The Duquesne Steel Mill began in 1886 when a group of Pittsburgh investors built a Bessemer converter shop and blooming mill. In 1888, the mill was purchased by the Allegheny-Bessemer Company, who sold the company to Andrew Carnegie in 1890. Steel made at the plant utilized the open-hearth process and produced rails for the growing railroad industry. In 1901, Duquesne was included in the purchase of Carnegie Steel by the newly formed United States Steel and converted to a fully integrated mill. By 1918, the Duquesne Works had six blast furnaces, thirty-three open-hearth furnaces, and twelve rolling mills. The Steelworkers Organizing Committee and, subsequently, United Steelworkers of America Local 1256 replaced the company representation plan and represented the workers until the mill's closing. In 1969, as demand for their products declined, U.S. Steel merged the National Tube Works with the Duquesne Works to form the National-Duquesne Works. Both plants were downsized in the early 1980s, and the Duquesne plant closed in 1984. Later that year, the "Save Dorothy Six" movement was founded by the Tri-State Conference on Steel to preserve a portion of the Duquesne Works, including its Dorothy Six blast furnace, as a worker-owned business. This plan, however, failed when unforeseen costs for new equipment were discovered and the plant was demolished soon after.
From the description of United States Steel Corporation Duquesne Works Industrial Relations Department records, 1904-1980. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 31452084
