The Deindustrialization of Chicago’s Southeast Side: Commemorating the 45th Anniversary of the Closing of Wisconsin Steel

Beginning in 1875, Wisconsin Steel Works, originally known as John H. Brown Iron & Steel, marked the beginning of the industrialization of Chicago’s Calumet Region. The mill was located in the South Deering neighborhood of Chicago. In 1902, Deering Harvester merged with International Harvester and expanded the production of pig iron and steel for farming equipment. In 1977, International Harvester sold the mill to Envirodyne, which lacked industry experience and purchased the company using a loan from International Harvester itself. A subsequent labor strike led to decreased steel demand and, ultimately, Wisconsin Steel's bankruptcy in 1980. 

On March 27, 1980, Wisconsin Steel closed suddenly without giving notice to 3,300 employees. Chase Manhattan Bank notified workers in April that their final checks were worthless. The shutdown was so sudden that workers did not apply for unemployment benefits, believing that the mill would reopen, and resorted to savings or other short-term income sources to survive. Many steelworkers were employed at Wisconsin Steel all their lives, some even second-generation. Its closure marked the decline of the steel industry resulting in an economic depression which the region has never fully recovered from. 

According to the Daily Calumet newspaper, the closing of Wisconsin Steel set off a “chain reaction within the community,” because small businesses around the plant relied on steelworkers to patronize them. Ed Vrdolyak, Wisconsin Steel’s lawyer, and former Mayor of Chicago Jane Byrne, who was running for reelection against Mayor Harold Washington, reassured concerned workers that the mill would reopen.  

When it became clear the mill would not reopen, Frank Lumpkin, a steelworker who worked at Wisconsin Steel for over thirty years, helped formed and led the Save Our Jobs Committee. Arguing that International Harvester sold Wisconsin Steel to avoid compensating its employees, they fought for back pay, pensions, health care, final checks and other benefits owed to them in numerous court battles in Illinois and Washington, D.C.  

After seventeen years, the committee won several settlements totaling $17 million, holding the company accountable for compensate their workers, though this was only one-third of the $40 million owed. By then, over 1 in 6 former steelworkers had died from health issues related to lack of care, including suicide, substance abuse, stress and work-related illnesses.  

Moreover, African American steelworkers, who were historically assigned to dangerous jobs such as working in the coke ovens, experienced one-third more on-the-job injuries and nearly three times the rate of cancer compared to their white counterparts.  

In the period following the closure of Wisconsin Steel and various lawsuit victories, other steel companies in the area began to downsize their workforces and cease steel production in the region This included U.S. Steel in 1992, ACME/Interlake in 2001, and LTV Steel, previously known as Republic Steel, in 2002. According to the Southeast Chicago Historical Society, “Between 1980 and 2014, 7 million industrial jobs were lost in the United States...The reason why each mill closed was different, but corporate restructuring, growing global competition, and changing government policies were key.”