Historic Pittsburgh-area shop continues to operate 120 years later
RICES LANDING, PA. (KDKA) - At W.A. Young and Sons Foundry and Machine Shop in Rices Landing, there is no shortage of old-timey flair at this one-of-a-kind historic site in Greene County.
For almost 125 years, the W.A. Young and Sons Foundry and Machine Shop has stood on the banks of the Monongahela River at Rices Landing.
In its heyday, this shop did everything from helping passing steamboats with repairs, to blacksmithing for the horse and buggy trade, to eventually working on automobiles when they came into fashion.
It became a National Historic Site in 2017. TJ Porfeli runs this place for Rivers of Steel, a national heritage corporation that is dedicated to preserving the region's industrial history.
"I love the history of the place," said Porfeli. "People nowadays really don't understand and can't fathom how these guys back in the day could do such work with no computers, nothing like that. It is all just knowledge and math and figuring it out."
The shop stayed busy until the late 1960's. That's when the family called it quits and the 25 belt-driven machines fell silent.
Neighbors maintained the shop out of love until the Greene County Historical Society, and eventually, the Rivers of Steel organization took over the site and reopened it to the public to be a small window into the nation's industrial past.
"There are around three, or four, places across the country that still have machine shops that they can turn the machines on for demonstration, but nothing like this site," Porfeli said. "Here we give the experience and not only do you get to see everything work and have us explain it to you, but we welcome you to pick items up, to touch them, to ask us questions on what things are. That way people can really understand what this place was all about."
Guided tours are available at W.A. Young and Sons Foundry and Machine Shop most Sundays, April through November, and admission is $10.
It is located at 114 Water St, Rices Landing, PA 15357.