Liberty Steel & Wire (formerly Keystone Steel & Wire), Bartonville
Large load · 7000 SOUTH ADAMS STREET, Peoria, IL
Liberty Steel & Wire's Bartonville works in Peoria County, long known as Keystone Steel & Wire, is a scrap-fed electric arc furnace mill that casts billets and rolls them into wire rod, then draws industrial wire and fencing on site. It is the Peoria area's second-largest manufacturing employer behind Caterpillar. The site sits in Ameren Illinois's delivery territory, where Keystone has long taken part in Ameren rate cases through the Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers. No megawatt figure for the melt shop has been published. The mill was idled in December 2024, restarted in March 2025, and began rolling furloughs in its wire mill in July 2026.
Overview
Illinois restructured its utilities into delivery-only companies, so the mill's wires service comes from Ameren Illinois while its energy supply can be bought competitively. Keystone Consolidated Industries has intervened in Ameren Illinois rate proceedings at the Illinois Commerce Commission as a member of the Illinois Industrial Energy Consumers, alongside Caterpillar, U.S. Steel and others. No public filing gives the site's demand in megawatts.
Profile
- Idling and restart
- Liberty idled the Bartonville facility in December 2024, furloughing about 500 people amid low-priced imports, and resumed operations in March 2025 after raising capital. In July 2026 it began furloughing groups of workers over two weeks, most of them from the roughly 300-person wire mill, citing a downturn in the industrial fencing market.
- Expansion plans
- In 2025 Liberty sought a $25 million state grant, EDGE tax credits and a $2.65 million county loan to fund upgrades at Bartonville and move its U.S. headquarters there from Texas, committing to at least 700 full-time equivalent jobs and $40 million of capital investment. The requested state support was left out of the 2026 legislative session, leaving the expansion uncertain.
Facility
- Activity
- Scrap-fed EAF melt shop with billet caster, rod mill and wire mill: billets, wire rod, industrial wire and fencing
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Dec 1, 2024
- Mill temporarily idled, about 500 furloughed
Liberty Steel expansion uncertain after state support falls short
- Mar 1, 2025
- Operations resume
Liberty Steel expansion uncertain after state support falls short
- Jul 13, 2026
- Wire-mill furloughs begin
Hundreds face furloughs at Liberty Steel & Wire’s Bartonville plant