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Related Pieces
Piece Description
For more than a century, U.S. Steel's Homestead Works was the flagship mill of the American steel industry, buzzing with activity. But in the 1980s, it shut down, costing thousands of people their jobs. Betty Esper, who worked there for 36 years, recalls those days and what came after them.
Broadcast History
NPR's Morning Edition 8/29/08
Transcript
BE: Businesses never closed till nine, ten o'clock at night because there was always something going on. And the avenue was full of two things, bars and churches. I always laugh when I tell people, I don't know if we drank and prayed or prayed and drank.
MF: So you started working in the mill in 1951. How did you get your job?
BE: I started out as the messenger. Started out at the bottom and you know, worked my way up. It was my only job. You know, it was such a busy place all my life. Watching men coming in and out and knew the guards at the gate. You spend more time in the mill than you spend at home. It was like my family.
MF: How many years did you end up working at the mill.
BE: Thirty-six.
MF: So your last year would have been when the mills closed.
BE: Exactly. And, ah, it was a funny feeling. I drove out of the mill my last day, and when I drove out of the mill there was...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Time now for StoryCorps...
This project is recording the stories of everyday America.
Today's story comes from Homestead, Pennsylvania.
For more than a century U.S. Steel - Homestead Works was the flagship mill of the American Steel industry. At it's height the mill was was one of the world's largest producers of steel.
But, in the mid 1980s, the Homestead mill shut its doors... And thousands lost their jobs.
Betty Esper [Ess-Purr], a desk clerk at the mill, was one them.
Here, she tells her friend, Mark Fallon [FAL-Lonn], about what Homestead was like when the mill was thriving.
TAPE 1:58 ""The businesses never closed...is not coming back.""
OUTRO:Betty Esper and Mark Fallon at StoryCorps in Homestead, Pennsylvania.
Four years after the mill closed / shut down, Esper became mayor of Homestead. She's held the position for the past 18 years.
Their interview will be archived with ALL StoryCorps interviews at the American Folklife Center at the
Library of Congress.
The PODCAST is at NPR-Dot-ORG."
Additional Credits
State Farm, NPR, Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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