The historical marker "Joe Magarac • 1940" tells the tall tale.
"Joe was of eastern European stock and worked in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. His physical power and his courageous, giving and industrious character made Joe the greatest steelworker who ever lived.
In fact, Joe was made of steel, born in an iron mine and raised in a furnace. Some versions of his story said Joe was 7 feet tall. Others claimed he was as tall as a smokestack! He ate hot steel like soup and cold ingots like meat.
Mighty Joe could do the work of 29 men because he never slept, working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. He stirred vats of hot steel with his bare hands. He made train rails by squeezing molten steel between his fingers.
Joe was generous, self-sacrificing and brave. Once, for example, he won a weight-lifting contest and the prize was marrying the mill boss' daughter Mary. But Mary was in love with Pete Pussick. Instead of claiming his prize, Joe stepped aside so she could marry her true love.
Joe regularly saved steelworkers from danger. When a crane holding a ladle with 50 tons of molten steel broke above his crew, he caught it with his bare hands. A whole train of ingot-buggies broke loose and headed full steam downhill toward a group of workers. In the nick of time, Joe caught the last buggy and pulled the train back up the hill, saving everyone!
No one is sure what happened to Joe. In one version of his story, he jumped into a Bessemer converter to save a load of steel and lives on in the girders of a building or bridge. Another version claims he is still alive, waiting in an abandoned mill for the day that the furnace burns again."
Steel is what built the Mon Valley. I have lived here 73 years. I toured USS Duquesne when I was attending Point Park College (1967) pursuing an Associates Degree in Engineering Secretarial (there were 27 of us that started the course; alas, only 9 of us finished an got the degree). I was hooked after this tour. I went to work for Westinghouse East Pittsburgh and happily worked there for 10 years. After having my daughter I returned to work at Glassport Industrial Center (previously known as Copperweld). I assisted Allegheny County SPEDD department in making the location an incubator for small manufacturing businesses. Thus, and Industrial Park was created. That was in the 80's. Now I am retired and wishing that the Steel Industry would return to the Mon Valley. Steel was the heart of this area. National Tube, Jones & Laughlin, Edgar Thompson, and Mesta Machine kept the local families fed and clothed. The valley is quiet now. So sad. Joe was he hero of the valley, larger than life itself. I love the memories that I have of this area.
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