During the fall break, I decided that while I was home that I should go take some pictures of the Bethlehem Steel Stacks. I have lived a little under a half hour away from them all of my life and never went to go get photographs of them. So I decided that Saturday was the time to do it.

When visiting the Steel Stacks, you are actually able to walk right next to the factory. You aren’t able to actually walk on the original walkways because of how rusty they are so Bethlehem built a new walkway. The walkway runs across probably more than half of the Steel Stacks.

The Steel Stacks were so amazing and has so much history behind them. Everything is all rusted and you can see all the way through to the other side of the stacks. In between those gaps, there are so many intertwining walkways it is amazing how the workers were able to find their way around. Also, I can’t even imagine how hot it would have been while working there.

A lot of the people that have lived in or near Bethlehem probably knew or had a family member that worked either in the Bethlehem Steel factory or the other parts of the Bethlehem Steel. Just myself, I know three family members that worked for the Bethlehem Steel. Those people were my great-grandfather, grandfather, and grandmother. My great-grandfather worked in the actual factory and my grandfather, his father, worked in one of the buildings next to the Steel Stacks. My grandmother also working in the same building and that’s how my grandparents met.

The Bethlehem Steel officially closed in 1998 when I was only one so I never got to see it up and running. I’m only left to imagine what it could have looked like when it was in it’s prime, how short that may have been. I’m just glad that I have a connection to this historic site and is still standing so anyone can travel to see it.