A Seven-County Wide Pennsylvania Heritage Area

Rivers of Steel

What the Area Encompasses...

■ 2,5000 square miles throughout Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Fayette, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties

■ Began in 1988 with a small number of individuals known as the “Steel Industry Heritage Task Force,” before being authorized as a Pennsylvania Heritage Area in 1996

 

■ Web site covers the various aspects of the Heritage Area through five categories: “Experience,” “Educate,” “Preserve,” “Grow,” and “Shop”

 

■ Main Mission: “To conserve, interpret, promote, and manage the historical, cultural, natural, and recreational resources of steel and related industries in southwestern Pennsylvania and to develop uses for these resources so they may  contribute to the economic revitalization of the region.”

 

■ Five Main Missions as Stated in the Rivers of Steel Ten Year Report:

             1.   Accomplishing the preservation of historic resources

             2.   Expanding the conservation of natural resources

             3.   Sustaining cultural traditions

             4.   Communicating our story

             5.   Stimulating economic development

What Does the Area Have to Offer?

■ Five major “journeys” that tell the steel-making story, each featuring attractions, tours, and events: “Big Steel,” “Mountains of Fire,” “Mosaic of Industry,” “Fueling a Revolution,” and “Thunder of Protest”

 

■ The Homestead Works National Park: the Bost Building, the Battle of Homestead, and the Carrie Furnaces

 

■ School curriculums, folklife educational programs, and field trips, involving the preservation of historic buildings, locations, and artifacts that tell the steel-making story