving at the bottom edge of the photo is CSX's S&C Sub to Rockwood, PA. www.AltoonaWorks.info James Torgeson shared |
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| Don Cassata posted A 1990 view of a few Gautier mills. Johnstown Plant. Bethlehem Steel. |
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| Aaron M. Vedock posted Johnstown, PA - photo taken in December 2019 Viktor Mácha: And some pictures from the inside: https://www.viktormacha.com/galerie/gautier-steel-johnstown-305/ |
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| Don Cassata posted One of Johnstown Plant's Gautier Mills in 1950. Bethlehem Steel. John Mc Millen: Been there and done that, good old days at Inland Steel 1963 # 1 Blooming Mill and 14 “ billet! |
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| Don Cassata posted 1980's view of the 12" Mill in Gautier Johnstown Plant Bethlehem Steel. I worked this Mill in the late 70's. Sean Rohrer: I did that from 2010 to 2021 before they scrapped that mill. [That looks like an antique control panel in the background of the middle of the photo.] |
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| Kevin Weaver posted Gautier steel Johnstown pa 14 inch .mill only one left here which used to be Bethlehem steel early 1900s flowing my family tradition pap worked here and others now do and I love it. Bob Tomlin: Cut my teeth on a 14" mill , 12 stands , fiber bearings , 2 repeaters with 4 1/2" billets. I can still smell those burning bearings. Elmer Bird Jr.: I remember those days! Looks much like the 12 and 18 inch mill in Bethlehem Joe DiPietro: Years ago I help update the controls on that walking beam furnace. Glad to see it’s still going. I heard they scrapped the small line. Kevin Weaver: Joe DiPietro only mill left is the 14 inch everything else scrapped. |
It is nice to see an industrial facility where all of the buildings are still intact and being maintained.
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| Street View |
It was founded in 1852 by Josiah H. Gautier and became part of Cambria Iron Co. in 1881, which became part of Bethlehem in 1923. After a second devastating flood in 1977 (the first being the infamous 1889 Johnstown Flood), Bethlehem shutdown most of their operations. But some bar mills survive as Gautier Steel. In fact, they installed a new plate rolling mill in 2015. [ViktorMacha, the photos include examples of old control panels]
This photo shows that an operator still loops a bar from one roller to another like I have seen in third-world countries. But I don't exactly understand what is happening. This is an example of a video being worth a 1000 photos.
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| Don Cassata posted |
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| Frank Cintula Jr. commented on Don's post |
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| Frank Cintula Jr. commented on Don's post Visiting back home APRIL ‘21 |
These are the western buildings, and they seem to be used by another company. But Frank's building photo above indicates that Gautier puts their sign on them.
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| Street View |
Ten of the photos posted by Chris Davidson with the comment:
Finally got this roll back from the lab. Johnstown, PA, on Memorial Day Saturday, shooting with a 1956 Argus C3 camera, on Arista EDU (aka Fomapan) 200 film, with the good old "Sunny 16 Rule," for how to shoot without a light meter. (Ok so admittedly there's like half a dozen shots that aren't of the steel mills there, but whatever lol)Really love the look that I got from this. Arista/Foma film is very old school, and gives such a nice vintage look when paired with a real old camera.Hope everyone enjoys!
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| Remember When: Pennsylvania posted Historic Johnstown PA • Undated photo! Jack Davis shared I'm sure someone will be able to identify this plant. John Fabrizio: Now Gautier |
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