Vineyard, UT

(Associated names include Columbia Steel Company, Columbia Geneva Steel, United States Steel Corporation, U.S. Steel, Geneva Works)

Tribune file photo
Geneva Steel is seen in this photo from 1942.

Tribune file photo
Geneva Steel is seen in this photo from 1954.

Tribune file photo
Geneva Steel is seen in this photo from 1943.

Jobsite

Constructed with federal funds in the 1940s to supply steel for WWII, Geneva Steel was once the largest integrated steel mill west of the Mississippi.  Employing at its peak a workforce of 3,000 workers, Geneva Steel was an integral part of Utah County’s economy and one of the largest employers in the area.  

Address or general location

Complex stretched from around 400 South to 2000 North in Vineyard just west of Orem, Utah..

Detail

Located far inland and away from potential attacks by Japanese and German forces, Geneva Steel’s location in Vineyard, Utah, provided a secure location for the production of steel needed in the war efforts of the 1940s.  Construction began a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor and was completed in 1944.  At its peak, it employed 3,000 workers and supplied 60 percent of the steel used in the western United States.  As an integrated mill, Geneva Steel received raw materials from which it produced finished steel.  Specifically, Geneva Steel turned iron ore, limestone and scrap iron into products such as sheet, plate and structural steel.  In the late 1980s, the Geneva Mill was purchased by local business interests and, despite their best efforts, the mill eventually closed in 2002. Demolition of the mill occurred in June 2005.