The End of an Era

The end of the steel industry in Pittsburgh finally arrived in 1901 when Andrew Carnegie sold his Carnegie Steel Company to JP Morgan for $480,000,000, eventually turning it into US Steel and making him the richest man on earth (carnegie.org). While Carnegie might have had some unconventional and unapproved ways of going about his business and gaining profits he revolutionized the way steel was produced and distributed. He was a staple in the Gilded Age in America and through his tremendous amounts of wealth he was able to create several educational institutions ranging anywhere from universities to libraries and make enormous donations to several charities.