The Location
Buffalo was once home to several of the largest steel manufacturing plants in America: Bethlehem Steel, the 2nd largest steel plant in the country, Republic Steel the third largest and Lackawanna Steel. These big three foundries as well as many smaller iron and steel foundries made Buffalo one of the largest manufacturers of cast iron in the world. The last of the foundries, Pulman foundry, went out of business several years ago leaving the foundry at Buffalo State College, with it's 22 years of iron casting, to be perhaps the only Grey iron foundry left in Western NY. Tonawanda Coke, one of the few remaining Coking plants and Buffalo Sand Products supplying kiln dried lake Michigan foundry sand create a perfect vortex for the first Nor'easter iron art conference.
