The Industrial Foundation
I ✦ The Industrial Foundation For more than a century, heavily capitalized industry drove the growth of Pittsburgh and its metropolitan region. Before 1900 the iron and steel industry defined the region both locally and nationally. Several other in- dustries, from railroad equipment and electrical machinery to glass, alumi- num, and all manner of associated manufactures, also thrived throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. The coal and coke, oil and natural gas, sand, clay, and limestone industries provided essential raw materials and energy inputs. Transportation and communication networks connected the widely scattered parts of the sprawling industrial region. The omnipresent river system and complex hill and valley topography presented both opportuni- ties and challenges for entrepreneurs. Industrial and natural resource firms manipulated, engineered, and abused land, water, and air in pursuit of in- dustrial growth and financial success. The first essay of this section explores the resulting complex landscape and environmental consequences of natural resource exploitation, indus- trialization, and urbanization. Many southwestern Pennsylvania residents accept the landscape around them as “natural” without appreciating how altered and dynamic it is. The second essay provides a brief overview of the region’s industrialization and the emergence of industrial corridors of mills, © 2019 University of Pittsburgh Press. All rights reserved. The Industrial Foundation factories, mines, and working-class communities along the waterways and railroads that threaded their way through the winding valleys. The third essay describes the decentralization of industries in search of suitable pro- duction sites for large operations and efficiencies of excellent transportation facilities. This centrifugal movement by the early twentieth century created a vast industrial region that in spite of its sprawling, dispersed character was strikingly interconnected by communication, transportation, and pro- duction linkages.
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