Rices Landing landmark restoration project completed
Steve Barrett
George “Bly” Blystone, caretaker of the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop in Rices Landing, stands outside the building that has recently seen the completion of an exhaustive restoration project. Funding for the ongoing restoration has been secured through its owner, Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation.
Steve Barrett
George “Bly” Blystone, caretaker of the W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop in Rices Landing, inspects one of the machinery belts inside the machine shop that has recently been replaced. The facility has undergone numerous restorations and renovation phases over the years, including a project that was completed last month.
The W.A. Young & Sons Foundry and Machine Shop in Rices Landing may be more than 120 years old, but the historic landmark looks as new as ever, following the completion of a major renovation.
The project, which was years in the making, consisted of multiple phases including the replacement of broken windows and a sagging interior wall, the restoration of the interior light well and numerous other walls, the stabilization of posts, the repainting of the outer lettering as well as the building’s exterior to match its original color.
George “Bly” Blystone, who served as the building’s caretaker for more than three decades, recently showed off the improvements.
“I am very grateful that this important piece of Greene County history has been, and continues to be, preserved and protected for future generations,” he said.
The historic shop and foundry, located in the Rices Landing Historic District on the Monongahela River, was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1992. Built in 1900, the shop produced parts for steamboats, coal mines, railroads and for local businesses.
The foundry and machine shop are owned and operated by Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation, a federally designated National Heritage Area in Southwestern Pennsylvania that promotes the region’s steel-making heritage.
Over the years, close to $1.5 million has been invested by Rivers of Steel to preserve the machine shop.
This funding includes $73,000 in grant money awarded in September 2020 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The funds were used to help complete the final phase of the restoration of this national historic landmark, which has been in process for the last decade. Blystone said the final renovations of the most recent project phase were completed just weeks ago.
Blystone said the left front side of the building was sagging and had to be “jacked up” so that workers could dig and install concrete to stabilize the wall. He said all of the building’s walls had to be restored, as well as all windows. Great effort was made to keep and maintain the original glass, and the windows that were broken were replaced.
The building’s light well, used to utilize outside light, also went through a major restoration along with the building’s roof, Blystone said..
August Carlino, Rivers of Steel’s president and chief executive officer, said the roof project was completed soon after his organization took over ownership of the building.
Other previous restorations included a new concrete footer, the addition of new beams and additional supports and new siding.
Carlino said the different restoration phases are time-consuming because the facility is a historic landmark.
“Because of its status, any and all restorations and renovations must be done perfectly to preserve it as carefully as possible, so those projects and phases take time,” he said. “With the recent phase being completed, we now have a structurally sound facility, so at this juncture we can begin to focus on the inside; we can look at the machinery, tools, gears, belts … we have to be careful to retain the facility’s original charm and respect its history, while ensuring safety for those who visit it.”
Carlino said Rivers of Steel will continue to search for grant opportunities to continue the restoration project.
“We are always scouring for funding to continue our mission,” he said. “It’s not just about saving history, it’s also about helping communities find new life. When historic buildings are saved and protected, there is always potential for economic development. It’s why we call it ‘Preserving with a purpose.'”
Carlino said work to preserve the Machine Shop is essential to the region.
“First and foremost, the building and its history are critical to Rices Landing and Greene County as it represents the history and heritage of the people in that part of the Mon Valley,” he said. “Beyond Greene County, however, the Machine Shop is an industrial resource unique in the United States. The National Park Service has documented this fact. All similar machine shops from that era of operation are gone and no longer exist. So, the Machine Shop is that rare, one-of-a-kind, historic site that cannot be found anywhere. That alone is why it was important to save.
“But then, when you connect the dots of industrial history in the valley and Southwestern Pennsylvania, you begin to see how a small, family-run facility like the Machine Shop played a critical role in the industrial power of Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania,” he continued. “The Machine Shop helps link the story of the steel mills, the coal mines, the river barges, and the railroads by illustrating how these small shops serviced these more prominent industrial locations.”
According to www.visitgreene.org, William A. Young, owner and operator of the business built the Machine Shop with lumber from the family farm and expanded the business in 1908 to include the foundry. The other major change to the shop occurred in 1928 when it was electrified.
After Young’s death in 1940, his sons continued operation of the Machine Shop until 1965. The complex was left intact, including the buildings, machine tools, hand tools and other equipment.
In December 1979, the family sold the shop to private investors and in 1985, the building and all its machinery was purchased by the Greene County Historical Society. In 2009, Rivers of Steel took ownership of the site and obtained its recognition as a National Historic Landmark in 2017.