Bethlehem Steel Legacy Community Collection

Third generation Sparrows Point worker Jerry Good's grandfather and father were among the thousands who migrated to Baltimore from Appalachia in the twentieth century. He said, "They left to improve their lives by not being imprisoned in the mines and sharecropper lives. To each one, this was a major step up to middle life and a style that would never have been attained in the hardscrabble or mines. Then to some, the mills became the same circumstances." Pictured is the boarding house on "E" Street in the company town of Sparrows Point owned by his grandparents, Perry and Lillian Allison.

Josh Clark worked as an engineer in the tin mill at Sparrows Point when it was owned by Arcelor Mittal, shortly before its doors closed for good. This photo shows a fire that burned down the front end of the 5 stand rolling mill in 2011. Josh recalled, "we stripped the damaged parts off and rebuilt the front end of the mill in two weeks. Everybody worked 18 hour days for weeks to get the mill up and running again. It was one of those amazing moments when you see what people who know what they are doing can accomplish when you just let them get the job done and stay out of their way."

A second-generation steelworker, Gordon Davis worked in many different positions during his 40 years at Sparrows Point. He described the scene in this 1989 photo: "Number 12 Battery. Coke Ovens, 10AM. Lid man sealing the lids after being (charged/filled) with coal, clay, slurry mix. Notice the shadow of tower in background. Water quench tower’s purpose is to cool down hot coke to allow it to travel on the conveyor belt lines." See more of Gordon's photographs on our "From Point to Point" blog: https://www.thebmi.org/gordon-davis/