pa1778data.pdf

south to work in northern industrial districts. 19
U.S. STEEL DUQUESNE WORKS
HAER No. PA-115
(Page 17)
As the opportunity for work in the mill attracted ever
increasing numbers of people to Duquesne, its infrastructure
became increasingly complex. When the mill was first
constructed, the area's major thoroughfare, Grant Avenue, was no
more than a dirt road bordered by a wooden boardwalk. Two other
roads in the area, according to a local historian, were
impassable mud lanes. By the mid 1890s, however, borough
officials, many of whom were also supervisors within the mill,
authorized a public improvement program that resulted in the
construction of 44.8 miles of streets within the city, a modern
water works, and a rail transportation system that connected the
town to Pittsburgh and McKeesport. The improvements to
Duquesne*s infrastructure were far from uniform. Of the 44.8
miles of streets in the town, for example, only twelve miles were
paved. Most of the unpaved roads, moreover, were located in
working-class neighborhoods. 20
Beyond creating the basis for the growth of an industrial
city, the activities of the Duquesne Works resulted in negative
consequences for the environmental character of the community.
One factor influencing the city's environment stemmed from the
physical location of the works. Because the mill needed large
quantities of water both for the cooling of equipment and the
cleaning of waste products generated by the steelmaking process,
the works was laid out on a narrow strip of land bordering the
Monongahela River. The development not only blocked a view of
the river for generations of local residents, but also rendered
it unusable for recreational purposes because the effluent from
the cooling and cleaning processes continuously discharged back
into the river was laden with toxins. The nature of the mill's
equipment also had an adverse effect on the community's air
quality. Noxious fumes emanating from the work's smokestacks
particularly affected air quality in working-class neighborhoods
which were, for the most part, located closest to the mill. Dirt
generated by the smoke covered the landscape and forced working-
class housewives to interminable hours of house cleaning each
day. Although mill management attempted to ameliorate living
conditions in the city through social-welfare programs which
19 Robert Evans, "Thriving City Created on Site of Grain
Fields," The Daily News, McKeesport, Pa., June 30, 1934; 1900 U. S.
Population Census, Vol. 1: 675.
20 Robert Evans, "Thriving City,"; As was common for industrial
communities in western Pennsylvania, there was a uneven
distribution of basic services and urban infrastructure between
working class and middle class neighborhoods.