Penn-Lincoln Parkway beside Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation’s Eliza Works

With the blast furnaces of J&L’s Eliza Works looming over the passing cars, this photograph epitomized the steel industry’s former economic and symbolic dominance over Pittsburgh. At its height, the Eliza Works employed more than 5,000 people. It closed in 1977 and the furnaces were demolished in the mid-1980s. Today, the Pittsburgh Technology Center, a high-tech development hub, stands along this section of riverfront property.