 From the 1880s to 1968, the Sydney and Louisburg Railway and its predecessors hauled coal from various coal mines to the shipping piers at this location; it was the owner of the S&L during the 1890s-1900s, Henry M. Whitney, who the community is named after - "the Whitney Pier".The steel mill was responsible for the neighborhood's economic growth during the 20th century but it is also responsible for its economic decline as well.From the steel mill's inception in 1901 until the mid-1980s, the mill was fueled with coke, a byproduct of cooking raw coal over a multiple hour periods.