Last Saturday, the Battle of Homestead Foundation held its seventh annual "Poetry at the Pump House" event, which featured readings by poet Robert Gibb and fiction writer Elizabeth Gargano.

The small, brick building on the site of the former Homestead Works steel mill hosts 8-12 programs each summer season. "Poetry at the Pump House" is traditionally the last event in the line-up, and past speakers have included poet Peter Blair, former steel worker Tim Russel, and Jim Daniels, a poetry professor at Carnegie Mellon.

About 20 people turned out to hear this year's sampling of literary, historical offerings. Guests mingled outside the Pump House before the event, discussing their personal histories and relationships with Homesteadas well as their literary contributions.

Dave Demarest, retired Carnegie Mellon English and history professor and member of the Battle of Homestead Foundation, got the program underway by explaining the origin of the foundation that began in the early '90s when members proposed using the Pump House for programs during the warm months — there was no heater — and as a general historical preservation site throughout the year. Although there is now electricity in the building, Demarest said, the Pump House is "the only pre-1900 building remaining on the site of the US Steel's mill."

Robert Gibb is a native of Homestead. He had relatives in the mill and worked in a mill himself. His poetry is about relationships to family and the environment, and his experiences working in a mill. He read his poems deliberately and with much emotion. In reading "Magnetic North," it was as if he were recounting a memory that had grown a bit dim with the passing of the years. The audience reacted by listening pensively as he recounted the "strange sense of dislocation" he felt when returning to Homestead after the mill was demolished.

Elizabeth Gargano wrote her book, Ember Days, about a town created by a Zinc plant, based on a real place in Washington County, Pennsylvania. The book focuses on the Forte family, and Gargano read excerpts about one of the family's daughters and two of the sons. Her reading was lively and the audience kept their eyes on her, indicating their clear interest and attention.

Preserved artifacts illustrate the Pump House's history, as does an interactive model of the site as it was in 1892. A brass plaque located at the corner of the building marks a relief work entitled "Cannonading the barges," and eight decorative curtains line the walls,depicting decades of workers in the mills. 

The first half of Pump House building was built in 1892, and the other half was completed within a few years. The building was the site of the famed Battle of Homestead on July 6, 1892 when striking steelworkers and local supporters attacked 300 Pinkerton Guards brought in to end the strike.

The Pump House itself, inside and out, screams of its historical preservation in the shadow of The Waterfront development project. The brick walls and the lack of indoor heating amplify its rustic feel, but it is more spacious inside than the appearance outside implies; a high ceiling and plenty of floor space easily accommodate the regular performances held there. All in all, the uncomfortable seats and chilly atmosphere were quite forgotten in the face of the venue's overpowering ambience and talent of the featured artists.