'
| Bethlehem Steel Size | ||
| Year | Capacity | Employees |
| 1914 | 1.1 mil. tons | 15,600 |
| 1925 | 8.5 | 60,000 |
| 1943 | 12.9 | 300,000 |
| 1957 | 19.0 | 165,000 |
| 1968 | 21.0 | 131,000 |
| 1973 | 23.7 | --- |
| 1978 | 21.0 | --- |
| 1981 | 22.0 | 84,000 |
| 1989 | 16.0 | 31,000 |
| The effect of Bethlehem Steel's closing on middle-class families in Bethlehem
is the subject of Billy Joel's song "Allentown." (Turn on your
speakers and go back to the opening screen to hear
it.)opening Though Allentown is actually
a city 5 miles west of Bethlehem, the events in the song are uniquely
Bethlehem's. Billy Joel is a native of the Philadelphia area, and must have
witnessed the changes that occured there in only a few years. His voice gives
an idea of the feelings of the young men of Bethlehem who no longer had their
father's footstep's to follow. This song received international acclaim in
the late eighties. The lyrics can be found
here,
and worth reading. |