Monday, October 17, 2022

Neville Island, PA: Shenango Steel Works

Coke: (see below for Satellite)
Foundry: (Satellite, the buildings of the foundry have been repurposed.)

Stanley Quick posted
Shenango Inc. where I spent the best 38 years of my life.
Ian Hapsias: What years were the blast furnaces taken off line and demolished?
Stanley Quick: A fur. went first and stayed in place while B was running and shut downs went in stages along with battery shut downs. Our #1 batter went on line in 1980 and it lasted till DTE shut down the whole plant.
Bill Schwartzmiller: Stanley Quick Foundry shut down January 1990.
Ian Hapsias: Stanley Quick great information, I always knew that the battery at Shenango was relatively “new” at the time it’s demolition. Always knew it was built in the 80’s but could never find anything with a more definitive date. Same with the shut down of the furnaces. Real shame they couldn’t find any customers to keep it running.

Tim Gray posted two photos with the comment: "Shenango steel coke plant on Neville, Island Pittsburgh, PA. Started around 1930. Originally was Pittsburgh Coke and Chemical.Bought by Shenago in 1962. Closed in 2015 due to low demand and foreign competition."
[Accordingto to some comments, the blast furnaces were closed and torn down in 1990.]
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1 of 13 photos posted by Todd Olson
Pictures from Shenango coke and chemical Neville island Pittsburgh Pa a lot of good memories.

Saving an image while some of the plant is still left.
3D Satellite

1 of 45 photos posted by Todd Olson
More pictures from Shenango great bunch of guys to work with.

The gasometer disappeared between Sep 2005 and Oct 2006.
Global Earth, Sep 2005

1 of 55 photos posted by Todd Olson
Third round of Shenango pictures.
[Looks like the job of a lidman on top of a coke battery can be dangerous. Judging from some comments on this photo, this fire is not a very rare happening.]

1 of 12 photos posted by Phil Jadlowiec
Shenango Neville Island, these were taken from the Ohio river Blvd side. 
January 8 2015
[I could not find "Ohio River Blvd," but I believe this was from the north side of the river.]

I grabbed the 1950s topos by habit. When I looked at them, it made me realize how modern this coke plant was because it is not on this map. Also, the P&OV Railroad was the 2.04 mile long Pittsburgh & Ohio Valley RR [locomotives, caboose & boxcar]. It connected to the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad on the mainland.
1951 Pittsburgh West and 1953 Ambridge & Emsworth Quads @ 24,000

Dennis DeBruler commented on Stanley's post
This is a 1991 aerial. So where was the foundry? Do I need to look at another place on the island or find an older photo? Thanks.
[EarthExplorer: Apr 1, 1991 @ 24,000, AR1VFNT00010012]
Stanley Quick: Dennis DeBruler About two more miles down the island. Where the main road makes a right turn then left. Just around the corner. Small area compared to the main plant. Connected by rail road.
Dennis DeBruler commented on Stanley's comment
Thanks. I had to download another photo to cover that area. It appears that Gottlieb has repurposed the buildings. I've already learned that the 2.04 mile railroad on the island was the Pittsburgh & Ohio Valley, which was owned by US Steel.
https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4...
Now that I know where to look, I got the oldest photo for this area that I could find, which was 1948. But the blast furnaces were already gone. I also could not find the gas-o-meter that is in the background of your photo.
[EarthExplorer: Apr 1, 1991 @ 24,000, AR1VFNT00010013]
Stanley Quick: Dennis DeBruler Owned first by Pitt. Coke & Chemical then Bill Snyder (Shenango) then Aloes (Shenango) then took over by the main Rail Road that runs thru this area. I can't remember their name now. I never heard it owned by US Steel.
Dennis DeBruler: Stanley Quick I got the US Steel factoid from here: https://forum.mrhmag.com/.../pittsburgh-ohio-valley... . But I'll remove that claim from my notes. The mainline was labelled Pittsburgh & Lake Erie on a 1953 topo. A current USGS map labels it Wheeling & Lake Erie. I noticed that the USGS map labels the P&OV route as CSX. Railroad ownership can be even more convoluted than steel mill ownership. I've also been trying to figure out who owns the bridge on the Back Channel.
Stanley Quick: Dennis DeBruler Yes it was CSX I was trying to think of. My friend who worked on P&OV went to work with CSX after they acquired the rail road from our split up. Very hard to get into CSX and he was glad they picked them up. The president of P&OV Tom Connley used to live next door to my parents in McKees Rocks. Very nice man all around to know. He was also mayor of McKees Rocks for a time.
EarthExplorer: Apr 17, 1948 @ 35,400, AR1DQ0000040033


SquareSpace, p11

23 getty photos

Robby Beck posted
Iron ore from Shenango arriving Mckees Rocks for Shenango Steel on Nevile Island.
1987 i think
John Simpson: We also haul ore to Neville island over the PC&Y out of Sculy yard I worked on the PC&Y.
Robby Beck: Light repair shop, maybe!
Donald Vogel: Robby Beck Yes
Richard Thomas: Neville island was once a major producer of asparagus. Never again. Never again for the steel mill, cement manufacturer, trucking industry, chemical manufacturer, and others. My wife said that we let it slip through our fingers. Never again.
Frank Stingone: Richard Thomas You can blame WWI for the loss of farming on Neville Island. In 1918 the US Army bought up large portions of the island for the construction of an ammunition plant to supply large caliber battleship guns. The war ended, the battleships were cancelled, the ammo plant was cancelled, what buildings that were constructed were demolished and the promise that the previous landowners would get first crack at the land was forgotten. The land was sold at auction to industrial interests that changed the ambience of Neville Island for the next hundred years.
Lou Bornes: Three generations of my family worked for Shenango at all three mills.
Michael Maitland: Great photo. You can make out the 1-2 blast furnaces and coke area on Neville in the far back right.

Comments on Robby's post


Frank Jacobs III posted
Ingot molds. [on an ingot train]
Pittsburgh spelled without the “h”.
Ken Hernandez: Getting inside them and cleaning them was the worst job I ever had.
Dave Matergia: Ingot molds. Ingots are inside.
David Finch: Shenango on Neville Island at one time made ingot molds I believe.
Ronald Meiss: David Finch Shenango had foundries in Sharpsville,Pa , Buffalo New York and Neville Island. I worked in Sharpsville making molds!!
David Finch: Ronald Meiss Years ago worked at an Engineering firm in Ambridge called Bollinger Corp and they designed new molds for Shenango
 
Graham Whitfield commented on Dave's comment
Spot on Dave.
 
Joe De Franco posted
Pittsburgh & Ohio Valley Railway SW8 Switcher #4, Neville Island, 1978. Looks like slag pots are being hauled?
Robb J. Cardimen: Looks like Shenango Ingot Molds
Stanley Quick: That's at our Neville Island foundry. Hauling Iron in those ladles. I used to work on that engine.
Mike Laslo: That was the new greensand where they made the stools that the molds set on.

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