| Bessemer is one of Pueblo, Colorado's oldest and most historically significant neighborhoods. Established in 1872 to house employees of Colorado Fuel and Iron's (CF&I) Rocky Mountain Steel Mill, Bessemer attracted steelworkers from all over the world and became an ethnically diverse neighborhood whose residents still represent more than a dozen countries and cultures.
Fifteen acres and eight buildings owned by CF&I's Rocky Mountain Steel Mill sit in the heart of Bessemer, adjacent to the mill's landmark smokestacks. Two of those buildings house the company's archives, which date from 1872 and document the history of CF&I's Colorado mining activities. Using HSIAC funds and other sources, the Bessemer Historical Society, in partnership with the University of Southern Colorado (USC) in Pueblo, will purchase 15 acres in the area of the steel mill, as well as the 2 historic buildings where the archives are stored. The historical society will restore the two buildings, and will join with USC and the city of Pueblo to manage and catalog the archives. Eventually, the partners hope to redevelop the site around a museum and research center.
While the steel industry is an important part of Pueblo's history, it has not always been kind to the area. A two-decade decline in the industry's fortunes strongly affected Pueblo and the Bessenger neighborhood. By 1984, Pueblo's unemployment rate had hit 12 percent, while Bessenger experienced a 30-percent population decline as unemployed steel workers moved away in search of work, and children of steelworkers set their sights on professional jobs outside the mill culture.
Economically, Bessemer has lagged behind the city of Pueblo for several decades. During the 1970s, the median value of homes in the area fell from 72 percent of the city's median home value to 64 percent. Since 1970, the neighborhood's unemployment rate has been consistently higher than the city's rate, while in 1990, median family income in Bessemer was only 72 percent of the city's median income. Sixteen percent of neighborhood families receive public assistance and 31 percent have incomes below the poverty line. A little more than one-half of the adult population has completed high school or its equivalent.
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