Sadly, Alton Steel announced its closure the last week of January, 2026.
Alton Steel is an interesting story that is a twist on the standard narrative of a legacy company going out of business, leaving behind a massive ruin for decades.
It is actually the employee-owned successor company to the historic Laclede Steel Company, founded in 1911. When it went broke, it was owned by the Akin Family–yes, those Akins–but thankfully it survived and provides hundreds of jobs for the area.
Interestingly, unlike some of the recent steel mills we looked at, this one features an electric arc furnace, which is used to melt scrap steel.
It’s a massive facility, stretching along the river and highway.
Thanks for sharing this history. BAck in 1995 whenteh 500 year flood hit the Mid west, The waste sand/bentonite from molds that had fiilled the waste storage area Granite City Steel, resulting in closure becasue there was no place to dispose of the sand. Becasue the Core of engineers needed sand for sand bags, this large pile of mainly sand was tapped and used to try an dstop the rising water from flooding.
I dont think any harm came to anyone and as a result the steel company is back in buisiness last I knew.