National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum, Pennsylvania

In Coatesville, Pennsylvania, buildings next to an active steel plant are now the National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum. Most of the museum is currently located in the former Lukens Steel Company headquarters, a mansion next to the plant. Lukens Steel is the nation's oldest continuously operating steel maker. It was bought by Bethlehem Steel in 1997, and so is now part of ArcelorMittal today. The plant is still functioning, and meanders around and through the town of Coatesville. It primarily makes specialty steel plate, of a type used in battleships and submarines. The National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum is in ongoing negotiations with ArcelorMittal to take over one of the unused plant buildings next to the former headquarters. In the meantime, the former headquarters building houses some artifacts and displays, and the grounds around it have interpretive plaques and some preserved historic homes of former plant owners.