Trump sees closure of steel facility that survived the Great Depression

Steel worker Hunter Piper listens as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks at U.S. Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 30, 2025.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the Trump era is getting to witness the death of an American steel-making legend.

According to the 120-year-old company's website, Maynard Steel was created in 1907 in Milwaukee by Charles Maynard at 716 Reed St. It began life as Maynard Electric Steel Casting Company before it was bought be Sylvester Wabiszewski and renamed Maynard Steel Casting Company.

When the Great Depression hit, employment at the company shrank from 400 employees to fewer than 90, but World War II was a life-saver for steel workers, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, blasting employment up to more than 600 employees as the company churned out materials for the war effort.

Soon after, the company won the Army-Nave "E" flag for excellence in productivity in 1945.

During the 1960s, employment then grew to more than 725 workers, and the facility had to adopt a new water recycling cooling system to save 55 million gallons of water a year.

But that was then, reports the Sentinel.

Sales have declined from $27,698,425 in 2024 to $19.865,569 in 2025,” according to the company, and “due to the sales volume being below the break-even point, the Company has experienced losses in 2025 and for the first quarter of 2026.”

Now nearly 100 Wisconsin workers will be out of a job less than a month before Christmas Day after plant experienced “unforeseeable business circumstances.”

According to a press release, Maynard Steel Casting Company and Maynard Alloy Casting Company LLC will have to fire all 77 workers at its Milwaukee facility because a court-appointed receiver cannot sell the company’s assets. In addition to the Milwaukee facility’s workers being laid off on December 4 of this year, their health care benefits will also end that day, reports local news.

“We regret having to make this decision,” the press release reads. “However, business and industry circumstances leave us no alternative.”

Meanwhile, the President Donald Trump is touting his controversial tariffs as helping U.S. steel companies. Trump even claimed construction had already begun on a $15 billion steel plant in Iowa, which he called the largest in U.S. history; however, local records undermined that argument.

On September 28, Trump announced the Mesabi Metallics project from the Oval Office together with officials from Iowa and company executives. The White House described it as "the largest steel plant ever built in the United States", and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that there was no doubt regarding the project.

However, an investigation by Iowa television station KWQC found no major property acquisitions connected with the project in Lee County this year. The county authorities also stated that no permits had been submitted to the supervisors and that they had not obtained detailed plans from the company.

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