Steel the Show
While Main Street will bustle with activities, food and music during Saturday's Butler Fall Festival, the Butler County Heritage Center on West New Castle Street will attract festivalgoers with a new permanent exhibit.
"100 Years of Steel in Butler County" will open Saturday at the center. Hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, with regular hours for September from noon to 4 p.m. Mondays and Fridays.
The new exhibit showcases artifacts gathered from residents involved in theButler County steel industry and items previously donated to the Butler County Historical Society.
The highlight of the exhibit was in storage for several years: two original models of the Armco plant made in the 1970s. These models are scale versions of the buildings in use today.
"I think people will enjoy the models because you can't normally go into a steel factory," said Becky Crum-Reinsel, the historical society's executive director.
Before becoming AKSteel in 1999, the county's steel industry started as the Forged Steel Wheel Co. that Columbia Steel bought in the early 1900s. Then came Armco Steel in 1927 with founder George Verity, whose photo also is in the exhibit.
Verity felt it "was important that his workers have something to do outside of work,"Crum-Reinsel said. Out of that belief, Verity founded Armco Park and Armco Golf Club near Slippery Rock.
The exhibit features walls filled with photos of workers and the plant dating to at least the 1920s. One is of a group of workers taken in April 1929. The bottom of the photo indicates "No accidents since April 1927."
Steelworkers were some of the hardest workers in this area, evidenced not only by their worn-out clothes in the photographs, but also by two pairs of boots donated to the society, Crum-Reinsel said. The outer layer of leather on the exhibited boots is completely worn through.
"It just goes to show how hard they worked,"Crum-Reinsel said.The oldest artifacts in the exhibit are pins that denote years of service and ID badges that say Columbia Steel or Forged Steel Wheel Co. Programs from company anniversaries also are displayed, along with iron man statues.With the work to install the Bashline miniature circus exhibit finished, historical society board president Pat Collins decided to move forward on an exhibit for the local steel industry's 100th anniversary.The society's intern, Nathan Salsgiver of Jefferson Township, was put in charge of getting the artifacts and research together. Salsgiver spent the summer researching the industry, organizing artifacts, asking the community for donations and designing the exhibits. He also photographed some of the AKSteel buildings to help compare the new with the old."It's a good idea for students to experience the history hands-on," Crum-Reinsel said.Just reading and studying isn't enough, she said.Salsgiver is a history major at Waynesburg University.He said, "I knew a little bit (about the industry) because I'm from Butler. But I had no idea how in-depth it was."Salsgiver said the greatest impression he gained from his research is the huge influence the industry had on the community."The thing that was unique about Armco was that George Verity was really big on employee safety and providing perks for the employees."Employees could take their families to work to tour the plant. They could take their families to the park to play," he said.The historical society is still seeking more steel industry artifacts from the community to add to the collection. To donate, call 724-283-8116.
<B>WHO: </B>Butler County Historical Society<B>WHAT: </B>"100 Years of Steel in Butler County" exhibit<B>WHEN: </B>Opening at 10 a.m. and continuing until 4 p.m. Saturday. Regular hours are noon to 4 p.m. Mondays and Fridays in September.<B>WHERE: </B>Butler County Heritage Center, 119 W. New Castle St.<B>ADMISSION: </B>$5 for adults, $2 for ages 5 to 17, free for children younger than 5<B>INFORMATION: </B>724-283-8116
