Sparrows Point milestones

February 21, 2007

1889 //

Pennsylvania Steel pours first pig iron at Sparrows Point

1916 //

Bethlehem Steel buys the plant and announces $50 million expansion

1940-42 //

Bethlehem plant and its adjacent shipyard emerge as largest producers of steel and ships for Allied war effort in World War II

1959 //

Steel plant reaches peak employment of 30,920 after major expansion launched in 1957

1978 //

"L" Blast Furnace built (predecessors took names A-K). It remains one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere

1997 //

Bethlehem shipyard sold

2001 //

Bethlehem Steel files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeks to reorganize

2003 //

Financier Wilbur Ross founds International Steel Group and buys Bethlehem in $1.5 billion deal, creating nation's largest steel producer

2005 //

Indian-born billionaire Lakshmi N. Mittal merges his growing steel empire with ISG and forms Mittal Steel Co. NV, the largest steelmaker in the world

2006 //

Mittal announces a hostile bid for rival Arcelor SA in January, a $33 billion acquisition that would create a global giant

2006 //

The Department of Justice files suit in August to block the sale for anti-trust reasons unless Mittal sells Arcelor's Canadian company Dofasco Inc. But that sale is blocked by a Dutch trust that controls it. Mittal later offers to sell a Weirton, W.Va., facility instead.

2007 //

The Justice Department tells Mittal to sell Sparrows Point to maintain competition in the tin-plated steel market in the United States

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