Bethlehem Steel Plant, Sparrows Point

In the 1880's Pennsylvania Steel Company erected the first blast furnaces on Sparrows Point outside Baltimore. At first it just converted ore into pig iron for use in the Pennsylvania Steel Plants. In 1889 the first iron was produced. The town of Sparrows Point was built to house the employees. In 1891 Bessemer Converters were installed and Sparrows Point began to produce steel. The plant grew throughout the 20th century. At one point it boasted being the largest steel plant in the world. It manufactured guns and ships for both world wars. When Bethlehem Steel took over in 1961, it covered 300 acres and produced 672,000 tons of steel a year. The Western Maryland, Penn, and B&O Railroads all serviced the plant. Today it is still the largest tidewater steel plant in the United States. Some points of interest are the ore dock, sintering plant, blast furnaces, and coke oven areas.

Map

References:

"Bethlehem Steel Corporation Sparrows Point (MD) plant"

www.bethsteel.com/divisions/sparrow/index.html