By Lindsey Pawlowski (Final Project for Spring 2014)
It was mid-morning on Good Friday. It was a sleepy day in Lorain, Ohio, a city 30 miles west of Cleveland and 10 miles from my hometown. The sky was hazy, yet the clouds were not thick enough to subvert the spring sun. A grey glow eerily illuminated the south side, mirroring the aged pavement on East 28th Street.
The majority of the city subscribed to Catholicism, perhaps contributing to the barren roads on a high religious holiday. But as a city along the Rust Belt, Lorain has succumb to economic depression and desolation over the past two decades from its declining steel industry.
Grove Avenue and East 28th Street form a T in southern Lorain. At the head of the T sits the ominous United States Steel Corporation, running three miles along East 28th Street. Once the largest employer in Lorain, the division of the US Steel Corporation now sits as a ghost of an illustrious past.
The story approached me: I was familiar with the economic decline felt by the failing steel industry, but unaware of how blatant were its effects in the immediate areas of the steel mill. The previous prosperity and recent downturn were visible along Grove Avenue and East 28th Street. Dozens of bars and nightclubs sat along the steel mill, which catered to the male workers who would gather at the watering holes after their shifts. As the workforce became a fraction of its former size, these nightlife spots lost their steady stream of customers and shut down. Most now sit in vacancy and as a reminder of what once was.
As I drove north on Grove Avenue approaching the faded industrial entity, the decay of the community became increasingly evident. The vacant lots and decrepit side streets were uninviting, yet the formidable US Steel Corporation stood with authority, pushing me to park my car elsewhere. I pulled into a lot sandwiched between a truck depot and a strip club on East 28th Street. Both were so dilapidated it was unclear whether they were abandoned as well, until a truck entered the depot, driven by a rugged-looking man.
I walked down East 28th with my D-SLR and notebook in tow, sticking out like a sore thumb. There were few signs of life, other than a couple cars that would pass every few minutes, with the riders staring at me curiously. Between the degradation and masculinity of the three-mile-long stretch of vacant bars and gentlemen clubs, I was sorely unwelcom.
A Storied Past
Beginning in the early 20th century, the steel industry was the powerhouse of Lorain’s economy, like many of the Ohio cities along Lake Erie. For the majority of the century, almost a fifth of the population was employed within the steel industry. It was a strong, blue-collar and bustling town that held its pride in contributing to the American manufacturing force.
The 1970’s and 1980’s held the steel mill’s heydays. High school graduates either attended college or went to work at the mill, where the abundance of jobs did not feel the slowly approaching decline of the industry. The thousands of workers employed, the vast majority of whom were male, aroused a new industry of nightlife. Bars, restaurants and strip clubs lined the three mile stretch as oasis for post-work imbibing.
The city of Lorain was built and thrived upon the steel mills. Many immigrants who found themselves in the melting pot of Lorain found employment there as well. Shops and restaurants flourished along Broadway in the heart of downtown Lorain. With the stable employment that the steel industry had consistently brought, the rest of the city’s economy grew and prospered.
As the decade came to a close, Lorain and other major steel industry hubs in Ohio began to suffer.
Youngstown and Cleveland were home to mills run by LTV Steel, the second largest producer of steel in the country, and felt the steep competition between domestic and foreign steel production and manufacturing. The company declared bankruptcy twice, first in 1986 and then in 2000, and eventually closed mills across Cleveland, laying off more than 5,000 workers.
Since the 1990’s, Lorain has felt the downfall as well. The production of steel and employment rates was nowhere near the rates in the mid-century due to domestic divestment. The recession in 2008 brought Lorain’s manufacturing to its knees, with Republic Steel shutting off its blast furnaces and laying off hundreds of workers.
A Feeble Future
Today, less than 1,000 are employed within the steel industry in Lorain, while new investment projects and aspirations of a revitalized manufacturing economy are still wavering in a non-conducive national economy. Between 2001 and 2011, there was a 31% decline in manufacturing jobs, the staple of blue-collar Lorain. A population loss of over 7,000 since the 1990’s has illustrated the loss of hope for a rejuvenated Lorain.
I head a few miles north from East 28th Street along Broadway towards downtown Lorain. It was a familiar area from my childhood, at least until I reached the heart of the area. The vacant storefronts of the once vibrant commercial mirrored the deterioration of the steel industry and its surrounding areas. All areas of Lorain’s economy felt the decline of manufacturing, and what was left standing was gasping for life. The toy store, the music shop, the red-bricked bar and grill. All were fading relics of a past, one I knew, that may never return.
As initiatives to rehabilitate the steel industry have fell short, it is uncertain of what may come next. For a smaller city along the Rust Belt, Lorain may be waiting indefinitely.
Sources:
- http://lorain.lib.oh.us/research/local-research/local-history-resources/history-of-lorain-ohio–chronology
- http://www.lorainccc.edu/NR/rdonlyres/EF925A35-4DF6-4FD0-822E-8D14DBF04E11/12504/ChangingNatureLorainCounty_Dec2011.pdf
- http://www.ohiocitizen.org/campaigns/isg/steelchrono.html
- http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/02/us_steel_investing_in_lorain_l.html
