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‘Fire and Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel'

'Fire & Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel,' tells the story of Baltimore's Sparrows Point steel mill, once the largest producer of the world's most important product. The new exhibition is now open at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Credit: A. Aubrey Bodine
'Fire & Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel,' tells the story of Baltimore's Sparrows Point steel mill, once the largest producer of the world's most important product. The new exhibition is now open at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Credit: A. Aubrey Bodine

Bethlehem Steel in Sparrows Point meant much more than a job for its employees. It forged a part of Maryland’s history.

The Baltimore Museum of Industry’s exhibit “Fire and Shadow” uses voices, images and artifacts to chronicle the story. Curator Deborah Weiner gives a preview. Plus we hear what it was like to grow up in the shadow of the mill, and how working there was a life changer for many employees, like Kathy Garrison:

“You could have the hopes of having a nice home and a couple of cars and swingset in the yard. You know, you didn’t have dreams of being a millionaire but it was a really nice life, it was a very good opportunity for a little slice of American pie.”

Links: Baltimore Museum of Industry 'Fire and Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel' tickets, Sat. Oct. 23 'Women of Steel' live event, Sparrows Point: An American Steel Story podcast.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'