This steelmaking plant was originally part of the Ford Motor Company, which created an integrated manufacturing complex to produce all major vehicle components at one large facility called The Rouge. In 1989, Ford's steel mill assets were divested and became known as Rouge Industries with the steel operations trading as Rouge Steel Company in Dearborn, Michigan, outside of Detroit.
Cleveland-Cliffs acquired AK Steel Dearborn Works in 2020.
The steel mill operations occupy most of the portion of the Rouge Complex south of Road 4, which connects Gates 4 and 10.
Around 2004, Severstal North America was formed when Russian Severstal purchased the bankrupt Rouge Steel. After Severstal North America purchased other steel making facilities, this plant was renamed Severstal Dearborn.
Recent major capital expenditures include a new, state-of-the-art Blast Furnace "C" that began operation in 2007 (followed shortly by an explosion and subsequent dismantling of Blast Furnace "B".)
In 2011, Severstal Dearborn completed the construction of a continuous linked pickle line tandem cold mill (PLTCM) and a hot-dip galvanizing line (HDGL.)
Per the Detroit Free Press article of July 14, 2011, Severstal Dearborn will be installing a new annealing line in the "W" section of their existing cold mill.
On 21 July 2014, AK Steel Holding announced that it had agreed to purchase Severstal's Dearborn steel-making assets for $700 million cash. The acquisition would also include a coke-making facility and interests in three joint ventures that process flat-rolled steel products. Severstal also announced at that time that it would sell a separate steel-making facility in Columbus, Mississippi to Steel Dynamics for $1.63 billion.