Jones and Laughlin Steel Company

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The earliest foundations of Jones and Laughlin Steel Company appeared in 1853 and 1859 when two iron-producing enterprises began operations several miles (c 4km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. Over time, the two enterprises united under one name and began the production of steel in 1886. Over the ensuing 60 years, the company expanded its facilities and its operations along the Monongahela and Ohio rivers. In 1905, a new plant was begun at Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

J & L Steel (known to its employees as simply "J & L") provided the most able competition to the Carnegie Steel Company in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. Ling-Temco-Vought, Inc. of Texas offered to purchase 63 percent of J & L Steel in 1968.

[edit] From hot strip to parking lot

Dismantling of the buildings which housed J & L Steel produced an upsurge of building on the tracts of land where the buildings had stood. By September 2005, numerous new structures had been erected on both sides of the Monongahela River. Parking lots have been built at places where steel had been produced. Pennsylvania legislators spurred the construction by enacting a law that prohibits the development of farmlands. Developers have therefore turned their attention towards the development of the tracts of land that had been the sites of steel mills.