M-105 Bethlehem Steel Forging Framed original industrial mechanical drawing Steelers artifact folk art
Dimensions: 24 x 36
Vintage original hand drawn Ink on Drafting Cloth mechanical drawing from the Bethlehem Steel Corp. Complimented with vintage period photo. Linen was starched and used as a drafting medium until @ 1950.
The original integrity of the drawing is intact. It is complimented with a period mill photo and professionally framed.
This drawing was recovered from Johnstown, Pa. Bethlehem Steel plants, contractors and successors. Much of the steel mills are demolished but the oldest buildings are on the Historic Registry and preserved. https://www.jaha.org/attractions/heritage-discovery-center/johnstown-history/history-steel-johnstown/
Dr. Zaborowski with the Digital Public Library of America has devoted her time and expertise to digitize most of these drawings and other artifacts for posterity, since I am using the originals on these pieces and they will be scattered to winds. So using the drawing number you may find your drawing along with photos of the plant ,its employees and ephemera dating back to the turn of the century : https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Aacacc-jsic
In its’ heyday, Bethlehem employed @25,000 employees between the mines and Steel Mills in the Johnstown, Pa region alone.
The engineers designed, they & draftsmen drew the plans, skilled steelworkers fabricated rail cars for customers in Pittsburgh. and worldwide. They melted iron ore, converted it to steel, shaped it , rolled it and assembled the end products .
When the jobs went overseas, they left their clothes, gear, old spice and girly calendars in their lockers and walked away from their family sustaining jobs. I have attached photos that roughly parallels the sequence of events that the drawing subject followed. Some I shot & some are vintage commercial photos that I purchased . I spent 16 years servicing the mills and mines as a Westinghouse representative. The last 4 photos are me in my time on the job and later salvaging remnants of my customers as they faded into rustbelt brownfields.
These drawings are some of the last remnants of Big Steel and remind us why the Pittsburgh football team is called STEELERS!
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success and productivity, the company was a symbol of American manufacturing leadership in the world, and its decline and ultimate liquidation in the late 20th century is similarly cited as an example of America's diminished manufacturing leadership. From its founding in 1857 through its 2003 dissolution, Bethlehem Steel's headquarters and primary steel mill manufacturing facilities were based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States.
The company's steel was used in the construction of many of America's largest and most famed structures. Among major buildings, Bethlehem produced steel for 28 Liberty Street, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Rockefeller Center, and the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City and Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Among major bridges, Bethlehem steel was used in constructing the George Washington Bridge and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and the Peace Bridge between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem_Steel
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