Looking Back: Monessen Works Blast Furnace
This image of the Monessen Works Blast Furnaces was taken in 1995, and shows the rail mill in the background. The large, light colored building in the foreground today houses Alumisource, which provides “specialized raw materials, material processing and blending solutions to the aluminum and steel industries.”
An interior close up of Blast Furnace No. 2 at Pittsburgh Steel Company’s Monessen Works.
An interior view of Blast Furnace No. 3 shows slag runners and gates in the foreground.
Images sourced from the Library of Congress
Pittsburgh Steel Company’s No. 1 and No. 2 Blast Furnaces were blown in in 1913, in a vast complex on Donner Avenue in Monessen. According to blueprints, they were nearly identical in design and capacity at the time of construction, and reached 79 feet in height. Blast Furnace No. 3 was blown-in in 1948 and known as “Jane.” It was much larger than the first two, and allowed for a daily production of 2,200 tons of iron, which was more than twice that of No. 1 and No. 2. It was also part of the Monessen Works on Donner Avenue.