Southwest Alabama Communities Prepared for ThyssenKrupp Growth in 2007
Archived WKRG coverage described a Chatom meeting on how southwest Alabama communities could prepare for growth tied to the planned ThyssenKrupp mill.
CHATOM, Ala. — In late 2007, southwest Alabama leaders were preparing for the changes expected from the planned ThyssenKrupp steel mill at Calvert, according to an archived local news report.
Construction on the project was expected to begin the following year, with the mill’s operations projected for 2010 and up to 2,700 permanent jobs promised when the plant reached full production.
A meeting at the Chatom Community Center was set to discuss how communities could prepare, sponsored by the Alabama Rural Action Commission. The planned discussion included population growth, infrastructure needs, road improvements and other challenges.
Gov. Bob Riley said in a statement that a project of that size would bring major change to southwest Alabama and pledged continued state-local coordination.
This historical report records preparation efforts and expectations at the time, not current development conditions.
The mill after 2007
The Calvert site sits in far north Mobile County near the Washington County line, which is why leaders in Chatom, the Washington County seat, expected to feel its effects. The mill began operating in 2010.
ThyssenKrupp later sold the complex. The stainless steel operations went to Outokumpu in 2012, and in 2014 the carbon steel plant was sold to ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, which operate it as AM/NS Calvert.
