Steelmaking in the Valley

Mingo Junction was mostly inhabited by Indians and a few settlers until 1860.  The industrial revolution was taking place in Europe and the United States and Mingo was about to step into this new era.  The Mingo Iron Works was started and soon the agricultural era came to a close in the city. 

Mr. Potter sold some land to a group of capitalists for the location of the mill.  They built coke ovens and a blast furnace in 1869.  A trestle was built across the highway and the railroad to carry the coke to the furnace.

In 1890 the company merged into the Junction Iron and Steel Co. and added two blast furnaces,a bar mill and a nail factory.  In 1895 the name of the plant was changed to Laughlin Steel Company.

In 1897 Aetna Standard Iron and Steel purchased the property and added additional finishing mills.  The Bessemer steel works were added and put into operation in 1899.

In 1900 the property changed hands with National Steel Company as owner.

Carnegie-Illinois Corporation, a subsidiary of US Steel, acquired the mill in 1901.   During World War II, US Steel built several heat treating deck plates for war ships and submarines.  These operations ceased in July 1945.

Wheeling Steel Corporation purchased all of the Mingo plant facilities plus the homes and the entire land at the Mingo Bottoms in 1945.  They expanded their operations through the years.  In June 1965 operation of Wheeling Steel's B.O.F. steelmaking facilty was started in Mingo.

The merger with Pittsburgh Steel Corporation occured in 1968.  The name was changed to Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corporation.

The 1970s were hard on the United States steel industry.  Foreign countries began dumping steel into the United States at a cheaper cost than most US manufacturers could sustain.  Many jobs were lost in Pittsburgh and the Ohio Valley.  Wheeling Pittsburgh steel was forced in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the 1985.  Many employees lost their jobs.

In 1991 the Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel Corporation emerged from bankruptcy and became part of WHX.  In recent years the company has survived this bankruptcy reorganization and the longest strike in modern steel history.  Despite the dumping of foreign steel from Japan, Russia, and other countries Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel has survived. 

As we head deeper into the 21st century no one knows what holds for the steelmaking companies in the valley.  We do know that many men and women worked and died in the mills so their children could have a better future.  God bless the steelworkers and their families.