The Steelworks Museum is located in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, Pueblo County, Colorado ...

. Operated by the Steelworks Center of the West, the museum is in the historic Minnequa Steel Works Office Building and Dispensary of the

Colorado Fuel and Iron Company The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892.Scamehorn, Chapter 1, "The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1892-1903" page 10 By 1903 it was mainly owned and con ...

. The museum's exhibits include the local history of

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

production,

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, and the impact of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company on the region.

History

The Bessemer Historical Society was formed in 2000 by community members working in collaboration with the City of Pueblo,

Pueblo County Pueblo County ( or ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,162. The county seat is Pueblo. The county was named for the historic city of Pueblo which took its name from the Spanish lan ...

, and the State of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

to care for the archives, artifacts and historic buildings of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The BHS was created as a

501(c)(3) organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of t ...

. After raising $1.7 million the BHS purchased the administrative building complex and surrounding land from

Oregon Steel Mills Evraz Oregon Steel Mills is a subsidiary of the Russia steel producer Evraz Group and has operations in Portland, Oregon, United States, and also with facilities in Colorado and Alberta. The company produces items such as structural tubing, pipes ...

. The complex was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2002. With grants from

Save America’s Treasures Save America's Treasures is a United States federal government initiative to preserve and protect historic buildings, arts, and published works. It is a public–private partnership between the U.S. National Park Service and the National Trust fo ...

and the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

the CF&I archives have been processed and made available to the public. The Steelworks Archives is one of the largest publicly available corporate archives in

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Steelworks Museum open in 2007, as the "Steel Works Museum of Industry and Culture". The "Bessemer Historical Society" has since changed its name to the "Steelworks Center of the West".

Collection

* The Steelworks Archives, with over 6,000 cubic feet of company records, 228 films, 100,000 photographs, 30,000 maps and drawings. * CF&I Mine Rescue Car No. 1, believed to be the only remaining wooden mine rescue car in America. * Historic Buildings, three of CF&I's historic administration buildings. * Preserved medical dispensary.

References

External links

Steelworks Center of the West / Steelworks Museum
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Pueblo, Colorado Railroad museums in Colorado Local museums in the United States Museums established in 2007 Museums in Pueblo County, Colorado History museums in Colorado Industry museums in Colorado Mining museums in Colorado 2007 establishments in Colorado

History

Collection

Further reading

See also

References

External links