Sparrows Point is an unincorporated area in Baltimore County, Maryland. Baltimore County is a County located in the northern part of the U It was named for Thomas Sparrow, landowner, and is adjacent to Dundalk, Maryland. Dundalk
It is the site of a very large industrial complex, now in decline, known in the past for steelmaking and shipbuilding.
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Steel
The first steel was produced at Sparrows Point in 1889 by the Pennsylvania Steel Company. By the mid-20th century, Sparrows Point was the world's largest steel mill, stretching four miles from end to end and employing tens of thousands of workers. It used the traditional open-hearth steelmaking method to produce ingots, a labor- and energy-intensive process.
Purchased by Bethlehem Steel in 1916, the mill's steel ended up as girders in the Golden Gate Bridge and in cables for the George Washington Bridge, and was a vital part of war production during World War I and World War II. The Bethlehem Steel Corporation (1857–2003 based in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest Steel producer in the United States, after The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension Bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean The George Washington Bridge (known informally as the GW Bridge, the GWB, the GW, or the George) is a Suspension bridge spanning World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The mill was serviced by three railroads: the Western Maryland, Penn, and B&O.
By 1961 the mill was producing 672,000 tons of steel per year. But changes in the steel industry, including a rise in imports and a move toward the use of simpler oxygen furnaces and the recycling of scrap, led to a decline in the use of the Sparrows Point complex during the 1970s and 1980s. The Sparrows Point plant was owned by Mittal Steel following its acquisition of Bethlehem Steel successor company International Steel Group in 2005. Mittal Steel Company NV () was the world's largest Steel producer by volume and also the largest in turnover The Bethlehem Steel Corporation (1857–2003 based in Bethlehem Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest Steel producer in the United States, after International Steel Group was a Steel company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. In March 2008, Mittal Steel sold the plant to the Russian company Severstal for $810 million. Severstal () Russian: Северсталь "Northern Steel" is a Russian company mainly operating in the Steel and Mining industry [1]
Ships
The Sparrows Point Shipyard site was also a major center for shipbuilding and ship repair. Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard was founded in 1887 as Maryland Steel in Sparrows Point, Maryland. Maryland Steel Company established the Sparrows Point yard in 1889, and it delivered its first ship in 1891. Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the Sparrows Point shipyard in 1917. During the mid-Twentieth Century, Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding (BethShip)'s Sparrows Point yard was one of the most active shipbuilders in the United States, delivering 116 ships in the 7-year period between 1939 and 1946. Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when Bethlehem Steel Corporation acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works
During the 1970s, Bethlehem Steel invested millions of dollars in upgrades and improvements to the Sparrows Point yard, making it one of the most modern shipbuilding facilities in the country. This included the construction of a large graving dock to allow for the construction of large supertankers up to 1200 feet in length and 265,000 gross tons in size. A drydock is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform
Bethlehem Steel lurched from one financial crisis to another throughout the 1980s and 1990s, selling the Sparrows Point yard to Baltimore Marine Industries Inc. , a subsidiary of Veritas Capital, in 1997 as part of an unsuccessful restructuring attempt. Baltimore Marine operated the facility as a ship repair and refurbishment yard until 2003, when Baltimore Marine Industries collapsed in bankruptcy.
The Sparrows Point shipyard complex was sold at auction to Barletta Industries Inc. in 2004. Barletta is attempting a redevelopment of the site for use as a business and technology park, and plans to revive shipbuilding on at least part of the site, making use of the modern graving dock added in the 1970s.
External links
References
Reutter, Mark, Making Steel: Sparrows Point and the Rise and Ruin of American Industrial Might, University of Illinois Press, 2004. ISBN 0-252-07233-2
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