The Bethlehem Steel plant was a powerful symbol of America’s manufacturing leadership in the Industrial Revolution. As the plant expanded into an industrial giant, additional iron ore handling facilities were necessary to increase production. Due to the over-crowding of buildings around the plant’s blast furnaces, the Hoover-Mason Trestle (HMT) was developed to deliver over 90 tons of iron ore daily to the massive blast furnaces which ran continuously - night and day, seven days a week - and required a constant feeding of materials that were heated to over 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. From its completion in 1912 until the Bethlehem Plant ceased operation in 1995, the dual gauge HMT functioned effectively and consistently, and still stands quietly yet prominently as a reminder of its industrial magnificence. Breathing new life into the campus, the Trestle once again provides an up-close, interpretive, and powerfully personal view of the elaborate and complex Bethlehem Steel plant.
In 2011, the 10-acre central core directly in front of the HMT and blast furnaces was redeveloped into SteelStacks Arts and Cultural Campus. As the next phase of this adaptive reuse success, the HMT reopened in June of 2015 as a repurposed 1/3 mile long elevated pedestrian-oriented promenade that supports circulation, historic interpretation and passive recreation and entertainment uses.
To take a walk on the Trestle is to take a walk through history.
