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Steel

Ghost town · Rowan County, North Carolina

Salisbury quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1962, 1:24,000)
Salisbury quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1962, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Steel is a ghost town in Rowan County, North Carolina. It is one of 21 former communities in Rowan County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 2nd among the 48 North Carolina counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Steel as a historical populated place on the Salisbury topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 35.6788° N, 80.4551° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleSalisbury
Elevation743 ft
Nearest living townEast Spencer, NC
Distance to it1.8 miles
GNIS feature ID1001920
Coordinates35.67875, -80.45506

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Steel is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is East Spencer, NC (population 1,309), about 1.8 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 743 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Steel?

Steel is in Rowan County, North Carolina, at 35.6788, -80.4551.

How many ghost towns are in Rowan County?

Rowan County, North Carolina has 21 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.