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This metal lunchbox belonged to Edward Kusmeroski. Mr. Kusmeroski began work in CF&I’s Pipe Foundry in 1935 and beginning in 1937, became a regular contributing journalist to the CF&I newspaper, The CF&I Blast. He left employment for several years during WWII. Following the War, Mr. Kusmeroski was rehired as a millwright and worked in the 25” mill.
Many of CF&I’s employee’s lunchboxes were similar—each had a small nameplate holder riveted to the side for the owner’s name to be written on a small piece of paper and slipped into the holder. Originally black, this particular lunchbox was obviously well used due to the several dings and wearing of paint on the sides, top, and handle. Inside the lunchbox is a metal clasp which was used to keep a thermos, possibly filled each day with coffee or water. What would fill a steelworker’s lunchbox to be enjoyed at mealtime?
During the 1930s and 1940s when this lunchbox was used, the CF&I Blast encouraged housewives in their “Articles of Interest to Women” page to prepare “good, hearty meals that your husband enjoys.” Examples of recipes printed in the 1930s and 1940s include “Vienna Sausage Sandwiches”, “Artichoke Salad with French Dressing” and “Jiffy Molasses Cookies.” Donated to the Steelworks Center in 2002.
To use the tool, the operator would look through the telescopic eyepiece, through a red filter (to protect his or her eyes) at the object they were measuring, such as a ladle full of steel. What they would see is a dull red glow from the hot object with a line of brighter light from the filament and superimposed on top of the image of the steel. The knob on the side could be turned to adjust the electric current passing through the filament. This makes the filament a bit hotter or colder and alters the light it gives off. When the filament was exactly the same brightness as the hot object they were measuring, it effectively would disappear because the radiation produced would be the same color. At that point, the operator would stop looking through the eyepiece and read the temperature on the side of the meter, recording it on a chart. Donated to the Steelworks Center of the West by EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel in 2004.
Throughout the late 19th and 20th century, CF&I dominated local and regional land ownership in the Western United States with land holdings and mining interests in six different states. To decide where to purchase land or where to mine, CF&I employed dozens of surveying teams to examine the land before a significant investment in time and money was made. Surveying is the process using measurement and mapping of the surrounding environment using mathematical calculations.
This mountain transit with partial vertical circle compass and Y-level were just two of many tools used by the dozens of employees who surveyed land for the company. After returning from the field, their calculations would then be given to the staff cartographers who would painstakingly draw maps detailing their findings. Donated to the Steelworks Center in 2006.
In the era of silent films of the early 20th century, a trip to the cinema might mean crowding onto a bench to watch a film projected on to a large bed sheet mounted to a wall. Because the films were silent, sound would be courtesy of a solo pianist or other musical instruments played by an orchestra. The music they played supplied a mood of tension, romance, or thrills during the climatic parts of the film. Talented musicians also might supply sound effects such as the wind, gunshots, or church bells or during key moments of the film using commonly found items or even their instruments.
The Clyne Theater, located at 417-419 West Northern Avenue, opened in June of 1917 with a showing of Satan’s Private Door, a Musty Suffer comedy, and an “athletic short” film. According to a Pueblo Chieftain article, more than 3,000 people attended the films throughout the day. The theater included 800 seats on the lower level and 300 in the balcony. Advertisements for the theater describe it as having gradually sloping seats, a sunken orchestra pit under the front of the stage, and a drinking fountain in the lobby. In August 1934, the Clyne closed for a short time to install the latest in theater technology, an RCA Victor Photophone High Fidelity Sound System, rendering the piano an obsolete piece of theater technology. The Clyne Theater remained in operation showing films until the late 1960s. The Steger and Sons Piano was donated to the Steelworks Center in 2007.
Based in small part on a real-life munitions worker, but primarily a fictitious character, the strong, bandanna-clad “Rosie the Riveter” became perhaps the most iconic image of working women during World War II. A constant safety concern in industrial environments was how to keep women’s long hair out of the machinery. A bandanna wrapped around the head solved the problem easily and inexpensively. A snood, a small bag attached to a band of cloth or hat and worn at the back of the head, turbans and crocheted hair nets were also popular head wear for working women during the 1940s.
This blue hat was worn by Dorthea (nee High) Trask while employed at CF&I. The snood in the back was for tucking the hair inside to keep it out of her face and away from any machinery. Lapel pins on the front of the hat include the Army Navy “E” Award lapel pin, a bronze eagle and anchor, and a round pin that states “United Steelworkers of America 1945.” Mrs. Trask worked in the Bolt, Ball and Spike Mill during the War years.
This blasting box was used at the Sunrise, Wyoming Iron Ore mine to detonate dynamite in the first quarter or of the 20th century. Created by the Dupont Company, blasting boxes such as these were found in mining operations throughout the country. This model of blasting box could detonate anywhere between one and 30 blasting caps at once. Dynamite was useful to help remove coal and iron ore from the earth. Once it was blasted out of the earth, the mineral wealth was put on the Colorado and Wyoming Railway and brought to the Minnequa Steelworks at Pueblo where the steelmaking process would begin. Donated to the Steelworks Center in 2006 by Robert and Doris MacCannon.
John Johns served as the chief superintendent of the CF&I’s boiler shop at the turn of the 20th century. This trunk, filled to the brim with family heirlooms and everyday necessities, came with him as he made his way from Wales to Pueblo to begin work at CF&I. Due to the growth of the steel mill and employment it offered, Pueblo in the early twentieth century attracted a large number of immigrant laborers. The groups represented led to Pueblo becoming the most ethnically and culturally diverse city in Colorado and the West. Immigrant groups, upon arriving in Pueblo, brought with them their life treasures along with the determination to succeed.
The Colorado Supply Company, a subsidiary of CF&I, provided residents with necessities such as food, gasoline, clothing and other household items. Originally located on the corner of Northern and Abriendo Avenues, heavy business in 1902 forced the store to move to a larger building on the corner of Baystate and Evans Avenues. Bessemer residents also had the option of shopping at other general mercantile stores along the Northern or Evans Avenues, and specialty outlets also were found throughout the community including laundries, bakeries, drug stores, cobblers, meat markets, pasta makers and millinery shops. Sold in the Colorado Supply Company Store in the late 1930s, employees and their families could purchase this table and chairs set to decorate their homes and make eating meals a family activity.
In the shadow of the steel work’s blast furnaces, residents of Bessemer transacted business at Bessemer Bank, located at the corner of Baystate and Evans Avenues. Opening in 1902 under the direction of G.H. Williams, the bank offered checking and savings accounts, foreign currency exchange and other financial services.
Bessemer Bank was sold in 1910 to Mahlon D. Thatcher, Sr., Fred O. Roof, and G.W. Bowen, and renamed the Minnequa Bank. At that time, it moved to a larger building at the corner of Northern and Evans Avenues. Several generations of steelworkers cashed paychecks, financed homes and conducted other business at the Minnequa Bank. In 2001, the Minnequa Bank chain was purchased by Vectra Bank which still operates today.
This teller cage was used in both Bessemer and the Minnequa Bank branch on Northern Avenue until the 1950s. After a building remodel, it was transferred to the basement of the building and placed in the employee breakroom for more than 50 years.
In an effort to improve the health and welfare of its employees and their families, CF&I began a medical department in 1880. In 1917, CF&I purchased a dairy farm on land about 5 miles south of Pueblo to provide milk for its hospital patients. New research of physicians and the medical community in general associated the benefits of steam sterilization and glass containers and CF&I physicians required that glass bottles and equipment used within the hospital be sterile. A shift of employees was assigned to care for the cows housed at the dairy including milk men, bottlers, and veterinarians. The dairy was used well into the 1930s.
The R.F. Lamar Company, located at the corner of East Ninth and Erie Streets in Pueblo, gained a reputation for building play equipment that would “develop boys and girls into worthwhile citizens.” Using CF&I Steel, the Lamar company equipment catalog was extensive, selling swings, teeter-totters, slides, monkey bars and vertical bars. This Karymor Merry-Go-Round entertained thousands of children from the 1930s until the 1950s at the Prairie Hill School in rural Pueblo County, Colorado.
Given to CF&I president Rudy Smith at his retirement dinner April 5, 1968. When long time employees retired, they were often given small gifts by their colleagues and close co-workers as a memento of their many years spent at CF&I.
As the “Voice of Pueblo,” Colorado Fuel and Iron Company’s shift change whistle not only announced shift changes and lunch breaks for mil workers, but also kept time for the surrounding community. Originally powered with steam, the whistle was blown several times a day to mark the beginning of each shift at 7 am, mid-day shift at 3 pm and the night time shift at 11 pm. It was also blown at noon to mark the lunch hour. The last whistle blown signaling a shift change was December 31, 1988.
Built by the Glader Manufacturing of Chicago,Illinois, in the 1930s, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company purchased it in 1945 for use in the wire mill for manufacturing nails. The machine weighs approximately 2,500 pounds and at the time it was at the mill, could produce 3 finish, 4 finish and smooth box nails. It could produce 560 small nails or 180 large nails per minute.
Bundle of bridge cables created from the cables used in the building of the Golden Gate Bridge by CF&I Subsidiary company Roebling and Sons in 1937. This was given to donor Eugene Georgine, a salesman with CF&I for many years to show the complexity and strength of bridge cables to potential customers.