Carrie Furnace I

Place: Rankin, Pennsylvania

Location: Carrie Furnace

The Carrie Furnace was a blast furnace built to produce iron, and at its peak was able to produce up to 1250 tons of the metal daily. Construction of the furnace began in 1881 and the site was subsequently acquired by steel mogul Andrew Carnegie in 1898. The US Steel Corp. bought the site in 1901, and in 1988 it was acquired by the Park Corporation with both Park and US Steel agreeing to both deal with areas of environmental concern such as underground fuel storage tanks, asbestos remediation, ground contamination and the like.

The Park Corporation demolished most of the structures on the site with the exception of Blast Furnaces 6 and 7, a blower engine house for these two furnaces, several iron ore bins, a storage building, and a 15 ton crane for moving the iron ore. It is hoped that these remaining structures will ultimately become a museum or national monument to the history of steel production in Western Pennsylvania. In 2006, Furnaces 6 and 7 were designated as National Historic Landmarks.

Though currently closed to the public, I was able to make a few photographs in and of the remaining structures while on a tour of the facility. The state of disrepair and the need for preservation is evident. One group that is very involved with this and other similar preservation projects in the area is Rivers Of Steel.