Place to see: Bethlehem Steel Mills, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States

About this place:

It is now just a rusting conglomeration of structures on the banks of Pennsylvania's Lehigh River. But once it glowed from within, its furnaces brimming with molten steel, as one of the greatest symbols of the American industrial age.

Based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem Steel was one of the largest steel producers and shipbuilders in the history of the United States. The construction of its first blast furnace began in the 1860's. The steel that poured out of its furnaces over the course of the subsequent 100 years furnished the building materials for ships and armaments for a range of American wars from the legendary Civil War ironclads to the warships of the great World Wars, including more than 1,100 battleships that fought in World War II.

In peacetime it produced much of the steel needed for burgeoning American railroads and later provided the steel required to create a number of iconic American structures. The Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building were built with Bethlehem Steel as was every tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan.

Facing competition from cheap overseas labor, the American steel industry foundered in the latter part of the 20th century. Bethlehem Steel's troubles began in the 1970's and though it fought valiantly to survive, it eventually succumbed to a sea change in the world economy. It remaining structures still stand in Bethlehem as local officials decide on various iterations of museums and development for its legacy.