Morgan Park

by Alanen, Arnold R.

• ISBN13: 9780816641369
• ISBN10: 0816641366
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-01-24
• Publisher: Univ of Minnesota Pr

Summary

From 1915 to 1971 the large U.S. Steel plant was a major part of Duluthrs"s landscape and life. Just as important was Morgan Park-an innovatively planned and close-knit community constructed for the plantrs"s employees and their families. In this new book Arnold R. Alanen brings to life Morgan Park, the formerly company-controlled town that now stands as a city neighborhood, and the U.S. Steel plant for which it was built. Planned by renowned landscape architects, architects, and engineers, and provided with schools, churches, and recreational and medical services by U.S. Steel, Morgan Park is an iconic example-like Lowell, Massachusetts, and Pullman, Illinois-of a twentieth-century company town, as well as a window into northeastern Minnesotars"s industrial roots. Starting with the intense political debates that preceded U.S. Steelrs"s decision to build a plant in Duluth, Morgan Parkfollows the town and its residents through the boom years to the closing of the outmoded facility-an event that foreshadowed industrial shutdowns elsewhere in the United States-and up to today, as current residents work to preserve the communityrs"s historic character. Through compelling archival and contemporary photographs and vibrant stories of a community built of concrete and strong as steel, Alanen shows the impact both the plant and Morgan Park have had on life in Duluth. Arnold R. Alanen is professor of landscape architecture at the University of WisconsinMadison. His previous books include Main Street Ready-Made: The New Deal Community of Greendale, Wisconsinand Preserving Cultural Landscapes in America.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Model Company Towns in America, 1800-1914	p. 1
A Steel Plant and a Company Town, 1907-1915
The Economics and Politics of Iron Ore and Big Steel	p. 21
Building a Steel Plant: Recession, Indecision, and War	p. 33
Neighborhood Housing from Gary to Oliver	p. 56
The Emergence of a Model Company Town	p. 71
Working and Living in Morgan Park, 1916-1929
Stability and Prosperity for U.S. Steel	p. 109
The Complete Company Town	p. 137
Engineering the Good Life	p. 182
From Despair to Prosperity, 1930-1945
Struggling for Work during the 1930s	p. 219
Getting By and Making Do	p. 231
More Steel for Another War	p. 240
No More Company Housing	p. 254
Closing a Steel Plant but Preserving a Community, 1946-2006
Six Strikes to Shutdown	p. 263
Preserving the Model Town	p. 278
Notes	p. 299
Index	p. 327
Photographs of Morgan Park by Chris Faust follow page 174
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.