Rivers of Steel showcases the artistry and innovation of southwestern Pennsylvania’s industrial and cultural heritage through its historical and 21st-century attractions—offering unique experiences via tours, workshops, exhibitions, festivals, and more.

Behind the scenes, Rivers of Steel supports economic revitalization—working at the grassroots level to deepen community partnerships, promote heritage tourism, and preserve local recreational and cultural resources for future generations.

Rivers of Steel’s journey began in the aftermath of the collapsed steel industry. In 1988, a group of citizens got together, united by their concerns that with destruction of the shuttered mills an important part of our region’s culture was in danger of being erased, too.

The prevailing sentiment at the time was not one of reverence for the industry; rather, it was a stew of mixed emotions—anger for the way things went down, loss of identity in the face of joblessness, and fear of an uncertain future. The emotional landscape was too raw for most folks to want to celebrate what the steel industry once was, especially when it was painfully obvious that this ‘industrial downturn’ reflected permanent change.

Long story short: those citizens organized as a task force. Four years later, the nonprofit organization that was to become Rivers of Steel was established to carry the torch of Big Steel and its related industries—not simply telling the companies’ stories and the products they made, but the stories of the men and women who worked there.

It is a legacy was too important not to save. Relics and remnants were captured, so were oral histories. The scope of which grew beyond the workers themselves, encompassing the neighborhoods they represented—their languages, their churches, their traditions and recipes—and sowed the seeds of what was to become Rivers of Steel’s archival, cultural conservation and exhibition programs.