U.S. STEEL Company to return to historic plant site

The site is now a haven for shoppers and diners.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- United States Steel Corp. will return to the historic Homestead Works, once the epicenter of labor-management relations that exploded more than a century ago when Pinkerton agents and strikers waged deadly gunbattles along the Monongahela River.
The former site of a steel plant will reopen this time as the U.S. Steel Research and Technology Center. The center is located in Monroeville, eight miles to the east. The new building will be occupied in 2006, 20 years after U.S. Steel closed its mill there.
Far removed from the labor battles of the late 1800s, the site is now known largely for its lively pubs, restaurants and theaters and as a great place to shop. The company and union workers also now have a relatively harmonious relationship.
The 191,000 square-foot building southeast of Pittsburgh was built by Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. for the manufacture of fuel cells, but was never occupied.
It is the modern facilities, not the location of what turned out to be a huge victory for U.S. Steel, that prompted the move, spokesman John Armstrong said.
"We are certainly happy to be back in that location, but that's not the driving force," he said. "The driving force is a good building that suits our needs."
Troubled past
In July 1892, displaced workers opened fire on a barge loaded with 300 Pinkerton agents on their way to the Homestead Works to break a contentious strike, by force if needed. The ensuing gun battle left three Pinkerton agents and more than seven strikers dead.
What was thought by labor leaders to be a successful repulsion of company agents in fact set organized labor back by nearly a half century.
Pennsylvania's governor brought in the state militia to restore calm. The Homestead Works was opened to nonunion workers who would accept less pay and longer work days.
The union would not make significant inroads in the steel industry until the 1930s.