This was once the 4th largest steel mill in the world.

The Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna (Buffalo) sits on a sprawling 1,300 acre site and was home to over 100 buildings and employed 20,000 workers. In the 1960s, it was producing record amounts of steel at a time of great profitability.

This period was short-lived.

During the late 1970s, production was reduced and over 10,000 employees were laid off. Steelmaking operations were stopped abruptly in 1983 after a record loss of $1.5 billion. Coke oven operations continued but by 2001, they too were halted.