In this photo taken Dec. 13, 2013, a truck drives past the ThyssenKrupp steel mill in Calvert, Ala. Word this month that the German company has reached an agreement with ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to sell the plant for an estimated $1.55 billion, seemed to quell concerns in this tight-knit town just outside the gates of the mill.By MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL
Associated Press
CALVERT, Ala. – When German steel manufacture ThyssenKrupp began construction of its $5 billion plant just down the road from Webbs Cafe in 2007, business boomed as construction crews poured into the area to build the most-modern steel production factory in the Americas.
Three generations of the Webb family have operated the cafe, which specializes in fried catfish and home cooking and is well-known throughout this bucolic stretch of southeast Alabama.
News that ThyssenKrupp planned to sell the mill just five years later sent a ripple through the region, which depended on well-paying jobs related to the mill throughout the economic downturn.