steel towns & river towns
1st Street — Belle Vernon, PA
Capital Theater — Wheeling, WV
Coca Cola 5¢ — Brownsville, PA
Kennedy Hardware — Wheeling, WV
Ohio River Repair Barge — Benwood, OH
Gazebo & Williamstown Bridge — Marietta, OH
Grant Street — East Liverpool, OH
Under 8th St. Bridge — Benwood, WV
Pickers Bar & Grill — Brownsville, PA
The Imperial Warehouse — Wheeling, WV
Robinson Street — Braddock, PA
Morning Riser and Steel Plant — Braddock, PA
Monongahela Ave. — Glassport, PA
Antiques and Chicken — Charleroi, PA
Riverside Wharf — Brownsville, PA
Birds and Steel Mill — Braddock, PA
Evening Light — Rochester, PA
The Mound — Moundsville, WV
Thompson Steel Works — Braddock, PA
The Children's Angel — McKees Rock Bottoms, PA
Stone Bridge Bar & Grill — Bellaire, OH
Under the Street Light — East Liverpool, OH
Fiddles Diner — Brownsville, PA
We Buy Houses — McKeesport, PA
Take a Break Too Bar — McKees Rocks, PA
Hotel — West Brownsville, PA
Larry's — Martins Ferry, OH
Battle Ax Spark Plug — Steubenville, OH
The Deer Hunter — Mingo Junction, OH
Loads of Luck — Mingo Junction, OH
Cooling Towers — Shippingport, PA
Cooling Tower Neighborhood — Shippingport, PA
Alley — McKees Rocks, PA
U.S. Steel and Car — Braddock, PA
3941 Jacob St. — Wheeling, WV
The Theatre Bar —McKeesport, PA
White Front Cafe — Toronto, OH
Pubic Library — Brownsville, PA
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I grew up in the manufacturing and steel mill towns of Northeast Ohio. At that time, the towns along the Ohio and the Monongahela rivers were teeming with industry — the industry that was responsible for the building of America. And then, it was gone, and America didn’t seem to really care. In fact, the American government was instrumental in helping American companies move their operations overseas.
It was greed that led to the devastation of these towns and the people here were sacrificed in the name of corporate profits. Stripped of the steel mills and manufacturing plants, the towns along the rivers became mere shells of what they once were. Now the towns and the people within them are engaged in a fight for survival.
These photographs reflect the aftermath of this tempest of greed, which has dealt a destructive blow to the area. I want to believe there is still hope for these towns. My images strive to present the survivors — those towns and neighborhoods that still have that spark of hope. These towns still inspire me with the same curiosity I had when I was young and they were thriving. I can still find hope along the streets of these towns — hope in the idea that they can still make a comeback. Hope that America will recognize what we have lost and move to rectify their decisions of aiding companies to decimate the country’s steel and manufacturing industries in the name of personal profits.