Steel Valley (Pittsburgh)

The Southern Steel Valley is the area of post-industrial and industrial concentration along the upper Ohio River valley as well as the Monongahela River all the way to the West Virginia border. It has also included most of the Allegheny River, Beaver River and Youghiogheny River valleys. Most of the Pittsburgh metro area is considered part of "Steel Valley", as well as most of the Weirton-Steubenville-Wheeling Ohio/West Virginia, Morgantown/Fairmont West Virginia and East Liverpool/Youngstown/Mercer/New Castle Ohio and Pennsylvania metro areas. To locals in these regions the "Steel Valley" refers to towns and cities along the river shore, the school district and valley areas and not always the suburbs and cities at higher elevations, though the term has been used for the entire region. The Youngstown area of Ohio (as well as the Wheeling/Steubenville/Weirton area) though geographically and demographically connected to the "Steel Valley" retain many distinctions from the Steel Valley centered in Pittsburgh.

Up until the post Civil War era, most of this valley was farm land and small surface or near-surface mining areas. Starting with the industrial boom that the Civil War demanded, the area rich in coal (a key industrial component for steel and iron making and thus the linchpin for most major industrial concerns) grew rapidly along the rivers of the region.

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