Trump’s decision to
rebuild our steel industry has resulted in a rebirth at one of my old
employers. Granite City Steel Works in Granite City Illinois is now owned by US
Steel Corporation and they are expanding operations.
I worked at Granite City
Steel as a summer employee during my college days (1961-1965). There were about
20 of us students who worked as vacation relief for the steel workers.
I got to work everywhere
in the plant from the “bright dip” area where we wore asbestos suits to
shepherd molten steel being poured to feeding steel sheets into a corrugator
and stacking steel sheets. I even chipped slag off the side of the blast
furnaces with a jack hammer when they were shut down for maintenance.
I was in college to
prepare to become a Personnel Director for manufacturing companies, so this
experience was critical and further reinforced my belief that labor unions were
unnecessary.
Granite City Steel History
Granite City Steel was
founded by Frederick and William Niedringhaus, German immigrants who came to
America in search of greater opportunity. Around the 1860’s, Frederick and
William started a tinware company in the St. Louis area. In the 1870’s, the
brothers developed a system for creating decorative mottled surfaces on metal,
which became known as “graniteware.”
During their rise to
prominence, Frederick served as a Congressman, representing the state of
Missouri from 1889 to 1891. After two years of service, he did not seek
reelection and returned to the metal business, which turned out to be a
successful decision.
The brothers began to grow
their metal business and eventually moved right across the Mississippi River,
to the nearby town of Granite City, Illinois. They would officially create
Granite City Steel in 1895.
Throughout the industrial
revolution, the town of Granite City, Illinois was a major producer of
materials and became a booming industrial city alongside its larger neighbor,
St. Louis. Granite City Steel played a part in the area’s growth, employing
many people throughout the St. Louis region.
According to an article by
the Preservation Research
Office,
Granite City Steel’s facilities had two 22-ton furnaces and four mills.
Altogether, the plant was capable of producing 20,000 gross tons of finished
product every year. At first, the plant only made metal sheets, but in 1905,
the Granite City Steel facility expanded production, adding bar steel and tin
plate to its output. By 1905, Granite City Steel employed 2,000 people and the
facility covered 15 total acres.
The company was incorporated
in 1927 and would eventually be purchased by U.S. Steel. The facility in
Granite City is still in operation, with an annual capacity of 650,000 tons.
I worked
every summer through high school and college. I started working as a musician
at age 14 when I started my Rock Band. I worked summers in high school on the
Admiral Steamboat on the Mississippi River. I kept working as a musician in
college 6 nights a week playing in a “dirty two-horn blues group” at the
“Livingroom” on Gaslight Square. I also worked at Granite City Steel and St.
Louis State School and Hospital as a therapist. I took 20 hours per semester in
college and graduated a semester early in January 1965. I was able to work my way through school. I
had a half-tuition scholarship to CBC Military HS and paid $500 per semester
for college at St. Louis U, bought a car and paid all of my expenses. I
continued playing bass in jazz trios on weekends for another 10 years. I was
blessed with a good economy, musical talent, a career plan and a love for work.
Now I am anxious for our good economy to return, so that all students can have
the early work experience I had.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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